Identification and Analysis of Ecological Nodes Based on Linkage Mapper and Granularity Inverse Method in the Middle and Northern Sections of Taihang Mountain: A Case Study of Fuping County, Hebei Province

The identification and maintenance of ecological nodes can connect broken habitat patches and improve the connectivity between landscapes. Fuping County, an ecologically poor area in the north-central section of the Taihang Mountains, was selected as the study area. In this paper, ecological nodes are divided into ecological weak points, ecological obstacle points, and ecological pinch points. The MSPA (morphological spatial pattern analysis) model was used to identify the ecological source, the MCR model was used to construct the minimum cumulative resistance surface, and the various types of ecological nodes were identified based on the Linkage Mapper analysis. When calculating the scale, shape, and composition of various types of ecological nodes, the granularity inverse method, the hydrological analysis module and the spatial network analysis module in ArcGIS were used. The results show the total ecological source of the study area is 25 863.97 hm²; There are a total of 120 ecological nodes, including 75 ecological weak points, 25 ecological obstacle points and 20 ecological pinch points; Since 400 m grain size is a suitable reference for the construction of ecological nodes, there are 118 ecological node areas with a total area of 2 043.80 hm². By clarifying the construction forms of various types of ecological nodes, a total of 71 areas could be constructed as forest ecological nodes, 43 areas could be constructed as water ecological nodes, and 4 areas could be constructed as garden ecological nodes. This research provides a specific plan for the construction of local ecological nodes, and a reference for the promotion of ecological network connectivity.