Promoting landscape connectivity of highly urbanized area: An ecological network approach

Ecological infrastructure is a popular framework for conservation planning. In this paper, one of the most urbanized regions of China-Shenzhen was chosen as the study area. Ecological infrastructure with different configurations and functions were identified and combined to form the urban ecological network. The ecological sources were identified using morphological spatial pattern analysis (MSPA) and landscape connectivity analysis. The ecological resistance surface developed from ecosystem service value was modified basing on ecological sensitivity and landscape connectivity. The ecological network was constructed by minimum cumulative resistance (MCR) model and then optimized and accessed. The results show that: (1) the ecological network consists of 25 ecological sources distributed mainly in the southeast and west. Twenty-nine ecological corridors were extracted and 36 ecological nodes identified. (2) In the optimized ecological network, 10 new ecological sources were added, and 46 ecological corridors and 59 ecological nodes were identified. It would promote the connectivity of the ecological sources and the stability of ecological functioning process. (3) The ecological network took ecosystem service value and ecological sensitivity into consideration and lays emphasis on improving landscape connectivity, providing an approach to optimizing urban ecological network and contributing to urban planning.