Construction of ecological corridors in Changli County based on ecological sensitivity and ecosystem service values.

Ecological corridors provide essential routes for biological migration, which would promote species exchange among different habitats. The construction of corridors is beneficial to alleviate the damages caused by the fragmentation of landscapes due to the acceleration of urbanization, with significance to biodiversity conservation. In this study, we located the ecological sources with the results of ecological sensitivity evaluation and ecosystem service value analysis in Changli County based on its land use status in 2015. Then, we produced the potential corridors with the minimal cumulative resistance model (MCR) and the minimum cost path method, and identified the key corridors with the gravity model. We put forward the ecological corridor system including four important corridors and two general corridors to underpin the scientific knowledge for the ecological corridor construction project and biodiversity conservation. The results showed that the ecological sensitivity of this area was relatively moderate and ecosystem services value was relatively low. Both the ecological sensitivity and ecosystem services were lower in the middle area but higher in around areas. The ecological sources were mainly distributed in the northern Jieshi Mountain Scenic Area, the eastern coastal state-owned forest farm and the western water source conservation area, which were highly coincident with the nature reserves determined by Ecological Environment Construction and Protection Planning (2011-2030) in the study area. The total length of the corridors was 112.66 km, within which the length of important ones was 47.61 km and that of general ones was 65.05 km. The best width of the corridors was around 30 to 60 m. The ecological corridors and ecological sources constituted an annular closed area, which would effectively promote species migration and the exchange of material and energy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]