Evaluating suitability of development and construction with of minimum cumulative resistance model for a mountain scenic area in Jinyun Xiandu, China

Owing to the intricate nature of the ecological environment and spatial complexity, effectively mitigating over-exploitation and ecological harm poses a challenge during the development and construction of mountain scenic areas. Ttraditional ecological sensitivity assessment employed in mountain scenic areas mainly focuses on ecological protection, neglecting the dynamic interplay between ecology and the evolution of construction land.Taking Xiandu mountain scenic area, a representative mountainous development zone in Jinyun County, Lishui City, Zhejiang Province, China, as a study area, this study employs the minimum cumulative resistance model (MCR) to simulate the resistance encountered by ecological sources and construction activities during the expansion process. The study establishes an evaluation framework for development in mountain scenic areas, considering ecological processes both vertically and horizontally. Quantitative analyses are performed through ArcGIS and the analytic network process (ANP) to delineate development adaptability zones in the mountain scenic area. The study utilizes grid mutation points to determine the zoning threshold for development suitability in mountain scenic areas, resulting in the categorization of these areas into four distinct types of development zones: most appropriate for construction, suitable for construction, not suitable for construction, and least suitable for construction.The partition result shows that the most appropriate construction area constitutes 6.68% of the primary scenic area, while the suitable construction zone occupies 40.64% of the main scenic expanse.The study can expand the application area of the MCR model, and the evaluation framework can augment the accuracy and breadth for future mountain scenic area development researches.