Search

The World Natural Heritage Sites (WNHSs), which have unique ecosystems, ecological landscapes, and biodiversity, are the common heritage of all of humanity. The evolutionary pathway of ecosystem services (ESs) in the Karst WNHS between the years 2000 and 2020 has been examined, and the trade-offs and synergies among the ESs have been quantified. This research serves as a point of reference for the rational utilization of natural resources and for the protection of the ecological environment within the Karst WNHS. This research aims to assess the following ESs in the Karst WNHS, for the period 2000–2020: water conservation (WC), soil conservation (SC), carbon sequestration (CS), and habitat quality (HQ). Additionally, the objective of this study is to examine the space–time evolution of these ESs. Spearman's correlation coefficient and spatial auto-correlation analyses were utilized to ascertain the temporal and spatial trade-offs and synergies for each ES. The results of this study indicate the following: (1) Between the years 2000 and 2020, the inter-annual changes in HQ and CS at the Shibing and Libo-Huanjiang WNHS exhibited a relatively stable pattern, with a gradual increasing trend, and in contrast, the inter-annual changes in WC and SC exhibited greater fluctuations; (2) the distribution of ESs is closely linked to land use patterns, and woodland is the most critical land type of the ESs, contributing the most to each ES; (3) population density is negatively correlated with various ecosystem services, while GDP is positively correlated with each ecosystem service; and (4) the Karst WNHS in Southern China demonstrates a clear and significant synergistic relationship between WC and CS. This relationship is primarily characterised by a strong synergistic effect. The synergistic relationship between HQ and WC exhibited a weakening trend within both study areas. Furthermore, the SC demonstrated a spatial trade-off relation with HQ, CS, and WC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the hot spot and key topic in landscape ecology, the construction of ecological security pattern strives to maintain the integrity of landscape patterns and the continuity of the ecological process, and achieve sustainable development of the region. Taking Hefei City in China as a study area, according to the basal ecological features of Hefei City, the InVEST model was used to select three key indicators of ecosystem service importance (biodiversity, water yield, and carbon storage) to identify ecological sources; the resistance surface based on land use types was modified by the nighttime light (NTL) data; the potential ecological corridors were identified using minimal cumulative resistance model; lastly, the key ecological corridors were extracted using the gravity model. The results showed that: By combining 14 ecological sources, 91 potential ecological corridors, 16 key corridors, and ecological nodes, the ecological security pattern of Hefei City was constructed. Hefei's ecological source area is 1911.7 km2, accounting for 16.68% of the city's total area. It was dominated by water and woodland, which was distributed in the city's eastern and southern regions. The potential ecological corridor was 926.71 km long, while the key ecological corridor was 56.7 km long. Finally, A "One vertical and three horizontal" Hefei City ecological security pattern was built on this foundation. Our research results had important guiding significance for the sustainable utilization of ecological resources in Hefei City and could provide theoretical basis and technical support for ecological protection in Hefei City. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Territorial space ecological restoration is a significant way to map the development of "ecological priority, green, and low-carbon" and realize the goal of reducing carbon emissions. Based on the evaluation of the degree of urban ecological resilience restriction, this study aimed to diagnose the key areas of surface–line–point ecological restoration under the guidance of the resilience target by constructing a patch–corridor–matrix ecological network; then, the corresponding repair strategy was proposed. The results showed that (1) there was an obvious core–periphery structure in the resilience restriction intensity of the Chengdu–Chongqing region, showing a gradual decreasing trend from Chengdu and Chongqing to the surrounding cities; (2) the regional ecological network, including 17 ecological source patches and 33 potential ecological corridors, was identified; and (3) the diagnosed key areas of ecological restoration were composed of surface–line–point multiscale spatial morphology, including 7793.81 km2 of key areas of ecological source restoration, 380.39 km of key areas of ecological corridor restoration, and 29 key areas of ecological pinch point restoration. The construction of ecological restoration strategies with carbon neutralization as the core idea at different scales was realized. The research can provide a reference for scientifically identifying key areas of ecological restoration in territorial space, coordinating and planning major projects of ecological restoration, and optimizing the allocation of natural resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: According to Global Biodiversity Outlook 5, the Aichi Biodiversity Target regarding protected areas (PAs) has been partially achieved with limited progress in valid performance for biodiversity conservation and effective management. This suggests that not only the spatial planning of PAs but also the spatial prioritization for PAs under different management scenarios need more prudent decision-making. Objectives: We aim to develop a comprehensive approach to identify and prioritize PAs to maximize the effectiveness of biodiversity conservation while minimize the conservation costs. Methods: Taking Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region as a case study, we consider the supply and demand of ecosystem services, and landscape connectivity to identify PAs. Systematic conservation planning decision support tool Marxan was employed to identify the priority areas of PAs under multi-target scenarios. The conservation costs, the critical step in the planning process, was estimated using habitat quality evaluation module embedding in InVEST model. Results: The results showed that the conservation costs for construction land and unused land were the highest, while the costs for forest land, grassland, and farmland were very low. Sensitivity analysis confirmed the most appropriate conservation goal was 50% of the total area. Therefore, we generated spatial prioritization outcomes based on this target. The highest priority area was mainly located in the northwest of Beijing, the north of Chengde, and the east of Zhangjiakou. Conclusions: It is concluded that the proposed approach helps decision-makers to identify spatial prioritization for biodiversity conservation based on different scenarios and also yields insights into systematic conservation planning and management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: The major goal of ecological security patterns (ESPs) is to identify key ecological sources and corridors, which play an important role in achieving regional sustainability. Although an increasing number of reviews have been published on constructing ESPs, reasonably prioritizing ecological corridors to maintain vital ecological processes and landscape connectivity remains a challenge. Objective: This study aimed to provide guidance for landscape management and decision making by developing an evaluation framework to construct ESPs and further prioritize potential corridors. Methods: Taking Jiangsu Province as a study area, we identified ecological sources by considering three key ecosystem services (biodiversity, carbon storage and water yield) and three ecological sensitivity indicators (soil erosion sensitivity, water sensitivity and habitat sensitivity) using the InVEST model, RULSE model and GIS spatial overlay analysis. Then, ecological corridors were delineated with the least-cost path method, and the ESPs were obtained by combining these corridors with ecological sources. We further prioritized ecological corridors based on the gravity model and the probability of connectivity index. Results: The ESPs of Jiangsu Province contained 51 patches and 37 corridors. The total area of the ecological patches was 15,170.51 km2, accounting for 14.61% of the study area and primarily consisting of water bodies, cropland and forestland. Ecological corridors comprised 1920.38 km and were divided into four quadrants via a precedence matrix. The sixteen ecological corridors in the first quadrant (high importance and strong connectivity) were defined as priority areas and occupied 39.50% of the total corridor length. Conclusion: Our methodology framework offers a valuable tool for constructing ESPs and prioritizing corridors at the regional scale. This framework incorporates targeted ecosystem services and ecological vulnerability indicators to systematically assess and identify key ecological space. The conservation of ecological corridors selected in light of their importance and contribution to enhancing connectivity is a more targeted measure. It could be applied to other landscapes and geographical contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The scientific identification of key areas for regional ecological protection represents an important basis for maintaining regional ecological stability and enhancing regional development. It is also a developing methodology of landscape ecology (LE) research. The strategic ecological protection and integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta region is of critical significance for promoting the construction of ecological civilization in the watershed and improving societal health. Here, we analyze Anhui Province and select important ecosystem service functions (biodiversity, carbon fixation, soil conservation function, and water retention) in the study area. We construct a spatial pattern of ecosystem services for multiple scenarios based on the multi-criteria decision-making method ordered weighted averaging (OWA), calculate the trade-off degree and conservation efficiency of each scenario, identify ecological priority conservation areas, use circuit theory to explore ecological corridors and key areas and to construct regional ecological corridors, and identify regional pinch points and barrier points which may impede the construction of regional ecological security patterns. The study area is divided into an ecological protection zone, ecological buffer zone, ecological transition zone, ecological optimization zone, and ecological governance zone. Our results show that: (1) the four types of ecosystems in the study area have similar spatial distribution patterns, with an overall spatial characteristic of "high in the southwest and low in the northeast"; (2) the four types of ecosystem services in the study area show synergistic relationships at the provincial scale, but in areas with different natural and geographical characteristics, there are both synergistic and trade-off relationships between different ecosystem services; (3) a total of 121 ecological source sites were identified in the study area based on multi-criteria decision making which cover an area of 43,222.26 km2, accounting for 30.87% of the total area of the study area; and (4) a total of 250 ecological corridors, 54 pinch points, and 24 barrier points were identified in the study area based on circuit theory. Our results may provide decision support for ecological restoration and land use structure optimization in Anhui Province and other regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]