Evaluation of landscape ecological security pattern via the “pattern-function-stability” framework in the Guanzhong Plain Urban Agglomeration of China

Most studies have assessed and constructed landscape ecological security patterns (LESPs) primarily from the perspective of landscape morphology by employing morphological spatial pattern analysis, with little attention paid to fundamental ecosystem attributes (such as ecosystem functions and stability). Thus, this study proposed a comprehensive evaluation and optimization framework for LESPs from the perspective of “mode function stability” by integrating assessment landscape pattern, ecological function, and landscape stability. A comprehensive evaluation and optimization of the LESPs was conducted using the Minimum Cumulative Resistance (MCR) model in the Guanzhong Plain Urban Agglomeration (GPUA) as the research area. The results showed that: (1) Generally, the landscape quality in urban agglomerations was relatively low because of the large area of agricultural vegetation, high human interference, and landscape fragmentation, which caused low levels of landscape pattern, function, and stability. (2) LESPs were mainly determined by landscape stability in urban agglomerations due to low-quality ecosystems, rapid landscape transformation, and severe anthropogenic disturbances. (3) There was a large variation in the landscape function and stability of a certain landscape type due to their different structures and human interference across space in urban agglomerations. According to assessment by “pattern-function-stability” framework, the ecological sources and corridors covered with natural forest were the crucial cornerstone to constructing LESPs, and the rivers in crop planting areas were the inevitably selected corridors, but their ecological function and stability needed further improvement in construction. (4) The framework can assess spatial patterns and ecological functions to further the stability and sustainability of the landscape in maintaining ecological security and facilitating the identification of improvement objectives or measures of individual ecological sources or corridors in regional ecological infrastructure construction practices.