Construction and Optimization Strategy of an Ecological Network in Mountainous Areas: A Case Study in Southwestern Hubei Province, China

High-intensity urban development and economic exploitation have led to the fragmentation and isolation of regional habitat patches, and biodiversity is under serious threat. Scientific identification and effective optimization of ecological networks are essential for maintaining and restoring regional ecosystem connectivity and guiding sustainable socio-economic development. Taking the mountainous areas of southwest Hubei Province (MASHP) in central China as an example, this study first developed a new integrated approach to identify ecological sources based on a quantitative assessment of ecosystem services and the morphological spatial pattern analysis (MSPA) method; it then used the Linkage Mapper tool to extract ecological corridors, applied the principle of hydrological analysis to identify ecological nodes, evaluated each ecological element to quantify its importance, and finally constructed the ecological network and further proposed some optimization countermeasures. The results show that the ecological network in the MASHP is dominated by ecological resources composed of forestland. Connectivity in the central region is significantly better than in other regions, including 49 ecological sources with an area of 3837.92 km², 125 ecological corridors with a total length of 2014.61 km, and 46 ecological nodes. According to the spatial distribution of crucial ecological landscape elements, a complete and systematic ecological framework of "two verticals, three belts, three groups, and multiple nodes" was proposed. The internal optimization of the ecological network in mountainous areas should focus on improving ecological flow, and strategies such as enhancing the internal connectivity of ecosystems, unblocking ecological corridors, and dividing ecological functional zones can be adopted. Based on the above analyses, this study also made recommendations for ecological protection and development and construction planning in mountainous areas. This study can provide realistic paths and scientific guidelines for ecological security and high-quality development in the MASHP, and it can also have implications for the construction of ecological networks and comprehensive ecological management in other mountainous areas.