Abstract
Land use change is an important scientific issue recognized for its potential to alter ecosystem services (ESs), especially water-related ecosystem services (WRESs). Using the integrated valuation of ecosystem services and trade-offs (InVEST) model, this study quantified and mapped spatiotemporal variations in land use and corresponding WRESs in the Bashang area of Hebei Province, China (BAHP) to investigate how land use change impacted WRESs by means of scenario analysis, especially, in which a new evaluation indicator, average ecology effect (AEE) was proposed and well applied. The results indicated that woodland expansion (+602.61 km2) and grassland shrinkage (−500.57 km2) dominated the land use change in the BAHP in 2000–2018, which altered local WRESs, including the moderate declines in water purification and water yield, as well as a significant enhancement in soil conservation. In scenario analysis, compared to baseline levels, riparian woodland buffer and planting trees scenarios slightly decreased water yield but strengthened water purification and soil conservation; reclaiming wasteland and integrated development scenarios significantly enhanced soil conservation but lowered water yield and water purification; fertilizer reduction scenario effectively mitigated water deterioration. According to AEE, the riparian woodland buffer (RWB) scenario performed greater than the planting trees (PT) scenario on variations of WRESs per unit area, which differed completely from the results based on total variations. Overall, a multiple-scale indicator for a comprehensive evaluation of ESs should receive more attention.
Highlights
Ecosystem services (ESs) represent the varieties of benefits that ecosystem offered to humanity directly or indirectly to maintain living and welfare, in the form of culture, provisioning, regulating, and supporting services [1,2]
This study evaluated land use change and three water-related ecosystem services (WRESs) in the BAHP from 2000 to 2018, including water yield, soil conservation, and water purification
From 2000 to 2018, WRESs in the BAHP were characterized by a slight improvement in water yield (+0.40%), significant enhancement in soil conservation (a 14.04% decrease in soil export), and a moderate degeneration in water purification (a 6.69% decrease in soil export)
Summary
Ecosystem services (ESs) represent the varieties of benefits that ecosystem offered to humanity directly or indirectly to maintain living and welfare, in the form of culture, provisioning, regulating, and supporting services [1,2]. The reduction of ESs, especially the water-related ecosystem services (WRESs), e.g., water yield [6], soil conservation [7], and water purification [8], would severely threaten human health and welfare. Utilizing and maintaining ESs sustainably is a hot but challenging issue [9,10]. Land use change was an essential factor to recognize its potential impacts on ESs through altering land use type, pattern, and intensity [11,12].
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