Coupling ecosystem services supply and human ecological demand to identify landscape ecological security pattern: A case study in Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region, China

Landscape ecological security pattern (LESP) can effectively safeguard urban ecological security, which is vital for urban sustainable development. Previous studies have not adequately considered the ability to fulfill people’s demand for ecosystem services when identifying sources of LESP. To address this gap, we sought to develop a more comprehensive approach coupling ecosystem services supply and human ecological demand to construct LESP for Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region. We proposed a new evaluation framework integrating ecosystem services importance assessment and landscape connectivity analysis with human ecological demand importance assessment to identify ecological sources. Afterwards, ecological corridors were identified using Minimum Cumulative Resistance model based on sources and resistance surface modified through nighttime light data. Combined with ecological sources and corridors, LESP for Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region can be constructed. The ecological sources are mainly located in western Beijing and southwestern Chengde. The ecological source area totals 36,245.50 km², accounting for 21.26% of the ecological land in Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region. The ecological corridors cross the whole region, from northeast to southwest, similar to the direction of the Yanshan–Taihang Mountain Chain. All the national nature reserves and 91.4% of the provincial nature reserves are distributed within the LESP. The validity of our methodology is confirmed by the distribution of the nature reserves. This study adds new insights into the methodology of LESP construction, and its results provide information about local ecological characteristics that can provide an important reference for decision-making concerning urban planning and ecological conservation.