Article The Construction and Optimization of Ecological Security Pattern in the Harbin-Changchun Urban Agglomeration, China Rong Guo 1, Tong Wu 1,*, Mengran Liu 2, Mengshi Huang 1, Luigi Stendardo 3 and Yutong Zhang 4 1 Key Laboratory of Cold Region Urban and Rural Human Settlement Environment Science and Technology, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. School of Architecture, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150006, China;
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[email protected] (M.H.) 2 Key Laboratory of Forest Plan Ecology, Ministry of Education, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin 150040, China;
[email protected] 3 Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering, Padova University, 35131 Padova, Italy;
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[email protected]; Tel.: +86-135-0360-9537 Received: 03 March 2019; Accepted: 30 March 2019; Published: 2 April 2019 Abstract: Urban agglomerations have become a new geographical unit in China, breaking the administrative fortresses between cities, which means that the population and economic activities between cities will become more intensive in the future. Constructing and optimizing the ecological security pattern of urban agglomerations is important for promoting harmonious social-economic development and ecological protection. Using the Harbin-Changchun urban agglomeration as a case study, we have identified ecological sources based on the evaluation of ecosystem functions. Based on the resistance surface modified by nighttime light (NTL) data, the potential ecological corridors were identified using the least-cost path method, and key ecological corridors were extracted using the gravity model.