Simulation of a forest-grass ecological network in a typical desert oasis based on multiple scenes

Abstract

Many areas on the earth are facing the threat of ecological degradation, and unreasonable economic development has further exacerbated environmental problems. Constructing ecological security patterns based on an ecological network is such an integrated approach to protecting regional ecological sustainability. This paper selected Denko County of Bayannaoer City, Inner Mongolia, which is located in the desert oasis area, as the study area. Ecological sources were identified through ecosystem importance assessment, and interaction force theory was used to model ecosystem processes in heterogeneous landscapes via comparing the minimum cumulative ecological resistance and the maximum ecological gravity between ecological sources, and thus to identify ecological corridors and to constructing forest-grass ecological network (FG eco-network) of the study area. This paper also set 11 development scenarios to study the impact of different development strategies on the FG ecological network. Moreover, the complex network theory was used to analyze the topology and statistical characteristics of the FG eco-network in 11 development scenarios. The results show that the ecological network in the study area has been gradually destroyed with the increase of the proportion of economic development in the development scenario; the connection between some ecological patches has changed and the connectivity and coreness, PageRank, etc. have gradually decreased. The study found that the network density increases slightly in the (0.9, 0.1) mode, while it gradually decreases in other scenarios with the increase of the proportion of economic development. Moreover, in the (0.9, 0.1) mode, although the destruction occurred at the edge of the desert, the FG eco-network within the sample circle expanded. This represents that economic development does not necessarily lead to the deterioration of the ecological environment in this area. Under the existing natural conditions, the study area still has room for economic development, but space is limited. Based on the interaction force theory, this study provides a new approach to identifying the ecological network. Also, the development scenarios set up in this study can provide a reference for sustainable development.