Abstract:

The ecological sensitivity in the upper Changjiang River over large scales was studied in this paper  to provide technical support and scientific basis for the water resources protection and management of the water power development in the upper Changjiang River.On the basis of identifying and analysis of major habitats and ecological sensitive areas in the upper Changjiang River,ecological sensitivity evaluation index system was selected,identified and established with GIS technology and hierarchy analysis method,to determine the classification standard of ecological sensitivities.And the correlated calculation method and comprehensive evaluation method were established to generate the evaluation map for each single ecological evaluation unit through combining the characteristic data base with spatial image data base.It could reveal the spatial distribution of ecological sensitivities in the upper Changjiang River and provide theoretical foundation for the analysis of the ecological restrictions for the water power development in the upper Changjiang River.The study revealed that the nonsensitive area,light sensitive area,medium sensitive area,high sensitive area and extreme sensitive area in the upper Changjiang River accounted for 741%,676%,825%,493% and 593% of the total acreage of the whole area respectively.The Jinshajiang River Basin was the highest sensitive in the upper area,and the next were the main stream area and the Chishui River Basin.The ecological sensitive areas were mainly distributed in the upper basin.Attention should be paid to the ecological protection of the ecological sensitive areas of all levels in the utilization of the water resources of the main stream of the Upper Changjiang River