Rocky desertification is a key element affecting regional ecological quality. Rocky desertification in Southwest China directly affects the ecological security of the Yangtze River and Pearl River basins and also restricts regional economic and social development. In order to clarify the evolution laws and key influencing factors of ecological quality in Yunnan karst rocky desertification areas, a quantitative analysis based on the remote sensing-based ecological index (RSEI) model was conducted to explore the overall evolution characteristics and change laws of ecological quality in Yunnan karst rocky desertification areas in the past 30 years. The correlation between RSEI, rock outcrop rate (Fr), and driving factors was determined by redundancy analysis. The results showed the following: (1) RSEI in Yunnan karst rocky desertification areas generally showed a decreasing trend, with a fluctuation in the mid-term, followed by a tendency to recover. It fell into three stages: decline, trough, and recovery, with fitting coefficients of −0.121, −0.057, and 0.157, respectively. In contrast, Fr showed an opposite tendency, illustrating the inverse relationship between RSEI and Fr, and the rate of sequential succession was much faster than that of the reverse succession under human measures of intervention. (2) The mean value of RSEI of Yunnan karst rocky desertification areas was generally lower than that of the total Yunnan Province land areas and Yunnan non-karst rocky desertification areas, but the mean value of Fr was generally more than that of both the above-mentioned areas. In addition, the RSEI and Fr of Yunnan karst rocky desertification areas both showed lower stability values than those of both the above-mentioned areas. This generally suggested a low ecological quality and a high degree of desertification under a low stability in Yunnan karst rocky desertification areas. (3) The correlation of RSEI and Fr with driving factors followed the order of topographic factors, soil factors > water factors > anthropogenic factors. Anthropogenic factors were the driving force changing the state of rocky desertification, geological factors such as topography and soil to a larger extent determined the original macroscopic ecological relationship of rocky desertification, and water factors lay between the above two. The findings of this research will provide theoretical support and a basis for the improvement of ecological quality and comprehensive control of karst rocky desertification in Yunnan Province.

Soil bacterial community composition and diversity can be an important bioindicator for assessing ecosystem stability, and photovoltaic (PV) shading is a key factor influencing soil bacterial communities in rocky desertification areas; however, how the composition and diversity of soil bacterial communities change with PV operation duration remains unclear. Focusing on the experimental demonstration site of Shilin ecological photovoltaic (PV) power plant in Yunnan Province, we compared soil properties under PV arrays and non-PV control areas with different operation durations (7 and 13 years). The results showed that long-term PV operation significantly increased soil TN and TK content compared to CK, while increasing Ure and ALP activities, but inhibiting CAT activity and decreasing soil moisture, pH, SOC, and TP. High-throughput sequencing revealed stable dominant bacterial phyla (e.g., Aspergillus, Acidobacteriota) and beneficial genera (e.g., RB41, Sphingomonas), with an increase in relative abundance of Bacillota-like phyla but a decrease in Acidobacterium. The α-diversity (ACE, Chao1 index) and β-diversity of soil bacteria greatly increased with years of PV operation, reaching a maximum in the 13-year PV operation area. Correlation analyses showed that differences in soil bacterial communities in regions with different years of PV operation were mainly influenced by differences in PH and enzyme activities.

Frequent cross-regional communication makes road networks increasingly dense and has generated prominent human interference, thus resulting in the destruction of the landscape’s integrity and leading to changes in the functional processes of the habitat. In order to discuss the impacts of intense human activity brought by the road networks on the rocky desertification landscape and habitat quality in karst ecologically fragile areas, taking the road networks as the humans activity intensity factor, a quantitative analysis was conducted to analyze the impacts of road networks on the spatial evolution of the rocky desertification landscape and changes in regional habitat quality characteristics under different development modes in the study area based on a landscape pattern gradient method, spatial analysis, and INVEST model. The results showed that: (1) in the study area, due to the destruction of landscape integrity caused by the development of the road networks over the past 17 years, the landscape pattern of rocky desertification tended to be fragmented and complex, first showing an inclination for rapid fragmentation and then gradual recovery later. (2) The land-use intensity and degree of rocky desertification in the industrial areas and in the tourist areas of the study area have increased to varying degrees over the past 17 years, as is seen mainly via the expansion of construction land, cultivated land enclaves in the urban expansion areas, and new development areas. (3) Unders different regional models, the fragmentation of the rocky desertification landscape in the industrial areas was higher than that in the tourist areas, resulting in a significantly lower habitat quality and obvious degrees of degradation. The research findings provide the basis for further deepening our understanding how human activity intensity affects the evolution of the regional landscape, including the development of rocky desertification, the supply of services, and supporting habitat conservation in karst ecologically fragile areas.