Integrating supply and benefits of ecosystem services into ecological security pattern: A spatial flow perspective

Ecological security pattern (ESP) is an effective way to alleviate the conflict between social development and ecological conservation. Previous studies on ESP mostly identified ecological sources derived from local supply and demand of diverse ecosystem services (ESs), overlooking the spatial flow of ESs and thus limiting its significance in both local and regional scales. This study proposed a framework integrating ESs supply and benefit from a spatial flow perspective for ecological sources identification. After modifying resistance surface by nighttime light data and extracting ecological corridors by MCR model, the ESP was finally constructed and optimized for sustainable land use management in the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) in 2020. The findings indicated that ecological sources were predominantly concentrated in the southwestern forestland and central Taihu Lake region, accounting for 18.47 % of the total area in the YRD. Totally 1035 ecological corridors were extracted, including 45 main corridors with a distance of 4284.47 km, overall exhibiting a "one vertical and three horizontals" shape distribution. Finally, an ESP of "four areas and four lines" was constructed after optimization, and targeted suggestions were proposed for regional sustainability. This study introduced spatial flow perspective and ESs benefit into ESP construction, which provides a scientific basis for sustainable land use management in a regional integration perspective.