Agricultural Ecosystem Services Research Articles

Impacts of agroforestry on agricultural productivity, ecosystem services, and human well-being in terrace ecosystem of Bangladesh

Impacts of agroforestry on agricultural productivity, ecosystem services, and human well-being in terrace ecosystem of Bangladesh

Using Machine Learning to Identify Heterogeneous Impacts of Agri-Environment Schemes in the EU: A Case Study

Abstract Legislators in the European Union have long been concerned with the environmental impact of farming activities and introduced so-called agri-environment schemes (AES) to mitigate adverse environmental effects and foster desirable ecosystem services in agriculture. This study combines economic theory with a novel machine learning method to identify the environmental effectiveness of AES at the farm level. We develop a set of more than 130 contextual predictors to assess the individual impact of participating in AES. Results from our empirical application for Southeast Germany suggest the existence of heterogeneous, but limited effects of agri-environment measures in several environmental dimensions such as climate change mitigation, clean water and soil health. By making use of Shapley values, we demonstrate the importance of considering the individual farming context in agricultural policy evaluation and provide important insights into the improved targeting of AES along several domains.

Spatial-Temporal Water Balance Components Estimation Using Integrated GIS-Based Wetspass-M Model in Moulouya Basin, Morocco

The Moulouya basin in Morocco is one of many river basins around the world that are regulated with physical flow control, a range of regulations and storage structures. The water budget of the basin is unbalanced; the available water resources are insufficient for agricultural productivity, nature conservation and ecosystem services. This study evaluates spatial and temporal distributions of actual evapotranspiration, groundwater recharge and surface runoff for the period 2000–2020 using the WetSpass-M model in the Moulouya basin, Morocco. The WetSpass-M model’s input data are created in grid maps with the ArcGIS tool. They include monthly meteorological parameters (e.g., temperature, wind speed, rainfall,), soil map, land cover, topography, slope and groundwater depth. A good correlation has been observed between the simulated groundwater recharge and base flow, with the value of R2 = 0.98. The long-term spatial and temporal average annual precipitation of 298 mm is distributed as 45 mm (15.1%) groundwater recharge and 44 mm (14.8%) surface runoff, while 209 mm (70.1%) is lost through evapotranspiration. The simulated results showed that the average groundwater recharge of 15.1 mm (30%) falls during the summer and spring seasons, while the remaining 29.5 mm (70%) occurs during the winter and autumn seasons. Annually, 2430 million m3 of water recharges to the groundwater system from the rainfall for the entire basin. The study’s findings would help local stakeholders and policymakers in developing sustainable and effective management of available surface water and groundwater resources in the Moulouya basin.

Agricultural Transformation and Its Impact on Ecosystem Services and Human Well-Being in Peri-Urban Areas: The Case of Xi’an, China

There is a gap in understanding the relationships between the transformation of agricultural landscapes, ecosystem services and human well-being in the peri-urban fringe of major cities worldwide. In this paper, we use semi-structured interviews, perception surveys, social surveys and field mapping to examine linkages between agricultural and landscape transition, ecosystem services and human well-being in five sample villages in Xi’an metropolitan zone, China. The results indicate that: (1) Agricultural change has increased landscape fragmentation, with a shift from grain to more profitable horticulture and nursery production. The farming system is more diversified and exhibits a multifunctional character. (2) This transformation has had a significant impact on the character of the agroecosystem. (3) The agricultural transformation towards greater multifunctionality has increased the supply of ecosystem services, including tourism-related activities, potentially improving human well-being. (4) Different combinations of activities in the sample villages were evaluated with respect to a well-being index, indicating the importance of combining horticulture and tourism. (5) Linkages identified between agricultural transformation, ecosystem services and human well-being may have significant implications for potential approaches within future studies.

Ecologically Intermediate and Economically Final: The Role of the Ecosystem Services Framework in Measuring Sustainability in Agri-Food Systems

Ecosystem services can be defined as the ecosystem’s contribution to human activities. According to recent assessments, the agricultural sector is one of the most important economic users of ecosystem services in Europe. To assess, value, and account for ecosystem services related to the agri-food system offers the possibility to measure and investigate how agricultural management practices together with changing environmental conditions can affect ecological resilience. However, the accounting of ecosystem services’ flows needs to be carefully addressed, because the overlapping of services and benefits and the overlapping of what are considered intermediate and final services could create dangerous misunderstandings about the role and importance of ecosystem services in agriculture. This paper reports on the possible accounting approaches that can be used to assess crop provision, as well as their meanings and implications from an ecological to an economic perspective. The results demonstrate that an economic accounting-based assessment of ecosystem services needs to move from an ecological holistic view to a one-by-one disaggregation of ecosystem services in order to avoid underestimates that would ultimately affect the policy perception of the role of ecosystems with respect to the agri-food systems’ resilience.

Runoff, erosion, and nutrient transport arising from furrow irrigation in a corn conservation production system

AbstractContemporary row‐crop practices in the mid‐southern United States contribute to declining water tables and impairment of downstream waters, threatening the sustainability of irrigated agriculture and vital ecosystem services. This research was conducted to determine whether agro‐hydrology can be altered by cover crop or traffic pattern. The effects of cover crop {Austrian winter pea [Pisum sativum var. arvense (L.) Poiret], crimson clover [Trifolium incarnatum L.], cereal rye [Secale cereal L.], and tillage radish [Raphanus sativus L.]} and traffic pattern (traffic, nontraffic) on runoff, erosion, and nutrient transport from a furrow irrigation event were investigated at Stoneville, MS on a Commerce very fine sandy loam (a fine‐silty, mixed, superactive, nonacid, thermic Fluvaquentic Endoaquept). Relative to winter fallow, the inclusion of a cover crop reduced erosion by at least 16% but had no effect on runoff or the transport of total P, total Kjeldahl nitrogen (TKN), soluble reactive phosphate (SRP), NH4–N, or NO3–N. Eliminating traffic in furrows reduced runoff, erosion, and SRP transport up to 13%. Traffic pattern had no effect on the transport of total P, TKN, NH4–N, or NO3–N. Regardless of treatment, total N loss never exceeded 0.2% of N applied as inorganic fertilizer. This research demonstrates that cover crop and equipment traffic pattern can be manipulated in reduced tillage systems to improve the sustainability of irrigated agriculture and ecosystem services in the mid‐southern United States.

Ecosystem services in Iowa agricultural catchments: Hypotheses for scenarios with water quality wetlands and improved tile drainage

Nutrient loads from agricultural runoff in the upper Midwest continue to contribute to Gulf Coast hypoxia and harmful algal blooms due to insufficient retention of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) associated with row crop agriculture and highly productive soils. In the coming decades, much of the drainage infrastructure in this region will be rebuilt to modern design standards. At the same time, the region is developing and implementing strategies to reduce nutrient export. A group of Iowa stakeholders representing agricultural producers, land managers, and researchers met seven times in late 2018 and early 2019 and was asked to describe ecosystem service information needs that could support nutrient best management practice decisions in Iowa. The stakeholder group identified the importance and relevance of a catchment-scale (i.e., small watershed) analysis of a set of priority ecosystem services associated with agricultural tile drainage improvements and targeted water quality wetlands. Water quality wetlands are wetlands installed strategically to intercept agricultural drainage channels and receive runoff and tile drainage. These potential modifications were codified into four scenarios for literature analysis and hypothesis development including (1) a baseline, no change scenario representing the most prevalent current landscape with underperforming tile drainage infrastructure and degraded wetland functions; (2) upgrade of tile drainage infrastructure without a water quality wetland; (3) installation of a water quality wetland at the drainage district catchment scale but with no drainage improvements; and (4) a combination of adding a water quality wetland and tile drainage infrastructure upgrades at the catchment scale. Synthesizing published field-scale and modeling results across a collection of relevant studies suggests that the combined scenario of improved drainage paired with a water quality wetland may result in increased crop yields, habitat, pollination, and educational and cultural services as well as decreased global warming potential relative to the baseline scenario. Nitrate (NO₃^™) export will likely decrease in the combined scenario, depending on net agricultural export and wetland effectiveness. To better substantiate these findings, more catchment-scale research in the region is required, particularly in the areas of water quality, wetland carbon (C) sequestration, wetland habitat quality, and educational and cultural services. Additionally, research is needed to address the effect of upgrading drainage infrastructure on ecosystem services, as most reported ecosystem service effects have been for new drainage installations. Fully integrated assessments, particularly at the catchment scale, will be key to understanding how land management approaches like adding water quality wetlands and improved drainage affect both agricultural production and ecosystem services.

A Bibliometric and Visualization Review Analysis of Agricultural Ecosystem Services Research

As environmental pollution problems caused by agricultural production attract more and more attention, agricultural ecosystem services gradually become a hot topic of academic research. This study utilized CiteSpace to perform a bibliometric and visualization review of relating literature. Specifically, the countries and institutions with the greatest number of publications were identified. By analyzing references, the most influential authors and publications were located. Furthermore, an in-depth analysis of research emphasis derived from keyword visualization was conducted, suggesting that existing research can be grouped into three theme clusters. Finally, research trends were summarized and future trending topics were deduced.

Biogeographic distribution patterns and assembly processes of nirS‐type and nirK‐type denitrifiers across the black soil zone in Northeast China

AbstractDenitrifiers controlled the key‐step on global N cycles; however, little knowledge had been focused on their biogeography and associated underlying mechanisms. Here, based on high‐throughput sequencing, we investigated the nirS‐type and nirK‐type community diversity, biogeography, assembly mechanisms, and taxa interactions with 26 soil samples that were obtained across the black soil zone of northeast China. The results revealed that Proteobacteria was the unique known phylum of denitrifying bacteria, and Bradyrhizobium was the most abundant genus detected in both nirS‐type and nirK‐type denitrifiers across all soil samples. Compared with nirS‐type denitrifiers, a relatively high cosmopolitan and community diversity were found in nirK‐type. Those two types of denitrifying communities showed clear geographic distribution accompanied by obvious distance‐decay relationships. Variance partitioning analysis revealed that soil properties rather than sampling latitudes significantly influenced denitrifying communities with soil pH as the key drivers. However, stochastic processes, as dispersal limitation, played a greater role than deterministic processes in determining community assembly of both nirS‐type and niK‐type denitrifiers. This dispersal limitation was mostly contributed by the potential competition among taxa, with the negative interactions dominating in the denitrifying co‐occurrence patterns. Moreover, soil acidification with soil pH ranking from 4.0 to 4.5 simplified network structure and compelled denitrifiers to cooperate with each other in contrast to other soil pH ranges. These results provided comprehensive insights into the ecological processes of denitrifying communities, which were of great importance to the improvement of agricultural ecosystem services from the perspective of microorganisms.

Modeling paddy field soil conditions in East Java, Indonesia

Knowledge of soil conditions is a critical factor of effective land management to achieve optimum ecosystem services in agriculture. Digital soil modeling that incorporates soil spectral data has become a cost-efficient method compared to traditional wet-chemical soil analysis to produce high quality soil management data at the regional level. This research objective was to develop soil property prediction models to assess the characteristics of paddy field soil conditions in East Java, Indonesia. This study examined the utilization of a hybrid two-step regression (2Step-R) soil modeling approach that incorporates categorical soil-environmental variables and continuous visible-near-infrared (VNIR) spectral data. The integrative 2Step-R method was implemented in two modes—Partial Least Square Regression, PLSRmod, and Sparse Bayesian Infinite Factor, SBIFmod—with ‘mod’ referring to the fusion of important categorical soil-environmental parameters and soil VNIR spectral data. This research successfully developed reliable prediction models for soil organic carbon, nitrogen (N), pH, sum of bases (SB), and cation exchange capacity in the study area, with acceptable model performance (performance to interquartile ratio or RPIQ 1.77 to 2.54; performance to deviation ratio or RPD 1.45 to 1.89; and coefficient of determination or R2 0.53 to 0.72). The fused soil-environmental and VNIR spectral data approach (2Step-R) showed markedly improved model performances when compared to models that solely used VNIR spectra data (PLSR) for all modeled soil properties. This research underpins the utilization of cost-effective soil modeling to reveal existing soil conditions in securing soil ecosystem services for intensive agriculture in data sparse regions such as Indonesia.

Participatory land-use planning for strengthening the village land resources management: a case study of Gorontalo, Indonesia

Sustainable land management is crucial to ensure the availability of food, water, and clean air, especially to long-term support of human well-being and health. Continuous exploitation of land resources leads to land degradation and declines in agricultural productivity, biodiversity, and ecosystem services. This study aims to strengthen land resources management at the village level through a participatory land-use planning (PLUP) approach. The research location is at Moliliulo Village, Gorontalo. Current issues on land use and land management were collected using participatory rural appraisal (PRA) techniques. This information became a consideration in land use analysis conducted using a geographic information system (GIS). The approved future land use directions are about 88% forest (natural forest and agroforestry) and 12% non-forest (agriculture, coconut plantations, settlements, and water body). The land-use plan is essential for guiding the village government and the villagers on managing land resources. Additionally, it potentially strengthens the village development programs, social forestry management and resolves forest conflict. To ensure the implementation of land use planning, the village government should develop regulations on land use.

Identifying and Evaluating the Mechanisms and Modes of Governance of Ecosystem Services – The Case of Bulgarian Agriculture

This article presents the results of a large-scale study on the mechanisms and modes of governance of diverse ecosystem services in Bulgarian agriculture. Firstly, it identifies the type, amount, and importance of various ecosystem services maintained and “produced” by the Bulgarian farms. The study has found out that country’s farms provide a great number of essential ecosystem services among which provisioning food and feed, and conservation of elements of the natural environment prevail. Secondly, it identifies and assesses the efficiency and complementarities of specific modes and mechanisms of governance of ecosystem services used by agricultural holdings. The study had found out that a great variety of private, market, collective, public and hybrid modes of governance of farm activity related to agroecosystem services are applied. There is significant differentiation of employed managerial forms depending on the type of ecosystem services and the specialization of agricultural farms. Furthermore, the management of agroecosystem services is associated with a considerable increase in the production and transaction costs of participating farms as well as big socio-economic and environmental effects for agricultural holdings and other parties. The factors that mostly stimulate the activity of agricultural producers in Bulgaria for protection of (agro)ecosystems services are participation in public support programs, access to farmers’ advice, professional training, available information, and innovation, received direct subsidies from EU and national government, personal conviction and satisfaction, positive experience of others, long-term and immediate benefits for the farm, and integration with suppliers, buyers, and processors.

Greenhouse gas mitigation strategies and opportunities for agriculture

AbstractTo cope with increasing demands for food, feed, and energy along with environmental challenges due to climate change, the agricultural sector has a unique opportunity to meet sustainable development goals set by the United Nations through innovative and regenerative agriculture practices that enhance agricultural productivity, ecosystem services, and human well‐being simultaneously. Among many sustainability metrics to measure agriculture's impacts on sustainability and contribution to its improvements, we focus on the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the agricultural sector as a key environmental indicator to assess several GHG mitigation practices from the perspective of life‐cycle analysis applied to agriculture. We first analyze the key factors contributing to farming GHG emissions and then identify a range of GHG mitigation strategies, such as optimizing farm fertilizer/chemical inputs, manufacturing low‐carbon fertilizer/chemical, reducing on‐farm energy/fuel consumption, and increasing soil carbon stocks. Furthermore, we elaborate on how these strategies can be successfully implemented to different scales of farming through policies and incentives and better quantification and verification schemes for effective policies and incentives. Finally, we present the holistic evaluation of agricultural GHG emissions in terms of landscape management approaches and provide ecosystem services to address social and economic issues.

Hotspots of Agricultural Ecosystem Services and Farmland Biodiversity Overlap with Areas at Risk of Land Abandonment in Japan

Agriculture provides a wide range of ecosystem services and has the potential to contribute to biodiversity conservation. In Japan, many of the resources associated with agroecosystems are threatened by farmland abandonment. Identifying where and to what extent agricultural ecosystem services and farmland biodiversity are affected by farmland abandonment is essential for developing effective strategies to counter the potential loss of these services and the biological communities that support them. Our study aimed to examine how a set of indicators for ecosystem services and biodiversity linked to agroecosystems (proportions of land dedicated to rice production and other agricultural production, proportion of agricultural land on slopes potentially providing landscape aesthetics, proportion of villages promoting rural tourism, and densities of forest edges and irrigation ponds in agricultural land) are distributed at the municipal level across the Japanese Archipelago, and to analyze their spatial patterns in relation to the distribution of farmland abandonment. It was hypothesized that hotspots of agricultural ecosystem services and farmland biodiversity occur in areas at risk of farmland abandonment owing to shared drivers. The cluster analysis identified four distinct ecosystem service bundle types, two of them representing areas specializing in agricultural production, while the other two provided high levels of cultural services and habitats for diverse biological communities. The latter two bundles were located in hilly and mountainous areas and accounted for 58% of rice production, 27% of other agricultural production, 77% of landscape aesthetics, 77% of rural tourism, 64% of forest edges, and 87% of irrigation ponds in Japan. In support of the hypothesis, farmland abandonment was pronounced in these areas, with 64% of recently abandoned fields located where 44% of agricultural land was found. This spatial overlap suggests that substantial losses of ecosystem services and biodiversity may occur if current patterns of farmland abandonment continue. In order to prevent large-scale losses of agricultural ecosystem services and farmland biodiversity, measures to counteract the ongoing abandonment trends should prioritize hilly and mountainous areas, and future studies should further evaluate the multiple functions of agricultural areas to improve policies that aim to ensure sustainable development of rural areas in Japan.

Ant Communities and Ecosystem Services in Organic Versus Conventional Agriculture in the U.S. Corn Belt.

Reducing the use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides can limit negative impacts of agriculture on insects and is a crucial step towards sustainable agriculture. In the United States, organic agriculture has the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, pollutant runoff, and biodiversity loss in the Midwestern Corn Belt-an area extending over 500,000 km2 devoted to intensive production of corn Zea mays (Linnaeus 1753) (Poales: Poaceae), often in rotation with soy Glycine max (Linnaeus 1753) (Fabales: Fabaceae) or wheat Triticum aestivum (Linnaeus 1753) (Poales: Poaceae). Working in 30-yr-long landscape experiments in this region, we tested for impacts of conventional versus organic agriculture on ant communities (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) and potential ecosystem services they provide. Organic fields supported higher ant diversity and a slightly more species-rich ant assemblage than conventionally managed fields but did not otherwise differ in community composition. Despite similar community composition, organic and conventional fields differed in seasonal patterns of ant foraging activity and potential for natural pest suppression. Conventional plots experienced higher overall ant foraging activity, but with the timing skewed towards late in the growing season such that 75% of ant foraging occurred after crop harvest in a wheat year and was therefore unavailable for pest suppression. Organic fields, in contrast, experienced moderate levels of ant foraging activity throughout the growing season, with most foraging occurring during crop growth. Organic fields thus supported twice as much pest suppression potential as conventional fields. Our results highlight the importance of timing in mediating ecosystem services in croplands and emphasize the value of managing landscapes for multiple services rather than yield alone.

Quantifying carbon budget, crop yields and their responses to environmental variability using the ecosys model for U.S. Midwestern agroecosystems

As one of the major agricultural production areas in the world, the United States (U.S.) Midwest plays a vital role in the global food supply and agricultural ecosystem services. Although significant efforts have been made in modeling the carbon cycle dynamics over this area, large uncertainty still exists in the previous simulations in terms of reproducing individual components of the carbon cycle and their responses to environmental variability. Here we evaluated the performance of an advanced agroecosystem model, ecosys, in simulating carbon budgets over the U.S. Midwest, considering both the magnitude of carbon flux/yield and its response to environmental (climate and soil) variability. We conducted model simulations and evaluations at 7 cropland eddy-covariance sites as well as over 293 counties of Illinois, Indiana, and Iowa in the U.S. Midwest. The site-level simulations showed that ecosys captured both the magnitude and seasonal patterns of carbon fluxes (i.e., net ecosystem carbon exchange (NEE), ecosystem gross primary production (GPP), and ecosystem respiration (Reco)), leaf area index (LAI), and dynamic plant carbon allocation processes, with R2 equal to 0.92, 0.87, 0.87, and 0.78 for GPP, NEE, Reco, and LAI, respectively across all the sites compared with the observations. For regional scale simulations, ecosys reproduced the spatial distribution and interannual variability of corn and soybean yields with the constraints of observed yields and a new remotely sensed GPP product, with R2 of multi-year averaged simulated and observed yield equal 0.83 and 0.80 for corn and soybean, respectively. The simulated responses of carbon cycle dynamics to environmental variability were consistent with that from the empirical observations at both site and regional scales. Our results demonstrated the applicability of ecosys in simulating the carbon cycle and soil carbon dynamics of the U.S. Midwestern agroecosystems under different climate and soil conditions.

A Review of Research on Agroecosystem Services Based on Bibliometric Analysis

Agricultural ecosystem is one of the most important ecosystems in the world, which provides multiple ecosystem services such as grain production, climate regulation, water conservation and biodiversity. The degradation of ecosystem services has become an important factor that severely restricts the sustainable development of agriculture. Agroecosystem services have become the core and hot topic of ecological research. In recent years, countries and related institutions have been increasing their research on agricultural ecosystem service. Based on Web of Science(WoS) and China Knowledge Resource Integrated (CNKI) databases, the development characteristics and trends of agroecosystem services research were analyzed by bibliometric methods. The results show that: (1) The number of papers on agroecosystem services is increasing, which shows that the research on it is developing. (2) Developed countries are the main research forces in the field of ecosystem services, and the developed countries in Europe and the United States occupy the absolute leading position; China Agricultural University and the University of California in the United States are the main research institutions. (3) At present, eight research hotspots in this field are the study of ecosystem services mechanism, protection management and sustainability, sustainable development, biodiversity, land use and landscape change, value assessment, climate change, sustainable development of agriculture, ecological compensation. From the overall distribution of research hotspots in each period, the international research focuses more on the interdependence between ecosystem services and ecosystem services and human well-being, while the research in China focuses more on ecosystem services assessment. (4) In recent years, there is a big gap between China and foreign countries in the field of ecosystem services research. It is necessary to strengthen cooperation with research institutions in developed countries in Europe and the United States, and further improve the research content, research vision and research methods

The impacts of agroforestry interventions on agricultural productivity, ecosystem services, and human well-being in low- and middle-income countries: A systematic review.

The impacts of agroforestry interventions on agricultural productivity, ecosystem services, and human well-being in low- and middle-income countries: A systematic review.

Limited Economic-Ecological Trade-Offs in a Shifting Agricultural Landscape: A Case Study From Kern County, California

Increasing global food production and livelihoods while maintaining ecosystem health will require significant changes in the way existing farming landscapes are managed. To this end, developing a systemic understanding of the economic and ecological impacts of different cropping systems, and identifying trade-offs and synergies between them, is crucial to inform decision-making for policy makers and landowners. Here, we investigate the impacts of agricultural land-use change for 15 distinct crops in Kern County, California, by looking at spatial and temporal changes in ecosystem indicators. We focus our analysis on three agricultural ecosystem pressures (water use, soil erosion, and pesticide use) and three agricultural ecosystem services (profits, calorie production, and C sequestration). Between 2002 and 2018, agriculture in Kern County underwent a shift from annual row crop to nut tree crop production. At the landscape-scale, we found high increases in ecosystem service provision (total profits, calorie production, and annual C sequestration increased by 105, 29, and 37%, respectively), coupled with smaller changes in ecosystem pressures (total soil erosion and evapotranspiration increased by 10 and 5%, respectively, and total pesticide use declined by 4%). We identified no salient trade-offs or synergies among crops. Our results illustrate that in the highly productive agricultural hotspot of Kern County, a combination of changes in land-cover allocation or land-use efficiency may have mitigated stronger negative environmental impacts following a broad shift from annual to perennial crops.

Evaluation of Agricultural Ecosystem Service Value in Arid and Semiarid Regions of Northwest China Based on the Equivalent Factor Method

A reasonable assessment of the value of ecosystem services is an effective measure to maintain the normal operation of the ecosystem and adjust the balance between economic development and the ecological environment. With the help of the related concepts of ecosystem services, this paper establishes an evaluation framework system and adopts the widely used and comprehensive evaluation method of equivalent factors, which is a rapid accounting tool used for the evaluation of ecosystem services. The value of agricultural ecosystem services was estimated from 2008 to 2017 in a typical arid-semiarid region, and nine ecosystem service functions were analyzed. Our research showed that from 2008 to 2017 the value of agricultural ecological services in Gansu Province increased annually, and the annual growth rate in 2012 was the highest (15%). The results showed that the selection of appropriate methods could quickly and effectively evaluate the value of agricultural ecosystem services. In-depth research on the function and value of agroecological services could better promote the sustainable development of agroecosystems and maintain the balance and integrity of ecological service functions. Evaluation of the balance and integrity of agricultural ecosystem ecological service functions in arid semi-arid regions will provide recommendations for land use and sustainable development and ecological environment protection in these regions.Highlights• Agricultural ecosystem services have changed in an arid and semiarid region of China in recent decades.• We reflect the results of China's ecological progress.• This study provides advice on agricultural development of other developing countries.