Construction of Nature Reserves’ Ecological Security Pattern Based on Landscape Ecological Risk Assessment: A Case Study of Garze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, China

Abstract

Human activities are constantly affecting ecological space, and the construction of ecological security patterns to ensure ecological security has become an issue that must be considered for sustainable development. At present, little attention has been paid to the ecological security of cities with a high number of nature reserves. In this study, we took Garze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in China, which has many nature reserves, as the research object to construct an ecological security pattern with nature reserves as ecological sources. Firstly, Fragstats 4.2 and ArcGIS 10.4 were used to obtain the ecological risk evaluation results of the study area landscape. Secondly, a “nature–society–landscape” resistance factor system and an ecological resistance surface were constructed using a minimum resistance model. Finally, the ecological safety zone of the nature reserve was divided, and the ecological safety pattern of the nature reserve was established. (1) The ecological risk of the study area shows a spatial distribution pattern of “low in the northwest and high in the southeast”, with low and moderate-low ecological risk dominating; (2) The study area has formed an ecological security pattern consisting of 9 ecological sources, 35 ecological nodes, 8 ecological corridors with a total length of 702.96 km and 4 ecological safety zones; (3) The ecological security pattern of nature reserves in the study area was divided into four categories: low, medium, high and moderate-high ecological safety zones, accounting for 20.62%, 27.34%, 24.48% and 27.55%, respectively. This study provides a new framework for the construction of urban ecological safety patterns and offers scientific guidance for the conservation and management of nature reserves and urban ecology.