[Objective] The ecological network pattern of Dongguan City

Guangdong Province were constructed and the importance of ecological corridors was evaluated to identify ecological pinch points and barriers

determine the key areas for ecological protection and restoration

and propose corresponding ecological restoration strategies

in order to provide a scientific basis for the formulation and adjustment of subsequent related land and spatial planning and relevant special plans. [Methods] Based on the traditional research approach of "identifying ecological sources-establishing resistance surfaces-extracting ecological corridors

" urban big data points of interest (POIs) were introduced to address the problem of insufficient accuracy in ecological source identification and resistance surface construction. Circuit theory was used to identify ecological corridors

pinch points

and barriers to construct the overall ecological network pattern of Dongguan City. [Results] ① A total of 29 ecological sources were identified

accounting for 20.45% of the study area. The main ecological sources were located in the southern part of Dongguan City; ② A total of 74 ecological corridors were generated

of which 12 were potential ecological corridors. The water towns and urban edge areas need to be focused on and protected. [Conclusion] The southern part of Dongguan City was found to have better ecological conditions where the ecological source areas were concentrated. However

there were many ecological pinch points and barriers in the urban edge areas and the northern water town area that require priority for ecological restoration and maintenance.