Construction of Ecological Security Patterns in Nature Reserves Based on Ecosystem Services and Circuit Theory: A Case Study in Wenchuan, China

Identification of priority areas for ecological restoration based on ecological security and landscape elements

Accurate identification of priority areas for ecological restoration is an important prerequisite for ecological protection and restoration, but it is a current challenge in landscape planning. Northern Shaanxi, which is located in the middle of the Loess Plateau in China, was selected as a study area in this paper. A three-dimensional framework including natural potential, human disturbance, and landscape pattern factors was used to construct an ecological security evaluation index system, and spatial principal component analysis (SPCA) was used to quantitatively evaluate the ecological security levels of the study area. The ecological security assessment result was used as a resistance surface, and landscape elements were identified by morphological spatial pattern analysis (MSPA), minimum cumulative resistance (MCR) model and the gravity model. On this basis, priority areas for ecological restoration were identified by considering ecosystem security and the matching degree of landscape elements. The resulting area with low and moderately low security levels was 27,574.87 km² in size, accounting for 34.48% of the total study area, and the ecological security situation was not ideal. We identified seventeen ecological sources with an area of 5789.36 km², and the important ecological sources were mainly distributed in the south of the study area. We identified one hundred and thirty-six potential ecological corridors with a total length of 7431.12 km, including 16 important ecological corridors with a length of 1279.43 km. We also identified 83 ecological nodes, including 17 important ecological nodes. We found that the high matching degree of landscape elements included four watersheds with an area of 7571.17 km², mainly distributed in the southern part of the study area. Fifty-one basins with a low matching degree of landscape elements were identified, covering an area of 50,399.44 km² and mainly distributed in the west and north of the study area. We identified three levels of areas to be restored, of which the level I ecological restoration priority area was the smallest, at 7047.61 km². The areas of the level II ecological restoration priority area and the level III ecological restoration priority area were 20,379.35 km² and 27,866.35 km², respectively. The two areas were large and mainly distributed in the west and north of the study area. We discussed ecological restoration strategies for different levels of ecological restoration priority areas and provided new methods for identifying priority ecological restoration areas in the future.

Land-planning management based on multiple ecosystem services and simulation in tropical forests

Forest losses can lead to severe damage to ecosystem services (ESs), especially in the tropics. Tropical forests are widespread in southwestern China, and they experience continual effects of human activities (e.g., rubber boom). However, forest simulations of land planning have not yet been systematically conducted. Based on a future land-use simulation model, here, the spatio-temporal characteristics of four ES (i.e., soil retention, water yield, carbon fixation, and habitat quality) were examined, and three scenarios (i.e., natural development, rubber development, and ecological protection) were designed and evaluated during 2000 for Xishuangbanna (XSBN), southwestern China. The results showed that: (1) from 2000 to 2020, the average values of the ESs declined by 449.1 t for soil retention, 13.4 mm for water yield, 0.1 for habitat quality, and 0.1 kg C/m² for carbon fixation; (2) the four ESs, with the exception of water yield, had synergistic relationships, and trade-off appeared on the margins of these synergistic relationships; (3) compared with the scenarios of natural development and rubber development, the environmental protection scenario was found to have high efficiency for protecting nature reserves and reducing fragmentation; and (4) the intensity of land-use change will accelerate the decrease of ESs, and it is essential for nature reserves and areas of northern XSBN to improve their level of environmental protection. This work not only further enriches the ES research from the ecological environment and land-planning points of view, but it also provides different planning perspectives for ES and forest scenarios. This is useful in methodical approaches to forest sustainability.

Spatial Patterns of Natural Protected Areas and Construction of Protected Area Groups in Guangdong Province

The fragmentation of protected areas is a common issue in global conservation, which means a new approach to planning and management needs to be explored. In this paper, we proposed the concept of a group of natural protected areas (GNPA) and studied the construction of GNPAs. Firstly, the spatial distribution characteristics of 1363 natural protected areas (NPAs) in Guangdong Province were qualitatively studied. The overall spatial pattern among NPAs and the spatial distribution characteristics of mountain ranges, river basins, urbanization level and economic density were analyzed, and the relationship between the distribution of NPAs and physical geography and social development was clarified. Then, the geographical concentration index, nearest index and Gini coefficient were used for quantitative analysis. The geographical concentration index was 24.6, and the nearest neighbor index was 0.8. The Gini coefficients of the spatial distribution of NPAs in Guangdong Province were Gini = 0.956 and C = 0.044. These indices proved that the overall spatial patterns of NPAs in Guangdong Province had the tendency and characteristics of agglomeration. On this basis, 29 agglomeration areas were constructed using kernel density analysis and the natural break point classification method. According to the requirements of spatial connectivity and management feasibility, combined with the characteristics of physical geography, ecosystems and biodiversity, 32 GNPAs were constructed based on the reasonable adjustment of 29 agglomeration areas. Using Geodetector statistics to analyze the spatial stratified heterogeneity of the GNPAs, the results showed that mountain range, water system, population density, economic density and urbanization level were all factors that could explain the clustering distribution of the natural protected areas. The most important factor was mountain range (p = 0.190), followed by population density (p = 0.162). The 32 GNPAs covered the most representative natural ecosystems in the province and had compact spatial organization, a close ecological relationship and feasible unified management, which means they could aid in resolving the fragmentation of protected areas and improving management efficiency.

Spatial and Temporal Patterns of Ecological Connectivity in the Ethnic Areas, Sichuan Province, China

With ongoing economic and social development, natural habitats are becoming increasingly fragmented, blocking habitat connections and reducing landscape connectivity. The study of changes in ecological connectivity can provide valuable information for habitat and landscape restoration, which are necessary for sustainable regional development. Despite the growing interest in this issue, studies that reveal the change in ecological connectivity in the compounded areas of ecological vulnerability and deep poverty are still lacking. In this paper, one of the most underdeveloped and ecologically fragile southwestern ethnic regions of China, the Sanzhou region of Sichuan Province, was the study area. Based on a vector map of current land-use status and vector data on ecosystem factors and nature reserves in 2010 and 2015, the change in ecological connectivity was analyzed using the minimum cumulative resistance model using GIS spatial analysis method. Firstly, ecological sources were identified based on the distribution of ecological functional areas. Secondly, the ecological resistance surface based on ecosystem service value is revised by integrating the three dimensions of topography and hydrology, ecological environment and development, and utilization intensity. Finally, the ecological connectivity of ethnic areas in southwest China in 2010 and 2015 was compared and analyzed through the perspective of ecological resistance. The results show that: (1) From 2010 to 2015, the overall ecological connectivity decreased. (2) There were six areas of high ecological resistance featuring human activity and ecological degradation: the Anning River Valley in Liangshan Prefecture, Ganzi, Dege and Luho counties in Ganzi Prefecture, and Ruoergai and Hongyuan counties in Aba Prefecture. (3) Low ecological resistance areas were more numerous and widely distributed, forming an ecological protection barrier for the three autonomous prefectures, and regulating and protecting their natural environments. It is necessary to maintain and strengthen this protection; accordingly, measures are proposed to improve ecological connectivity. This study provides a reference for achieving ecological security and harmonious coexistence between humans and nature in this region.

Constructing the Ecological Security Pattern of Nujiang Prefecture Based on the Framework of "Importance-Sensitivity-Connectivity"

Constructing an ecological security pattern is vital to guaranteeing regional ecological security. The terrain and geomorphology of the alpine valley are complex and sensitive, meaning it is difficult to construct ecological security patterns. Therefore, the study takes Nujiang Prefecture as the study area and builds an "Importance-Sensitivity-Connectivity" (Importance of ecosystem service, eco-environmental sensitivity, and landscape connectivity) framework to carry on the comprehensive evaluation of the ecological security and identification of ecological sources. Furthermore, we constructed an ecological resistance surface using land-use type. Using the minimum cumulative resistance (MCR) model, the study identifies the ecological corridors and nodes to build ecological security patterns to optimize the ecological spatial structure of Nujiang Prefecture. The results showed that (1) the importance of ecosystem services was higher in the west and lower in the east. The high-sensitive areas of the ecological environment were distributed discontinuously along the banks of the Nujiang and the Lantsang River, and the areas with high landscape connectivity were distributed in patches in the Gaoligong Mountain Nature Reserve and the Biluo Snow Mountain. (2) The overall ecological security was in a good state, and the ecologically insecure areas were primarily distributed in Lanping County and the southeast region of Lushui City. (3) The primary ecological source area was identified to be 3281.35 km² and the secondary ecological source area to be 4224.64 km². (4) In total, 26 primary ecological corridors, 39 secondary ecological corridors, and 82 ecological nodes were identified.

Identifying ecological security patterns based on the supply, demand and sensitivity of ecosystem service: A case study in the Yellow River Basin, China

Ecological security is the basis for ecosystems to provide various ecosystem services (ESs) to humans. Identifying ecological security patterns (ESPs) is an effective approach to determine the priority conservation areas and ensure regional ecological security. However, most previous studies on ESPs were based mainly on the supply of ESs, while the demand and sensitivity of ESs were not fully considered. In this study, a comprehensive ESP identification framework was developed by integrating the supply, demand and sensitivity of ESs with the fuzzy multicriteria decision-making and circuit theory. Taking the Yellow River Basin (YRB) as a case study, our results show that the ecological sources (139,633 km² or 17.3%) of the YRB were located mainly in the transition area between the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and Loess Plateau, and in the Qinling Mountains and eastern plains; these areas reliably exhibited high conservation efficiency and low decision-making risk and tradeoff levels. However, the northern and western YRB had few ecological sources due to mismatches among the supply, demand and sensitivity of ESs. Based on circuit theory, ecological corridors (36,905 m and 76,878 km²) effectively connected the western, southern and eastern parts of the YRB. These ecological sources and corridors were both dominated by grassland, forest and cropland. However, ten pinch points, primarily covered by cropland, were also recognized in the eastern YRB and should be considered as priority areas for ecological conservation. Moreover, our results indicate that this comprehensive ESP identification framework could provide useful guidance to decision-makers for maintaining ESs and ecological conservation.

Spatio-Temporal Evolution and Obstacle Factors Analysis of Tourism Ecological Security in Huanggang Dabieshan UNESCO Global Geopark

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Global Geoparks (UGGp) and geotourism activities not only improve people’s scientific quality by popularizing geoscience knowledge, but also play important roles in protecting precious geoheritages and promoting the development of regional economies. However, tourism activities also have a negative impact on the local ecological environment, placing the regional ecological system under great pressure. Therefore, this paper constructed a tourism ecological security evaluation indicator system suitable for geoparks by using the “Driving-Pressure-State-Impact-Response” (DPSIR) model. The spatial autocorrelation and obstacle degree model are used to analyze the spatio-temporal characteristics and influencing factors of the tourism ecological security index (TESI) of Huanggang Dabieshan UGGp in 2000, 2005, 2010, 2015 and 2018, respectively. The results indicate that the TESI of the study area has gradually improved from 2000 to 2018. Spatially, the level of TESI presents a gradient distribution from the townships where the main scenic spots are located to the surrounding townships. The main obstacle factors affecting TESI include: per capita tourism income, proportion of comprehensive tourism revenue in GDP, per capita net income of rural residents, proportion of tertiary industry in GDP, coverage of nature reserves, planning integrity of geopark, informatization of geopark, growth rate of tourists, comprehensive utilization rate of solid waste, etc. The influencing factors of TESI varied from time to time. Balancing the conflict between local tourism activities and environmental protection, encouraging the participation of local communities, and strengthening science popularization for the local public will effectively improve the tourism ecological security of geoparks.

Analysis on the Evolution and Resilience of Ecological Network Structure in Wuhan Metropolitan Area

With the accelerated urbanization and frequent occurrence of climate extremes, the regional ecosystem service level has ushered in a great challenge, and the resilience of the ecological network has gradually weakened, leading to lower ecological benefits and production levels. As a core ecologically sensitive area in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, Wuhan metropolitan area has been expanding outward with rapid urbanization, crowding out surrounding arable and ecological land, and facing serious challenges to the sustainable development of the national space, while current cross-regional ecological protection measures need to be strengthened urgently, and exploring the structural resilience of its ecological network is of great significance to promote regional stability. In this study, Wuhan metropolitan area is taken as an example, and we explore the evolution and laws of ecological network structure from the perspective of network analysis by constructing ecological networks in Wuhan metropolitan area in 2000, 2010, and 2020. Firstly, we select regions from the ecological control line developed in China as ecological source sites, and also select multivariate data to supplement them. Then, the ecological network was established using the MCR model. Finally, network analysis was applied to discuss the evolution of network structure under multiple times and propose corresponding conservation strategies. The results show that (1) the major ecological resistance of Wuhan urban area has increased by 5.24% in 20 years. (2) The centrality and connectivity of the network nodes have increased over the 20-year period, and the overall structure of the network has stabilized and the resilience of the network has increased. (3) There is a strong link between changes in the network as a whole and local resilience. The results of the study will help analyze the relationship between the network as a whole and the region, and provide reference for optimizing the ecological network and constructing the systematic management of ecological security pattern.

Integrating ecosystem services and landscape connectivity to construct and optimize ecological security patterns: a case study in the central urban area Chongqing municipality, China

Rapid urbanization is often accompanied by the irrational utilization of natural resources and environmental degradation. Ecological security pattern (ESP) is an effective way for rational allocation of resources, which is conducive to achieving sustainable development. Taking the central urban area Chongqing municipality as the study area, ecological sources were identified by integrating ecosystem services and landscape connectivity. Combining natural and anthropogenic factors, a resistance surface was constructed and modified, and four ecological function zones were determined. Ecological corridors were extracted and prioritized by Linkage Mapper and the gravity model, and ecological nodes were also obtained. A network connectivity assessment was performed to compare the connectivity of ESPs before and after optimization. The results showed that ESPs included 2453.72 km² of ecological sources, 189 ecological corridors, 69 ecological nodes and 4 ecological function zones. The ecological sources primarily consisted of forestland, cultivated land and water bodies in Jinyun, Zhongliang, Tongluo, Mingyue and other mountainous areas, with the maximum distribution index value at the tenth level of the terrain niche index gradient. The Yangtze River and Jialing River were also the most important ecological sources. Ecological corridors were mainly dominated by forestland and cultivated land. Ecological nodes were concentrated in Yubei, Banan and Jiulongpo districts. The optimized ESPs had higher network connectivity and closure, with a more uniform distribution of ecological corridors, and included 2461.95 km² of ecological sources, 218 ecological corridors and 72 ecological nodes. Finally, recommendations for sustainable development were proposed. This study provides a theoretical reference for decision-making related to ecological protection and urban planning.

Construction of Ecological Security Patterns Based on Circuit Theory under the Resistance Distance Principle

Against the background of China’s advocating ecological civilisation construction, an urgent task and a major challenge are to identify key places for ecological protection and restoration and then propose optimisation strategies for future land use, especially in the Pearl River Delta (PRD), one of the regions in China that has the highest urbanisation level. In this study, we find the key places by constructing ecological security patterns and proposing optimisation strategies for future land use by analysing land-use status. We also propose a source identification method based on the resistance distance principle. Results show that forty-six sources were mainly distributed in the mountainous areas surrounding PRD but were less distributed along both sides of the Pearl River estuary. The difference in the spatial distribution of sources is remarkable. Eighty-four corridors generally had spider-like shapes. In the central plain of PRD, corridors were relatively long and narrow. Ninety pinch points were concentrated on existing rivers. Three barriers were located in the corridors between adjacent sources. Two artificial corridors were proposed to be established, which can improve the ecological network connectivity. The method for extracting sources based on the resistance distance principle is proven to be advantageous for improving the integrity of source extraction results and making ecological security patterns more reasonable.

Bibliometric Analysis of Global Research on Ecological Networks in Nature Conservation from 1990 to 2020

As a nature-based solution to land-use sustainability, ecological networks (ENs) have received substantial attention from researchers, planners, and decision-makers worldwide. To portray the global research on ENs in nature conservation during the period of 1990–2020, 1371 papers in 53 subject categories were reviewed with bibliometric methods and CiteSpace. The results showed a successive growth of publications at an annually averaged rate of 18.9% during the past three decades. Co-citation analysis indicated that the most popular topic was connectivity, on which the studies concentrated on quantifying connectivity, identifying priority areas, and integrating conservation planning. A recent hotspot is to study the landscape fragmentation effects on natural habitats or biodiversity under land-use changes in urbanized areas. Multidisciplinary approaches have been increasingly used to tackle more complex interplays among economic, social, ecological, and cultural factors, with the aim of alleviating ecological service losses attributed to human activities. Spatiotemporal dynamics and participatory design of ENs at different scales have become an emerging trend. In order to address increasing pressures on biodiversity or landscape connectivity brought about by land use and climate change, it is suggested to develop more research on the evaluation and management of the resilience of ENs.

Construction of Ecological and Recreation Patterns in Rural Landscape Space: A Case Study of the Dujiangyan Irrigation District in Chengdu, China

The rapid expansion of urbanization has promoted the prosperity of the economy and society but has also caused rural ecological problems. This study takes the Dujiangyan Irrigation District as an example, to construct ecological and recreation patterns, and it breaks through the pattern construction mode of using a single ecological factor that has been used in previous studies. We analyzed the impact of landscape connectivity and area thresholds at different scales on the selection of source areas, and integrated urban construction and human disturbance factors into resistance surface construction. Finally, a comprehensive landscape network combining “ecology and recreation” was determined through the minimum cumulative resistance model. Multiscale landscape connectivity analysis and area threshold setting greatly promoted the results of source identification. After optimization, we identified four ecological corridors and twenty-seven recreational corridors, and the regional landscape security pattern was significantly improved compared with the previous upper planning content. Therefore, this study provides a reference for regional long-term planning and has reference significance for the spatial protection and utilization of rapidly urbanizing areas.

Combining MSPA-MCR Model to Evaluate the Ecological Network in Wuhan, China

Rapid urbanization development and construction has seriously threatened the connectivity of habitat patches in cities and hindered the construction of ecological networks in highly urbanized areas. Among them, China is affected by early compressed urbanization, and the broken ecological space in cities and towns has attracted the extensive interest of researchers. To avoid the subjective randomness and single analysis of ecological space in urbanization areas, this paper takes the central urban area of Wuhan as the main research area. It comprehensively evaluates the ecological network space by combining the MSPA-MCR model. The main conclusions are as follows: (1) Identifying the ecological landscape types with important ecological significance in the study area: Core (88.29%), Islet (0.25%), Perf (0.63%), Edge (9.74%), Loop (0.22%), and Bridge (0.14%). Through the dPC landscape index, seven important ecological sources south of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River were identified. (2) According to the comprehensive factors of natural and human factors constructed by the MCR model, the minimum cumulative ecological resistance surface was established, with an average value of 2.65, a maximum value of 4.70, and a minimum value of 1.00, showing a trend that the ecological resistance values in the central and eastern parts are lower than those in the western part. (3) According to the standard deviation ellipse, the distribution direction of NE–SW in ecological sources was analyzed. The ecological sources distributed in the north were less, and the spatial distribution was scattered on the whole. The strong global positive correlation and local spatial aggregation characteristics of ecological resistance surface were evaluated according to spatial autocorrelation. Based on the gravity model, the interaction intensity of ecological corridors between source areas was evaluated, and the importance of ecological corridor protection and restoration was quantitatively analyzed. The research results provide scientific and reasonable references and a basis for ecological planning of Wuhan central city.

Identifying Ecological Security Patterns Based on Ecosystem Services Is a Significative Practice for Sustainable Development in Southwest China

Southwest China, which is rich in biodiversity and a wide range of ecosystem services (ESs), is a strong support for local human wellbeing. This area is also one of the key components of the ecological security shelter (ESS) for national ecological security and biodiversity conservation. Due to the combination of man-made and natural factors, Southwest China has suffered serious ecological degradation that directly threatens ecological security which refers to the health status of ecosystems and ESs functions. Mapping ESs-based ecological security patterns (ESPs) is essential for designing conservation strategies that suitably combine regional environment conservation with sustainable utilization. We used the InVEST (Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs Tool) model to identify ecological conservation priority areas which integrated ecological sensitivity (soil erosion sensitivity, rock desertification sensitivity, landslide sensitivity, debris flow sensitivity, and freezing-thawing erosion sensitivity), ecological risk (drought risk, natural disaster risk, and socio-economic risk), and ecological conservation importance (soil conservation, water conservation, and biodiversity conservation importance). In this research, we summarized a new designing framework of ESs-based ESPs. We divided the study area into two zones and four belts including: (A) the alpine steppe and wetland zone, (B) Hengduan Mountain zone, (C) northern shelter belt (Daba-Micang Mountain), (D) central shelter belt (Wumeng-Wuling Mountain), (E) southern shelter belt (southern border of China), and (F) southwestern shelter belt (eastern Himalayas Mountain). Identifying distributions of the ESs-based ESPs has practical significance to improve local human wellbeing and to maintain sustainable development of natural-social ecosystems in Southwest China. Furthermore, ESs-based ESPs are necessary for local administrations to create rationalizing plans on balancing conservation and utilization of natural resources, so that policy-makers can put into place targeted prevention and control measures to limit the development of excessive consumption of natural resources and ecological damages, which is worth promoting.

Ecological Security Pattern Construction in Karst Area Based on Ant Algorithm

Constructing the ecological security pattern is imperative to stabilize ecosystem services and sustainable development coordination of the social economy and ecology. This paper focuses on the Karst region in southeastern Yunnan, which is ecologically fragile. This paper selects the main types of ecosystem services and identifies the ecological source using hot spot analysis for Guangnan County. An inclusive consideration of the regional ecologic conditions and the rocky desertification formation mechanism was made. The resistance factor index system was developed to generate the basic resistance surface modified by the ecological sensitivity index. The Ant algorithm and Kernel density analysis were used to determine ecological corridor range and ecological restoration points that constructed the ecological security pattern of Guangnan County. The results demonstrated that, firstly, there were twenty-three sources in Guangnan County, with a total area of 1292.77 km², accounting for 16.74% of the total. The forests were the chief ecological sources distributed in the non-Karst area, where Bamei Town, Yangliujing Township and Nasa Town had the highest distribution. Secondly, the revised resistance value is similar to “Zhe (Zhetu Township)-Lian (Liancheng Town)-Yang (Yangliujing Township)-Ban (Bambang Township)”. The values were lower in the north and higher in the south, which is consistent with the regional distribution of Karst. Thirdly, the constructed ecological security pattern of the “Source-Corridor-Ecological restoration point” paradigm had twenty-three ecological corridors. The chief ecological and potential corridor areas were 804.95 km² and 621.2 km², respectively. There are thirty-eight ecological restoration points mainly distributed in the principal ecological corridors and play a vital role in maintaining the corridor connectivity between sources. The results provide guidance and theoretical basis for the ecological security patterns construction in Karst areas, regional ecologic security protection and sustainable development promotion.

The Spatiotemporal Evolution Analysis of Ecosystem Pattern in Wenchuan (Magnitude 8.0) Earthquake Disaster Area, China

The ecological system is the basis of human survival and global environmental protection. In the process of development, countries will pay close attention to the changing state of the ecosystem. Taking the ecosystem pattern as the research object, a three-layer analysis method was proposed. The transfer matrix and landscape index were used as the first layer to analyze the basic changes. Grey correlation, range-coupling coordination and relative priority were used as the second layer to analyze the reasons of the change. The interval-entropy weight, TOPSIS (Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to an Ideal Solution), was used as the third layer to evaluate the quality of the change. The ten counties in the worst-hit areas of the Wenchuan earthquake were analyzed from different angles, with county region, intensity zone and ecosystem as the objects, and the following results were obtained: (1) Taking Mianzhu City as an example, from 2000 to 2010 and 2018, the conversion ratio of forest, grassland and farmland is 54.24, 59.19, 17.21, 20.06, 37.39 and 52.86%, which were distributed in the north, central and southern parts, respectively. (2) Taking the ninth intensity zone as an example, the forest landscape fragmentation increased, disturbance decreased, and species diversity increased. There is a high influence and restriction relationship between ecosystem and landscape pattern in the total landscape area change. Additionally, the relationship between them tends to develop in a benign way. As of 2018, it is in the change state of moderate imbalance-ecosystem lag. (3) Taking the county ecosystem change as an example, urban type is the best in the counties of ecosystem change, of which Shifang is the best and Pingwu is the worst. The results show that this method can effectively compare and analyze the changes in the multi-regional ecosystem pattern, which has the characteristics of universality and can also be applied to the research of ecosystem pattern change in special regions.

Simulating Urban Growth Scenarios Based on Ecological Security Pattern: A Case Study in Quanzhou, China

In recent decades, the ecological security pattern (ESP) has drawn increasing scientific attention against the backdrop of rapid urbanization and worsening ecological environment. Despite numerous achievements in identifying and constructing the ecological security pattern, limited attention has been paid on applying ESP to predict urban growth. To bridge the research gap, this paper took Quanzhou, China as a study case and incorporated the identified ESP into an urban growth simulation with three distinct scenarios. Following the “ecological source–ecological corridor–ecological security pattern” paradigm, the ESP identification was carried out from four single aspects (i.e., water, geology, biodiversity, and recreation) into three levels (i.e., basic ESP, intermediate ESP, and optimal ESP). Grounded in an equally weighted superposition algorithm, the four single ESPs were combined as an integrated ESP (IESP) with three levels. Taking IESP as an exclusion element, urban growth simulation in 2030 was completed with thee SLEUTH model. Drawing on the three levels of IESP, our urban growth simulation contained three scenarios. In terms of urban sprawl distribution coupled with urban growth rate, an optimal urban growth scenario is recommended in this paper to balance both urban development and eco-environment protection. We argue that our ESP-based urban growth simulation results shed new light on predicting urban sprawl and have the potential to inform planners and policymakers to contribute to more environmentally-friendly urban development.

Establishing Ecological Security Patterns Based on Reconstructed Ecosystem Services Value in Rapidly Urbanizing Areas: A Case Study in Zhuhai City, China

Rapid urbanization has caused a reduction in green lands, negatively affecting the functions of ecosystem services (ESs). The 11th goal and other goals of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have highlighted the importance of the balanced development of cities and the environment. ESs are essential for human well-being, so their application in sustainable development study is indispensable. The ecological security pattern (ESP) provides an integrated strategy for maintaining a balance between a sustainable supply of ESs and urbanization. However, establishing an ESP with the goal of satisfying human requirements for ESs in a rapidly urbanizing area has not been well studied. Thus, it is necessary to build an ESP based on ecosystem service value (ESV) reconstruction to manage urban ecosystems sustainably. Based on land use data and field data, this study approached the research gap by related analyses. The first analysis involved dynamic reconstruction of ESVs using the static ESV and importance indices of ESs from 1999–2013. The second analysis involved using hot spot analysis (Getis-Ord Gi * statistics) to distinguish heterogeneous units of the dynamic ESV to identify ecological sources. The third analysis involved establishing the ESP in Zhuhai city, using the minimum cumulative resistance (MCR) model. The results indicated that the ESV of Zhuhai city displayed an upward trend. The functions of water conservation and waste treatment contributed most to the total ESV, while grain production and raw material contributed least in the study area. In the restructuring of ESVs in 2005, 2009, and 2013, the per unit area of the ESV decreased slightly. The areas with high ESVs continued to shrink, while the areas with low ESVs gradually expanded. The ESP of Zhuhai city exhibits great connectivity and strong plasticity, which specifically provides a reliable and visual way to build sustainable cities from a quantitative perspective, generally consistent with the urban ecological planning of Zhuhai city. This study provides an important reference for the application of ESs to achieve SDGs in coastal, rapidly urbanizing regions.

Construction of Cooling Corridors with Multiscenarios on Urban Scale: A Case Study of Shenzhen

Under the background of rapid urbanization, the urban heat island (UHI) effect is becoming increasingly significant. It is very important for the sustainable development of cities to carry out quantitative research on the mitigation of the UHI effect at an urban scale. Taking Shenzhen as an example, this paper puts forward a method for building a cooling corridor for the city with multiscenarios based on the theory of ecological security pattern (ESP), which can realize quantitative planning of the spatial layout of urban green infrastructure (UGI) to alleviate the UHI effect. In this study, cooling sources are identified from the three dimensions of habitat quality, landscape connectivity, and the capacity to provide cooling ecosystem services. The cooling corridors that are superior at cooling, isolation, and ventilation are selected and optimized. The results show that the identified ecological cooling source area accounts for 33.18% of the total area of Shenzhen, and more than 85% of the area falls within the scope of the basic ecological control line of Shenzhen. There are 48 cooling corridors with a total length of 289.17 km in the cooling priority scenario, which mostly pass through the high-temperature and subhigh-temperature areas of each administrative region and city, providing a good cooling effect but poor feasibility. There are 48 corridors with a total length of 326.66 km in the isolation priority scenario, which mostly pass through the administrative region boundary and have a weak connection with the urban heat island, avoiding the built-up areas with strong human activities. As consequence, cooling is relatively achievable, but its effect is not ideal. There are 47 corridors with a total length of 368.06 km in the ventilation priority scenario, including many urban main roads and river systems that fully utilize the area’s strong natural wind conditions and realize various functions; however, the cooling effect is suboptimal. Corridors with great potential in cooling, isolation, ventilation, and noise reduction were determined after comprehensive optimization.

Spatiotemporal Analysis and Control of Landscape Eco-Security at the Urban Fringe in Shrinking Resource Cities: A Case Study in Daqing, China

As the main bearing area of the ecological crisis in resource-rich cities, it is essential for the urban fringe to enhance regional ecological security during a city's transformation. This paper takes Daqing City, the largest oilfield in China's cold land, as an example. Based on remote sensing image data from 1980 to 2017, we use the DPSIR (Driving forces, Pressure, State, Impact, Response) framework and spatial auto-correlation analysis methods to assess and analyze the landscape eco-security change of the study area. From the perspective of time-space, the study area is partitioned, and control strategies are proposed. The results demonstrate that: (1) The landscape eco-security changes are mainly affected by oilfield exploitation and ecological protection policies; the index declined in 1980-2000 and increased in 2000-2017. (2) The landscape eco-security index has obvious spatial clustering characteristics, and the oil field is the main area of warning. (3) The study area determined the protection area of 1692.07 km², the risk restoration area of 979.64 km², and proposed partition control strategies. The results are expected to provide new decision-making ideas in order to develop land use management and ecological plans for the management of Daqing and other resource shrinking cities.