This paper is the result of environmental geological survey engineering.

Objective With the continuous increase in socio−economic development and the urbanization rate, the ecological environment that supports mankind’s survival has been damaged and ecological vulnerability has become more serious. Therefore, ecological vulnerability evaluation has become a hot research topic. Since the industrial structure of the Oroqen Region changed from hunting to farming and livestock in the 20th century, the local ecological environment has been threatened and is likely to be vulnerable to further threats. Consequently, in this paper, the ecological vulnerability of the Oroqen Region was evaluated in three phases to provide a scientific basis for environmental protection and sustainable development.

Methods The Oroqen Region in Inner Mongolia was selected as the study area, and 14 indicators were selected based on the SRP model, which were categorized into three types, namely ecological resilience, ecological sensitivity, and ecological stress. Then, Geographic Information System Spatial Principal Component Analysis (SPCA) and GeoDetector were used to analyze the spatial distribution, spatial and temporal evolution, and driving factors of ecological vulnerability in the Oroqen Region in 2000, 2010, and 2020.

Results (1) The overall ecological vulnerability of the Oroqen Region was a good-mild fragile state, the distribution area of the general fragile area remained stable for about three years, the moderately and severely fragile areas were mainly distributed in the south of Alihe, the south of Ulubuti, Dayangshu, and Guli, and there was an overall research deterioration trend. (2) The ecological vulnerability trend of the Oroqen Region was positive from 2000 to 2010, and the ecological vulnerability increased significantly from 2010 to 2020 when the ecological environment was damaged. Moreover, the area of severe ecological vulnerability that appeared for the first time in 2020 was 111.72 km², accounting for 0.51% of the study area. (3) The spatial distribution of the ecological vulnerability in the Oroqen area was mainly influenced by the biological abundance (D2), landscape diversity index (D3), elevation (D5), population density (D13), and other factors, and the influencing factors were more diverse in 2020. Furthermore, the two indicators SRPeading index (D4) and average annual precipitation (D12) had a strong driving effect on the local ecological vulnerability.

Conclusions The ecological vulnerability of the Oroqen Region was low in the northwest and high in the southeast in 2000, 2010, and 2020, and the ecological environment became less vulnerable from 2000 to 2010 and deteriorated from 2010 to 2020. This was due to the continuous change in the natural conditions and the long−term influence of human activities. The ecological environment of the Oroqen Region is deteriorating in general.