Distribution patterns of lake-wetland cultural ecosystem services in highland

Abstract

Environmental and ecological degradation are more prominent within lake-wetland ecosystem than any other ecosystem on Earth, especially in the highlands. The continued pressures of population growth and rapid urbanization on cultural ecosystem services (CES) provided by lake-wetland ecosystem in highlands present ongoing challenges to decision-makers and managers. In this paper, Social Values for Ecosystem Services model (SolVES) was used to map, quantify and assess CES in Dianchi lake basin (DLB) and Erhai lake basin (ELB) to understand the spatial dynamics of CES perceived by residents and tourists. After combining the field survey data with four environmental variables, our analysis shows that (1) The Maximum Value Index (M-VI) ranking of the three CES in descending order within DLB was aesthetic (M-VI = 10), recreation (M-VI = 10), cultural (M-VI = 8). (2) Different stakeholders (residents and tourists) had different perceptions of CES. Recreation value between residents and tourists had the same M-VI (M-VI = 10), but the M-VI of aesthetic value (M-VI = 10) perceived by tourists was higher than those perceived by residents. (3) The four environmental variables significantly influenced CES, especially distance to water and dominant landcover. (4) CES were transferable from DLB to ELB due to the potential transferability of Maxent's DLB models for each CES, and CES hotspots in ELB generated from SolVES were highly consistent with high kernel-density areas. In conclusion, SolVES incorporating CES can benefit the basin resource managers when seeking to integrate a social perspective into the resource management decision-making process. In particular, the involvement of various stakeholders ensures that they are not marginalized in environmental planning and management.