Spatial Structure of a Potential Ecological Network in Nanping, China, Based on Ecosystem Service Functions

Ling Xiao, Li Cui, Qun’ou Jiang, Meilin Wang, Lidan Xu and Haiming Yan
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Ling Xiao: School of Soil and Water Conservation, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China
Li Cui: College of Tourism Management, Beijing International Studies University, Beijing 100083, China
Qun’ou Jiang: School of Soil and Water Conservation, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China
Meilin Wang: School of Soil and Water Conservation, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China
Lidan Xu: School of Soil and Water Conservation, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China
Haiming Yan: Digital Territory Experiment Center, School of Land Resources and Urban & Rural Planning, Hebei GEO University, Shijiazhuang 050031, China

Land, 2020, vol. 9, issue 10, 1-18

Abstract: The increasing scale of urbanization and human activities has resulted in the fragmentation of natural habitats, leading to the reduction of ecological landscape connectivity and biodiversity. Taking Nanping as the study area, the core areas with good connectivity were extracted as ecological sources using a morphological spatial pattern analysis (MSPA) and landscape connectivity index. Then the ecosystem service functions of the ecological sources were evaluated based on the InVEST model. Finally, we extracted the potential ecological corridor based on the land type, elevation and ecosystem service functions. The results showed that the ecological source with higher landscape connectivity is distributed in the north and there are clear landscape connectivity faults in the northern and southern regions. Moreover, the areas with high habitat quality, soil retention and water production are mainly distributed in the northern ecological source areas. The 15 potential ecological corridors extracted were distributed unevenly. Among them, the important ecological corridors formed a triangle network, while the general ecological corridors were concentrated in the northwest. Therefore, it is suggested that the important core patches in the north be protected, and the effective connection between the north and south be improved. These results can provide a scientific basis for ecological construction and hierarchical management of the ecological networks.

Keywords: landscape connectivity; ecosystem service function; least-cost path; ecological network; Nanping City (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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