Ecological Security Pattern Construction in Loess Plateau Areas—A Case Study of Shanxi Province, China

Yongyong Fu, Wenjia Zhang, Feng Gao, Xu Bi, Ping Wang and Xiaojun Wang ()
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Yongyong Fu: College of Resources and Environment, Shanxi University of Finance and Economics, Taiyuan 030006, China
Wenjia Zhang: College of Environment and Resource Science, Shanxi University, Taiyuan 030006, China
Feng Gao: College of Resources and Environment, Shanxi University of Finance and Economics, Taiyuan 030006, China
Xu Bi: College of Resources and Environment, Shanxi University of Finance and Economics, Taiyuan 030006, China
Ping Wang: College of Resources and Environment, Shanxi University of Finance and Economics, Taiyuan 030006, China
Xiaojun Wang: College of Environment and Resource Science, Shanxi University, Taiyuan 030006, China

Land, 2024, vol. 13, issue 5, 1-20

Abstract: Strong soil erosion and increasing human activities have made Loess Plateau areas ecologically fragile regions. Constructing the ecological security pattern (ESP) is imperative to maintain their ecosystem functions and sustainable development. However, it is still challenging to establish the ESP in such an unstable and scattered ecological environment. In this study, we take Shanxi Province, which suffers severe ecological problems in Loess Plateau areas, as an example to construct the ESP in a pattern of “source-resistance-corridor”. The proposed methods include the following steps: (1) potential ecological sources are selected with important ecosystem functions based on contributions of soil and water conservation, habitat quality, and carbon storage; (2) ecological sources are determined by considering core areas at the landscape scale based on morphological spatial pattern analysis (MSPA) along with stability based on dynamic assessment on previous sources; (3) the comprehensive resistance surface is constructed by multiple resistance factors and remotely sensed nighttime light data; (4) ecological corridors are simulated and extracted based on circuit theory. As a result, the proposed ESP in our study area mainly includes 13,592 km 2 of ecological sources, 8519.64 km of ecological corridors, and 277 ecological nodes. Meanwhile, an ecological framework of “two axes, three belts, and three zones” was proposed based on the optimization and reorganization of ecological components within the ESP. Our research lays a methodological and practical foundation for regional ESP construction and sustainable development in Loess Plateau areas.

Keywords: ecological sources; ecosystem service function; circuit theory (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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