Identifying the ecological risk patterns and the dominant ecological risks for ecosystems is crucial for optimizing regional ecological environment quality and formulating sustainable socioeconomic development polices. We established an ecological risk assessment (ERA) model for the Wuling Mountain region to identify the dominant ecological risks in the region and analyzed the constraint effects of the influencing factors on the ecological risk. The results indicated that the relatively high-risk areas were mainly distributed in the northeastern and western regions, along with scattered areas of high risk. The area which had dominant ecological risks was 89,500 km ², accounting for 52.14% of the total area. Meanwhile, the regions with higher ecological risks had multiple dominant risk types. Among all influencing factors, NPP, population density (POP) and temperature (TMP) were highlighted as key factors affecting ecological risk, with an explanatory power consistently exceeding 0.20. There were three types of constraint effects of influencing factors on ecological risk, including logarithmic, negative convex and hump-shaped. Thresholds occurred for the constraint lines of TMP, precipitation (PRE), evapotranspiration (EVA), NPP, elevation (DEM) and slope (SLO), respectively, indicating that the stressors influencing ecological risk vary on either side of these thresholds. This finding is significant for policy formulation, as it allows for prioritization of adjustments based on the explanatory power and the magnitude of these threshold values. Overall, the results of this study provide a comprehensive regulatory framework and regionally targeted scientific support for ecological protection and restoration in the Wuling Mountain region.