Study of spatialtemporal changes in Chinese forest eco-space and optimization strategies for enhancing carbon sequestration capacity through ecological spatial network theory

Abstract

The conservation of forest ecosystems and the enhancement of carbon sequestration capacity play a crucial role in maintaining ecological balance and human development. However, with excessive deforestation, the flow of energy and information within the ecosystem has changed, which in turn has led to changes in the topological properties and carbon sequestration capacity of forest ecosystems. In order to better investigate the nature and carbon sequestration capacity of forest ecological space in mainland China during 2000-2018, we constructed a time-series Chinese forest ecological spatial network based on complex network theory and graph theory, combined with the modified minimal cumulative resistance model (MCR). By combining the net primary productivity (NPP) values obtained from the Boreal Ecosystem Productivity Simulator (BEPS) model of existing scholars, we further explored the relationship between topology and carbon sequestration capacity within forest ecosystems, and proposed strategies and suggestions for optimization. The results show that forest ecological sources and ecological corridors showed an increasing trend and resistance values decreased year by year during 2000-2018, especially in the western region, indicating that ecological restoration projects in western China have achieved certain effects. However, the stability of forest ecosystems has been decreasing year by year, and the forest carbon sequestration capacity in western China is also decreasing. Through correlation analysis, we found that carbon sequestration capacity showed highly significant positive correlation with closeness centrality, harmonic closeness centrality, clustering, and eigen centrality, and carbon sequestration capacity showed highly significant negative correlation with betweeness centrality. Through Principal Components Analysis (PCA), we suggest that consolidating small patches in the northeast, reducing the number of redundant ecological corridors, adding stepping stone patches to shorten the length of ecological corridors, and increasing ecological corridors in non-northeast areas are conducive to enhancing plant carbon sequestration capacity. This study provides theoretical support and ecological engineering recommendations for China to achieve its strategic goals of carbon neutrality and carbon peaking.

Keywords: Complex networks; Ecological restoration; Forest carbon sequestration capacity; Forest ecosystems; Temporal eco-spatial networks.