Abstract: The rapid development of remote sensing technology has facilitated the monitoring of human disturbance in critical ecological regions. However, the massive interference behaviors at the patch scale hinder the rapid quantitative assessment of their ecological impacts. By integrating change detection, model evaluation, and driving factor analysis, we developed an efficient quantitative framework to assess the ecological impacts of human disturbances. Taking the Ecological Conservation Red Line (ECRL) in Jiangxi Province as a case study, we assessed the ecological effects of new human disturbances occurring between 2020 and 2022. The results showed that: (1) A total of 337 new disturbance sites were identified, which led to the conversion of 1922.10 hm² of natural ecological lands to farmlands, built-up areas, and bare lands. (2) The new disturbances caused a 0.152% reduction in vegetation coverage index, a loss of 5.567 billion m³ in water conservation capacity, a loss of 121 million tons in soil retention capacity, and a 0.21% decline in habitat quality index. (3) 32 catchments showed moderate degradation, and two catchments suffered severe degradation, making ecological restoration an urgent necessity. (4) Human disturbances caused limited loss of local ecological functions. Climate change remained the dominant driver of such changes in most regions. The ECRL was crucial for maintaining and restoring regional natural ecosystems. The evaluation framework established here requires limited data and boasts strong operability. Our assessment results can serve as a reference for decision-making in ECRL supervision and regional ecological restoration.

Key words: human activity, ecological impact, Ecological Conservation Red Line (ECRL), conservation effectiveness, Jiangxi