Identifying the relationships among multiple ecosystem services

Abstract

Ecosystem services (ES) and relationships among them have temporal and spatial patterns that need to be understood. The purpose of this research was to study the spatial and temporal characteristics of the synergies and trade-offs in ES in Guanzhong Basin (sub-humid area) and Hanzhoung Basin (humid area), as well as to compare the ES differences between the two basins. We use linear relationship between grain output and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index, Carnegie-Ames-Stanford Approach, integrated storage capacity method, and the revised universal soil loss equation model to simulate the four types of ecosystem services: food production (FP), carbon sequestration (CS), water retention (WR) and soil conservation (SC). Our results revealed that ES interactions varied across land use types and climate difference. Trade-off relationship between FP and CS in Guanzhong Basin (R = −0.40, P < 0.01) was stronger than that in Hanzhong Basin (R = −0.31, P < 0.01); synergistic relationship between CS and WR, WR and SC in Hanzhong Basin were stronger than those in Guanzhong Basin, but the synergistic relationship between CS and SC was weaker in Hanzhong Basin than in Guanzhong Basin. This study will help to deepen the understanding of the relationship among ES because of regional differences in temporal and spatial patterns.