JWACA2025-014: Construction and Optimization of Ecological Corridor in the Hilly Area of East Shandong

Abstract

In recent years, rapid urban expansion in the Hilly Area of East Shandong has led to an increasingly serious problem of habitat fragmentation, resulting in a decline in landscape connectivity. These changes pose a significant threat to the survival space of species and the stability of ecosystems in the region. In this study, various methods such as InVEST, Maxent, Zonation 5, MCR model, and circuit theory were comprehensively applied to systematically assess and spatially analyze the ecosystem service capacity, species potential fitness zones, prioritized protection areas, and ecological networks in the study area from multiple dimensions. The results showed that a total of 3017.6 km2 of ecological source area was identified; 257 first-level ecological corridors, 167 second-level, and 95 third-level ecological corridors were delineated; 94 ecological keypoints, with a combined area of 52.7 km2, were identified; as well as 93 ecological breakpoints, covering an area of 93.4 km2. The ecological network constructed in this study enhances the ecological 
connectivity of the region, and the use of Zonation to identify priority conservation areas provides a new perspective for ecological network c onstruction, and a reference that can be used for ecological source identification.