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In the field of world heritage conservation, there has been broad consensus on carrying out heritage conservation research on the basis of spatial integration and interregional and international cooperation. However, there are still many deficiencies in the integration of culture with the environment, regional economic and social development, and the regional, holistic and multimodal conservation and utilization of cultural heritage sites. In China, the Dongjiang-Hanjiang River Basin is a representative area of substantial cultural and ecological value for both Guangdong Province and the whole country. This paper uses the morphological spatial pattern analysis and the minimum cumulative resistance model to integrate cultural ecology sources and establish a cross-regional and large-scale cultural ecology network system that includes 1 main corridor, 22 important corridors and 17 secondary corridors. In addition, based on identified cultural landscape nodes and cultural ecology services, the economy of the cultural ecology corridor could be developed with large-scale co-construction, co-governance and shared working mechanisms to overcome administrative limits and realize the conservation and utilization of multimodal and large-scale heritage sites. This approach has strong theoretical and practical significance for innovative methods in cultural ecology research, as well as for new content in the research of Lingnan culture, ecosystem restoration, and the economic and social development of towns and villages. This article supplements unilateral studies of regional culture and ecology and demonstrates an in-depth application of cultural ecology theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As China's natural resource governance has turned to high-quality management, establishing reasonable and ecological land-use patterns is an effective means of promoting natural resource utilization and improving the quality of the ecological environment. Therefore, this study used ecological land as the expansion source to construct an ecological land-use pattern with the minimum cumulative resistance model in Haixing County, China, based on regional food security, ecological security, and construction land expansion patterns. This work also involved designing ecological corridors, radiation channels, strategic nodes, and other ecological components. The results demonstrate that (1) the ecological land source is 7976.93 hm2, accounting for 9.19% of the total area. It is mainly distributed in the southeast of the county, mainly in the river system and woodland; (2) the food security situation of Haixing County can be divided into four zones, most of which are agricultural adjustment areas, indicating that the ecological security of cultivated land in this area needs to be improved; (3) the ecological security level of Haixing County is divided into four areas, and the ideal safety zone accounts for the smallest area, indicating that the regional ecological situation is very unstable; (4) construction land expansion zone is divided into four parts. A suitable construction zone occupies the largest area and is mainly distributed around the current construction land; (5) the expansion of the ecological land-use pattern of Haixing County includes four zones, 15 ecological corridors, 12 radiation channels, and 35 strategic nodes, which is conducive to optimal land allocation from an ecological security perspective. This paper puts forward some suggestions for ecological protection and intensive urban development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Source-Resistance-Corridor Basic Framework for Identifying Restoration Areas. • Quantifying wetland ecosystem services to extract wetland ecological sources. • Provides solutions for identifying large-scale wetland restoration areas. • Focus on the relevance of wetlands and water systems. In recent years, wetland resources have been threatened by human activities such as mining, agriculture and construction land expansion, and problems such as shrinkage of wetland area and deterioration of water quality have emerged, impeding the exchange of materials between wetlands and reducing the ecological function of wetlands. Water systems are important channels for material exchange between wetland sources, and evaluating the ecological safety of wetland–water system ecological corridors can aid in efficiently delineating ecological restoration areas and identifying ecological problems. In this paper, the ecological safety of wetland–hydrological ecological corridors in the Han River Basin was evaluated, and ecological restoration areas were delineated by adopting the method of "identification of source areas - construction of resistance surfaces - extraction of wetland–hydrological ecological corridors" with the watershed as the research unit. The study identified wetland–hydrological ecological corridors with a total length of 7,589.77 km and delineated 31 sections of wetland–hydrological ecological corridors with a total length of 1,076 km; these corridors were located in the Hanzhong Canyon area, tributaries of the Danjiang River and Tangbai River, and tributaries of the main streams below Danjiangkou. Among them, 8 sections of the primary corridor account for 27 %, 14 sections of the secondary corridor account for 33 %, and 9 sections of the tertiary corridor account for 39 %. This study breaks administrative boundaries, emphasizes the correlation between wetlands and water bodies, highlights the integrity of ecosystems, and establishes a multidimensional systematic restoration methodology of "points, lines and surfaces", which provides guidelines for the long-term planning of ecological corridors of wetlands and water systems in large-scale regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A watershed ESPs construction method integrating MCR model and circuit theory from the perspectives of ecosystem services and ecological sensitivity was proposed. • The ecological sensitivity weights of different regions were applied for constructing the ESPs of the YRB. • The distributions of ECs and EPPs presented spatial differences in the ecological environment of the YRB. • The proposal of optimizing ESPs can promote the ecological protection and high-quality development of the basin. Safeguarding ecological security is one of China's important development strategies. Identifying ecological security patterns (ESPs) is an effective way to collaboratively develop ecological and environmental security in different regions. Currently, studies on the construction of regional ESPs mainly focus on the innovation of ecosystem service functions, ignoring the differences in ecological sensitivities of different ecological environments on a large scale. In this paper, taking the Yellow River Basin (YRB) as an example, six important ecosystem service functions were selected to identify ecological sources (ESs), ecological sensitivity weights were set according to the ecological environment characteristics of different regions, and the ecological resistance surfaces (ERSs) were determined. And the ESPs of the YRB were further investigated based on the Minimum Cumulative Resistance (MCR) model and circuit theory. The research findings indicate:(1) We had identified 218 ESs on the YRB, covering an area of 387,165 km2, which was 19.36 % of the entire study area and highly concentrated in the upstream areas. There were 532 ecological corridors (ECs) identified with a total length of 39,015.95 km, with less distribution in the lower reaches of the YRB. There were 201 ecological pinch points (EPPs) mainly in forests and grasslands. (2) ERSs constructed with different sensitivities weights had a significant impact on the distribution of ECs and EPPs. There were significant variations in the ESPs of the YRB. The upstream areas were notably more secure than the middle and lower reaches, indicating an overall lower level of ecological security. (3) Different ecological sensitivity weights were adopted in different regions, which was more suitable for the construction of ESPs with regional environmental differences. This study provides a wise direction for coordinating the ecological protection and achieving high-quality development in the YRB. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The West Liaohe River Basin (WRLB) is a typical agro-pastoral interlaced zone in Northeast China where excessive economic development activities brought great pressure on the ecosystem and caused a series of ecological problems, having a negative effect on regional ecological carrying capacity (ECC). The rational construction of ecological security pattern (ESP) is an effective way to improve regional ECC and alleviate the contradiction between ecological protection and economic development. In this study, taking the WLRB as an example, spatiotemporal changes of ECC in the WLRB from 2000 to 2020 were explored by using spatial principal component analysis (SPCA). Furthermore, ecological sources were determined by coupling ECC evaluation results with important ecological patches such as natural protected areas, and the minimum cumulative resistance (MCR) model combined with the circuit theory method were employed to identify ecological security zoning, ecological corridors and key ecological nodes. Then a comprehensive ESP of the basin was constructed. The results show as follows: 1) The ECC of the overall WLRB was at medium carrying level, yet was spatially differentiated, which decreased from the periphery to the center of the basin in general. ECC showed a fluctuating upward trend from 2000 to 2020. 2) The ecological source area of the WLRB was 21926.91 km2, accounting for 17.33% of the total study area. The ecological sources were seriously fragmentated and mainly distributed in the mountain area. The area of ecological conservation zone, optimized buffer zone, ecological transition zone, ecological prevention and control zone were 55672.69 km2, 32662.24 km2, 23862.84 km2 and 12021.04 km2, accounting for 44.82%, 26.29%, 19.21% and 9.68%, respectively. We also extracted 95 ecological corridors (with a total length of 3130.97 km), 49 ecological pinch points (with a total area of 200.33 km2) and 30 ecological barrier points (with a total area of 318.30 km2), constituting a "pointslines-planes" comprehensive ecological security pattern. This research can provide scientific reference for the protection and restoration of ecological environment and regional sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Resource, environmental, and ecological issues have become major constraints to the development of many regions. The Yellow River Basin is an important barrier for maintaining ecological security in northern China, but it has been impacted by problems such as severe soil erosion and declining biodiversity. The rational construction of ecological security patterns is important to enhance ecosystem functions and maintain regional ecological security. In this study, a comprehensive ecological security assessment system was constructed by selecting ecosystem service importance, ecological sensitivity, and landscape connectivity to assess the ecological security of Xiliu Ditch, an ecologically fragile region of the Inner Mongolia section of the Yellow River Basin in China. The assessment results showed significant spatial heterogeneity, with medium- and low-security value areas dominating, while high-security value areas accounted for only 18.7% of the study area. Seventeen ecological sources were identified from the high-security areas, which were mainly composed of grassland, woodland, and water bodies, most of which are distributed in the southern part of the study area. Twenty ecological corridors were selected by the minimum cumulative resistance model and gravity model and classified into 15 construction corridors and 5 potential corridors. Forty-six ecological nodes were defined, including twenty strategic points, nine potential strategic points, and seventeen break points. On this basis, we constructed an ecological security pattern of "two belts, three cores, six zones, multiple corridors and multiple nodes" and proposed corresponding ecological governance measures. This study explores the ecological security pattern at the small watershed scale, which helps to realize the fine management of the Xiliu Ditch basin and, on this basis, can provide scientific support for the ecological protection and sustainable development of the Yellow River basin. In addition, the ecological security assessment system proposed in this study can provide new ideas for the construction of ecological security patterns in similar ecologically fragile areas around the globe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Habitat fragmentation has become an important factor in the reduction of biodiversity. Identifying and optimizing ecological networks (ENs) can help alleviate the negative impact of habitat fragmentation and improve regional biodiversity. Taolai River Basin is an inland river basin in Northwest China. Due to the impact of climate change and human activities, there are many ecological problems such as grassland degradation and shortage of water resources. It is urgent that we identify and optimize the EN. This study comprehensively uses morphological spatial pattern analysis (MSPA), the minimum cumulative resistance model (MCR), and circuit theory to identify ENs, evaluates ENs based on Spatial Syntax, and determines the protection priority of ENs, then diagnoses ecological "pinch points" and ecological obstacles by combining remote sensing and GIS spatial analysis methods. The results show that: (1) the ecological source area of the basin is 3061.63 km2, with uneven spatial distribution, mainly distributed in the Qilian Mountains in the south of the basin; (2) there are 106 ecological corridors in the basin, with a total length of 2267.30 km and an average length of 21.38 km, which is not conducive to species migration; (3) the optimum widths of ecological corridors in the south, middle, and north of the basin are 100 m, 60 m, and 300 m, respectively; (4) the key areas of watershed ecological restoration include the "pinch area" between the southern core area and the central core area and 108 ecological barrier points; and (5) combined with the spatial characteristics of various key areas of ecological protection and restoration, the spatial pattern of "one core–four rings–five belts" of watershed EN construction is obtained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]