Study on the Structural Properties of an Ecospatial Network in Inner Mongolia and Its Relationship with NPP

• Published in: Applied sciences Vol. 12; no. 10; p. 4872
• Main Authors: Wang, Xiaoci, Wang, Ruirui, Yu, Qiang, Liu, Hongjun, Liu, Wei, Ma, Jun, Niu, Teng, Yang, Linzhe
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 01-05-2022
• Subjects: Carbon sequestration; Carbon sinks; complex network; ecological structure; Economic development; ecospatial network; Ecosystems; Environmental economics; Environmental impact; Environmental restoration; Grasslands; Inner Mongolia; Land area; Net Primary Productivity; Nodes; NPP; Optimization; Soil erosion; System theory; topological indices; Topology; Woodlands; China; Inner Mongolia China
• ISSN: 2076-3417; 2076-3417
• DOI: 10.3390/app12104872

In the context of strengthening the construction of ecological civilization and accelerating the “carbon peak” in China, the regional ecological pattern and its connection with carbon sink capacity have become an urgent topic. Given that Inner Mongolia is a large carbon emission province and the conflict between economic development and ecological protection is particularly prominent, we took Inner Mongolia as an example to extract its ecospatial network, then calculated the integrity index, topological indices, and recovery robustness of the network and evaluated integrity and other properties of the ecospatial network structure by combining them with the ecological background. In addition, we analyzed the relationship between the topological indices and net primary productivity (NPP). The results showed that the network was scale-free and heterogeneous, with low integrity, connectivity and stability, which were the focus of future optimization. The nodes with important functions were mainly distributed in the farm-forest ecotone, grasslands, and the agro-pastoral ecotone; under the simulation attack, the node recovery robustness was stronger than the corridor recovery robustness, and NPP was negatively and significantly correlated with the woodland nodes and grassland nodes. In terms of ecological restoration, the unused land in the west is a key area, and it is necessary to add new ecological nodes and corridors. In terms of enhancing carbon sequestration capacity, under the premise of ensuring network connectivity, the appropriate and rational merging of ecological nodes and corridors within woodlands and grasslands is a particularly effective means. This study provides a reference for evaluating and optimizing the ecological pattern of areas with prominent ecological problems and improving the carbon sink of ecosystems in terms of their ecospatial network structure.