Assessing the Impact of Road Network on Urban Landscape Ecological Risk Based on Corridor Cutting Degree Model in Fuzhou, China

Abstract

The rapidly expanding road network has resulted in the separation of the urban ecological landscape. To assess the potential implication of the road systems on the landscape ecological risk, the corridor cutting degree model based on roadway impact zones was introduced, and the effects of the road system on the landscape pattern change were analyzed in Fuzhou City, China, in 2000, 2010, and 2020. Meanwhile, through spatial auto-correlation analysis and a geographical detector model, it was shown that there was a link between the characteristics of the road network and the temporal and spatial distribution of landscape ecological risk index, and the main determinants of landscape ecological risk were identified. The outcome indicated that (1) the intermediate cutting had the greatest impact on the ecological landscape of the four corridor cutting modes of the road network. Furthermore, the land types with a higher corridor cutting degree index were woodland, cultivated land, and grassland, accounting for 35.23%, 33.61%, and 5.95% of the total cutting areas, respectively, and the landscape fragmentation was relatively serious. (2) Fuzhou’s landscape ecological risk has significantly increased over the past 20 years, with sub-high-risk and high-risk areas experiencing increases of 9.47% and 7.63%, respectively, and the spatial distribution pattern being primarily high-high and low-low clustering. (3) Corridor cutting degree index (CCI) and distance from sampling point to road (shortest distance) were two key factors that altered the geographic distribution of ecological risk in the landscape, and they showed a positive and negative connection, respectively. (4) In the geographic distribution of landscape ecological risk, the interaction between CCI and land type, or shortest distance and land type, was much higher than that of other components, with an explanation rate of more than 22%. The study findings could provide a scientific basis for integrated transportation and ecological restoration strategies in national space.