Land surface elements, such as land use, are in constant change and dynamically balanced, driving changes in global ecological processes and forming the regional differentiation of surface landscapes, which causes many ecological risks under multiple sources of stress. The landscape pattern index can quickly identify the disturbance caused by the vulnerability of the ecosystem itself, thus providing an effective method to support the spatial heterogeneity of landscape ecological risk. A landscape ecological risk model based on the degree of interference and fragility was constructed and spatiotemporal differentiation of risk between 1980 and 2017 in Shaanxi Province was analyzed. The spatiotemporal migration of risk was demonstrated from the perspective of geomorphological regionalization and risk gravity. Several conclusions were drawn: The risk of Shaanxi Province first increased and then decreased, at the same time, the spatial differentiation of landscape ecological risk was very significant. The ecological risk presented a significant positive correlation but the degree of autocorrelation decreased. The risk of the Qinba Mountains was low and the risk of the Guanzhong Plain and Han River basin was high. The risk of Loess Plateau and sandstorm transition zone decreased greatly and their risk gravities shifted to the southwest. The gravity of the Guanzhong Plain and Qinling Mountains had a northward trend, while the gravity of the Han River basin and Daba Mountains shifted to the southeast. In the analysis of typical regions, there were different relationships between morphological indicators and risk indexes under different geomorphological features. The appropriate engineering measures and landscape management for different geomorphological regionalization were suggested for effective reduction of ecological risks.

As a tool that can effectively support ecosystem management, ecological risk assessment is closely related to the sustainable development of ecosystems and human well-being and has become an active area of research in ecology, geography and other disciplines. Taking Dujiashi Gully for the study of gully loess erosion, a comprehensive risk assessment system for identifying risk probability, sensitivity and impairment was established. The spatial distribution of comprehensive ecological risk was analyzed, the ecological risk management categories were simultaneously delineated based on the risk dominant factor and the risk management strategies were formulated in loess regions. The results were as follows: (1) the spatial differences in comprehensive ecological risk were significantly different in the research area. The regions with extremely high and high risk were mainly located in gully areas and secondary erosion gullies, which are in 28.02% of study area. The extremely low-risk areas covered 1/3 of the study area and were mainly distributed to the northwest and south of the study area, where hills are widely spaced. (2) The combined analysis of ecological risk and terrain found that the elevation decreased first and then rose but the comprehensive ecological risk increased first and then decreased from north to south. Comprehensive ecological risk and terrain generally showed an inverse relationship. (3) The study area was divided into four types of risk management categories. Risk monitoring zones, habitat recovery zones, monitoring and recovery zones and natural regulation zones encompass 14.84%, 12.44%, 26.47% and 46.25% of the study area, respectively. According to four types of risk management categories, different risk reduction measures were designed to improve regional sustainable development capacity. Risk identification and risk management categories based on comprehensive ecological risk model can design a sustainable development path for social ecosystem and local farmers and provide a method for sustainable development for similar gully landscapes.