Designing Ecological Security Patterns Based on the Framework of Ecological Quality and Ecological Sensitivity: A Case Study of Jianghan Plain, China

Abstract

Researchers and managers of natural resource conservation have increasingly emphasized the importance of maintaining a connected network of important ecological patches to mitigate landscape fragmentation, reduce the decline of biodiversity, and sustain ecological services. This research aimed to guide landscape management and decision-making by developing an evaluation framework to construct ecological security patterns. Taking the Jianghan Plain as the study area, we identified key ecological sources by overlaying the spatial patterns of ecological quality (biodiversity, carbon storage, and water yield) and ecological sensitivity (habitat sensitivity, soil erosion sensitivity, and water sensitivity) using the Integrated Valuation of Environmental Services and Tradeoffs (InVEST) model and the Chinese Soil Loss Equation Function. Ecological corridors were obtained by the least-cost path analysis method and circuit theory. A total of 48 ecological sources (3812.95 km2), primarily consisting of water area, forestland, and cropland, were identified. Ninety-one ecological corridors were derived, with a total length of 2036.28 km. Forty barriers and 40 pinch points with the highest improvement coefficient scores or priority scores were selected. There were 11 priority corridors with very high levels of connectivity improvement potential and conservation priority, occupying 16.15% of the total length of corridors. The overall potential for ecological connectivity is high on the Jianghan Plain. Our framework offers a valuable reference for constructing ecological security patterns and identifying sites for ecological restoration at the regional scale.

Zoning of Ecological Restoration in the Qilian Mountain Area, China

“…In previous studies, many scholars have carried out ecological vulnerability [ 38 ] and ecological security assessments [ 39 ], as well as other related studies to provide decision-making guidelines based on ecological protection and restoration by identifying important and key areas of ecological restoration [ 40 ]. The commonly used assessment models for ecosystem vulnerability studies are the pressure-state-response (PSR) [ 41 ] and the exposure-sensitive-adaptive (ESA) models [ 42 ].…”

Study of Spatiotemporal Changes and Driving Factors of Habitat Quality: A Case Study of the Agro-Pastoral Ecotone in Northern Shaanxi, China

“…Due to the lack of standard parameter settings for InVEST, the relevant parameters used in this study are adjusted based on model manuals, the literature, and expert experience, which is subjective and may lead to findings that differ from those reported [52]. (2) This study calculates habitat quality based on linear threat sources and area threat sources but does not consider the impact of point threat sources such as pollutant emissions [53]. In the future, we should strengthen point-source pollution data and consider the impact of specific human activities on habitat quality, as well as supplement and optimize model parameters to improve model accuracy [54].…”

Evaluation Method and Application of Ecological Sensitivity of Intercity Railway Network Planning

“…Research data sources: (1) The protected area data come from the main functional zoning of Guizhou Province, the ecological protection red line of Guizhou Province and the distribution map of the ecological protection red line of Guizhou Province issued by the People's Government of Guizhou Province. (2) The drinking water source data are from the water quality monitoring results of county-level centralized drinking water sources issued by the Department of Ecological Environment of Guizhou Province.…”

“…Currently, many studies on ecological sensitivity evaluation have been reported and were mainly focused on the following aspects: (1) ecological sensitivity evaluation of a certain region, such as Jianghan Plain, China [1], Three Gorges Reservoir Area in China [2], Denizli Province, Turkey [3], Pingtan Island (China) and Nile Delta (Egypt) [4], along the Yangtze River in China [5], etc. ; (2) Special research should be conducted on sensitive factors, such as soil erosion [6][7][8], geological disasters [9][10][11][12], cultivated land resources [13][14][15], and water resources [16][17][18]; (3) Spatial planning or spatial pattern optimization based on ecological sensitivity analysis, such as the optimization of spatial patterns of resource-based cities [19], optimization of land use spatial patterns [20], urban development boundary planning [21], landscape spatial planning [22], etc.…”