Spatiotemporal evolution of ecological environment quality in arid areas based on the remote sensing ecological distance index: A case study of Yuyang district in Yulin city, China

Abstract The ecological environment in arid areas of Northwest China has undergone considerable changes under the combined effects of climate change and human factors. Therefore, exploring the spatial and temporal evolution of the ecological environment quality is of great significance for the protection and management of the ecological environment in arid areas of Northwest China. This study adopted Yuyang district as the study area. Landsat Thematic Mapper/Operational Land Imager images from 1993 to 2018 were selected as the data source for the retrieval of important surface indicators and the construction of the remote sensing distance ecological index. The spatial distribution, trend, and grade classification of the ecological environment quality were monitored and analyzed. The results showed that (1) the ecological environment quality of Yuyang district from 1993 to 2018 showed an overall upward trend, mainly manifested as a sharp decline in the area of poor ecological environment from 84.81 to 53.36%. (2) The spatiotemporal changes in the ecological environment quality showed a downward trend in the central urban area and an upward trend in the noncentral urban area. (3) In general, rainfall and temperature had limited impact on the ecological environment quality. Urbanization seriously affected the local ecological environment quality and the implementation of the ecological restoration policies, regulations, and measures were the main drivers of the improvement to the ecological environment quality in other surrounding areas.