Relationship between Topological Structure and Ecosystem Services of Forest Grass Ecospatial Network in China

Abstract

Forest and grass ecological space is the key component of the ecosystem and plays a vital role in regulating the carbon, water, and energy cycle. The long-term exploitation of forest and grass ecological space and huge population pressure have gradually degraded the function of China’s ecosystem. Therefore, forest and grass ecological space plays an important role in maintaining the stability of the ecosystem. The relationship between forest and grass ecospatial network structure and ecosystem service has been the focus of research. In this study, the forest and grass ecospatial network is constructed based on the minimum cumulative resistance (MCR) model. Then, the topological indicators (degree, weight clustering coefficient, node weight, unit weight, weight distribution difference, betweenness, PageRank) of the forest and grass ecospatial network were calculated by combining the complex network theory to analyze the relationship between these topological indicators and the three ecosystems (water retention, soil conservation, carbon storage). Based on the ecological significance of topological indicators, we identified ecologically fragile areas and proposed areas and directions for optimizing the ecospatial structure. Results show that the spatial distribution of the three ecosystem services in the southeast region of China is higher than that in the northwest region of China and shows a gradual decrease from the east to the west. The degree, node weight, unit weight, PageRank, and betweenness were highly significant and positively correlated with the three ecosystem services, among which PageRank had the highest correlation with water retention (p < 0.01, R2 = 0.835). Based on the spatial distribution characteristics of the different topological indicators, the quantitative relationship between the structural characteristics of the forest and grass ecospatial network and ecosystem services is clarified, revealing the intrinsic connection between ecological processes and ecosystem services. Through rational optimization of the forest and grass ecospatial network, ecosystem services can be effectively improved and ecosystem stability can be enhanced.