Prioritizing Protection and Restoration Areas Based on Ecological Security Pattern with Different Resistance Assignments

Balancing socio-economic development with ecological protection amid rapid urbanization is a pressing global issue. The ecological security pattern (ESP) follows the reciprocal relationship between pattern and function to conserve ecological processes, providing an effective approach to address this problem. However, most studies have adopted a single subjective assignment method for resistance factors, lacking the exploration of the impact of various assignment methods on the ESP. Taking the Fuzhou metropolitan area as a case, this study proposes different resistance assignment methods: favorable, moderate, and unfavorable. By applying circuit theory, it constructs the ESP and identifies critical areas for protection and restoration. The findings show that (1) as the cumulative resistance threshold increases, the area of ecological corridors expands from 171.36 km² to 1439.24 km², with the moderate method identified as the optimal resistance assignment approach; (2) significant differences exist in the identification of key corridors under different resistance assignment methods. The moderate method identifies 26 key corridors, spanning a total length of 41.29 km; (3) the key ecological protection areas cover 2469.79 km², including 13 patches and 26 pinch points, while the key ecological restoration areas cover 14.55 km², including 7 barriers and 21 breaking points. By pinpointing key ecological areas and proposing targeted strategies, this study can facilitate practical ecological protection efforts, thereby achieving the sustainable development goal of minimizing economic costs while maximizing ecological benefits.