A case study of FRAT-based Urban Ecosystem Health Assessment

As a measurement of the disorder degree of a system, fuzzy methods can measure the amount of useful information with the provided data and has been widely used in a range of applications. Given the interesting features of this method and world-wide used, it is quite surprising that the number of proper applications in regional ecological health assessment is limited. As a case study in Tianjin, China, the index system was set up by using the frame of pressure, status and response. The principal components method was set up by using the frame of pressure, and optimally combined with fuzzy assessment model to assess the ecosystem health of Tianjin. Results showed that the indicator system that we built links various factors and it's particularly useful to researchers when exploring ecological patterns or disentangling complex environmental management issues. Furthermore, considering the interactions is helpful to achieve a precise evaluation for regional ecological health. Finally, the output value by FRAT model showed that healthy degree of Tianjin ecosystem rises continuously from 2004 to 2008.