National parks represent a country's most important natural landscapes, unique heritage sites, and areas of rich biodiversity within the natural ecosystem. Their primary function is to protect the authenticity and integrity of vital natural ecosystems while supporting scientific research, education, and recreation. The scientific delimitation of functional divisions in national parks and identification of suitable space for conservation and utilization is of great significance for achieving multi-objective collaborative management of national parks. We developed a functional zoning analysis method for national parks based on a multi-dimensional framework combining recreation value, habitat quality, and landscape vulnerability. Our innovative approach optimized the measurement of habitat quality and landscape vulnerability indices. Using Kalamaili National Park in Xinjiang as a case study, our comprehensive evaluation revealed that areas with high recreation value, landscape vulnerability, and habitat quality showed distinct spatial distribution patterns. High recreational value areas were primarily distributed in the southeast and southwest zones, covering approximately 1200 km². High habitat quality areas were largely concentrated in the central region, encompassing roughly 2168.64 km². Areas of high landscape vulnerability were found in the east and south, spanning about 3310.25 km². Through spatial overlay analysis, we identified six functional clusters. According to these distribution patterns of functional clusters, we proposed planning recommendations for Kalamaili National Park's scientific development. The functional zoning assessment framework in this paper effectively identifies the functional combination and layout of national parks. It provides scientific evaluation methods and decision support for park management and sustainable development, helping promote the harmony between humans and nature.

Reserve areas are the key coverage areas of ecological protection compensation in China. In this paper, the generality and particularity of eco-compensation decision in reserve areas were analyzed, and a decision framework for eco-compensation was built considering the systematicness of decision and multi-dimensional effects. Based on the emphasis on expressing uncertainty in decision information, a decision model with "GIS (Geographic Information System)-BN (Bayesian Network)" as the core was constructed. The Maoli Lake Watershed, where the Hunan Maoli Lake National Wetland Park is located, was selected as a case area to design four agricultural land-use adjustment measures aimed at improving the water environment of the Maoli Lake, such as the reduction of chemical fertiliser application, and to form a number of eco-compensatory schemes to be selected. The decision tools were developed by self-programming to realize the fine decision of priority scheme and implementation area of agricultural land eco-compensation in the case area. The results showed that: (1) Ecological compensation for agricultural land in nature reserve areas had a multidimensional effect, and its decision-making should seek synergies between the conservation needs of the reserve and regional economic and social stability and development. (2) Ecological compensation for agricultural land comprised multiple key components, such as land use adjustment measures, target land types, compensation standards, and implementation areas. These elements could be combined in various ways to form comprehensive decision-making plans. This multi-component approach offerd a more systematic and holistic framework compared to single-factor decision-making models. (3) The priority programme for ecological compensation of agricultural land in the case area was the implementation of crop rotation and fallow for paddy fields and drylands, with compensation rates at the second level; regional preferences at the village level of the administrative districts could be implemented more efficiently. (4) The decision model in this paper could entirely transfer uncertainty information from the microscale of plot to the mesoscale of watershed, and the assessment results could simultaneously suggest the potential benefits and possible risks of the decision.

Mammals hold crucial significance in the realm of biodiversity conservation. Nature reserves serve as vital zones that effectively mitigate the loss of species diversity. Based on equal-area grid, this study evaluates the abundance patterns of terrestrial mammals across different levels of threats, analyzes regions and species under protection gaps, considering both the broad scale of nature reserves and the finer scale of protective patches. However, there are limited traditional gap analyses that fully take into account the diversity of species and their spatial requirements. We integrate the concept of Minimum Area Requirement (MAR) of species populations as a new supplementary assessment metric to assess the sufficiency of nature reserve patches, and species with poorer compliance are considered as the candidate species under conservation gaps, replacing the single threshold division approach with a multispecies threshold estimation method. The results show that: (1) The richness of threatened terrestrial mammals decreases progressively from the biodiversity-rich southwest to the north, highlighting the importance of Southwest China, particularly Yunnan province, as a critical biodiversity hotspot. Additionally, seven key regions are identified as conservation gap areas, where nature reserves fail to provide sufficient coverage for the protection of threatened species. (2) The distribution ranges of a total of 92.06% of the threatened species overlap with existing nature reserves, however, the presence of the overlaps does not ensure the provision of sufficient conservation, as evidenced by the fact that seven mammal species classified as endangered and three mammal species categorized as vulnerable are subject to absence of protection coverage. (3) Half of the protected patches for each of twenty-two nationally important threatened species face area limitations under different population growth rate levels. The results hold significant implications for identifying priority conservation areas and optimizing the planning of nature reserves to safeguard mammalian biodiversity.