Identification of priority areas for territorial ecological conservation and restoration based on ecological networks: A case study of Tianjin City, China

Abstract

Implementing ecological conservation and restoration of territorial spaces is an effective way of building an ecological civilization while maintaining national ecological security in the new ear. However, there is a need to identify priority areas for territorial ecological conservation and restoration from the perspective of landscape connectivity and ecosystem integrity. In Tianjin City, which is a highly urbanized city in northern China, economic development threatens to undermine environmental protection; therefore, its natural resources should be preserved and the degraded ecosystems should be restored. This study used the morphological spatial pattern analysis (MSPA), landscape connectivity assessment, and circuit theory to construct regional ecological networks. Subsequently, the priority areas for territorial ecological conservation and restoration were identified, including ecological pinch points, ecological barriers, and ecological breakpoints. The results showed that the ecological networks contained 2319.67 km2 of ecological sources that were dominated by woodlands, waters and wetlands, while comprising 71 ecological corridors with a total length of 366.91 km and a coverage area of 526.66 km2. The spatial distribution of ecological corridors was closely related to the layout of ecological sources. The priority areas included 31 ecological pinch points, 80 ecological barriers, and 71 ecological breakpoints. Targeted ecological conservation and restoration strategies were proposed by comprehensively analyzing the land-use status and spatial distribution characteristics of diverse priority areas. This study provides scientific spatial guidelines for formulating and implementing territorial ecological conservation and restoration planning by identifying the specific locations of priority areas.