Barriers restoration; Biodiversity conservation; Dongting lake basin; Ecosystem services; Network optimization; Stepping stone; Forestry; Geography, Planning and Development; Environmental Science (all); Tourism, Leisure and Hospitality Management
Abstract :
[en] Enhancing the connectivity of watershed ecological security patterns (ESPs) is increasingly emphasized for preserving ecological processes. Yet the importance of small-scale conservation and restoration was ignored and few studies have quantitatively compared the contribution of barriers restoration and stepping stones establishment to landscape connectivity. In this study, taking Dongting Lake Basin as an example, a watershed ESP was constructed based on the minimum cumulative resistance model and optimized through graded barriers restoration and different stepping stones establishment. Then the enhancement effects of landscape connectivity were compared to identify the most cost-effective optimization scheme. The results showed that the average of six schemes only protected and repaired less than 1% of the total area, which could enhance corridor connectivity by about 12% and 16% for average corridor length and corridor cumulative resistance respectively. For the optimal ESP, establishing natural patches near the midpoint of longer corridors as stepping stones, increased the probability of connectivity by 21.05%, and reduced the average corridor length and corridor cumulative resistance of corridor connectivity by 17.99% and 15.48% respectively. It also increased network circuitry index of network connectivity from 0.541 to 0.570, compared with the original ESP, indicating the possibility of successful ecological flow increased effectively. It can be concluded that the connectivity enhancement of stepping stones approach was better than barriers restoration approach. This study highlights the importance of small-scale barriers restoration and stepping stones establishment in enhancing landscape connectivity.
Disciplines :
Environmental sciences & ecology
Author, co-author :
Xu, Dongmei; Technology Innovation Center for Integrated Ecosystem Restoration and Sustainable Utilization, Ministry of Natural Resources, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China
Peng, Jian ; Technology Innovation Center for Integrated Ecosystem Restoration and Sustainable Utilization, Ministry of Natural Resources, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China
Jiang, Hong ; Technology Innovation Center for Integrated Ecosystem Restoration and Sustainable Utilization, Ministry of Natural Resources, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China
Dong, Jianquan ; School of Landscape Architecture, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing, China
Liu, Menglin; Key Laboratory for Environmental and Urban Sciences, School of Urban Planning and Design, Shenzhen Graduate School, Peking University, Shenzhen, China
Chen, Yiyun ; School of Resource and Environmental Science, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China
Wu, Jiansheng; Key Laboratory for Environmental and Urban Sciences, School of Urban Planning and Design, Shenzhen Graduate School, Peking University, Shenzhen, China
Meersmans, Jeroen ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département GxABT > Echanges Eau - Sol - Plantes
Language :
English
Title :
Incorporating barriers restoration and stepping stones establishment to enhance the connectivity of watershed ecological security patterns
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