Land-Use Change, Ecosystem Services, and Ecological Security Pattern in a Mineral Resource-Based City: A Case Study of Chenzhou, China

Mineral resource-based cities face long-term conflicts among resource exploitation, urban expansion, and ecological conservation, making it necessary to clarify how long-term land-use change affects ecosystem services and ecological security patterns. Taking Chenzhou, China, as a case study, this study analyzed land-use change from 1990 to 2024 and quantified four ecosystem services—water yield, carbon storage, habitat quality, and soil conservation—using the InVEST model. Ecological sources were identified based on an integrated ecosystem service index, while ecological corridors, ecological pinch points, and ecological barrier points were identified by integrating an ecological resistance surface, least-cost path analysis, and circuit theory. On this basis, an ecological restoration spatial pattern was delineated. The results showed that land-use change in Chenzhou was mainly characterized by stage-specific transitions between cropland and forest land and the continuous expansion of impervious surfaces. The integrated ecosystem service index generally declined before gradually stabilizing and recovering, with high-value areas concentrated in the mountainous forest regions of eastern, southern, and southwestern Chenzhou. Forest restoration improved ecosystem services, whereas the conversion of ecological land to impervious surfaces caused pronounced losses of ecological functions. The regional ecological network remained relatively stable overall, while ecological sources, corridors, pinch points, and barrier points of different levels exhibited clear spatial differentiation and differences in relative importance. Based on these characteristics, an ecological restoration spatial pattern was developed, comprising the Luoxiao and Nanling mountain ecological barriers, major ecological corridors, the Dongjiang Lake core ecological source, three ecological restoration zones, and priority ecological restoration nodes. The results indicate that integrating long-term land-use change, ecosystem services, and ecological network analysis can help identify key ecological security spaces and priority areas for ecological restoration, providing a spatial basis for differentiated ecological conservation and restoration in Chenzhou and a reference for mineral resource-based cities with similar development backgrounds.