Ecological function regionalization of the core area of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal based on the leading ecological function perspective

Abstract

The establishment of scientific and reasonable ecological function regionalization (EFR) plays an important role in giving full play to regional advantages and realizing the benign development of resource exploitation, ecological construction, and environmental protection. However, the existing EFR lacks the identification ability for the leading functions among various ecological functions, and it is difficult to determine the regional ecological advantages, which may hinder the practical application of EFR in ecological environment zoning management. In view of this, we propose a new leading ecological function (LEF) index and the corresponding calculation method to describe the main regional ecosystem services and functions; its application in EFR could enhance the regional spatial guidance effect. We took the Core Area of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal (CA-BHGC) in China as the study area and used the maximum value composite (MVC) method to identify the LEFs of acquired grid pixels. Furthermore, the LEFs of grid pixels were applied to county-level administrative regions to complete the EFR process. Based on the results, in the CA-BHGC, although the spatial distribution of ecological function values was extremely uneven, the contribution rate of the LEF of grid pixels to the comprehensive ecological function value was usually more than 50%, reliably representing the advantageous ecological functions of grid pixels. The LEFs of the CA-BHGC included biodiversity maintenance, food production, and water retention, with grid proportions of 51.64%, 41.04%, and 6.93%, respectively, highlighting the global ecological resource advantages. The functional areas designated based on LEFs showed a good spatial correlation with the natural geographical environment. The seven biodiversity maintenance areas were mostly located at the river confluence; the two water retention areas were in the south of the Qinling-Huaihe River Line, and the six food production areas were in the central plain. In addition, the EFR process comprehensively considered the LEFs, river reaches, and provincial divisions, and it might be easier to coordinate various conflicts of interest, including economic development and ecological protection, cross-administrative regions, and adjacent functional areas.