Optimizing ecological security patterns considering zonal vegetation distribution for regional sustainability

The construction of an ecological security pattern (ESP) has practical significance in mitigating the growing conflict between the social economy and environmental sustainability. In northeast China, there is a pressing need to reach synergy between food and ecological security. Taking Jilin Province, which is a key ecological node in northeast China, as a case study, this study aimed to explore ESP construction and propose ecological protection, restoration, and spatial optimization schemes. Ecological sources were identified with ecosystem service importance and ecological sensitivity. The resistance surface was modified using nighttime light and population density. Ecological corridors and ecological nodes were extracted using the minimum cumulative resistance model and landscape connectivity. The ecological source area is 41,530 km2, accounting for 22.2% of the land area of Jilin, dominated by woodland and wetlands. There were 77 ecological corridors with a total length of 7813.38 km and 36 important ecological nodes. Corridors are intertwined, while the ecological network in the east and west is stable and the connectivity in the central region is low. The ESP of Jilin was divided into five security levels. The areas with relatively high and high security, accounting for 49.8% and 22.2%, respectively, were mainly concentrated in the eastern and western regions of the province. This study explored ESP construction and optimization strategies within regions with heterogeneous ecosystem distributions and growing environmental pressures. The results reconfirm the importance of IUCN sites and nature reserves in terms of ecological corridor construction, which provides scientific guidance for managing regional sustainability and a reference for similar research.