Study on the Construction of the Ecological Security Pattern of the Lancang River Basin (Yunnan Section) Based on InVEST-MSPA-Circuit Theory

Abstract

Optimizing the pattern of land space development and protection as well as improving regional ecological security are significant tasks in the construction of an ecological civilization. The Lancang River Basin is a significant ecological barrier in Southwest China, and its ecological security is critical to the Natural World Heritage Site of “Three Parallel Rivers” and even to Southeast Asia. In this study, the InVEST model and MSPA method were used for the identification of the ecological sources; the resistance surface was corrected by the night light coefficient; and the ecological linkages, pinch points, obstacles, and ecological breakpoints were extracted using the circuit theory to construct the ecological security pattern of the Lancang River Basin. The major study results indicated that: (1) A total of 23 ecological sources were identified in the watershed, covering an area of 9019.56 km2, mostly large-scale irregular patches. (2) A total of 39 ecological corridors were identified in the study area; 15 key corridors, 17 important corridors, and 7 general corridors were extracted based on the gravity model, which together formed a ecological security network for the watershed. (3) Sixteen ecological pinch points, one primary ecological improvement area, twelve secondary improvement areas, and twenty-nine ecological breakpoints were identified in this study. The ecological protection and restoration of different important ecological areas are conducive to the protection of biodiversity and the construction of the ecological security pattern in the Lancang River Basin.

Construction and optimization of ecological security patterns in the songnen plain

“…These densely populated regions with frequent activity exhibited weak ecological protections and resistances to species migration in the surrounding areas. The identified high resistance areas in the Minimum Cumulative Resistance of Eco-sites aligned with previous studies, particularly in the Changchun and Siping regions (Wang, et al, 2023). Low-resistance areas were more widespread, mainly located in the northeastern and central scattered regions of the study region with forests, farmland, and sporadically distributed grasslands.…”

“…Circuit theory is effective in assessing the least-cost paths to determine ecological corridors (Lin, et al, 2016;Wang, et al, 2023). Initially, using the Linkage Pathway, it computes the cost-weighted distances of each grid unit in the ecological resistance surface to the source sites by identifying the minimum cumulative movement path between these source sites.…”

Construction and Optimization of Ecological Security Pattern Network Based on the Supply–Demand Ratio of Ecosystem Services: A Study from Chengdu–Chongqing Economic Circle, China

“…The study found that 20 nature reserves and ecologically important areas reached a nearly 70% coincidence rate, which indicated that the research result was relatively accurate. Wang et al utilized the InVEST model to evaluate the HQ service in the Yunnan section of the Lancang River Basin and then extracted 23 high-quality areas by combining the MSPA and landscape connectivity analysis [54]. The ESAs identified in the study included multiple national nature reserves such as Baima Snow Mountain, Cangshan Erhai, and Xishuangbanna, covering the identification results of the direct method, which also reflected the advantages of multi-method integration.…”

Attribution analysis of multi-temporal scale changes of streamflow in the source area of Lancang River with seasonal scale Budyko model

“…The Lancang River originates in the northeast side of the Tanggula Mountains in Qinghai and flows through Qinghai, Tibet and Yunnan provinces (Zou et al, 2008). It is known as the Mekong River after flowing out of Mengla County in Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province (Wang et al, 2022a). The Lancang River is about 2179 km in China, with a natural drop of 4583 m and a catchment area of about 165,000 km 2 (Li et al, 2022).…”