Construction of wetland ecological network based on MSPA-Conefor-MCR: A case study of Haikou City

Habitat fragmentation is an important factor affecting biodiversity conservation, and few studies have discussed the relationship between the overall pattern of wetlands and biological ecological functions. Based on this, this study proposed the construction of wetland biodiversity conservation Ecological Networks (ENs) from the perspective of connectivity, and proposed a comprehensive framework for the construction of wetland ENs. Firstly, the key species were identified, and the habitat patches suitable for egret migration were analyzed by Morphological Spatial Pattern Analysis (MSPA) and landscape connectivity index, and the ecological sources were determined based on the policy influence. The Minimum Cumulative Resistance (MCR) model was used to extract the wetland ENs, and the network evaluation index, gravity model and Hydrological analysis model were used to analyze the "network − corridor − node" respectively. The results showed that: (1) The wetland patches in Haikou City were relatively trivial, and the connectivity between and within the patches was insufficient. There were 13 potential sources suitable for egret habitat and 17 ecological sources for comprehensive extraction; (2) The wetland ENs tends to be east of Nandu River, the network tightness is 0.038, and the network connectivity is low; (3) There are 45 important corridors and 8 important ecological sources, mainly concentrated in the east of Nandu River; (4) Identify 115, 50 and 66 ecological pinpoints, obstacle points and break points of wetland network, and propose protection, optimization and restoration strategies respectively. Comprehensive identification of ecological sources and the progressive wetland ENs analysis model of "network − corridor − node" will promote the further systematization of wetland biological protection research.