Construction and optimization of an ecological network based on morphological spatial pattern analysis and circuit theory

Abstract

Regional ecological networks play an important role in biodiversity conservation and should be constructed and optimized for continued ecosystem functioning. Taking a tropical region in Southwest China as the study area, we aimed to propose a new method for constructing ecological networks for Asian elephants affected by human disturbance by focusing on the importance of steppingstones for optimization. Source areas were extracted using a combination of morphological spatial pattern analysis (MSPA) and the importance of patches (PC) index. A network connecting source areas was then constructed using circuit theory. Steppingstones were added near the breaks in corridors to optimize the ecological network. The quality of the southern key corridors in the study area has improved since 1990, but few corridors connect the southern with the central and northern regions. Compared with the ecological network in 2015, the average current density more than doubled, and the potential corridor area increased by approximately eight times from 8.07 to 65.05 km2 after optimization. The connectivity between the north and south was apparently enhanced, and the landscape connectivity of the entire region had improved. Source areas can be effectively determined through the integrated use of MSPA and the PC index. Our study also confirmed that small steppingstones, which were selected based on the corridor identification results, have a strong impact on improving landscape connectivity. This study provides a method for the selection of source areas and is an important reference for the planning and optimization of ecological networks.