Ecological suitability evaluation for mountainous area development based on conceptual model of landscape structure, function, and dynamics

Minimizing the ecological impact of land development is a fundamental principle of sustainable development. Ecological suitability assessment is the key to realizing sustainability and is also significant for optimizing spatial patterns of territorial development. Especially in mountainous areas where the ecosystem is both vulnerable and important, quantitative evaluation of ecological suitability for land development is particularly important and urgent given current development strategy of urban construction in mountainous areas in China. Taking Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture, a representative urban construction zone in a mountainous area in Yunnan Province, China, as a study area, and based on the fundamental theory of structural and functional dynamics from landscape ecology, this study has explored the integrated ecological resistance (IER) conceptual model and constructed an index system with aspects of ecological elements, ecological importance, and ecological resilience. The results showed that: (1) the ecological suitability level was higher in the north than in the south and higher in the east than in the west, as well as higher in the Bazi region than in mountainous areas. Dali City, Binchuan County, and Xiangyun County had large ecological suitable zones for development and construction. Foci of ecological resistance having strong ecological constraints were mainly concentrated in Heqing County and in various other places; (2) by combining the integrated ecological resistance and arable land distributions, the study area was zoned into five regions: prior development zone, moderate development zone, potential development zone, restricted development zone, and forbidden development zone. Moderate, potential, and restricted development zones occupied most of the area, accounting for 28.89%, 24.69%, and 21.40%, respectively, whereas prior development zones accounted for only 8.91%; (3) based on the areal proportions of ecological suitability zoning, the 12 counties of Dali Prefecture can be grouped into three categories: prior areas for conservation, comprehensive development areas, and prior areas for development. Xiangyun County and Binchuan County should be regarded as key areas of Dali Prefecture for urban construction in mountainous areas. This research has explored an ecological suitability evaluation system from the perspective of landscape ecology and made fully understanding of ecological suitability factors in the study area, which provided a good reference to ecological suitability evaluation for mountainous area development in the worldwide.