Ecological Restoration and Protection of National Land Space in Coal Resource-Based Cities from the Perspective of Ecological Security Pattern: A Case Study in Huaibei City, China

Mining activities have contributed to the growth of the city, but also raised non-negligible eco-geological environmental issues that threaten ecological safety. Ecological security pattern (ESP), as an important grip on the ecological restoration and protection of national land space, helps to balance mining activities and ecological protection in coal resource-based cities. Taking Huaibei City as a study area, we applied the ESP research paradigm: an ecosystem "function-structure" conceptual framework was developed to identify ecological sources, the "coal mining subsidence-economic activities" framework was used to revise ecological resistance surface, and the circuit theory was used to extract ecological corridors. Then, key areas for ecological restoration and protection were identified, including ecological pinch points, barrier points, and fracture points. Finally, the pattern and strategies for ecological restoration and protection were proposed. Study results show that there were 51 ecological sources, covering an area of 152.75 km(2); 111 ecological corridors were extracted with 6000 as truncation threshold; 17 pinch points, 75 barrier points, and 117 fracture points were identified. Ecological restoration and protection patterns of "one axis, two shields, four zones, eight belts and multiple corridors", and strategies for key areas were proposed. The results of the study are important for the sustainable development of coal-resource-based cities.