Ecological Service Value Research Articles

STUDY ON TEMPORAL AND SPATIAL VARIATION OF SERVICE VALUE OF REGIONAL FARMLAND ECOSYSTEM AND ITS INFLUENCING FACTORS: A CASE STUDY OF FUJIAN PROVINCE

In order to deeply understand the status quo of regional farmland ecosystem service value and promote the sustainable development of regional farmland, selected farmland in Fujian Province as the research object to study the spatio-temporal changes of its ecosystem service value, and further analyzed the influencing factors of farmland ecological service in Fujian Province through the grey relational model.The results showed that:（1）The value of farmland ecosystem service in Fujian province increased during the study period, but fertilizer and pesticide produced great negative environmental value;（2）As for the spatial difference of farmland ecosystem service value in Fujian province in 2018, nanping has the highest positive service value and the highest per capita service value, Longyan has the highest service value per unit area, and Zhangzhou has the highest negative service value.（3）Among the factors influencing the value of ecological services, water resource utilization, crop planting area and effective irrigation area are the main factors influencing the change of the value of farmland ecosystem services, while the plastic film area and the total power of agricultural machinery have less influence.

围填海历史遗留区域海洋生态服务价值损失评估研究

围填海历史遗留区域海洋生态服务价值损失评估研究

A dataset of mangrove forest changes on Hainan Island based on GF-2 data during 2015–2019

Mangrove forests are wetland ecosystems in the coastal zone with important ecological and eco-economic service values. At the same time, mangrove forests are vulnerable ecosystems, being under threat from both natural and anthropogenic forces, so mangrove monitoring is a permanent task. The development of remote sensing technology has provided an efficient and convenient means for mangrove monitoring. In this study, we adopted a support vector machine (SVM) classification method with Gaussian radial kernel function, penalty factor of 100 and Gamma function 0f 0.022 to obtain a dataset of mangrove forest changes on Hainan Island from 2015 to 2019 by using Gaofen-2 (GF-2) data in 2015, 2017 and 2019 in combination with field survey data. The overall classification accuracy of this dataset is more than 99%, and the data volume is 58.7 MB. It can be used as the basic data for the analysis of spatial and temporal changes of mangrove forests. It can also provide decision-making support for the restoration, protection and management of mangrove wetland ecosystems, and facilitate the ecological environment supervision in Hainan Province.

Basin water ecological compensation interval accounting based on dual perspectives of supply and consumption: Taking Qingyi River Basin as an example

Basin water ecological compensation is an effective means of coordinating environmental protection and economic development and promoting sustainable development. A reasonable compensation interval (the value range of the compensation standard) is the basis for final pricing. At present, the calculation method of the compensation interval has not been unified in the current research, and it is rarely considered comprehensively from the perspective of both parties of compensation. Based on the perspectives of upstream water resources suppliers and downstream water resources consumers, this paper proposes a water ecological compensation interval accounting method based on emergy analysis theory and water ecological footprint method. From the perspective of the supply side, the remaining ecological economic system services value supplied by the upstream area is taken as the lower limit; from the perspective of the consumer side, the value of ecological economic system services actually occupied by downstream areas is taken as the upper limit. Taking the Qingyi River Basin as an example, the results show that there is a serious ecological deficit in the lower reaches of the Qingyi River Basin, and reasonable compensation needs to be given to the supplier Xinzheng City; the accounting method based on dual perspectives is better than traditional. The method is more precise and greatly shortens the value range of the compensation standard. This study provides a novel and complete ecological compensation interval accounting method, which provides a more accurate and reasonable reference for the determination of ecological compensation standards in the basin, and helps the government to improve and implement the ecological compensation mechanism.

Response of Ecosystem Service Value to Landscape Pattern Changes under Low-Carbon Scenario: A Case Study of Fujian Coastal Areas

Assessing the influence of landscape pattern changes on ecosystem service value (ESV) is critical for developing land-use polies and increasing ecosystem services. The data sources include remote-sensing image data and statistical yearbooks from 2000, 2010, and 2020. This study employs the patch-generating land-use simulation model, landscape pattern index, and ecological service value estimation to analyse the changes in landscape patterns and ESV in Fujian coastal areas over the last 20 years. The landscape pattern and ESV in the future (2050) are then simulated under the low-carbon scenario (LCS), with the natural development scenario (NDS) serving as a comparison. The results show that: (1) the most noticeable changes from 2000 to 2020 are the reduced cultivated land area and the rapid expansion of construction land area. By 2050, construction land will account for 7.67% of the total land area under LCS, whereas NDS will account for 9.45%, and changes in the landscape pattern indices all indicate there will be greater variety and fragmentation of the landscape, with the NDS being more serious than the LCS; (2) From 2000–2020, the total ESV value showed a decreasing trend. In 2050, the ESV under the LCS will be 122.387 billion yuan, which is higher than the 121.434 billion yuan under the NDS. Regulating services contribute the most to the total ESV, followed by support services; and (3) In the past 20 years, except for a slight increase in water area, the ESV of other landscapes has decreased, with a net decrease of 3.134 billion yuan in total. The R2 fitting between the area change of cultivated and construction land and the total ESV reached 0.9898 and 0.9843, respectively. The correlations between ESV and landscape indices indicate that landscape pattern changes significantly impact ESV. Simulating ESV in LCS can provide guidance for optimising landscape patterns, promoting the benign operation of the regional ecosystem, and achieving sustainable ecological development.

Temporal and spatial characteristics of grassland ecosystem service value and its topographic gradient effect in the Yellow River Basin.

Grassland is the largest terrestrial ecosystem in the Yellow River Basin and an important ecological barrier in the basin. Scientific and accurate estimation of the service value of grassland ecosystems in the Yellow River Basin is of great significance for maintaining the ecological security of the Yellow River Basin. This study was based on Constanza, a method based on the correction of natural grassland ecosystem service value in the Yellow River Basin. This method considers grassland biomass, estimates the ecological service value of each type of grassland item by item, and analyzes their spatial distribution and topographic gradient differentiation characteristics. The results showed that the unit price of soil conservation services provided by the grassland ecosystem in the Yellow River Basin has an advantage (6.2 times) which is the lowest unit price of raw materials. The total value of grassland ecosystem services in the Yellow River Basin is 100.82 × 1010 Yuan. Among the various services, the adjustment service has the largest value, accounting for 50.56% of the total value, while the sum of the supply service, support service and cultural service amounted to 49.44%. The high-value areas of grassland ecosystem services are mainly distributed in the upper and lower reaches of the basin, as the low-value areas are located in the Ningxia and Hetao Plains and most parts of the Loess Plateau. The ESV per unit area of grassland in the Yellow River Basin showed a decreasing to increasing trend with the increase in elevation and topographic relief, as the ESV continued to increase with slope increase.

Spatial–Temporal Evolution of Ecosystem Service Value in Yunnan Based on Land Use

Exploring the changes in ecosystem service value (ESV) caused by land use transition is important for regional ecological protection. According to the land use data from 2000 to 2020, the alterations in the land use and ESV in Yunnan over the past 20 years were calculated and analyzed. At the same time, spatial autocorrelation analysis was established to analyze the spatial relationships of ESV in 16 states and cities. The results show that from 2000 to 2020, cultivated land, grassland and unused land are on a decreasing trend, while forest land, water body and built-up land are on an increasing trend, with the largest change in built-up land. The total ESV is on an increasing trend, with water supply, gas regulation, climate regulation, environmental purification and hydrological regulation being the highest value of individual services. Spatially, the total ESV showed that high levels were in the northwest, southwest and east, and low levels were in the northeast, west and central parts. At the same time, it shows a positive spatial correlation with a weakening trend. It is dominated by high–high cluster and low–low cluster. The change in the value of ecological services in forest land, grassland and water body have a greater impact on the change in total service value in the region, and was the main contributing and sensitive factor.

What was the China’s spatial-temporal evolution characteristics of cross-sensitivity of ecosystem service value under land use transition? A case study of the Jiangjin, Chongqing

Exploring the sensitivity of ecosystem service value (ESV) under land use transformation (LUT) is helpful to promote the rational use of regional land, improve the regional ecological environment carrying capacity, and realize the sustainable development of human beings. Using land use data of Jiangjin Chongqing from 2009 to 2019, this study measured the effect of ecological service value under land use transition in Jiangjin, and analyzed the spatiotemporal evolution characteristics of ecosystem service value based on the land use transfer matrix, change contribution rate (ESVab) and Coefficient of improved cross-sensitivity (CICS). The results showed that 1) the total ESV increased year by year, the ESV change of woodland was the largest, followed by water bodies and cultivated land from 2009 to 2019 in Jiangjin; 2) taking the Yangtze River as the boundary, the ESV in the south was higher than that in the north, but the ESV in the north and south of the Yangtze River increased to different degrees; 3) the contribution rate of forest land was the largest, the contribution rate of cultivated land and woodland was highly correlated with topography and slope, and the contribution rate of water bodies had no obvious spatial distribution characteristics from 2009 to 2019; 4) the CICS between cultivated land, woodland and other land types was higher, and mainly in the medium-high ecological sensitive areas, while the conversion between water bodies, built-up land and other land types was mainly in the medium-low ecological sensitive areas; and 5) the ecologically sensitive areas of the conversion between grassland, unused land and other land types were scattered, and the highly ecologically sensitive areas of the conversion between unused land and other land types were mainly distributed in the southern mountainous area of Jiangjin. It aims to provide important guidance for solving the contradiction between humanity and land and regional environmental problems, so as to realize the sustainable development of the region and environment.

Interactive influences of ecosystem services and socioeconomic factors on watershed eco-compensation standard “popularization” based on natural based solutions

Watershed eco-compensation is a policy tool to realize watershed environment improvement and regional economic development. It is important to eliminate the influence of economic differences between upstream & downstream regions and realize the fairness of regional social development based on Natural based Solutions (NbS). At present, lack of clarity in coupling and coordination analysis of ecosystem services & socioeconomic based on NbS could hamper watershed eco-compensation standards “popularization” and reduce the ability to successfully ecological governance. To meet the needs of economic development and ecological service value realization, dynamic equilibrium game research based on multidimensional relationship coordination and a multi-objective optimization solution of economic benefit distribution was carried out. To achieve the bargaining Bayesian/Nash equilibrium of the watershed eco-compensation standard in the game, the existence conditions of the equilibrium solution of the eco-compensation standard based on the mixed equilibrium game implementation process were studied. To carry out the complete information dynamic game, the equilibrium solution of the watershed eco-compensation standard based on the dynamic transfer payment was solved, and the rational analysis of the dynamic Bayesian equilibrium game of bargaining based on the incentive compatibility mechanism was also discussed. Water quantity and quality eco-compensation can ensure balanced development between ecological protection and the social economy in the Mihe River Basin. Combined with the variation law of socioeconomic water intake-utilization standards and the water use value, the city of Shouguang City & Qingzhou City should pay Linqu County 4.78 million US$ and 1.29 million US$ as watershed eco-compensation standards per year based on NbS, respectively. To verify the rationality of the results derived from the economically optimal model, two modes of “bargaining” & “perfect competition”, were used to study the characteristics of the protocols generated by the equilibrium game, and the applicable conditions of the nonzero-sum game solution upstream and downstream of the watershed were also explored. Based on the nonzero-sum processing of the survey results, the current relationship between the input value of eco-compensation and the willingness to pay satisfies v≥c+1/4. Based on the dynamic game & Bayesian equilibrium solution of bargaining, the watershed eco-compensation quota of water quantity & quality is 6.07 million US$, the willingness to pay is 65.63 US$/month. These findings contribute to the quantifying process of bargaining & dynamic equilibrium by transforming “ambiguous” information to achieve sustainable ecosystem service management and develop socioeconomic strategies associated with different compensation features based on NbS, thus helping to inform watershed management.

Spatial Distribution and Ecological Risk Assessment of Heavy Metals in the Sediment of a Tropical Mangrove Wetland on Hainan Island, China

Mangroves have a high ecological service value and play an important role in achieving carbon neutrality. However, mangrove wetland soil quality is constantly being affected, and the ecological services provided are gradually declining due to the threat of various pollutants, especially heavy metal pollution. Exploring the sources and ecological risks of heavy metals in mangrove sediments will be helpful in improving mangrove protection. In 2020, sediments were collected from terrestrial and aquatic areas of Dongzhai Harbor mangrove wetland in Hainan, China, and were analyzed for the concentrations of nine heavy metals (As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Hg, Pb, Ni, Zn, Co). The results showed that there were obvious spatial distributions of heavy metals in sediments. The high concentrations of heavy metals occurred largely in terrestrial areas and in 0–20 cm of the sediment surface layer. Correlation analysis and cluster analysis indicated that As mainly originated from ships and aquaculture in the harbor waters, Cd and Hg from agriculture, Cr, Cu, Ni, Zn and Co from the weathering of parent rocks, and Pb from soot emitted from metal smelters and automobile exhaust. The individual potential ecological risk index (Eir) indicated that contaminating elements were mainly Cd and Hg. The potential ecological risk index (RI) and multiple probable effect concentrations quality (mPECQs) indicated that the areas with high heavy metal concentration and the 0–20 cm range of sediment surface layer were more susceptible to heavy metal contamination. Although there were no obvious ecological risks in the area, these results could facilitate the understanding of the distribution of heavy metal pollution in mangroves and provide information to achieve sustainable development of mangroves.

Source apportionment of soil heavy metals with PMF model and Pb isotopes in an intermountain basin of Tianshan Mountains, China

A boom in tourism may lead to the enrichment in heavy metals (HMs) in soils. Contamination with HMs poses a significant threat to the security of the soil environment. In this study, topsoil samples were collected from a tourist area of Sayram Lake, and the concentrations of HMs (Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, Zn and Cd) were determined. With contamination and eco-risk assessment models, correlation analysis, Pb isotope ratios, redundancy analysis and positive matrix factorization (PMF) model, the risks and sources of HMs in the soil were studied. The Igeo results suggested that Cd was the primary pollutant in the tourist area of Sayram Lake. The potential ecological risk index (PERI) showed that the study area was at low risk, and the pollution load index (PLI) indicated that the study area had a moderate contamination level. Qualitative and quantitative analyses apportioned three sources of HMs, namely, natural sources (38.5%), traffic sources (27.2%) and mixed sources (tourist waste and atmospheric deposition) (34.3%). Redundancy analysis results showed that the HMs content was related to SiO2, Al2O3, TiO2, P2O5, MnO, K2O, Fe2O3 and SOC, and heavy metals tended to be stored in soil particles of grain sizes < 32 µm. These findings are expected to provide useful insights into the source identification of HMs in the soils of mountain tourism areas and provide a scientific decision-making basis for sustainable tourism development and for the assessment of ecological service values in the Tianshan Mountains.

Multi-Scenario Simulation of Ecosystem Service Value in Wuhan Metropolitan Area Based on PLUS-GMOP Model

Rapid construction and development activities in large urban areas have significantly impacted land use and land cover (LULC). They have brought great pressure to urban sustainable development. Current studies have shown that changes in LULC structure significantly affect regional ecosystem service functions but lack the sufficient scientific basis to provide reasonable strategies for the future development of urban areas. Based on land use and related data for the Wuhan metropolitan area (WMA) in 2000, 2010, and 2020, in this study, we construct a land use and ecosystem service value (ESV) simulation method based on a coupled PLUS-GMOP (patch generation land use simulation and grey multi-objective optimization) model and find that the changes in LULC structure from 2000 to 2020 are mainly reflected in the decrease in farmland and water area and the increase in built-up land, which are spatially reflected in Wuhan city center and other surrounding urban centers. The ESV also exhibits a slight increase and then a significant decrease, and a consistent overall pattern of high in the west and low in the east. By presupposing three scenarios for 2030 (ND, natural development; EFD, ecological first development; EECD, ecological and economic coordinated development), the analysis shows that although the ecological service value is still decreasing, the EECD scenario achieves a relatively high economic value (+90.134 billion yuan) by losing less ecological service value (0.27 million yuan) than EFD, which is the development model advocated in this study. The PLUS-GMOP coupling model proposed in this study provides a scientific reference for coordinating regional economic development and ecological protection in large cities, and provides a new technical path for metropolitan area sustainable development and planning.

Evolution of Landscape Pattern and Tourism Service Value in Zhangjiakou City

Zhangjiakou is a northern Chinese city that hosted the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games. As an important ice and snow tourist destination, it is essential to investigate Zhangjiakou's rate of landscape pattern change, the landscape ecological security level, and ecosystem service value, particularly the tourism ecological service value during its construction. With land use data from 2000 to 2020, this study comprehensively analyzed the dynamic changes in Zhangjiakou, including land use dynamics, the land use transfer matrix, landscape vulnerability, landscape disturbance, ecosystem service value, tourism ecological service value, and other aspects. The results show that the landscape pattern in Zhangjiakou was greatly disturbed from 2015 to 2018, and the landscape ecological security was threatened in the process of landscape pattern adjustment. By 2020, after the landscape pattern was adjusted and stabilized, the landscape ecological security was restored, and the ecosystem service value was significantly improved, especially the tourism ecological service value. The results of this study will play an important role in promoting the optimization of Zhangjiakou's ice and snow landscape pattern and the improvement of tourism ecological value. In addition, it provides important lessons for the development of other ice and snow tourist destinations.

Changes in landscape pattern and ecological service value as land use evolves in the Manas River Basin

Abstract The Manas River Basin is located in the inland arid area of China. It has a unique natural environment that contains a mountain, oasis, and desert complex ecosystem. Changes in land use type have had significant impacts on the social, economic, and ecological environment in the basin. Based on the remote sensing interpretation data of land use types from 1980 to 2020 in the Manas River Basin, using ArcGIS 10.2 and Fragstats 4.2 and other software to study the temporal and spatial evolution of land use, landscape pattern, and ecological service value (ESV) in the Manas River Basin, several key results were obtained. (1) Unused land accounted for the largest proportion of the total area at about 44%, and the smallest proportion was construction land at 1%, the construction land and farmland areas increased significantly to 82.16 and 34.87%, while the woodland and grassland area decreased to 15.06 and 14.34%, respectively. (2) Between 1980 and 2020, the inflows and outflows of the quantitative transfer tracks for farmland, grassland, and unused land were highly dominant, but the frequent conversion among various types of land led to the transfer tracks becoming more diversified. (3) From 1980 to 2020 the complexity and fragmentation of landscape in the basin decreased, and the heterogeneity, differences, and connectivity of the landscape increased. (4) The ESV of the Manas River Basin had a tendency to initially decrease and then increase, which increased from 237.27 × 108 yuan in 1980 to 238.10 × 108 yuan in 2020. The above research results can not only provide a basis for the ecological improvement of the Manas River Basin but also provide a reference for the study of other basins/regions in arid areas.

New insight for purifying polluted river water using the combination of large-scale rotating biological contactors and integrated constructed wetlands in the cold season

Ecological treatment technologies, applied to deal with polluted river water in the low temperature season, remain limited. In this study, a new insight was put forward for purifying polluted river water using a combination system (CS) of large-scale rotating biological contactors (RBCs) and integrated constructed wetlands in autumn and winter. The treatment performance, average removal contribution (RC), nitrification and denitrification rates, microbial community structure, and ecosystem service value were considered to estimate the combination system. Results revealed that the average removal efficiencies of ammonium (NH4+–N), total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP), and chemical oxygen demand (COD) reached 93.9%, 20.8%, 36.5%, and 37.1%, respectively. The combination system showed excellent removal efficiency of NH4+–N regardless of the effect of low temperature. The maximum values of nitrification and denitrification rates were 59.57 g N/(m3·d) and 0.78 g N/(m2·d), respectively. Considerable differences in bacterial community diversity, richness and relative abundance of functional microbes were observed in the main treatment units, resulting in different average RC to pollutants. The unit capital cost of CS purifying polluted river water was 260 USD/m3 and the operation and maintenance cost was 0.144 million USD/yr. Meanwhile, the ecosystem service value of the CS was 0.334 million USD in autumn and winter. CS not only possessed excellent pollutant purifying efficiencies, but also achieved high ecological service value in the cold season.

Importance and main ecological and environmental problems of lakes in China

<p indent="0mm">Lakes including reservoirs are sensitive to global environmental change and human activities in the basin. They are sensitive sentinels and regulators of global environmental change and regional climate. Meanwhile, lakes are important constituent of “landscape, forest, farmland, lake, grassland and sand” life community. Remote sensing monitoring showed that there were 2670 lakes (≥<sc>1 km²)</sc> with a total water area of <sc>80662.4 km²,</sc> and 5156 reservoirs (≥<sc>1 km²)</sc> with a total water area of <sc>39697.1 km²</sc> in China in 2020. China Water Statistical Yearbook 2021 showed that the number and storage capacity of completed reservoirs increased from 86822 to 98566, and from <sc>416.9</sc> to <sc>930.6 km³</sc> from 1980 to 2020. Therefore, there is a total lakes and reservoirs area of <sc>120359.5 km²,</sc> but only accounting for 1.25% of China’s land area. Although the area of lakes and their proportion of land area are very limited, lakes play a vital role in ensuring the ecological civilization construction and promoting the economic and social development of the basin. Unfortunately, the importance and ecological service values of lakes are seriously underestimated and lack the real quantification. Therefore, this study systematically explores and quantifies the importance and ecological services of lakes in China from seven different perspectives. First, lakes are the most and the best centralized drinking water sources (CDWSs) contributing 40.6% of the CDWSs vs. river (30.8%) and groundwater (28.6%), and act as the backbone of the safety of drinking water in China based on 1093 CDWSs from 340 prefecture-level cities and 55 county-level cities (population ≥1 million). Second, lakes have important regulation and storage functions and play a key role in flood control and drought resistance. Based on the national lake survey data, the total amount of water regulation of natural lakes (≥<sc>1 km²)</sc> is close to <sc>150 km³.</sc> Meanwhile, the joint operation of the Yangtze River Basin in 2021 indicated a total regulation capacity of <sc>106.6 km³</sc> and a total flood control capacity of about <sc>69.5 km³</sc> of 47 control reservoirs. Third, lake basins play an important role in the national economic development and food security. Of China’s nine major commercial grain production areas, seven are located in Jianghuai lakes zone and northeast plain lake zone. Fourth, lakes are one of the richest biodiversity ecosystems on earth. Among the 62 international important wetlands in China, there are 26 lake wetlands including Lake Poyang, Lake Dongting, Lake Qinghai etc accounting for 41.9%. Fifth, lake fishery plays an important role in China’s fishery production evidenced by China Fishery Statistical Yearbook 2021, which showed that the aquaculture area of lakes was 2186662 hectares, accounting for 42.7% of the national freshwater aquaculture area and 30.8% of the national aquaculture area in 2019. Sixth, lakes have important tourism value and contribute to beautiful business cards of many cities. Among the 45 national tourist resorts in China, there are 15 lakes tourist resorts, accounting for one third, highlighting the rich tourism value resources of lakes. Seventh, lakes are an important part of the northern ecological security barrier. Lake Hulunhu, Lake Wuliangsuhai, Lake Daihai, Lake Qinghaihu, Lake Bositenghu, and Lake Aibihu act as the key nodes of northern ecological security barrier. In addition, lakes play a big role in energy storage and power generation, agricultural irrigation, inland navigation, carbon sequestration and pollution reduction and regional climate regulation. Large numbers of lakes with different types are widely distributed throughout China exhibiting obvious regional differentiation. Moreover, lakes are facing many ecological and environmental problems which reduce their value of providing ecological services. Specifically, eutrophication and cyanobacteria bloom have not been fundamentally alleviated, which threats the water quality safety of lake drinking water sources. The aquatic vegetation of the lakes is seriously degraded, which weaken their purification capacity and reduce their biodiversity. The synergistic effects of rapid climate change and intense human activities cause either lake flooding, shrinkage or salinization. Warm and humid climate results in a rapid expansion of the lakes on the Tibetan Plateau, which significantly increase the risk of glacial lake outburst. Aiming the above-mentioned ecological and environmental problems, this study puts forward the strategies and countermeasures for lake protection and management including lake-basin system studies, scientific regulation of water resources, cyanobacteria bloom early warning and control, national lake ecological restoration project, basin industrial structure upgrading, and lake protection legislation, which will promote the improvement of lake environmental and the construction of beautiful lakes.

A study of ecological compensation from the perspective of land use/cover change in the middle and lower Yellow River, China

• The equivalent coefficient is revised according to ability and willingness to pay. • The Best-worst method is used to determine the weight of the allocated indicators. • A 10 km buffer calculation strip is established in the compensated payment area. • The overflow of hydrological adjusting is greater than that of erosion prevention. • Ecological compensation in 2010–2020 is higher than that in 2000–2010. Coordinated governance and horizontal ecological compensation are important ways to realize ecological protection and high-quality development in the Yellow River basin. Taking the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River as the research object, this paper analyses the compensation relationship and amount of cities along the line in Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan and Shandong provinces. Firstly, the spillover value of regulation of water flows and erosion prevention of 32 counties along the Yellow River in Shaanxi and Shanxi provinces were calculated during 2000–2010 and 2010–2020 from the perspective of land use/cover change (LUCC). Secondly, the compensation accounting index system was established based on the classification of ecological services given the beneficiaries' individual preferences, and each indicator's weights were determined based on the Best-worst method. Finally, setting the water ecological service value of the 10 km buffer zone on both sides of the Yellow River as the accounting scope, this paper calculated the amount of ecological compensation paid by 16 cities in Shandong and Henan provinces. The results show that: (1) The spillover value of Shaanxi and Shanxi provinces in 2010–2020 is greater than that in 2000–2010, and the values of erosion prevention in both stages are lower than that of regulation of water flows; (2) From the perspective of providers, the highest is 3.68e + 08 yuan in Lvliang from 2000 to 2010, while the highest is 3.60e + 09 yuan in Yulin from 2010 to 2020; (3) From the perspective of beneficiaries, Zhengzhou has the highest amount of compensation in Henan province, which is 2.28e + 08 yuan in 2000–2010 and 9.41e + 08 yuan in 2010–2020 respectively. In Shandong province, Heze pays the highest value of 1.27e + 08 yuan from 2000 to 2010, and Jinan pays the highest value of 9.56e + 08 yuan from 2010 to 2020. The ecological compensation scheme obtained in this paper is more sustainable than the vertical compensation and expands the scope of the existing ecological compensation standards, which can effectively stimulate the enthusiasm for ecological protection, and reduce the financial pressure on the central government.

Heavy metal pollution status and deposition history of mangrove sediments in Zhanjiang Bay, China

Mangroves have high ecological service value and play an important role in achieving carbon neutrality. However, the ecological services provided by mangroves are gradually declining due to the threat of various pollutants, especially heavy metal (HM) pollution. Researching the status and history of heavy metals (HMs) in mangrove sediments improves understanding of how mangroves can be protected. We studied the Zhanjiang Bay mangroves, which is an important part of the Zhanjiang Mangrove National Nature Reserve, and is greatly affected by human activities, as an example. We analyzed the pollution levels and deposition process of HMs and their influencing factors. In the mangrove surface sediments of Zhanjiang Bay, Pb, Cr, and Co were slightly to moderate enriched and Cu was moderate-heavy enriched. Zn and Hg showed moderate-heavy enrichment and heavy enrichment, respectively. Cu, Zn, Hg, and Co were 1.5, 1.88, 2.66, and 1.27 times the local background, respectively. Cu, Zn, and Hg mainly originated from anthropogenic sources, and Co may have derived from natural sources. The HM data of mangrove sedimentary cores in Zhanjiang Bay were obtained for the first time; high HM content appeared in the deep layer of the cores but not in the mangrove surface sediments. Both cores were well documented for the effects of natural and anthropogenic factors on the deposition process of HMs. Among them, the high enrichment of Hg in 1909–1921 may be closely related to human activities rather than natural formation. Before 1954, dense mangroves favored the accumulation and gradual increase of HMs. The intense human activity in 1945–1963 during the period of economic construction and reclamation of the Nansan Island Engineering led to significant increases in Cu, Zn, Pb, Cr, and Co, which reached their highest values in more than one hundred years. After 1963, anthropic factors such as deforestation and conversion to aquaculture sharply reduced mangrove area. Reclamation engineering enhanced tidal erosion. Natural factors such as precipitation, storm surge, sea-level rise, and high tides have accelerated the erosion and dilution of mangrove sediments in Zhanjiang Bay. These factors have led to the gradual reduction of HM content in sedimentary cores.

Surface coal mining impacts on land use change and ecological service value: a case study in Shengli coalfield, Inner Mongolia

Coal plays a crucial role in global economic development and remains the most common and widely distributed fossil fuel worldwide. As the world's largest developing country, China's mining and utilization of coal resources have contributed significantly to the country’s rapid economic growth. Inner Mongolia is an ecologically fragile arid and semi-arid area of China. The exploitation of opencast mining has seriously hindered the sustainable use of regional land and the residents' well-being. Using ENVI-based remote sensing images from 2000, 2005, 2010, 2015, and 2020, this study employed a random forest algorithm to divide land utilization types into construction land, vegetation, cultivated land, bare land, and water areas and analyzed the characteristics of land use and ecosystem service value changes over the past 20 years. The results were as follows: (1) Construction land in the mining area changed minimally from 2000 to 2020; vegetation and water bodies showed a decreasing trend, whereas bare and cultivated lands showed an increasing trend. Bare land exhibited the largest change in area proportion and water bodies the smallest. (2) The total ecosystem service value of the mining area declined from 10.939 to 9.527 billion Yuan. Vegetation ecosystem service value was the highest, followed by cultivated land and water, with the bare land ecosystem service value the lowest. (3) On a spatial scale, the total ecosystem service value of the Shengli mining area decreased year by year, indicating that land use changes in the mining area do have an impact on ecosystem service value.

Research on the Value of Land Ecological Service in Yunnan Province Based on the Perspective of Spatial Pattern

(1) Background: Ecosystem service value assessment is a trending area of sustainable development research and ecological civilization construction. Ecosystems provide supply, regulation, support, and cultural services, and the value assessment of ecosystem services is helpful for people to understand the importance of natural ecosystems to production and life. Based on the insufficiency of the current research on the value of land ecological services, this paper discusses the research direction of the evaluation of the value of ecosystem services in the future, provides a reference for the evaluation of the value of ecosystem services, and promotes multi-scale and multi-directional research experiments on the value of land ecological services. (2) In this paper, the basic information data are obtained through the interpretation of remote sensing images, and the value equivalent factor is corrected according to the average grain yield per unit area and grain price data in 2000, 2010, and 2020 to calculate the land ecological service value. The relevant data obtained by processing the ecological service value are classified into different levels to discuss the changes and trends of 129 county-level administrative units in three periods and analyze the quantitative and spatial variation characteristics of the ecological service value of 129 county-level administrative units. The paper studies the spatial agglomeration state of the total value of ecological services and finds the hotspot areas of the land ecological service value in the study area. (3) During the study period, great changes have taken place in the land use pattern of Yunnan Province, with the area of construction land expanding and the area of wetland decreasing. The ecological service value level of 129 county-level administrative units is relatively stable. The total value of each service is ranked as soil formation and protection &gt; gas regulation &gt; water conservation &gt; biodiversity protection &gt; climate regulation &gt; raw materials &gt; waste treatment &gt; entertainment culture &gt; food production. In the three periods, Shangri-La City has the highest value of ecological services per unit of land and Wuhua District has the lowest. The value of ecological services per unit of land in 129 county-level administrative units continues to rise. The areas with high average values are mainly in western Yunnan, southwestern Yunnan, southern Yunnan, and southeastern Yunnan. (4) The development speed of land ecological service value in Yunnan Province is far less than the development speed of GDP. There is still a lot of room for the development of ecological service value in Yunnan Province. The economic influence of Kunming is radiating to various cities through expressways and high-speed railways. The spatial distribution of land ecological service value in Yunnan Province has a strong correlation, showing a pattern of spatial agglomeration distribution, and the clustered areas are very stable.