Eco-vigor Niche——Theory,Method and Application

The concept of eco-vigor niche(EVN) describes the function and role of an eco-unit(or a landscape patch) within a regional compound-ecosystem,formed in the process of mutual interaction with other units.It is a development of the concept of niche.In the two-dimensional-space composed of social-economic eco-vigor coordinates and natural eco-vigor coordinates,EVN is expressed as a vector in the two-dimension space.The "length" of the EVN vector means the resource advantage or capacity of providing eco-service of an eco-unit.The "direction" of EVN vector means the comparative attributes of social-economy and natural characters of an eco-unit,reflecting the relative function of an eco-unit in a regional compound-ecosystem.EVN can be used to deliver the spatial differentia of the region,reflect the ecological role and functional orientation of an eco-unit.These contribute to the regional eco-regionalization,eco-planning and regional land planning.In the case study of ecologically sustainable development planning of Guangzhou,an indicator system is first set up,which uses population,economy density and educational data to construct social-economic eco-vigor coordinates,and uses environmental,urban thermal field and eco-service value of vegetation coverage to construct natural eco-vigor coordinates.Then with GIS special analysis technology,the EVN calculation is carried out for every identified eco-unit(in this case,villages are the smallest identifiable eco-unit with necessary data available).Then with certain arithmetic,special clustering is done to obtain the regional EVN evaluation map.The concept and methodology of EVN has been proven to be effective.