Ecological security measurement and spatial-temporal difference evolution of the polarized zone in the Wanjiang City Belt

As an important economic development axis, commodity grain production base, and ecological security protection region, the polarized zone in the Wanjiang City Belt along the Yangtze River is at the forefront of the evaluation and protection of its ecological environment security. Based on the concept and connotation of the Ecological-Security-System (ESS), the drivers, pressures, state, impact and response (DPSIR) concept model was used to construct an ecological safety evaluation index system. The related methods and models were used to measure the development of the prefectural-level cities’ ESS in the Wanjiang City Belt and summarize and classify the current status of it. The research shows that (1) the rate of change in the development degree of ESS and criterion layer in the Wanjiang City Belt as well as in the prefectural-level cities is relatively flat; the overall development of the ecological security system tends to decrease. (2) The “pressure” in the ESS of the study area is more obvious; At the same time, there are great differences on the “driving force” between cities, the most prominent is Hefei, which tends to polarize in general and forms a regional spatial pattern of “A big Hefei alone”; (3) The ESS in the study area and its major prefecture-level cities are in an pre-warning state. However, the differences in the internal structural characteristics of the ESS in local cities are obvious.