Abstract: Based on land use data and road data of 2013 and 2018, we explored the impacts of road network on landscape pattern and ecological risk in Ruijin-Xingguo-Yudu region. Using kernel density estimation, buffer analysis, road contribution rate and geographically weighted regression model, we analyzed the responses of landscape pattern and ecological risk to road network construction. The results showed that road density grade of Ruijin-Xingguo-Yudu region generally increased, being more obvious in the central area. The PD index decreased with increasing buffer distance, the LPI index and the CONATG index increased, and the SHDI index increased first and then decreased. The road network had a great impact on the landscape index of construction land, but little impact on the landscape pattern index of forest land, grassland, and water bodies. The overall landscape ecological risk of the study area evolved to a higher level, with the proportion of medium-level, high-level and extremely high-level areas increasing from 24.76%, 19.49%, and 14.96% in 2013 to 26.61%, 22.80%, and 15.64% in 2018. Landscape ecological risk had strong spatial heterogeneity, with high-level risk areas being mainly located in the basin areas of Xingguo and Yudu, and low-level risk areas generally located in high altitude areas, mostly in the mountainous landforms. The results of geographical weighted regression showed that the ecological risk of landscape was negatively correlated with the shortest distance from the sampling center to the road and positively correlated with road density. Our results have implications for regional planning and construction and ecological environment protection of Ruijin-Xingguo-Yudu region.

Key words: road network, landscape pattern, landscape ecological risk, geographical weighted regression, Ruijin-Xingguo-Yudu region.