Construction of ecological conservation pattern based on ecosystem services of Three River Headwaters, Western China

The Three River Headwaters (TRH) is located in the hinterland of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, which is the birthplace of the Yellow River, Yangtze River and the Lancang River, and has an extremely important ecological status. In this paper, we use the InVEST model and USLE equation to assess the ecosystem services (ESs) of TRH as well as to identify the ecological security pattern of the TRH and propose ecological conservation pattern. The results show that the ESs of the TRH had an overall increasing trend from 1990 to 2020, with a cumulative increase of 4% in the area of Class III hotspots. Based on the construction of the ecological source and minimum resistance surface of the TRH, a total of 262 ecological corridors with a total length of 22437 km are identified. To improve the ecological protection pattern of the TRH, Priority Protection Area (PPA), Consolidation Enhancement Area (CEA) and Coordination Optimization Area (COA) are divided. Next, the originality of the PPA's complex and fragile ecosystem types should be protected, and disturbance by human activities is strictly prohibited. The CEA should accelerate the establishment of a new mechanism of cross-linkage among various departments to deal with the difficult problems in ecological protection. COA should combine the unique resources of the area to develop green tourism and leisure and sightseeing pastoralism to drive regional economic development.