Application of catastrophe progression method in assessing the rural ecosystem health trend in China

A catastrophe progress method based on catastrophe theory is proposed in this paper for assessment of ecosystem health of China rural areas. A set of indicators fitting for China rural areas condition are selected to establish the model and the final results show that from 1985 to 2005 the ecosystem as a whole shows an increasing trend, and the society and economic subsystem show an increasing trend, while the ecology subsystem shows a decreasing trend. It can be divided into four periods, and in 2003 there was a dramatically change, and the results are analyzed.