Evaluating the Impact of Dynamic Changes in Grasslands on the Critical Ecosystem Service Value of Yanchi County in China from 2000 to 2015

Abstract

Grasslands are the basis for sustainable development in the northern farming-pastoral transition zone of China, with functions of human production, living, and ecology. Large-scale human activities inevitably lead to significant changes in grasslands, resulting in significant impacts on ecosystem services. To this end, we quantitatively estimated the ecosystem services value in each positive succession process (the improvement in the coverage or area of grasslands) and negative succession process (the degradation in the coverage or area of grasslands). The results indicated that (1) grasslands showed an improving trend from 2000 to 2015. The grassland improvement from low to high coverage dominated the positive succession process. Grassland degradation from high to low coverage dominated the negative succession process. (2) The total ecosystem services value increased by 25,294.87 × 104 yuan from 2000 to 2015. The grassland improvement from low to high coverage was the most important process that led to the increase in ecosystem service value. The degradation between grasslands and non-grasslands was the key process that led to the decrement in ecosystem services value. (3) The impact of grassland dynamics on the regional ecosystem service value showed significant spatial heterogeneity at the town scale. The results will provide some implications for the sustainable development of grassland ecosystem services to improve human well-being.