Ecosystem Services In Response Research Articles

Using the response–effect trait framework to disentangle the effects of environmental change on the ecosystem services

Abstract Functional traits play a vital role in mediating the responses of ecosystem services to environmental changes and in predicting the functioning of the ecosystem. However, the connection between functional traits and ecosystem services has become increasingly intricate due to climate change and human activities for degraded ecosystems. To investigate this relationship, we selected 27 sampling sites in the Yanhe River Basin of the Chinese Loess Plateau, each containing two types of vegetation ecosystems: natural vegetation and artificial vegetation ecosystems. At each sampling site, we measured ecosystem services and calculated the composition index of community traits. We established a response–effect trait framework that included environmental factors such as climate, elevation and human activities. Our results showed that leaf tissue density (LTD) was the overlapping response and effect trait when responding to climate change. LTD is positively correlated with mean annual temperature and negatively correlated with supporting services. Under the influence of human activities, leaf nitrogen content and leaf dry matter content were carriers of environmental change. Comparing the two vegetation ecosystems, the relationship between functional traits and ecosystem services showed divergent patterns, indicating that human activities increased the uncertainty of the relationship between functional traits and ecosystem services. Trait-based ecology holds promise for enhancing predictions of ecosystem services responses to environmental changes. However, the predictive ability is influenced by the complexity of environmental changes. In conclusion, our study highlights the importance of understanding the complex connection between functional traits and ecosystem services in response to climate changes and human activities.

Spatial and Temporal Changes in Supply and Demand for Ecosystem Services in Response to Urbanization: A Case Study in Vilnius, Lithuania

Intensification of urbanization is changing the supply capacities and demand levels of ecosystem services (ESs), and their mismatch has become a major problem for the sustainable development of urban areas. In this study, spatiotemporal changes of three ecosystem services (food provision, C sequestration, recreation) were quantified and imbalances between their supply and demand were identified in Vilnius County (Lithuania) in 2000–2020. The most significant land use transformation was the increase in forest and urbanized land at the expense of agricultural land. The lowest supply and the highest demand for food, carbon sequestration, and outdoor recreation were in the urban center. The urban land ratio had a negative impact on the provision of ecosystems’ services during the study period, most notably affecting food supply. Urbanization indicators—population density and urban land area—showed a negative relationship with the provision of ecosystem services. The balance of supply and demand changed during the 2000–2020 period—the growth of suburbs led to the distance of the supply areas from the city, and the area of the intense demand increased. The results of the study highlight the importance of spatial scale in determining the impact of urbanization on ecosystem functions.

Threshold effect of ecosystem services in response to human activity in China's urban agglomeration: a perspective on quantifying ecological resilience.

Ecological resilience reflects the role of human activity intensity (HMI) on regional ecosystem services (ESs), and resilience improvement is crucial for the high-quality development of urban agglomeration areas. However, a theoretical framework for ecological resilience needs to be developed based on ES thresholds under human activities. Based on the threshold index, we used threshold regression model to determine of the nonlinear dominant factors affecting ESs and to identify the priority areas for ecological restoration. The results suggest that (1) CS, HQ, and TES declined, while FP increased. The spatial distribution of each ES showed higher values in the central region and lower values in the surrounding areas. HMI showed a significant upward trend, with expanding high-HMI areas. There is a threshold effect in the relationship between HMI and ESs, leading to variations in their positive, non-monotonic, or non-linear interactions. (2) HMI positively and significantly affects ESs, especially at low threshold levels. The effect of HMI on ESs is negative in counties with higher threshold levels rather than in lower-level grids. (3) The critical area of artificial potential ecological restoration was 712 km2, primarily concentrated around urban; the critical area of natural restoration was 490 km2. Therefore, the threshold in the relationship between HMI and ESs should be given more attention. This study serves as a guide for picking out key regions for territorial ecological restoration.

Spatiotemporal dynamics of ecosystem services in response to climate variability in Maze National Park and its environs, southwestern Ethiopia.

Climate variability is one of the major factors affecting the supply of ecosystem services and the well-being of people who rely on them. Despite the substantial effects of climate variability on ecosystem goods and services, empirical researches on these effects are generally lacking. Thus, this study examines the spatiotemporal impacts of climate variability on selected ecosystem services in Maze National Park and its surroundings, in southwestern Ethiopia. We conducted climate trend and variability analysis by using the Mann-Kendall (MK) trend test, Sen's slope estimator, and innovative trend analysis (ITA). Relationships among ecosystem services and climate variables were evaluated using Pearson's correlation coefficient (r), while partial correlation was used to evaluate the relationship among key ecosystem services and potential evapotranspiration (PET). The MK tests show a decreasing trend for both mean annual and main rainy season rainfall, with Sen's slope (β) = -0.721 and β = -0.1.23, respectively. Whereas, the ITA method depicted a significant increase in the second rainy season rainfall (Slope(s) = 1.487), and the mean annual (s = 0.042), maximum (s = 0.024), and minimum (s = 0.060) temperature. Spatial correlations revealed significant positive relationships between ecosystem services and the mean annual rainfall and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), while negative correlations with the mean annual temperature. Additionally, temporal correlations highlighted positive relationships among key ecosystem services and the main rainy season rainfall. The maximum and minimum temperatures and ecosystem services were negatively correlated; whereas, there was strong negative correlations between annual (r = -0.929), main rainy season (r = -0.990), and second rainy season (r = -0.814) PET and food production. Thus, understanding the spatiotemporal variability of climate and the resulting impacts on ecosystem services helps decision-makers design ecosystem conservation and restoration strategies to increase the potential of the ecosystems to adapt to and mitigate the impacts of climate variability.

Effects of transport infrastructures and climate change on ecosystem services in the integrated transport corridor region of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

The ecosystem services of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau have been hot topics in recent decades due to their unique value, and the region's sensitivity to climate change and human activities is considered to be of major importance. However, few studies have focused on the variations of ecosystem services in response to traffic activities and climate change. This study applied different ecosystem service models, along with the buffer analysis, local correlation and regression analysis to quantitatively analyze the spatiotemporal variations of carbon sequestration, habitat quality, and soil retention, further detected the climatic and traffic influences in the transport corridor region of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau from 2000 to 2020. The obtained results showed the following: (1) The carbon sequestration and soil retention increased over time, while the habitat quality decreased during the railway construction period; in addition, the variations of ecosystem services between the two periods exhibited substantial spatial differences. (2) The distance trends of ecosystem service variations were similar for the railway and the highway corridors, and the positive ecosystem service trends were mainly observed within 2.5 km and 2 km of railway and highway corridors, respectively. (3) The impacts of climatic factors on ecosystem services were predominantly positive; however, temperature and precipitation displayed contrasting distance trends in their impacts on carbon sequestration. (4) The types of frozen ground and locations away from the railway or highway were the combined factors affecting the ecosystem services, among which carbon sequestration was negatively influenced by the distance from the highway in the continuous permafrost areas. It can be speculated that rising temperatures caused by climate change may intensify the decline of carbon sequestration in the continuous permafrost areas. This study provides guidance on ecological protection strategies for future expressway construction projects.

Spatial heterogeneity of ecosystem services in response to landscape patterns under the Grain for Green Program: A case‐study in Kaihua County, China

AbstractUnderstanding the impact of landscape patterns on ecosystem services (ES) is crucial for the design and management of ecological restoration programs. However, the impacts of landscape configuration on ES from a geospatial perspective have not been studied sufficiently. This study analyzed the landscape composition and pattern changes and quantified the changes in water yield, carbon storage, soil retention, water purification, and habitat quality under the Grain for Green Program (GFGP) from 2000 to 2020 in Kaihua County. The responses of ES to landscape patterns were revealed by geographic detector and geographically weighted regression models. The results showed that landscape fragmentation and diversity increased, and forest landscape area and aggregation increased because of the GFGP implementation. Water yield declined with the decrease in the mean patch area of the landscape, while other ES improved due to the increase in Shannon's diversity index and largest patch index. The interspersion and juxtaposition of cropland and forest land played an important role in improving ES under the GFGP. In addition, some ES may be closely related to natural factors and connection to landscape patterns, such as soil retention and topography, water yield and precipitation, but this response to landscape pattern changes was captured due to the subjective nature of the GFGP. The results can provide scientific guidance for forest landscape restoration to better improve ES.

Assessing Changes in the Value of Forest Ecosystem Services in Response to Climate Change in China

Ecosystem services are the basis of human survival and development and play an irreplaceable role in maintaining the dynamic balance of the earth’s life support system and environment. This study evaluated the annual forest ecosystem service values (ESVs) and their spatial evolution characteristics from 2001 to 2020 in China and revealed the impact of climatic factors as well. The equivalent factor method was applied to calculate ESVs in combination with net primary productivity (NPP) calculated by the CASA model. The water conservation results based on the InVEST model and equivalent factor method were compared to test the reliability of the method. From 2001 to 2020, the annual forest ESVs ranged from RMB 9.17 trillion to 10.81 trillion, with an average of RMB 9.99 trillion in China. The forest ESVs increased from the northwest to the southeast regions of China with the lowest values of less than RMB 3 million per square kilometer and relatively high values of more than RMB 9 million per square kilometer. In the past 20 years, the forest ESVs have shown a significant increasing trend, especially in the Northeast Forest Region and Southeast Forest Region. The ESVs have decreased only in very few forest areas such as Cuona and Motuo counties on the southern edge of Tibet Province in Southwest China and Pingtung and Kaohsiung counties in southern Taiwan. The mean annual forest ESV was necessarily higher in the recent 10 years (2011–2020, RMB 10.43 trillion) than in the previous 10 years (2001–2010, RMB 9.55 trillion), while the spatial growth rate was usually less than 20%. The annual forest ESVs were significantly correlated with temperature, precipitation and evapotranspiration but not with sunshine hours and relative humidity across the 20 years. In most areas (>60%), the positive impact of various climatic factors was dominant, and the area positively affected by precipitation was the largest (76%). The mean annual forest water conservation from 2001 to 2020 was RMB 1.46 trillion based on the InVEST model and was RMB 1.77 trillion based on the equivalent factor method. Overall, the results obtained by the two methods are roughly equal and mostly spatially matched. This study has some guiding significance for utilizing resources rationally, strengthening ecological environment protection and improving adaptability to climate change.

Threshold effect of ecosystem services in response to climate change, human activity and landscape pattern in the upper and middle Yellow River of China

Identifying spatiotemporal heterogeneity and impact mechanism of ecosystem service value (ESV) is critical for enhancing ecosystem management and regional sustainability. However, the existing findings have failed to investigate the synergetic effect of multiple drivers on ESV, nor have considered the threshold effects under different conditions, which is important to understand the complex and frequently interacting ecosystem. In this study, we applied the improved ESV calculation method, Pearson correlation analysis and conditional inference tree model to depict the dynamic changes of ESV, to explore separate and synergetic effects of various factors, and further to identify key thresholds under combined effects in urban agglomerations along the upper and middle Yellow River area (UMYRA). The results showed that: (1) The total ESV of the study area increased by 5936.63 million CNY over the study period. With the exception of the urban agglomeration along the Yellow River in Ningxia (YRNX), four types of sub-services in Hulunbeier-Baotou-Erdos-Yulin urban agglomeration (HBEY) and Taiyuan urban agglomeration (TY) showed a rising trend. Spatially, the greater growth of ESV mainly concentrated in the northern desert belt, whereas the major grain production areas and urban areas presented different degrees of degradation. (2) Climate factors and land use intensity are the main factors affecting the total ESV, followed by economic density and terrain condition, while landscape metrics exert a relatively small impact on ESV. But the influences of these factors on single ESV show distinct internal differences. (3) Synergetic effects of multi-factors showed that: ①When the evapotranspiration and precipitation are at a certain threshold (1277 mm＜PET＜1317 mm and PRE＞417.55 mm), rising temperature can effectively promote the growth of ESV. The same effect is also observed on steep slopes under matched hydrothermal conditions; ②When economic development is at a high level, intensifying human activities within a certain range (0.11＜HAI＜0.29 and 184.32＜LUI＜210.6) could greatly promote the ESV, but the opposite effect was also true when the thresholds were breached; ③Fragmented landscapes with low diversity (SHDI＜0.86) can promote ESV improvement, but high diversity fragmented landscapes (PD＞0.14 or SHDI＞0.85) would lead to ESV decline. Our research sheds light on the key thresholds under synergetic effect of multiple factors on ESV from a novel perspective, which provide a specific and practical guidance for achieving sustainable management.

Dynamics of ecosystem services in response to urbanization across temporal and spatial scales in a mega metropolitan area

Research on the relationship between ecosystem services (ESs) and urbanization has been drawing attention in recent years. We analyzed the relationship between ESs and urbanization in the Pearl River Delta (PRD) region, and explored whether and how this relationship changes across temporal and spatial scales. The InVEST model was used for ESs mapping and various urbanization indicators were selected. Correlation analysis and curve estimation were used to detect the linear and nonlinear relationships between ESs and urbanization. Results of the study indicated that regulating and supporting services decreased, while provisioning services increased with urbanization. Significant correlations (p˂0.05) were found between ESs and urbanization, and mostly presented an increasing trend from 2000 to 2018 and from the grid scale to the county scale. Curve estimation indicated that regulating and supporting services decreased as urbanization increased, and water yield service increased as urbanization increased, while the relationship between food provisioning and urbanization presented an inverse-U shape. Generally, the relationships between ESs and urbanization varied with different ESs but remained relatively robust across time and scale. This study specifies the impact of urbanization on ESs, and highlights the importance of spatial scales in studying the relationship between urbanization and ESs.

面向多重生态保护目标的广东省生态系统服务退化风险情景模拟

PDF HTML阅读 XML下载 导出引用 引用提醒 面向多重生态保护目标的广东省生态系统服务退化风险情景模拟 DOI: 10.5846/stxb202103150689 作者: 作者单位: 作者简介: 通讯作者: 中图分类号: 基金项目: 自然资源部国土整治中心外协课题（2021-06-06） Ecosystem service degradation risk scenario simulation for multiple ecological conservation objectives in Guangdong Province Author: Affiliation: Fund Project: 摘要 | 图/表 | 访问统计 | 参考文献 | 相似文献 | 引证文献 | 资源附件 | 文章评论 摘要:稳定、协调、可持续的生态系统服务供给是维持区域自然生命系统、保障区域生态安全的基础。面临生态系统所受的人为与自然干扰，有必要准确评估生态系统服务退化风险，揭示区域生态安全和可持续性提升路径。现有研究多叠加所有生态系统服务以评估生态系统服务退化风险，未能面向区域生态问题或生态需求对不同类型生态系统服务进行整合。研究提出面向多重生态保护目标的生态系统服务退化风险情景模拟框架，考虑广东省生物多样性保育、水资源安全、自然灾害防范等生态保护目标，选取代表性生态系统服务类型（生境维持、水源涵养、水质净化、土壤保持、洪水缓解、热带气旋缓解），基于不同典型浓度路径情景评估2018-2035年生态系统服务退化风险。结果表明，2018-2035年广东省生态系统服务供给空间格局基本稳定，尽管有所退化、空间异质性强。生态系统服务退化风险的情景模拟表明，面向生物多样性保育目标的生态系统服务退化高风险区位于珠三角的深圳市、佛山市和江门市，以及粤西和粤东地区的湛江市、茂名市和揭阳市；面向水资源安全目标的生态系统服务退化高风险区位于珠三角的深圳市、中山市和江门市，以及粤西与粤东地区的茂名市、揭阳市和江门市；面向自然灾害防范目标的生态系统服务退化高风险区位于珠三角的深圳市与江门市、粤西与粤东地区的茂名市、湛江市和揭阳市，是广东省生态系统服务退化风险防范的关键区域。面向多重生态保护目标，广东省生态系统服务退化风险应对策略应重视城市生态系统生物多样性保育，应加强对生态用地尤其是红树林的保护及恢复，应对流域进行分级管控，因地制宜开展面向多重生态保护目标的生态保护与修复工程，应积极采取气候变化相关干预政策，优选低资源消耗低生态影响的绿色可持续发展路径。 Abstract:Stable, coordinated and sustainable supply of ecosystem services is the foundation for maintaining regional natural life systems and ensuring regional ecological security. Facing the human and natural disturbances to ecosystem, it is necessary to accurately assess the risk of ecosystem service degradation, and reveal the improvement path of regional ecological security and sustainability. However, existing studies mostly overlay all ecosystem services to assess the degradation risk of ecosystem services, and fail to integrate different types of ecosystem services in response to regional ecological problems or ecological needs. This research proposed a framework for ecosystem service degradation risk scenario simulation for multiple ecological conservation objectives. Considering three ecological conservation objectives of Guangdong Province with biodiversity conservation, water resources security and natural disaster prevention, representative ecosystem service types (habitat maintenance, water conservation, water quality purification, soil retention, flood mitigation, tropical cyclone mitigation) were selected. Degradation risk of ecosystem services for 2018-2035 was assessed based on Representative Concentration Pathways scenarios. The results showed that the spatial pattern of ecosystem services supply in Guangdong Province was basically stable from 2018 to 2035, although there was some degradation and strong spatial heterogeneity. Scenario simulation for ecosystem service degradation risks showed that high-risk areas of ecosystem service degradation for biodiversity conservation objective were located in Shenzhen, Foshan and Jiangmen in the Pearl River Delta, and Zhanjiang and Maoming in western and eastern Guangdong regions. The high-risk areas of ecosystem service degradation facing water resources security objective were located in Shenzhen, Zhongshan and Jiangmen in the Pearl River Delta, and Maoming, Jieyang and Jiangmen in the western and eastern Guangdong regions. The high-risk areas of ecosystem service degradation for natural disaster prevention objective were located in Shenzhen and Jiangmen in the Pearl River Delta, Maoming, Zhanjiang and Jieyang in the western and eastern Guangdong regions. These areas have high future ecological risks and is key area for ecosystem service degradation risk prevention in Guangdong Province. Facing multiple ecological conservation objectives, the Guangdong Province ecosystem service degradation risk response strategy should attach importance to the conservation of urban ecosystem biodiversity, strengthen the protection and restoration of ecological lands, especially mangroves, implement hierarchical management and control of watersheds, and carry out ecological protection and restoration projects oriented to multiple ecological conservation objectives according to local conditions. We should actively adopt climate change-related intervention policies and choose green and sustainable development paths with low resource consumption and low ecological impact. 参考文献 相似文献 引证文献

Threshold effect of ecosystem services in response to climate change and vegetation coverage change in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau ecological shelter

Understanding the impacts of climate change and vegetation restoration on ecosystem services is essential for sustainable ecosystem management. However, the characteristics of nonlinear impacts of climate change and vegetation change on ecosystem services are still unclear, especially the determination of their impact thresholds. The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau ecological shelter (QPES) was chosen as the study area. The changes in precipitation, temperature, fractional vegetation cover (FVC) and ecosystem services (water yield, net primary productivity (NPP) and soil conservation) were analyzed, the impacts of climate and vegetation cover changes on ecosystem services were evaluated, and the thresholds were quantitatively identified. The results showed that annual mean precipitation increased from 2000 to 2014 and dropped sharply in 2015, with temperatures rising significantly (p < 0.05) and vegetation recovering significantly (p < 0.01) from 2000 to 2015. NPP showed a fluctuating and rising trend from 2000 to 2015. Water yield and soil conservation were greatly affected by precipitation. NPP and soil conservation increased as vegetation improved. The impact threshold of precipitation on ecosystem services was 533 mm. When the annual mean temperature higher than −3.44 °C, the positive impact on ecosystem services was weakened; when it higher than 1.98 °C, the impact on ecosystem services was negative. The FVC thresholds in the study region and in the alpine steppe zone, alpine forest zone, alpine meadow zone, subtropical coniferous forest zone, alpine desert zone and temperate desert zone were 0.61, 0.37, 0.67, 0.53, 0.65, 0.20 and 0.24, respectively. This study provides an important reference for large-scale ecological management and moderate restoration.

Integrated assessment of ecosystem services in response to land use change and management activities in Morocco

The rapid development in Morocco with an urban and agricultural expansion is putting pressure on ecosystem services. An integrated assessment of these services at different spatial and temporal scales will ensure their sustainability. This paper used Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs (InVEST) to quantify and map multiple ecosystem services in Morocco from 1992 to 2015. The results show that urban areas, agriculture, sparse vegetation, and forests increased by 93%, 2%, 8%, and 9% whereas grassland and bare areas decreased by 80% and 2% respectively. This caused an increase in carbon storage by 1.7% and decreases in water yield, sediment export, and nitrogen and phosphorus exports by 15.5%, 7.4%, and 0.4% respectively. The overall ecosystem services of Morocco showed high values in the north but lower values in the east and south. Land management activities which were implemented in a selected watershed in the east using the Resource Investment Optimization System (RIOS) caused carbon storage to further increase by 0.2% whereas water yield, sediment export, nitrogen export, and phosphorus export declined by 0.07%, 0.09%, 0.17%, and 0.09%. Ecosystem services could be improved at both national and watershed scales when management activities such as reforestation and pasture management are implemented at specific watersheds.

Investigating spatiotemporal dynamics and trade-off/synergy of multiple ecosystem services in response to land cover change: a case study of Nanjing city, China

Investigating the spatiotemporal trends and trade-off/synergy relationships among ecosystem services can provide effective support for urban planning and decision making toward sustainable development. With Nanjing city in China as a case study, this study assessed the spatiotemporal dynamics of six key ecosystem services from 2005 to 2030. Integration of Markov-cellular automata and ecosystem services models was realized to analyze the potential impacts of future urbanization on ecosystem services by simulating business-as-usual (BAU), cropland protection (CP), and ecological restoration (ER) scenarios. Furthermore, an innovative trade-off/synergy degree was developed to quantify the magnitude of the complex relationship among the multiple ecosystem services under the different scenarios. Due to the rapid expansion of built-up land, carbon storage, habitat quality, and air purification decreased 2.92%, 5.80%, and 7.91%, respectively. The CP scenario exhibited the highest crop production values, and the ER scenario was a better urban development strategy that enhanced the regulating ecosystem services at the expense of crop production. To promote urban ecosystem services and minimize trade-offs, we proposed certain future urban development strategies, including ecological corridor construction and compact development. The study could provide a scientific reference for the effective ecosystem management of Nanjing and other rapidly urbanized regions.

Ecosystem service changes in response to mainland coastline movements in China: Process, pattern, and trade-off

Abstract The coastal zone is one of the most valuable ecosystems worldwide because of the diverse and significant ecosystem services (ESs) it provides for human survival and development. Changes in land-use including coastal reclamation and erosion have altered the distribution of coastline and caused substantial changes in the structure and value of coastal ESs. In the past four decades, the mainland coastline in China has undergone extensive changes primarily due to coastal reclamation. This study investigated changes in land-use and spatiotemporal variations in ESs in response to coastline movements in China over the last four decades. The results indicate that land area increased by 1.10 million ha in response to coastline movements in this time period, primarily due to reclamation for aquaculture pond, port, construction land and the development of tied islands. Coastline movements have decreased ecosystem service values (ESVs) by $6.83 billion over the past four decades. Additionally, coastline movements have affected the ESV structure, decreasing the ESVs of erosion prevention and waste treatment functions while increasing the ESV functions of gas regulation and moderation of disturbance. Greater attentions should be paid to the protection and restoration of natural coastal land in China. By assessing the loss of ESVs quantitatively in response to coastline movements, this study provides some suggestions for ecosystem-based management of coastal land in China.

Short-term effect of simulated salt marsh restoration by sand-amendment on sediment bacterial communities.

Coastal climate adaptation strategies are needed to build salt marsh resiliency and maintain critical ecosystem services in response to impacts caused by climate change. Although resident microbial communities perform crucial biogeochemical cycles for salt marsh functioning, their response to restoration practices is still understudied. One promising restoration strategy is the placement of sand or sediment onto the marsh platform to increase marsh resiliency. A previous study examined the above- and below-ground structure, soil carbon dioxide emissions, and pore water constituents in Spartina alterniflora-vegetated natural marsh sediments and sand-amended sediments at varying inundation regimes. Here, we analyzed samples from the same experiment to test the effect of sand-amendments on the microbial communities after 5 months. Along with the previously observed changes in biogeochemistry, sand amendments drastically modified the bacterial communities, decreasing richness and diversity. The dominant sulfur-cycling bacterial community found in natural sediments was replaced by one dominated by iron oxidizers and aerobic heterotrophs, the abundance of which correlated with higher CO2-flux. In particular, the relative abundance of iron-oxidizing Zetaproteobacteria increased in the sand-amended sediments, possibly contributing to acidification by the formation of iron oxyhydroxides. Our data suggest that the bacterial community structure can equilibrate if the inundation regime is maintained within the optimal range for S. alterniflora. While long-term effects of changes in bacterial community on the growth of S. alterniflora are not clear, our results suggest that analyzing the microbial community composition could be a useful tool to monitor climate adaptation and restoration efforts.

Assessing the high impacts of land use change: spatial characteristics of land uses and ecological compensation based on payment for ecosystem services model in a mountainous area, China

Most impacts on ecosystem services (ESs) are related to land use changes that may cause ecosystem fragmentation and loss of ecosystem functions. Spatial planning focused on sustainable landscape development should consider the local potential for providing ESs as well as ecological conservation due to land use changes. To better address the issues that are related to ecological and the ecological and environmental conservation, ecological compensation could coordinate the development of the energy, the economy, and the environment by internalizing environmental externalities and adjusting for the relationships with stakeholders’ benefits. In this study, we developed a framework for analyzing the spatial characteristics of land uses and calculating ecological compensation based on pay for ecosystem services (PESs) from 1995 to 2010 in the upstream of Min River, China. In terms of lacunarity analysis, we firstly explored the spatial patterns of land uses in these two periods that occurred at different spatial characteristic scales. We also observed a strong relationship between lacunarity values and the different distribution patterns of land uses. We then investigated changes in ESs in response to land use change through the assignment of per unit area ecological service value (ESV) method. The total value of ESs dropped from 449.97 billion yuan in 1995 to 441.35 billion yuan in 2010, exhibiting decreasing rate, mainly due to the degradation of woodlands. Soil formation and retention, gas regulation, and biodiversity protection were the three largest ESs, contributing about 50% of the total ESV. Considering the changed relation between social and economic indicators and ESV based on spatial visualization and analysis, we finally constructed a quantitative estimate model for ecological compensation taking a village as study unit and determined standard value so as to evaluate ecological compensation from 1995 to 2010. Spatial differences of the ecological compensation were significant among all the villages and towns. The maximum ecological compensation account (ranged from 1.68 to 8.54 billion yuan) appeared in the villages approximated to Li County, Heishui County, and Songpan County, Sichuan, People’s Republic of China. This proposed framework provides a better understanding of spatial characteristic scales of land uses and enables evaluation of the ecological integrity of landscapes. It also fills up the gap in the field of quantitative evaluation of regional ecological compensation and provides a feasible way to reconcile the conflicts among benefits in the economic, social, and ecological sectors.

Variations in ecosystem services in response to paddy expansion in the Sanjiang Plain, Northeast China

ABSTRACT The ecosystem of the Sanjiang Plain in China has dramatically changed in the past four decades. This study investigated the history of paddy field expansion in the Sanjiang Plain and discovered the ecosystem service variations in response to paddy expansion. Integrating a series of Landsat images, we obtained the paddy expansion history from 1976 to 2015. Then, we calculated ecosystem service values (ESVs) to estimate the ecosystem service variations caused by paddy expansion in the Sanjiang Plain. The results indicate that the paddy area increased from 404,789–2,598,449 ha during 1976–2015, leading to a decline in the total ecosystem service values by 11288.04 million dollars. The largest decline in ESVs in response to paddy expansion was caused by wetland reclamation (9998.54 million dollars). Apart from agricultural products and gas regulation functions, the ESVs provided by other functions all showed a declining trend. Paddy expansion in the Sanjiang Plain increased agricultural product function at the expense of the decline of other functions. In future management practices, the rational allocation of water resources and paddy distribution are necessary in order to achieve sustainable development of both water resources and agricultural production. Some suggestions including coculture systems, restoring habitats for aquatic species, farm management that fosters biodiversity in paddy fields are provided for future sustainability.

Ecosystem services in different agro-climatic zones in eastern India: impact of land use and land cover change.

Land use and land cover (LULC) change have considerable influence on ecosystem services. Assessing change in ecosystem services due to LULC change at different spatial and temporal scales will help to identify suitable management practices for sustaining ecosystem productivity and maintaining the ecological balance. The objective of this study was to investigate variations in ecosystem services in response to LULC change over 27years in four agro-climatic zones (ACZ) of eastern India using satellite imagery for the year 1989, 1996, 2005, 2011 (Landsat TM) and 2016 (Landsat 8 OLI). The satellite images were classified into six LULC classes, agriculture land, forest, waterbody, wasteland, built-up, and mining area. During the study period (1989 to 2016), forest cover reduced by 5.2%, 13.7%, and 3.6% in Sambalpur, Keonjhar, and Kandhamal districts of Odisha, respectively. In Balasore, agricultural land reduced by 17.2% due to its conversion to built-up land. The value of ecosystem services per unit area followed the order of waterbodies > agricultural land > forests. A different set of indicators, e.g., by explicitly including diversity, could change the rank between these land uses, so the temporal trends within a land use are more important than the absolute values. Total ecosystem services increased by US$ 1296.4 × 105 (50.74%), US$ 1100.7 × 105 (98.52%), US$ 1867 × 105 (61.64%), and US$ 1242.6 × 105 (46.13%) for Sambalpur, Balasore, Kandhamal, and Keonjhar, respectively.

Spatial characteristics of land uses and ecological compensations based on payment for ecosystem services model from 2000 to 2015 in Sichuan Province, China

The ecosystem services provision is constantly under threat by anthropogenic pressures, especially which is mainly related to land use changes. A solution proposed to address these issues is the implementation of spatial characteristics of land uses and ecological compensation (based on Payment for Ecosystem Services) programs. In this study, we developed a framework for analyzing the spatial characteristics of land uses and calculating ecological compensation from 2000 to 2015 in Sichuan Province, China. We firstly examined the utility of lacunarity analysis for detecting spatial characteristic scales of pattern of land uses. Due to large-scale and regular distribution, the spatial heterogeneity of cropland, woodland and grassland were higher than that of water body, construction land and unused land. We then investigated changes in ecosystem services in response to land use change through assignment of per unit area ecosystem service value method. The total ecosystem service value is about 10,780 billion yuan·year−1, and the woodland and grassland ecosystems contributed more to the total ecosystem service value. The critical areas (with higher ecosystem service value) for management purpose were identified depending on the heterogeneity of use services learned from spatially explicit measures. Considering the changed relationship between social and economic indicators and ecosystem service value based on spatial visualization and analysis, we finally constructed a quantitative estimate model for ecological compensation taking city (state) as study unit, and determined standard value so as to evaluate ecological compensation from 2000 to 2015. Spatial differences of the ecological compensation were significant among all the cities (states). The average payment standards of ecological compensation based on the population, ecological compensation based on city (state) area, and corrected ecological compensation were − 117.10 billion yuan, 4.41E-13 billion yuan, and − 58.55 billion yuan, respectively. The negative values suggested that the stakeholders of Sichuan Province should pay for ecological compensation, and the positive value meant the residents in the Sichuan Province can obtain the amount of ecological compensation. This proposed innovative framework provides a better understanding of spatial characteristic scales of land uses and enables evaluation of the ecological integrity of landscapes. It also fills up the gap in the field of quantitative evaluation of regional ecological compensation and provides a feasible way to reconcile the conflicts among benefits in the economic, social and ecological sectors.

Recreational fishers' perceptions and behaviour towards cultural ecosystem services in response to the Nerbioi estuary ecosystem restoration

Well-functioning ecosystems hold high values of biodiversity and provide a wide range of ecosystem services. In 25 years, Nerbioi-Ibaizabal estuary (North Spain) has changed from a highly polluted estuary to one with a moderate/good ecological status, mainly due to the construction of a Waste Water Treatment Plant that has operated in the estuary since 1990. In recent decades, recorded biotic and abiotic parameters show a clear ecological improvement, but the concurrent response of cultural ecosystem services (e.g. recreational fishing) remains unexplored. Recreational fishers' fishing behaviour and perceptions over environmental changes were obtained through a questionnaire and compared with recorded parameters of improvement. Results show a positive correlation between the abiotic ecological recovery and fishers’ behaviour. However, fishers' perceptions on the biotic recovery (e.g. fish abundance) were more negative than those recorded. Despite this, fishers are satisfied with the overall experience of fishing and will probably continue fishing in the estuary. In conclusion, in better functioning estuaries the capacity to deliver cultural services (e.g. recreational fishing) increases. However, getting ecosystem services to the level of appreciation of society requires to be much better communicated.