Assessment of Habitat Quality and Spatial Vulnerability of Natural Landscapes in Khorramabad Urban Area

Objective:The purpose of the study is investigating one of the supporting services of the ecosystem, called habitat quality, and to assess the spatial vulnerability of natural landscapes in the city of Khorramabad using the InVEST habitat quality module. Methods:To achieve this objective, it is essential to identify the sources of threats, the relative weight of each threat, the maximum distance of its effect in space, the types of habitats, and the sensitivity of each to the source of the threat.In addition, one of the most important inputs of InVEST is the land use/land cover (LULC) of the study area.The Local Climate Zone classification method has been used for the creation of this map.Finally, the model generates spatial distribution maps of habitat quality and degradation across the landscape by combining LULC and different threat sources. Results:The findings indicated that the city, airport, and highway factors are the most destructive threat factors to all habitats with an average score of 0.51, 0.345, and 0.33, respectively.Compared to other LULC, water, dense trees, and scattered trees suffered the most destruction, with sensitivity ratings of 0.47, 0.39, and 0.36, respectively.The results also revealed that habitat quality in Khorramabad is at a medium to low level, and the habitat quality is in very good condition in only 3% of the landscape area. Conclusions:Overall, the results of this study indicated that the habitat quality within the city of Khorramabad is in an unfavorable condition due to various threatening factors and requires conservation attention and planning.