Changes of Ecosystem Services and Landscape Patterns in Mountainous Areas: A Case Study in the Mentougou District in Beijing

Yang Yi,Xinli Hu,Bin Wang,Hongzhang Kang,Chunjiang Liu,Mingchang Shi

doi:10.3390/su10103689

Abstract

Land use types have been strongly modified across mountainous areas. This has substantially altered the patterns and processes of ecosystems and the components of ecosystem services (ESs), and could in turn impact the sustainable development. In the mountainous Mentougou district of Beijing, we explored the changes in land use type (cropland, orchard, forested land, scrubland, grassland, bare land, water bodies, wasteland and built-up land), landscape patterns and ESs as well as their interactions during the past 30 years (1985–2014). The ESs included water yield (WY), carbon stocks (CS) and soil retention rate (SR). The results showed that 23.65% of the land use changed and the wasteland decreased by 80.87%. As for ESs, WY decreased by 47.32% since the year 2000, probably due to the increases in temperature and evapotranspiration. Although the decrease of forested land led to the decrease of CS, the increase of vegetation coverage improved SR. CS decreased by 0.99%from 1990 to 2014, and SR increased by 1.38% from 1985 to 2014. Landscape patterns became fragmented and dispersed, and MPS and CS, SHDI and SR were significantly negatively correlated. IJI and CS was positively correlated. This indicated that landscape patterns were highly correlated with ESs. In order to maintain the sustainable development of ESs, we should not only plan land use types, but also consider the rationality of landscape patterns.

Highlights

Ecosystem services (ESs) are the benefits or goods that human beings receive, directly or indirectly, from ecosystems [1]
Our results showed that 23.65% of the land use types in Mentougou district, a mountainous area in Beijing, changed from 1985 to 2014, with a largest fraction of change being for forested land and scrubland
The soil retention rate increased by 1.38%

Summary

Introduction

Ecosystem services (ESs) are the benefits or goods that human beings receive, directly or indirectly, from ecosystems [1] These transactions, emerging from natural environments, generate the needed conditions for human survival [2,3]. With the associated socioeconomic development, is a major driver of the land use change (e.g., through agricultural activities, built-up areas and mining, etc.) and ecosystems (e.g., species diversity, climate change, water quality, etc.). This simultaneously changes the energy flow and material cycle of the ecosystems, thereby affecting ESs and human well-being [4,5]. The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment estimates that more than half of the ESs are fading, and this trend will not slow down [3]

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