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Chinese Journal of Applied Ecology ›› 2026, Vol. 37 ›› Issue (1): 213-222.doi: 10.13287/j.1001-9332.202601.021

• Original Articles • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Ecological zoning of Hexi Corridor, Northwest China with coupled ecosystem service value and ecological risk assessment

CHEN Chunyang1,3,4, JIA Xia2,3,4, ZHAO Yonghua1,3,4*, SHAN Lishan5, SI Shaocheng1,3,4, ZHAO Ming1,3,4, ZHANG Peng1,3,4   

  1. 1College of Land Engineering, Chang’an University, Xi’an 710054, China;
    2College of Water and Environment, Chang’an University, Xi’an 710054, China;
    3Key Laboratory of Land Conso-lidation of Shaanxi Province, Xi’an 710054, China;
    4Key Laboratory of Degradation and Unused Land Remediation Engineering of the Ministry of Natural Resources, Xi’an 710054, China;
    5College of Forestry, Gansu Agricultural University, Lanzhou 730070, China
  • Received:2025-05-03 Revised:2025-11-03 Published:2026-07-18

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Abstract: Hexi Corridor is an important ecological security barrier in China. Ecological zoning of this area is of great significance for the precise restoration and optimal resource allocation. We estimated the ecosystem service value of the Hexi Corridor and constructed ecological security pattern with the basic paradigm of “source-resistance surface-corridor-strategic point”. We further coupled the results of the landscape ecological risk assessment to deli-neate ecological zoning and optimize the ecological security pattern. The results showed that ecological quality in the study area improved from 2000 to 2020, with total ecosystem service value increasing by 15.741 billion yuan. The area with high ecological risk decreased by 14324 km2, and the area with medium and low ecological risk increased by 4778 and 9546 km2, respectively. The ecological components exhibited consistent spatial distribution, primarily concentrated in the southern part of the Hexi Corridor. Ten ecological source areas were identified, covering 20643.12 km2. A total of 45 ecological corridors were extracted, totaling 2685.69 km in length, including 15 key ecological corridors spanning 1053.16 km. We identified 64 ecological strategic points. Hexi Corridor could be classified into four ecological zones: ecological safeguard zone, ecological rehabilitation zone, ecological improvement zone, and ecological conservation zone. The ecological sources and corridors were mainly located in the ecological safeguard zone and ecological conservation zone. Our results could provide theoretical references for ecological restoration research in the Hexi Corridor as well as in the northwestern China.

Key words: Hexi Corridor, ecological security pattern, ecosystem service value, landscape ecological risk