Incorporating Temporal and Spatial Variations of Groundwater into the Construction of a Water-Based Ecological Network: A Case Study in Denko County

It is of great practical significance to construct a water-based ecological network in arid and semi-arid areas. The spatial distribution of water resources is one of the most important factors in determining the ecological stability of such areas. In this study, groundwater level trends were analyzed with a model called Empirical Mode Decomposition (EMD). The temporal and spatial evolution of groundwater depth data from 1990 to 2016 were analyzed. The surface water bodies were analyzed using a point pattern analysis method. Based on this, a water-based ecological network was constructed with a minimum cumulative resistance surface model. The study indicated that the trend lines for the groundwater tables of 17 wells could be divided into five types in Denko County. The landscape types that changed from a desert landscape to an oasis landscape had a positive impact on groundwater. Precipitation trend was related to the spatial distribution of the groundwater depth, and the spatial pattern of the water nodes was characterized by a small-scale highly aggregated distribution and a large-scale uniform distribution in Denko County. These results suggest that for the stability of arid and semi-arid ecological environments, the appropriate human intervention (such as construction of an artificial oasis) is of great significance. Based on the analysis of groundwater and surface water bodies, a water-based ecological network in Denko County, which consisted of 391 ecological sources and 7360 ecological corridors, was constructed in 2016. The water-based ecological network constructed in this study was more sustainable and stable, and also suitable for arid and semi-arid areas, which is of great practical significance and application value.