Yuan Yuan , Ye Yuan , Zhongke Bai , Rongrong Ma , Yuhan Huang
{"title":"Ecological restoration strategies of mining areas based on composite ecological networks: A comprehensive framework and case study","authors":"Yuan Yuan , Ye Yuan , Zhongke Bai , Rongrong Ma , Yuhan Huang","doi":"10.1016/j.ecoleng.2025.107750","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Territorial ecological conservation and restoration are imperative for ecological civilisation in the new era, promoting the modernization of territorial spatial governance capabilities. As an important part of territorial ecological restoration, existing mine restoration studies have mainly focused on mine projects from an engineering or purely ecological restoration perspective, lacking coordinated decision-making at the territorial spatial scale. This study proposes a theoretical framework for mine restoration based on composite ecological networks. Considering Changzhi, a resource-based city, as the study area, this research integrates multi-source data and employs spatial analysis tools, including MaxEnt, InVEST 3.8.0, and the minimum cumulative resistance model (MCR), to construct biodiversity conservation, hydro-ecological, and artificial networks. These networks subsequently form a composite ecological network. Given the ecological protection and social demands, this study identifies key investment areas and other zones maximizing the comprehensive benefits of mine restoration and proposes differentiated strategies. The main results show that: (1) Natural ecological sources were mainly distributed in the eastern and western ecological barriers, while socioeconomic sources were concentrated in central urban areas. Three corridor types traversed the entire city, similar to the spatial distribution of ecological sources; (2) from an ecological perspective, the extremely ecologically important restoration areas accounted for 19.55 % of the total mine area, while high social demand areas accounted for 20.55 %. However, the proportion of high-input restoration areas was 6.79 %, and potential restoration zones demonstrated the largest spatial coverage. This confirms the rationality of nature-based ecological restoration; and (3) overall, the mines in Changzhi were categorized into 18 governance models, including five for biodiversity protection, five for hydro-ecological conservation, and eight for improvement of the living environment. Furthermore, different restoration objectives require different restoration strategies. This study not only enriches the theoretical framework for the ecological restoration of mines but also provides a valuable reference for the formulation of ecological restoration plans for mining areas within the territorial spatial planning system.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11490,"journal":{"name":"Ecological Engineering","volume":"220 ","pages":"Article 107750"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1000,"publicationDate":"2025-07-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Ecological Engineering","FirstCategoryId":"93","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S092585742500240X","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"ECOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Territorial ecological conservation and restoration are imperative for ecological civilisation in the new era, promoting the modernization of territorial spatial governance capabilities. As an important part of territorial ecological restoration, existing mine restoration studies have mainly focused on mine projects from an engineering or purely ecological restoration perspective, lacking coordinated decision-making at the territorial spatial scale. This study proposes a theoretical framework for mine restoration based on composite ecological networks. Considering Changzhi, a resource-based city, as the study area, this research integrates multi-source data and employs spatial analysis tools, including MaxEnt, InVEST 3.8.0, and the minimum cumulative resistance model (MCR), to construct biodiversity conservation, hydro-ecological, and artificial networks. These networks subsequently form a composite ecological network. Given the ecological protection and social demands, this study identifies key investment areas and other zones maximizing the comprehensive benefits of mine restoration and proposes differentiated strategies. The main results show that: (1) Natural ecological sources were mainly distributed in the eastern and western ecological barriers, while socioeconomic sources were concentrated in central urban areas. Three corridor types traversed the entire city, similar to the spatial distribution of ecological sources; (2) from an ecological perspective, the extremely ecologically important restoration areas accounted for 19.55 % of the total mine area, while high social demand areas accounted for 20.55 %. However, the proportion of high-input restoration areas was 6.79 %, and potential restoration zones demonstrated the largest spatial coverage. This confirms the rationality of nature-based ecological restoration; and (3) overall, the mines in Changzhi were categorized into 18 governance models, including five for biodiversity protection, five for hydro-ecological conservation, and eight for improvement of the living environment. Furthermore, different restoration objectives require different restoration strategies. This study not only enriches the theoretical framework for the ecological restoration of mines but also provides a valuable reference for the formulation of ecological restoration plans for mining areas within the territorial spatial planning system.
期刊介绍:
Ecological engineering has been defined as the design of ecosystems for the mutual benefit of humans and nature. The journal is meant for ecologists who, because of their research interests or occupation, are involved in designing, monitoring, or restoring ecosystems, and can serve as a bridge between ecologists and engineers.
Specific topics covered in the journal include: habitat reconstruction; ecotechnology; synthetic ecology; bioengineering; restoration ecology; ecology conservation; ecosystem rehabilitation; stream and river restoration; reclamation ecology; non-renewable resource conservation. Descriptions of specific applications of ecological engineering are acceptable only when situated within context of adding novelty to current research and emphasizing ecosystem restoration. We do not accept purely descriptive reports on ecosystem structures (such as vegetation surveys), purely physical assessment of materials that can be used for ecological restoration, small-model studies carried out in the laboratory or greenhouse with artificial (waste)water or crop studies, or case studies on conventional wastewater treatment and eutrophication that do not offer an ecosystem restoration approach within the paper.