A Study on the Optimization of Ecological Spatial Structure Based on Landscape Risk Assessment: A Case Study of Wensu County, Xinjiang, China

Qian Li, Junjie Yan (), Junhui Cheng (), Yan Xu, Yincheng Gong, Guangpeng Zhang, Hongbo Ling and Ruyi Pan
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Qian Li: College of Resources and Environment, Xinjiang Agricultural University, Urumqi 830052, China
Junjie Yan: Institute of Resources and Ecology, Yili Normal University, Yining 835000, China
Junhui Cheng: College of Resources and Environment, Xinjiang Agricultural University, Urumqi 830052, China
Yan Xu: Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Ecological Water Resources Research Center (Academician and Expert Workstation of the Department of Water Resources of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region), Urumqi 830099, China
Yincheng Gong: Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Ecological Water Resources Research Center (Academician and Expert Workstation of the Department of Water Resources of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region), Urumqi 830099, China
Guangpeng Zhang: State Key Laboratory of Ecological Safety and Sustainable Development in Arid Lands, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi 830011, China
Hongbo Ling: State Key Laboratory of Ecological Safety and Sustainable Development in Arid Lands, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi 830011, China
Ruyi Pan: Institute of Resources and Ecology, Yili Normal University, Yining 835000, China

Land, 2025, vol. 14, issue 7, 1-21

Abstract: Ecological network construction has been widely accepted and applied to guide regional ecological conservation and restoration. For arid regions, ecological networks proposed based on ecological risk assessments are better aligned with the sensitive and fragile characteristics of local ecosystems. This study assesses landscape ecological risk in Wensu County, located on the southern slope of the Tianshan Mountains in the arid region of northwestern China, and it further proposes an optimized ecological network. A multidimensional framework composed of the natural environment, human society, and landscape patterns was employed to construct an ecological risk assessment system. Spatial principal component analysis (SPCA) was applied to identify the spatial pattern of ecological risk. Morphological spatial pattern analysis (MSPA) and a minimum cumulative resistance (MCR) model integrated with circuit theory were used to extract the ecological sources and delineate the ecological corridors. The results reveal significant spatial heterogeneity in terms of ecological risk: Low-risk zones (16.26%) are concentrated in the southwestern forest and water areas. In comparison, high-risk zones (28.27%) are mainly distributed in the northern mountainous mining region. A total of 24 ecological source patches (4105.24 km 2 ), 44 ecological corridors (313.6 km), 39 ecological pinch points, and 38 ecological barriers were identified. Following optimization, the Integral Index of Connectivity (IIC) increased by 89.04%, and the Landscape Coherence Probability (LCP) rose by 105.23%, indicating markedly enhanced ecological connectivity. The current ecological network exhibits weak connectivity in the south and fragmentation in the central region. Targeted restoration of critical nodes, optimization of corridor configurations, and expansion of ecological sources are recommended to improve landscape connectivity and promote biodiversity conservation.

Keywords: landscape pattern optimization; principal component analysis (PCA); ecological corridor; Wensu County (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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