Ecological Indicators (Dec 2022)
Impacts of environmental literacy on ecological networks in the Three Gorges Reservoir, China
Abstract
Environmental illiteracy threatens the functioning mechanisms of ecological networks worldwide, yet many people remain dubious about their existence. The knowledge deficit model suggests that giving the public (local people and government personnel) additional information would alleviate distrust. There is limited evidence indicating that environmental literacy metrics (ELMs) influence ecological network indicators (ENIs) such as plant cover, habitat, exotics, regeneration, erosion, and stressors throughout the drawdown zone (upstream, midstream, and downstream) within dams and reservoirs, despite widespread implementation to enhance riparian zone conservation. This study tackles this knowledge gap by using multivariate statistical methods to assess ENIs on the covered area of 58,000 km2 in 327 transects through a field-based approach inside China's Three Gorges Reservoir area (TGRA) in 2019. The bar graph results showed the largest lack of information about ELMs (e.g., knowledge, attitude, and behavior) from the general populace, and it had the biggest effect on the plant cover in the midstream and the least impact on regeneration in the upstream. The ELMs of local people influenced the ENIs most within the downstream, with coefficients of Pearson correlation in the range of −0.67 < r < 0.98. However, the ELMs (knowledge and behavior) of government personnel showed the greatest correlations with ENIs (−0.41 < r < 0.74) in the midstream, while attitude towards downstream. In comparison among ENIs, vegetation cover, grass exotics, gullying, longitudinal continuity, and farming systems were all-important ENIs within the TGRA. ENIs and ELMs varied substantially for each section of the drawdown zone, according to hierarchical approaches. These results educate decision-makers about the spatial variations in ENIs of riparian regions in dams and reservoirs, which need location-based initiatives to raise inclusive impact awareness among the Chinese public.
