Introduction: In southern China, four species of the Taxus genus are distributed, and identifying their suitable habitats plays an important role in species conservation.Methods: This study used the MaxEnt model to simulate and predict the potential suitable habitat distribution for these four species. The prediction model utilized 257 occurrence points from the four yew species, along with historical climate and topographic data, and incorporated the distribution of nature reserves in China. The model’s accuracy was validated using the Area Under the Receiver Operating Characteristic Curve (AUC) to compare the effect of different function models on prediction accuracy.Results: The results showed that the AUC values for all four yew species exceeded 0.9, indicating a high level of reliability in the model predictions. The high-suitability area for Taxus wallichiana var. chinensis is 13,943.62 km², with nature reserves covering 7.49% of this area; Taxus wallichiana var. mairei has a high-suitability area of 11,950.97 km², with a coverage rate of 2.44%; Taxus wallichiana has a high-suitability area of 9,784.43 km², with a coverage rate of 10.52%; and Taxus yunnanensis has a high-suitability area of 7,226.57 km², with a coverage rate of 6.47%. The high-suitability areas for T. wallichiana var. chinensis are concentrated in the Qinling, Wuyi, and Hengduan mountain ranges, while T. wallichiana var. mairei has a broader distribution, primarily in the Wuyi, Qinling, Hengduan, and southeastern Himalayas. The distributions of T. wallichiana and T. yunnanensis are concentrated in the Hengduan Mountains and southeastern Himalayas.Discussion: The study suggests expanding the network of protected areas, constructing ecological corridors, and introducing cultivation efforts to enhance population stability within high-suitability zones. For T. wallichiana var. mairei and T. wallichiana var. chinensis, it is recommended to attempt more reintroduction efforts, while for T. wallichiana and T. yunnanensis, habitat protection should be prioritized. The establishment of additional natural protected areas and the construction of ecological corridors linking these protected areas are important ways to strengthen the conservation of yew species.

In the process of societal development, forest land categories often conflict with other land use types, leading to impacts on the ecological environment. Therefore, research on changes in forest land categories has increasingly become a globally focused topic. To anticipate potential forest ecological security issues under urbanization trends, studies on regional land use simulation become more important. This paper, based on land use data from the Ganjiang River basin, analyzes the distribution characteristics and changing trends of land use types from 2000 to 2020. Using the CA-Markov model, it predicts the land use pattern of the basin in 2040 and analyzes the transfer characteristics of forest land categories. The conclusions indicate that, between 2000 and 2020, the most significant trend in land use evolution was the transfer between various subcategories of forest land, especially frequent in the high-altitude mountainous areas in the southern and western parts of the basin. The land use pattern prediction model constructed in this paper has a kappa index of 0.92, indicating high accuracy and reliability of the predictions. In 2040, the most significant land evolution phenomenon would be from forest land to arable land to construction land, particularly pronounced around large cities. Over the next 20 years, the focus of land use evolution may shift from the southern part of the basin to the central and northern parts, with urban expansion possibly becoming the main driving force of land use changes during this period. Forest land restoration work is an effective method to compensate for the loss of forest land area in the Ganjiang River basin, with key areas for such work including Longnan, Yudu, Xingguo, Ningdu, Lianhua, and Yongxin counties.

Blue-green spaces are critical for diversified landscape planning. However, rapid urbanization and habitat fragmentation continue to disrupt ecological connectivity in river-basin landscapes. This study focuses on the Xiu River Basin, a major tributary of Poyang Lake and a key node of the East Asian–Australasian Flyway. We developed a multi-guild avian ecological network framework to support biodiversity-oriented landscape planning. Birds were classified into four functional guilds: aquatic resident, aquatic wintering, forest resident, and forest wintering. For each guild, we designed a specific set of environmental variables. We integrated MaxEnt and InVEST to identify ecological sources by combining habitat suitability with habitat quality. The results showed that 68.75% of the basin qualifies as good-quality habitat, although suitable habitats remained highly heterogeneous and fragmented among guilds. We identified 1839.93 km² of ecological sources, 157 corridors, 215 pinchpoints, and 344 barriers, revealing clear differences in the connectivity requirements between aquatic and forest birds and between resident and wintering birds. We further delineated four ecological priority areas and proposed targeted restoration strategies for wetlands, river–lake systems, forested mountains, and urban–rural transition zones. Overall, this study demonstrates that multi-guild connectivity analysis can provide a spatial framework for informing urban forest conservation, blue-green infrastructure planning, and diversified landscape planning in complex basin landscapes.