Urban biodiversity conservation: A framework for ecological network construction and priority areas identification considering habit differences within species.

The construction of ecological networks within the context of urbanization is an effective approach to cope with the challenges of urban biodiversity decline, representing a crucial goal in urban planning and development. However, existing studies often overlook the richness and uniqueness within species communities by homogenizing traits of species in the same class. This study proposes a framework for constructing and optimizing ecological networks focused on differential conservation within the same class. By classifying birds into three groups (specialists of water, forest or urban areas) based on their ecological requirements and urbanization tolerance, we constructed an ecological network tailored to their distinct migratory dispersal patterns. We then identified strategic areas including pinch points, barriers, and breakpoints specific to each bird group. Our findings reveal notable variations in suitable habitat distribution among different bird groups in urban environments. Corridor layouts varied according to habitat preferences and migratory dispersal patterns. Despite these differences, urban built-up areas persist as central hubs for the distribution of suitable habitats for 75% of bird species, with peripheral mountain-plain transition areas constituting 63% of crucial dispersal corridors. This emphasizes the critical role of urban built-up areas in maintaining biodiversity and ecological connectivity. Prioritizing connectivity between central urban areas and distant natural spaces is imperative. Our approach innovatively classifies and constructs networks to identify strategic areas with diverse species-specific attributes, providing valuable spatial information for land planning and guiding solutions to enhance target species. While the primary focus is on bird conservation in Beijing, our framework is broadly applicable to global biodiversity management and green planning under urbanization challenges. Overall, this study offers innovative insights for urban planning development and serves as decision support for prioritizing urban actions.

Climate and land use changes impact the trajectories of ecosystem service bundles in an urban agglomeration: Intricate interaction trends and driver identification under SSP-RCP scenarios.

The delivery of ecosystem services (ESs), particularly in urban agglomerations, faces substantial threats from impending future climate change and human activity. Assessing ES bundles (ESBs) is critical to understanding the spatial allocation and interactions between multiple ESs. However, dynamic projections of ESBs under various future scenarios are still lacking, and their underlying driving mechanisms have received insufficient attention. This study examined the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei urban agglomeration and proposed a framework that integrates patch-generating land use simulation into three shared socioeconomic pathway (SSP) scenarios and clustering analysis to assess spatiotemporal variations in seven ESs and ESBs from 1990 to 2050. The spatial trajectories of ESBs were analyzed to identify fluctuating regions susceptible to SSP scenarios. The results indicated that (1) different scenarios exhibited different loss rates of regulating and supporting services, where the mitigation of degradation was most significant under SSP126. The comprehensive ES value was highest under SSP245. (2) Bundles 1 and 2 (dominated by regulating and supporting services) had the largest total proportion under SSP126 (51.92 %). The largest total proportion of Bundles 4 and 5 occurred under SSP585 (48.96 %), with the highest provisioning services. The SSP126 scenario was projected to have the least ESB fluctuation at the grid scale, while the most occurred under SSP585. (3) Notably, synergies between regulating/supporting services were weaker under SSP126 than under either SSP245 or SSP585, while trade-offs between water yield and non-provisioning services were strongest. (4) Forestland and grassland proportions significantly affected carbon sequestration and habitat quality. Climatic factors (precipitation and temperature) acted as the dominant drivers of provisioning services, particularly water yield. Our findings advocate spatial strategies for future regional ES management to address upcoming risks.