Ecological zoning and ecosystem management based on landscape ecological risk and ecosystem services: A case study in the Wuling Mountain Area

Land use and cover changes have substantially altered surface landscape patterns, resulting in landscape ecological risk (LER) and jeopardizing the continued supply of ecosystem services (ES). Although ES and LER are positive and negative aspects of ecological security representation, respectively, the spatiotemporal mechanism of their interaction still needs to be further clarified. This study focused on the Wuling Mountain Area (WMA), a critical ecological functional zone. First, multi-source data and multi-models were used to evaluate LER and ES and analyze their spatiotemporal characteristics. Subsequently, a geographically and temporally weighted regression model was applied to uncover the spatiotemporal heterogeneity of the impacts of LER on various ES. Finally, ecological zones were delineated based on the LER-ES quadrant, a driving force analysis was conducted, and ecological management strategies are proposed. The main results are as follows: (1) LER and various ES showed overall decreasing and increasing trends, respectively. (2) Except for water yield, the impact of LER on various ES showed clear spatiotemporal non-stationarity, with a significant negative impact, which was most pronounced for habitat quality. (3) The WMA was divided into four ecological zones: ecological risk prevention zone, ecological conservation zone, ES enhancement zone, and ecological reshaping zone. Elevation, normalized difference vegetation index, and human footprint were identified as the main drivers of ecological zoning. This research lays a solid foundation for in-depth understanding of the impacts of LER on ES. The proposed zoning scheme provides strong support for the ecologically sustainable development of the WMA.