Ecological restoration zoning and priority order of county-level territorial space: A case study of Pei County

Ecological restoration in resource-based cities has become a key task in the ecological products value realization within China. Notably, the scientific identification of restoration areas and reasonable scheduling are the primary bases for ecological restoration implementation. From the perspective of landscape ecology, this study constructed an ecological security pattern based on the research paradigm of patch-corridor-matrix for identifying ecological restoration zones in territorial space. Then, by incorporating both the degree of ecological background degradation and the importance of landscape connectivity, this study constructed a comprehensive cost coefficient of ecological restoration. Using this coefficient, this study evaluated the comprehensive cost and further determined the priority of the ecological restoration zones. The primary results are as follows. A total of 62 ecological sources and 123 ecological corridors were identified in Pei County, with high-quality sources being notably limited in extent. Some ecological corridors in the southern region exhibited high resistance and high contribution to landscape connectivity, requiring urgent ecological restoration. According to the importance of ecological restoration, the ecological sources, barrier points, and pinch points were classified into three categories: extremely important, important, and general ecological restoration zones. The classification was also suitable for the ecological restoration of terrestrial space in Pei county, covering 95.07 km², 168.14 km², and 246.20 km², respectively. The priority of restoration zones was determined by evaluating ecological restoration importance and comprehensive cost. Based on the priority, the restoration zones were divided into priority, secondary priority, and lowest priority restoration, covering an area of 355.34 km², 129.21 km², and 24.86 km², respectively.