Modelling regional ecological security pattern and restoration priorities after long-term intensive open-pit coal mining

Ecosystem services dynamics and their influencing factors: Synergies/tradeoffs interactions and implications, the case of upper Blue Nile basin, Ethiopia

Understanding the relationships among ecosystem services (ESs) and their interactions with influencing factors is essential for spatially targeted ecosystem governance. However, classifying the spatial distribution of these diverse interactions still needs improvement. Furthermore, existing studies have insufficiently addressed the specific impacts of bidirectional land cover transitions on ESs. Taking the upper Blue Nile basin as a study area, we estimated the spatiotemporal distribution of annual water yield (AWY), carbon storage (CS), habitat quality (HQ), and soil retention (SR) from 2000 to 2020, using InVEST models and associated formulas. Changes in ESs per inward-outward land cover transition were quantified based on the Cross-Tabulation Matrix. An improved pairwise method was employed to assess the spatially diverse interactions between ESs pairs and their relationship with influencing factors. The statistical significance of influencing factors was evaluated using partial least square regression. The findings indicated that high HQ values were prevalent in the west, while they were in the east for SR. The central and southern areas experienced higher CS and AWY values. During the study period, variations were observed in the mean values of SR (ranging from 22.89 to 23.88 × 102 t/ha/y), AWY (32.13-42.2 × 102 mm/ha/y), CS (90.5-102.9 × 103gC/ha/y) and HQ (0.62-0.64). Synergies were predominant in AWY-CS, AWY-SR, and CS-SR pairs. HQ revealed more of a no-effect and tradeoff relationship with other ESs. The interactions between ESs and influencing factors were dominated by synergies, followed by tradeoffs and no-effect. The influence of landscape structure (gyrate and landscape shape index) and land surface temperature on all ESs and precipitation on AWY and SR was significant (1.049 ≤ Variable Importance in the Projection ≤ 1.371). Overall, the spatiotemporal dynamics of key ESs and the modeling of their drivers are essential policy information for taking spatially explicit conservation measures. This study will also serve as a valuable methodological reference for future research.

Influence of large open-pit mines on the construction and optimization of urban ecological networks: A case study of Fushun City, China

Under the long-term effect of mineral resource exploitation, especially open-pit mining, ecosystems are severely disturbed. Constructing and optimizing urban ecological networks influenced by open-pit mines based on mine-city coordination helps integrate ecological restoration and the construction of urban ecological environments. We applied an InVEST model to Fushun City to evaluate urban ecosystem services under the influence of large open-pit mines. Twenty-one key patches important for maintaining landscape connectivity were screened as the ecological sources in the network, from which ecological resistance surfaces were constructed by combining the impacts of mines on the environment. Minimum cumulative resistance (MCR) and gravity models were then used to extract and classify ecological corridors favorable to species migration and diffusion. Fushun City had large spatial differences in ecosystem service functions, with high-value areas concentrated in the forest-rich Dongzhou District and the northern Shuncheng District. Under the influence of open-pit mining, the ecosystem service capacity of the region south of the Hunhe River was poor and lacked ecological sources. Urban ecological resistance surfaces reached a maximum in the open-pit mining area, and 210 ecological corridors were estimated using the MCR model, of which 46 were important. Only two corridors crossed the West and East open pit, forming two "ecological fracture surfaces." The Dongzhou and eastern Shuncheng districts had complex network structures and stable ecological environments. In contrast, the central and southern parts of Fushun City lacked ecological corridors owing to the influence of mining pits and gangue mountains, had simple network structures, and low connectivities with other sources. Combined with Fushun City's development plan, we propose that ecological network optimization should add new ecological source sites, reconstruct and repair ecological corridors, and upgrade ecological breakpoints. This study provides reference and basis for ecological network research in mining cities influenced by open-pit mines.

A new pattern to quantitatively evaluate the value of ecosystem services in the large-scale open-pit coal mining area

Introduction

Open-pit coal mining could disrupt the ecosystem and lead to the loss of service values for the ecosystem through direct occupation or indirect impacts on adjacent ecosystems.

Methods

In this research, we combined a new accounting system, gross ecosystem product (GEP), with spatial–temporal analyses to quantify the ecological variation and explore its driving factors in Pingshuo, a large-scale open-pit coal mining area in China. GEP is an aggregate accounting system that can summarize the value of provisioning, regulating, and cultural ecosystem services (ES) in a single monetary metric. The spatial–temporal approaches used in our study were known as exploratory spatial data analyses and interpretable models in machine learning. Both spatial and non-spatial data, including remote sensing images, meteorological data, and official statistics, were applied in the research.

Results

The results indicated the following: (i) From 1990 to 2020, the annual average growth rates of GEP decreased from 30.78 to 9.1%. Furthermore, the classified results of GEP revealed that the regions with rich ES quality rapidly reduced from 51.90 to 32.18%. (ii) Spatial correlation of GEP was significant, and the degree of spatial clustering was relatively high in the mining areas. Moreover, the mining areas also continually presented concentrated high-density and hot spot areas of GEP changes. (iii) The spatial–temporal effects were notable in the relationship between GEP and three socioeconomic factors, i.e., the mining effects, human activity intensity, and gross domestic product (GDP). (iv) The win–win development for both the economy and ecological environment in Pingshuo could be realized by restricting the annual growth rate of mining areas to between 4.56 and 5.03%.

Discussion

The accounting results and spatial–temporal analyses of GEP will contribute to the future regional sustainable development and ecosystem management in Pingshuo.

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

The supply-demand for ecosystem services (ESs) is the bridge between ecological security patterns (ESPs) and human wellbeing. This study proposed a research framework of ESP of "supply-demand-corridor-node" and took Xuzhou, China, as a research case, providing a new perspective for the construction of ESPs. The framework was divided into four sections: identifying the ecological source based on the ESs supply; utilizing multi-source economic-social data to characterize the demand of ESs and constructing a resistance surface; defining the ecological corridor in the study area by employing the Linkage Mapper; and identifying crucial ecological protection/restoration areas along the ecological corridor. The results showed that the area of the supply source of ESs in Xuzhou City is 573.89 km², accounting for 5.19% of the city's total area. The spatial distribution of 105 ecological corridors revealed that there were multiple and dense ecological corridors in the middle of the city, but few in the northwest and southeast. A total of 14 ecological protection areas were located primarily in the south of the urban area, and 10 ecological restoration areas were located primarily in the middle and north of the urban area, with a total area of 4.74 km². The findings of this article will be useful in developing ESPs and determining important ecological protection/restoration areas in Xuzhou, China. The research framework could potentially be used in other areas.

Construction and Optimization Strategy of an Ecological Network in Mountainous Areas: A Case Study in Southwestern Hubei Province, China

High-intensity urban development and economic exploitation have led to the fragmentation and isolation of regional habitat patches, and biodiversity is under serious threat. Scientific identification and effective optimization of ecological networks are essential for maintaining and restoring regional ecosystem connectivity and guiding sustainable socio-economic development. Taking the mountainous areas of southwest Hubei Province (MASHP) in central China as an example, this study first developed a new integrated approach to identify ecological sources based on a quantitative assessment of ecosystem services and the morphological spatial pattern analysis (MSPA) method; it then used the Linkage Mapper tool to extract ecological corridors, applied the principle of hydrological analysis to identify ecological nodes, evaluated each ecological element to quantify its importance, and finally constructed the ecological network and further proposed some optimization countermeasures. The results show that the ecological network in the MASHP is dominated by ecological resources composed of forestland. Connectivity in the central region is significantly better than in other regions, including 49 ecological sources with an area of 3837.92 km2, 125 ecological corridors with a total length of 2014.61 km, and 46 ecological nodes. According to the spatial distribution of crucial ecological landscape elements, a complete and systematic ecological framework of “two verticals, three belts, three groups, and multiple nodes” was proposed. The internal optimization of the ecological network in mountainous areas should focus on improving ecological flow, and strategies such as enhancing the internal connectivity of ecosystems, unblocking ecological corridors, and dividing ecological functional zones can be adopted. Based on the above analyses, this study also made recommendations for ecological protection and development and construction planning in mountainous areas. This study can provide realistic paths and scientific guidelines for ecological security and high-quality development in the MASHP, and it can also have implications for the construction of ecological networks and comprehensive ecological management in other mountainous areas.