Addressing the Modelling Precision in Evaluating the Ecosystem Services of Coastal Wetlands

Wei Li,Manyin Zhang,Yinru Lei,Baodi Sun,Lijuan Cui,Xiaoming Kang

doi:10.3390/su10041136

Wei Li, Manyin Zhang + Show 4 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/su10041136

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Abstract

Wetlands are one of the world’s most productive ecosystems, and therefore it is crucial that management decisions regarding wetlands incorporate awareness of accurate assessments of the value of their respective ecosystem services. In this paper, we seek to improve the modelling precision in the scale transform process of ecosystem service evaluation. Firstly, we selected eight services as the criteria to calculate wetland ecosystem values: substance production, flood control, carbon sequestration, gas regulation, climate regulation, wave reduction, adding new lands, recreation and education. Then, six coastal wetlands of Liaoning province were chosen as the case study areas, and their ecosystem values were calculated by empirical method. Next, we simulated ecosystem values of the six cases by two spatial-scales transform methods named meta-analysis and wavelet transform. Finally, we compared the two groups of simulated values with the empirical measured values to examine their evaluation precisions. The results indicated that the total precision of the wavelet transform model (0.968) was higher than that of meta-analysis (0.712). In addition, the simulated values of single services such as substance production, flood control, carbon sequestration, gas regulation, and climate regulation were closer to the measured values using wavelet transform model. This research contributes to identifying an evaluation model with higher precision for evaluating wetland ecosystem services in the process of scale transform.

Highlights

Increasing attention has been paid to the evaluation of wetland ecosystem services from resource managers, researchers, and the wider public [1,2,3,4,5]
The fitted model was used with the specific characteristics of the test areas in the typical cases to estimate the value of coastal wetland ecosystem services provided by each typical case
A model based on the impact of geospatial, environmental and socio-economic characteristics on coastal wetland ecosystem services was constructed to calculate the value of each wetland type [36,51]

Summary

Introduction

Increasing attention has been paid to the evaluation of wetland ecosystem services from resource managers, researchers, and the wider public [1,2,3,4,5]. Located in the confluence of fresh and saltwater ecological systems, coastal wetlands with high productivity and biodiversity provide rich material and a number of ecosystem services for human beings, such as raw materials, food production, carbon sequestration, wave reduction, climate regulation, and gas regulation, etc. Some coastal wetlands located along bird migratory routes, such as the large tidal flats of the Chinese coastal wetlands, supply food for millions of birds travelling across East Asia and Australia [11,12]. The ecosystem services provided by coastal wetlands vary according to special scales when calculating the ecological and geographical processes [13,14]. Errors exist when evaluating the ecological services of large-scale coastal wetlands since they are not as simple as the sum of small pieces of coastal wetlands [15]. Methods for scale transformation of coastal wetland ecosystem service evaluation are urgently needed [16,17]

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