Ecological security pattern construction informed by soil erosion sensitivity: a case study of Linfen, China

Ecological security patterns are widely used to support ecological restoration planning in fragile regions, but commonly used resistance-surface approaches often fail to sufficiently account for erosion-related landscape instability in the Loess Plateau. Herein, we developed a planning-oriented ecological security pattern for Linfen, China, by identifying ecological sources using an ecosystem health index and incorporating soil erosion sensitivity as a regional modifier of the ecological resistance surface. Using Linkage Mapper and circuit theory, we extracted modeled ecological corridors, high-current–density pinch points, and candidate barrier areas for restoration priority under an erosion-sensitive resistance scenario, and then compared these outputs with those derived from the baseline resistance surface. The erosion-sensitive scenario yielded 814.22 km of modeled ecological corridors, together with high-current–density pinch points and restoration-priority barrier areas. Incorporating soil erosion sensitivity altered the spatial configuration of corridors and priority areas, indicating that erosion-prone terrain can alter modeled structural connectivity in the Loess Plateau. These outputs should be interpreted as scenario-based structural-connectivity results rather than as independently validated species-movement pathways. Through distinguishing priority areas where ecological connectivity improvement overlaps erosion-sensitive terrain, the results can help align territorial spatial zoning, ecological restoration actions, and soil erosion-control measures in Linfen. This study provides a spatially explicit planning reference for ecological restoration screening and corridor-planning prioritization in the city of Linfen.