Linking MSPA and Circuit Theory to Identify the Spatial Range of Ecological Networks and Its Priority Areas for Conservation and Restoration in Urban Agglomeration

Abstract

Rapid urbanization has led to the continuous degradation of natural ecological space within large urban agglomerations, triggering landscape fragmentation and habitat loss, which poses a great threat to regional ecological sustainability. Ecological networks (ENs) are a comprehensive control scheme to protect regional ecological sustainability. However, in the current research about ENs, most studies can only determine the orientation of ecological corridors but not their specific spatial range. This leads to the fact that ENs can only be abstract concepts composed of points and lines, and cannot be implemented into concrete spatial planning. In this study, taking the Shandong Peninsula urban agglomeration as an example, ecological sources were identified by morphological spatial pattern analysis (MSPA) and habitat quality assessment, ecological resistance surfaces were constructed based on habitat risk assessment (HRA). And circuit theory was used to simulate the ecosystem processes in heterogeneous landscapes via by calculating the cumulative current value and cumulative current recovery value, to identify the spatial range and key areas of ecological corridors. The results showed that the ENs includes 6,263.73 km2 of ecological sources, 12,136.61 km2 of ecological corridors, 283.61 km2 of pinch points and 347.51 km2 of barriers. Specifically, ecological sources were distributed in a spatial pattern of five groups, and ecological corridors were short and dense within groups, long in distance and narrow in width between groups. The pinch points and barriers mainly exist in the ecological corridors connecting the inner and outer parts of the central city and in the inter-group corridors. In order to ensure the connectivity and effectiveness of ENs, it is necessary to focus on the pinch points and barriers and include them in the priority areas for protection and restoration. Based on MSPA and circuit theory, this study provides a new method for determining the spatial range of ENs and the specific locations of priority areas, and provides a feasible solution for the concrete implementation of ENs to achieve effective ecological protection and restoration.

Integrating Ecosystems and Socioeconomic Systems to Identify Ecological Security Pattern and Restoration Strategy in a Rapidly Urbanizing Landscape

“…An agreement regarding the widths of different ecological corridors has not yet been reached (Peng et al, 2017c). Therefore, determining the widths of corridors is an essential point in the implementation of ESPs (Zhai and Huang, 2022). However, this has not been discussed due to the constraints of the study, but should be considered in future research.…”

“…Along with the continuous urbanization of recent decades, disorderly expansion of urban construction land and significant loss of ecological land have restricted the sustainability of urban development (Feist et al, 2017;Peng et al, 2018;Zhai and Huang, 2022). Within a coupled human and natural system, the quantity and quality of the ecosystem services are impacted by anthropogenic disturbances, which affects regional landscape patterns and ecological security (Peng et al, 2017b).…”

Determining the ecological security pattern and important ecological regions based on the supply–demand of ecosystem services: A case study of Xuzhou City, China

“…Priority management of key areas can improve the overall function of the regional ecosystem at a lower cost, helping to reach the goal of comprehensive optimization of ecological, economic, and social benefits ( 23 , 24 ). Important ecological protection areas are generally the core nodes of the regional ESPs, which can effectively conserve the region's most influential flagship species ( 8 , 25 ). Important ecological restoration areas generally restore damaged ecosystem areas by combining policies and technologies in order to increase the circulation of ecological sources ( 16 , 26 ).…”

Construction, Evaluation, and Optimization of a Regional Ecological Security Pattern Based on MSPA–Circuit Theory Approach

“…At the same time, contemporary researchers have concentrated on the administrative boundaries set by prefecture-level cities [ 30 ], provinces [ 20 ], and urban agglomerations [ 31 ], as these boundaries are clear and relevant data are easily accessible, which does add some convenience to the study. However, the spatial development of a biological species can hardly be limited by artificial administrative boundaries.…”