Construction and optimization of the Saihanba ecological network

Abstract

Since its establishment, the ecosystem of the Saihanba Mechanical Forest Farm has begun to be restored. The extraction of ecological corridors and identification of ecological nodes based on the minimum cumulative resistance model and the gravity model are important for improving regional ecological connectivity and maintaining ecological service functions. This study took the Saihanba Mechanical Forest Farm as the study area. Based on the landscape pattern index analysis of Fragstats and the ecological sensitivity analysis of the minimum resistance surface, the ecological source area was selected according to the patch areas, and the ecological corridors and ecological nodes in the study area were extracted. We combined the road network and ecological nodes to build stepping stones for ecological node construction to promote biological migration, improved forest landscape patch structure through important ecological corridors, and finally built a woodland network structure. The results show that the areas with high ecological sensitivity were concentrated in the road network, water area, and construction land area. Additionally, we identified 20 ecological sources distributed in the central and north–south vertical areas of the Saihanba Forest Farm. We also extracted ninety-six key ecological corridors distributed in the central area, thirty-nine important ecological nodes, and thirteen stepping stones for construction. Through the adjustment of patches along the corridor, the overall connectivity significantly increased. This study can provide a reasonable reference for the optimization of forest landscape in the Saihanba Mechanical Forest Farm.