Ecological Risk Zoning Control in Zhundong Economic Development Zone Based on Landscape Pattern Changes

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The study covers an exceptionally significant topic. Several issues regarding methodology should be improved to increase the quality of the paper. After improvements, I highly recommend acceptance of the paper.

1)              In point 2.3, the Authors name three indices used for analyses. Please add some information regarding the selection of those parameters. What makes those indices the best for this study?

2)              It is not clear what is the depth on which the risk levels shown in Figure 5 were evaluated. Is it on the ground level or below it? Human activities resulting from mining can change the ground level throughout the years, influencing the results.

3)              Please also add what level of risk is typically acceptable in such cases. Although it is understood that the risk level should be the lowest possible, in industry, higher risk can be accepted in some situations.

4)              Do natural factors (weather conditions, landforms or extreme situations like droughts or floods) influence the assessed risks? Could some of those factors change the risk level?

 

Other issues:

Before square brackets with quotations, there should be added space. In some places in the paper, space should be added after the brackets, for example, in the case of quotations 6, 7 and 8.

Not all Figures are mentioned in the main text.

Author Response

Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Dear authors

In general, English must be improved, there are many very long sentences, which makes understanding difficult; in the same way, it is recommended to respect the template of the journal, additionally, and the references do not conform to the recommendations of the journal.

Minor bugs, which are recommended to be improved. Please review attached document.

Recommendation: Write in the third person.

The discussion section is nonexistent (only three references)

There is 100% missing space between the last word of the sentence and the reference bracket.

Sections missing: Supplementary Materials; Author Contributions; Funding; Institutional Review Board Statement; Informed Consent Statement; Data Availability Statement; Acknowledgments and Conflicts of Interest.

Adjust all references to the journal template.

It is considered that by adjusting to the journal template, and review the writing and English, it will provide important improvements to the manuscript.

This is done in the most respectful way possible for everyone involved.

Kind regards.

Comments on the Quality of English Language

English must be improved, there are many very long sentences, which makes understanding difficult

Author Response

Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

This paper examined ecological risk zoning control in Zhundong Economic Development Zone based on landscape pattern changes for 20 years based on the extant data downloaded internet sources. In Discussion, most of the description is recommendation as stated in (1), (2) and (3) and there are few scientific discussion comparing past studies. Authors just cited two papers only in Discussion and they do not evaluate the present method, outcomes and evidence are relevant/appropriate to past studies or not. In methodology, although they have examined for 20 years but they only used 5 year intervals (every 5 years). Since they do not use their original data, they should evaluate every year for 20 years. Therefore, the outcomes do not show proper fluctuations with the rough data. I suggest the paper would be useful as a monograph to local community but not for the international scientific paper. I put some minor comments as follows.

 

1, Figure 1 must include a map of China and then show the study site.

2, Figure 6&7 must eliminate Chinese characteristics after each year.  

Comments on the Quality of English Language

Moderate editing of English language is required.

Author Response

Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Dear authors

Thanks for the corrections presented. Some minimum recommendations are listed below:

Recommendation: It is recommended that the manuscript be written in the third person. For example, the word "we" appears 26 times.

L2.- Considering the global impact of the journal Sustainability, it is recommended to replace “Zhundong”, for example with “Northwest China” or as justified by the authors, because they recommend not changing.

L4.- Add space between authors and indicate corresponding author.

L9.- Considering the journal template. Add corresponding author.

L37-42.- Add reference or references.

L54-67.- Check the references and add et al to where applicable. Additionally, write the sentence in plural.

L56.- …[6]evaluated…. Add space.

L58.- …[7]used…. Add space.

L62.- …[8]explored…. Add space.

L64.- …[9]et al…. Add space.

L65.- …[10]analyzed…. Add space.

L125.- m/km change for m km^-1.

L119-135.- Add reference or references.

L137.- Figure 1 is not cited in the previous paragraph.

L146.- The abbreviation DEM. It is not necessary to indicate, considering that it is not used again.

L205.- The abbreviation ERI. It is not necessary to indicate, considering that it was already defined in the L99.

L208.-Change lowest-risk for lower-risk.

L210.-Change highest-risk for higher-risk.

L232.- Insert tables 1 & 2.

L243.- Insert figure 2.

L248.- The Figure 3 is not cited in any paragraph of the manuscript. It is recommended to remove or reference appropriately.

L250.- Same as the L205.

L255.- Which “figure and table”?

L266.- Change the position. In the paragraph, figure 4 is cited first and then table 3.

L267-271.- Add reference or references.

L275.-Insert figure 5.

L317.- The abbreviation LISA. It is not necessary to indicate, considering that it is not used again.

L346.- What do the authors mean by "ERA"?

L453-456.- The authors contribution section is not clear.

All references, must be adjusted to the journal template. Mainly: abbreviated name of the journal, title of the document with capital letters in all words where applicable, some cited manuscripts have DOI, however, the authors do not include them.

For example: Reference 11:

Authors:

Thoma, K.; Scharte, B.; Hiller, D.; Leismann, T.J.E.J.f.S.R. Resilience engineering as part of security research: definitions, concepts and science approaches. 2016, 1, 3-19.

 Journal templete recommendation:

Thoma, K.; Scharte, B.; Hiller, D.; Leismann, T. Resilience Engineering as Part of Security Research: Definitions, Concepts and Science Approaches. Eur. J. Secur. Res. 2016, 1, 3-19. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41125-016-0002-4

 Kind regards.

Author Response

Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 3 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

I can recommend the paper to be published as an essay but not an article.

Author Response

请参阅附件。

Author Response File: Author Response.docx