Evaluation of Ecosystem Services in the Dongting Lake Wetland

Li Ma,Ehsan Kazemi,Kebin Zhang,Qixiang Sun,Danbo Pang,Ruoxiu Sun,Jinxing Zhou,Yi Zhang

doi:10.3390/w11122564

Abstract

The Aeronautical Reconnaissance Coverage Geographic Information System (ArcGIS) 10.2 and Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Trade-offs (InVEST) model are used to comprehensively evaluate ecosystem services in the Dongting Lake Wetland, focusing on water yield, soil conservation, carbon storage, and snail control and schistosomiasis prevention. The spatial and temporal variations of these services, as well as their variations between different land use types in a period of 10 years from 2005 to 2015, are investigated, and the value of such services is then estimated and analyzed. The results of this study show various temporal and spatial trends in the ecosystem services, such as (1) the overall increase of all these services during the study period (although significant in some services, such as schistosomiasis patient reduction, by 86.8%; and, very slight in some others such as soil conservation, only by 0.02%); (2) different orders of the services values that are based on different land use types; and, (3) the temporal changes in the proportion of the values of different ecosystem services with respect to the total services value. Besides, it is concluded that the evaluation of ecosystem services of a certain wetland is heavily dependent on the characteristics of the area where the wetland is located, and the assessment indicators and methods should be selected based on such characteristics through the analysis of the results and a comparison with the findings of literature.

Highlights

Ecosystem service is the natural environmental condition and utility that the ecosystem and ecological process form and maintain [1,2]
This study focuses on the ecosystem services in the Dongting Lake area that resulted from the construction of disease prevention forests, including snail control and schistosomiasis prevention, water yield, soil conservation, and carbon storage; and, evaluates them in a period of 10 years between 2005 and
Water yield, soil conservation, carbon storage, and snail control and schistosomiasis prevention were evaluated in the Dongting Lake Wetland area from 2005 to 2015

Summary

Introduction

Ecosystem service is the natural environmental condition and utility that the ecosystem and ecological process form and maintain [1,2]. The millennium ecosystem assessment (MEA) has found that 60% of global ecosystem services have deteriorated, with human activity being one of the main causes of this adverse change [3,4]. Wetland ecosystem services are crucial for the survival of humans and a range of other animals, by supplying freshwater and aquatic products, flood control, climate regulation, biodiversity protection, etc. Water 2019, 11, 2564 has been estimated that lake wetland ecosystem services provide 23.2% of the total value of global ecosystem services [8]. Great Lakes Restoration Initiative Task Force systematically assessed the ecosystem services of the Great Lakes of North America in 2010, and showed that a number of management and engineering measures improved these services [9]. Wong et al (2016) tested a new approach to evaluate water storage and local climate regulation of a green infrastructure project on the Yong ding

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion