Ecological network construction and resilience optimization of coastal zones in megacity clusters: A case study of the Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area

Coastal zones in rapidly urbanizing regions are increasingly threatened by climate change and human activities, yet conventional static ecological network planning inadequately addresses future dynamic risks. Focusing on the Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA), we present a resilience-oriented optimization framework that couples dynamic ecosystem-service projections with multi-scenario climate stressors (sea-level rise, storm surges, and pluvial flooding). The framework integrates risk forecasting, spatial optimization, and dual resilience assessment based on complex-network metrics and simulated attack models. Results show that the optimized network substantially improved structural connectivity and functional redundancy: key and important corridors increased by 133.3% and 348.7%, respectively; robustness and redundancy rose by 11% and 30%. Under simulated dynamic attacks, the optimized network tolerated a substantially higher proportion of critical-node failures before functional collapse compared with the pre-optimization network. Our approach demonstrates that incorporating dynamic risk projections into ecological-network planning markedly enhances system resilience and provides transferable spatial solutions for balancing conservation and climate adaptation in densely urbanized coastal regions.