Abstract
Research on the spatial flow of ecosystem services can help to identify the spatial relationships between service-providing areas (SPAs) and service-benefitting areas (SBAs). In this study, we used the Hybrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory (HYSPLIT) model to stimulate the flow paths of the wind erosion prevented by ecosystems in Hunshandake, China. By interpolating these paths, the SBAs were identified, and their benefits in terms of land cover, population, and Gross Domestic Product (GDP) were determined. The results indicated that the flow paths mostly extended to the eastern part of the study area, and the estimated cover of the SBAs was 39.21% of the total area of China. The grid cells through which many (≥10%) of the trajectories passed were mainly located in the western part of north-eastern China and the eastern part of northern China. The benefitting population accounted for 74.51% of the total population of China, and the GDP was 67.11% of the total in 2010. Based on this research, we described a quantitative relationship between the SPAs and the SBAs and identified the actual beneficiaries. This work may provide scientific knowledge that can be used by decision makers to develop management strategies, such as ecological compensation to mitigate damage from sandstorms in the study area.
Highlights
Human welfare has received increasing attention in the study of ecosystem services, which are the ecosystem functions and processes that benefit humans [1,2,3,4]
We simulated the flow paths of the wind erosion prevented by the ecosystems in the key ecological function area (KEFA) of Hunshandake and identified the service-benefitting areas (SBAs) and the land cover, population, and Gross Domestic Product (GDP) benefits
We proposed relationships between the service-providing areas (SPAs) and the SBAs as well as a proxy for the benefits realized by the SBAs
Summary
Human welfare has received increasing attention in the study of ecosystem services, which are the ecosystem functions and processes that benefit humans [1,2,3,4]. To understand ecosystem services and their impacts on human welfare, many researchers have simultaneously investigated service demand and service supply [5,6,7]. Burkhard et al [8] presented a conceptual framework linking ecosystems, ecosystem services, and human well-being as the supply and demand sides of human-environmental systems. There have been many studies of ecosystem service supply and demand and their balance [7,8,9]. Wei et al [11] noted that ecosystem service supply-demand mismatches strongly impact human well-being because they result in unsatisfied demand
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