Ecosystem Services Research Research Articles

Spatial-temporal changes in ecosystem services and the trade-off relationship in mountain regions: A case study of Hengduan Mountain region in Southwest China

Mountain regions are usually regarded as important ecological functional areas that provide various ecosystem services to the people living in the mountains and surrounding areas. However, mountain regions are also fragile areas for both climate change and land use change. Over the past two decades, China’s mountain regions have experienced climate change and dramatic land use changes that have been driven by policy. It is unknown how mountainous ecosystem services change under the drive of these two factors, or what management strategies should be adopted. This study focuses on the Hengduan Mountain region in southwest China as the study area. Based on the various simulated ecosystem services from 1990 to 2015, we identified the main influencing factors for the spatial and temporal changes of ecosystem services, the trade-off relationship, and the ecosystem service bundles by the use of correlation and cluster analysis. The results showed that: (1) Water yield and soil erosion were mainly affected by precipitation, while habitat quality and carbon storage were more affected by land use changes. The implementation of ecological projects significantly enhanced the habitat quality and carbon storage. (2) Synergy relationship existed between habitat quality and some of regulating services, indicating that current institutional reforms of China’s management of protected areas aimed at protecting intact habitat quality will promote local regulating services. (3) Three bundles were determined on the county scale, and different management strategies should be taken. Agriculture, carbon, and water bundles should focus on cultivated land protection, grassland protection, and rational utilization of water resources, respectively. This study will enrich the research of mountain ecosystem services and provide important support for local ecosystem management.

Spatial modeling of the biophysical and economic values of ecosystem services in Maryland, USA

Mapping ecosystem services is increasingly a focal area in ecosystem service research. Mapping services allows spatial variability in the benefits being received to be observed and incorporated in decision-making. Services vary in their biophysical supply as well as their economic value due to differences in ecological function and demand for the service. We map and present both vectors of change for seven ecosystem services for the state of Maryland. Economic value is estimated by observing previous instances of payment for increasing, or avoiding loss, to ecosystem services in Maryland or adjacent states. We find the economic value of ecosystem services from natural lands in Maryland to be significant, totaling $8 billion every year for seven non-market services. Storm-water mitigation is the largest service obtained from natural systems, totaling $3.1 billion annually, followed by wildlife habitat at $2.6 billion. Groundwater recharge, nitrogen removal, surface water protection, carbon sequestration, and air pollutant removal services are also valued and mapped. This work has several active or planned applications for the state’s prioritization of land acquisitions and ecological restoration funding. Results from this work can be viewed online- http://geodata.md.gov/greenprint/.

A Scientometrics Review on Land Ecosystem Service Research

Humans can derive the benefits from the ecosystem to satisfy human needs as well-being. Therefore, good ecosystem management is the intermediary between ecosystems and human well-being. The ecosystem services depend on the supply of nature, and also reflect the value orientation of human beings, as the basis for the realization of human survival and cultural development. Land ecosystem services are the core and hot topic of ecological research. Under the current severe depletion of land use, this research evaluates the sustainable governance on the natural resource shortage, serious environmental pollution and ecosystem degradation. Based on the Web of Science database, this paper analyzes the development characteristics and trends of global land ecosystem services research using the Bibliometrix software package. The results show that (1) the amount of literature on land ecosystem services research between 2000 and 2019 has generally increased significantly, and entered a stage of rapid development from 2015. (2) Developed countries are the main research force in the field of land ecosystem services, and the United States has the absolute leading position. Developing countries are dominated by China, Argentina, and Brazil. (3) The high-frequency keywords for land ecosystem services are land use change, land use, climate change, urbanization, carbon and water quality. This can be regarded as a research hotspot in the field of land ecosystem services to a certain extent. (4) Through cluster analysis on the big data, the research found the direction for the future land ecosystem services, mainly: (I) the restoration of degraded land and its impact on ecosystem services; (II) the environmental impact assessment of land use planning based on the ecosystem services value; (III) the tradeoff analysis of ecosystem services in sustainable land management; (IV) the impact of land cover change on ecosystem services; (V) through the historical analysis of citied papers, the research history and evolution path of land ecosystem services are explored. Based on all these arguments, a comprehensive study on the diverse facets of land ecosystem services and the practical application of land ecosystem services areas is proposed.

National accounts in the anthropocene: Hueting's environmental functions and environmentally sustainable national income: Translation and relevance for ecosystem services

The UN System of National Accounts (SNA) calculates standard national income (NI) under the condition that owned capital is maintained. Roefie Hueting defined in 1969 environmental functions (state, stock) as the possible uses by humans of the environment. Their actual use (flow) nowadays are also called ecosystem services. Hueting defined in 1986 environmentally sustainable national income (eSNI) (flow) under the condition that the vital environmental functions are maintained for future generations. eΔ = NI – eSNI gives the national distance to environmental sustainability. Thus eΔ measures the level of ecosystem services concerning the part that infringes upon environmental sustainability, or the abusive part in the ecosystem services that are provided. This communication aspires at a translation of the terminologies by economist Hueting and ecologists in the research of ecosystem services.

Identifying ecosystem services research hotspots to illustrate the importance of site-specific research: An Atlantic coastal region case study

The mismatch between the conceptual understanding of the Ecosystem Services (ES) in science, and their practical application, remains. Among the many issues under discussion is the link between knowledge and implementation. Base knowledge built over cases studies exist, but their usefulness for site-specific management purposes is limited. The goal of this work is to illustrate how gap analysis at the local level may contribute to the development of ES research and knowledge transfer. A review of coastal ES was performed, based on peer-reviewed journals, grey literature and other sources, allocating the information per European Nature Information System aquatic habitat coupled with the Common International Classification of Ecosystem Services. Then, a multicriteria decision-making approach was applied to find ES research hotspots, i.e., habitats for which ES research should be prioritized. Three criteria were used: abundance of ES, evidence for the supply of ES, and strength of evidence. The criteria were considered suitable for coastal areas where profound gaps in ES research exist. The Atlantic coastal region adjacent to the Mondego River was used as case study. 231 current and potential ES were listed and mapped for 21 coastal habitats. Cultural services arose as the dominant category. Saltworks emerged as the most recommended habitat for ES research. Results are in accordance with local decision-makers trends of management; we consider the approach to be appropriate as a first step towards the operationalization of the ES concept and flexible enough to be readapted to focus on critical questions that characterize ES research.

Evaluating and communicating cultural ecosystem services

Integrating cultural ecosystem services into decision-making has been under-considered due to a number of key methodological gaps. The multidisciplinary demand of effective cultural ecosystem services research is one reason for this situation. This paper provides and tests a framework of complementary methods and presents an integrated evaluation and communication strategy for cultural ecosystem services. We incorporate research from the humanities, social sciences and environmental sciences to provide a methodological framework for valuing cultural ecosystem services through their spatial distribution and historical changes in Dublin Bay, a semi-urban multi habitat UNESCO biosphere coastal site. The results indicate that the cultural ecosystem services of Dublin Bay have changed historically, and that different values and services depend upon specific coastal habitats. The framework presented relies on mixed methods and contributes to narrowing the gap for lack of readily available data and broadening the number of services or benefits evaluated. This framework can also be used to answer a broader range of research questions, enhancing the contribution of multiple stakeholders and publics, making the dissemination of the results more accessible. We argue for the need for more ambitious multidisciplinary and participatory research to overcome challenges in putting cultural ecosystem service knowledge into practice.

Towards an integrative assessment of land-use type values from the perspective of ecosystem services

Policy-makers and practitioners are increasingly interested in information about ecosystem services (ES), but the creation of indicators that are comprehensive and yet interpretable for stakeholders remains a challenge. In this study, we make use of the extensive body of research on ES and available data to quantify the value of land-use types from an ES perspective. Specifically, we estimate the supply of 19 important ES for the main land-use types on the basis of 58 ecosystem and landscape measures (capturing either state, quantity or process) derived from the literature. In addition, we used survey-based evidence of socio-cultural values of ES to integrate society’s demand for ES. Our approach allows for an integrative assessment and comparison of land-use types, considering both the supply and demand of multiple ES, and the production of outputs at three levels of aggregation, relating to (1) individual ES, (2) ES categories, and (3) land-use types. This makes it possible to flexibly adapt outputs according to the needs of stakeholders, while balancing concerns of comprehensiveness and ease of use. We conclude with a discussion of further avenues for future research, calling for a stronger coordination of ES research and the establishment of shared databases on ES.

Grassland ecosystem services: a systematic review of research advances and future directions

Grasslands provide a variety of ecosystem services (ESs) for humans. While much ES research has focused on forests and wetlands, synthesizing the currently somewhat sporadic studies of grassland ecosystem services (GESs) is much needed. We aimed to review the scope, major methods, and key findings of GESs, and identify knowledge gaps and future directions. We conducted a systematic review of articles published during 1970–2018 (including 380 peer-reviewed articles from Web of Science and 32 book chapters from Google Scholar). The number of GES studies has accelerated in recent decades, with China (31%) and the United States (18%) together accounting for almost half of them. A total of 33 GESs were mentioned in the searched articles, of which carbon sequestration, forage production, and water erosion control had the highest frequencies. Methods for evaluating GESs include field survey, field experiments, and statistical and process-based modeling. Grasslands are the primary source of meat and dairy products, account for about one-third of the total carbon of all terrestrial ecosystems, and provide numerous other ESs, such as night cooling, soil erosion control, and flood mitigation. This review presents the state-of-the-science of GESs, and identifies several future research directions. To move forward, we propose a framework with a 3-M methodology: (1) “Multi-scales”—understanding GESs from various spatiotemporal scales; (2) “Multi-methods”—evaluating GESs with multiple statistical and modeling techniques using multiple data sources; and (3) “Multi-perspectives”—assessing GESs from ecological, social, and economic perspectives for sustainability.

近30年来中美生态系统服务研究热点对比分析——基于文献计量研究

PDF HTML阅读 XML下载 导出引用 引用提醒 近30年来中美生态系统服务研究热点对比分析——基于文献计量研究 DOI: 10.5846/stxb201904220811 作者: 作者单位: 作者简介: 通讯作者: 中图分类号: 基金项目: 国家重点研发计划项目子课题（2016YFC0501701）；国家自然科学基金项目（41771196） A comparative review of research highlights on ecosystem services of China and USA in the latest 30 years 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:近年来生态系统服务研究已经成为了生态学、地理学及环境科学领域的热点和核心议题。基于SCI-E和CNKI数据库，运用文献计量和文本分析法对比了中美两国生态系统服务研究现状和热点。结果表明：（1）近30年来中美两国生态系统服务领域的发文量分别是9327篇和9468篇，均呈现快速增长趋势。（2）就中美两国发文篇均被引频次和总被引频次而言，中国科学院生态环境研究中心和斯坦福大学分别位列第1。美国刊发生态系统服务研究文稿最多的期刊是Ecological Economics，PNAS刊发的文章引用率最高；生态学报刊发的中文文章最多且被引用率最高。研究成果影响力最大的中美两国学者分别是欧阳志云、傅伯杰、Kremen C和Polasky S等。（3）不同时期中美两国所关注的研究热点不同。美国作为生态系统服务研究的主要发源地，在理论研究和方法上都相对领先于中国。（4）美国的研究侧重于理论与模型构建，中国的基础应用研究成果丰富。近年来两国越来越关注人类福祉、生态安全等全球性问题，生态系统服务与人类福祉及科学决策正成为新的热点。在全球可持续发展的背景下，两国在生态系统服务研究方面具有良好的交流与合作前景。 Abstract:Research on ecosystem services has become one of the hotspots and key issues of ecology, geography and environmental science. Based on SCI-E and CNKI databases, this paper comparative reviewed the research status and hotspots of ecosystem services in China and USA via bibliometric method and text meta-analysis. The results show that: (1) the papers on ecosystem services in China and USA in the latest 30 years was 9327 and 9468, respectively, both increased with a significant growth trend. (2) As to the average quoting frequency per paper and total quoting in both China and USA, Research Center for Eco-environmental Sciences of Chinese Academy of Sciences and Stanford University ranked first in China and USA, respectively. The most published journal in the USA on ecosystem services was Ecological Economics, but the highest quoting journal was PNAS. Acta Ecologica Sinica was the Chinese journal with the most articles on ecosystem service and the highest quoting rate. The most influential scholars in USA are Kremen C and Polasky S, while in China are Ouyang Zhiyun and Fu Bojie. (3) There are different research hotspots of ecosystem service in China and USA in the different periods. As the two major research countries on ecosystem services themes, USA was relatively ahead of China in terms of theoretical research and methods. (4) American researchers focus more on theoretical research and models building, while the Chinese researchers focus more on the basic research and its application. Recently, the researchers in the two countries have paid more and more attention to global issues such as human well-being and ecological security. Ecosystem services, human well-being and scientific decision-making have become new hotspots. In the context of global sustainable development, the two countries have good prospects for communication and cooperation in ecosystem services research. 参考文献 相似文献 引证文献

Enriching perspectives: experienced ecosystem services in rural Mozambique and the importance of a gendered livelihood approach to resist reductionist analyses of local culture

Based on a case study from rural Mozambique, we stress that ecosystem services research may be enriched through gendered livelihood approaches, particularly in terms of experienced ecosystem servic ...

International ecosystem service research dynamics and regional differences: A bibliometric analysis based on Web of Science data

International ecosystem service research dynamics and regional differences: A bibliometric analysis based on Web of Science data

Looking into the dragons of cultural ecosystem services

Cultural ecosystem services research is in a somewhat tumultuous state. The cultural ecosystem services (CES) idea is seen simultaneously as a welcoming, expansive addition to conservation policy-making and as a strange, square-peg-in-a-round-hole concept that should be replaced by a more appropriate metaphor or conceptual structure. This confluence of interest and skepticism suggests an opportune moment to take stock of CES, both as a concept and growing scholarly field. Here, we focus on dilemmas that characterize and constitute CES as a field of empirical inquiry and practice. We describe five tensions that characterize the field (and mirror tensions in interdisciplinary work more broadly): universalism and anti-universalism; reductionism and non-reductionism; historical and ahistorical approaches; politicized and depoliticized approaches; and objectivity and situated knowledges. We then suggest five non-mutually-exclusive roles that CES research can (and does) play: The Convener/Illuminator; the Process Police Officer; the Translator; the Revolutionary; and the Policy In-fighter. We provide examples of each tension and role, and posit that clarity and reflexivity may help to make sense of a fertile, if sometimes confusing, interdisciplinary field. Making more sense of, and being more explicit about, the contradictions and contributions of the CES field, can, we suggest, aid decision-makers, CES researchers, and others to better include these values in environmental management.

Connecting air quality regulating ecosystem services with beneficiaries through quantitative serviceshed analysis

In response to the growth of ecosystem services research, many concepts have emerged to understand how we connect ecosystem services with the human populations whom receive the benefits. Servicesheds are one of these emerging concepts and can be qualitatively described as the areas which provide ecosystem services to specific beneficiaries. Previous research lacks the use of mathematical, spatially-explicit models to connect beneficiaries with the ecosystem services that are provided to them by neighboring ecosystems. Working with an atmospheric dispersion model, CALPUFF, this research focuses on air quality regulating ecosystem services and specifically, dry deposition of gaseous pollutants. Multiple quantitative, reproducible, and spatially-explicit definitions of the serviceshed concept are proposed. The various definitions are dependent on the model’s results for concentration and dry deposition values. To discuss the application of these quantitative serviceshed definitions, a case study is conducted for a biodiesel manufacturing site in Cincinnati, OH. The results of the proposed serviceshed definitions yield different and complimentary information for the air quality regulation services. The results of these spatially-explicit definitions yield maps with serviceshed boundaries, which can inform ecosystem restoration and management decisions.

Temporal patterns in ecosystem services research: A review and three recommendations.

Temporal aspects of ecosystem services have gained surprisingly little attention given that ecosystem service flows are not static but change over time. We present the first systematic review to describe and establish how studies have assessed temporal patterns in supply and demand of ecosystem services. 295 studies, 2% of all studies engaging with the ecosystem service concept, considered changes in ecosystem services over time. Changes were mainly characterised as monotonic and linear (81%), rather than non-linear or through system shocks. Further, a lack of focus of changing ecosystem service demand (rather than supply) hampers our understanding of the temporal patterns of ecosystem services provision and use. Future studies on changes in ecosystem services over time should (1) more explicitly study temporal patterns, (2) analyse trade-offs and synergies between services over time, and (3) integrate changes in supply and demand and involve and empower stakeholders in temporal ecosystem services research.

Tradeoff between Hydropower and River Visual Landscape Services in Mountainous Areas

Water retention is one of the important services provided by ecosystems. Water retention is also the basis for multiple other services, such as hydropower development, river continuity, and biodiversity. However, there are clear tradeoffs among these services. Tradeoffs are already a hot topic in ecosystem services research, but the tradeoff between hydropower and river visual landscape services (RVLS) has not yet been investigated. In this study, we used the Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Trade-offs (InVEST) hydropower model for spatial mapping of watershed services. The proportion of the inflow of power stations to annual flow was proposed as the indicator for RVLS. Finally, based on an evaluation of historical hydropower development, different flow recovery scenarios were set up, and the tradeoff relationship between hydropower and landscape services was analyzed. The results showed that the tradeoff between the hydropower service and RVLS in mainstream displayed obvious spatial and temporal changes. With the development of hydropower, the increase of hydropower services caused a rapid decline in RVLS. The difference of two service scores fell from 1.0 in 1958 to 0.52 in 2015. The tradeoff intensity showed a turbulent decline downstream, which was closely related to the cascades’ development. The tradeoff was reversible. Through the flow scheduling of the reservoir group, the RVLS of each river section can be basically restored, while the hydropower service decline was only 29%.

A critical review of progresses and perspectives on ecosystem services from 1997 to 2018

Ecosystem services (ESs) are the research highlight and hot topic in ecology, geography and environmental economics. Based on the literature database on ecosystem services from Web of Science, Citespace, Carrot 2 and textual analysis were used to review the progresses of ESs research during 1997-2018. The results showed that ESs research institutions and its publications increased quickly in the latest 20 years. The main leading countries on ecosystem services research were the United States, UK, Germany, China and Australia, with the United States being the first in terms of literature volume and the influence. Although the research of ESs in China started relatively late, its development was rapid and the scientific research output increased significantly. Meanwhile, there was a huge gap to the international level, the quality and influence of literature should be improved, and the international cooperation and exchange need to be enhanced too. The hotspots and frontiers of ecosystem services mainly included evaluation methods and models, climate change, biodiversity, land use change, trade-off and synergy, scientific research for decision-making and management. The further research and practice trends include the mechanism of ESs, the indicators and methods for ESs evaluation, the spatiotemporal dynamics of ESs trade-offs and synergies and influencing factors, the coupling relationship between ecosystem services and human well-being, and the scientific research and social needs for sustainable development for decision-making and management.

Beyond Oil Palm: Perceptions of Local Communities of Environmental Change

Involving local communities in ecosystem service research can improve the relevance, quality and, ultimately, outcomes of natural resource management. Local engagement can also contribute to solutions to ecosystem management challenges by diversifying the range of options and contextualizing their applicability. The benefits to local communities of ecosystem service-based policies relative to other interventions, such as oil palm development, are, therefore, best understood from the perspectives of the local communities themselves. We used observations, focus group discussions, and interviews in four villages along the Belayan River, East Kalimantan, Indonesia, to explore how local communities in different oil palm development contexts perceive Ecosystem Services (ES). The main livelihood activity differed across these villages, which were either fishing, oil palm smallholder communities, or forest-dependent communities. Perceptions about ES varied across villages, though three services were perceived to be crucial in all four villages, namely fish provision, water quality, and land availability. These services can be a common concern entry point for discussions on landscape management. Despite common recognition of the negative impacts of oil palm development on these crucial services, all communities are nevertheless choosing to expand oil palm. Communities identified a wide array of direct and indirect drivers underlying this trend, including social influence, financial capital, ecological factors, and subsidies from local government. Early engagement of local policymakers, oil palm companies, and local communities is essential to the maintenance of crucial and widely recognized ecosystem services in oil palm landscapes

Governing research through affects: The case of ecosystem services science

AbstractDespite the abundant literature on transformation of research and the affective dimension of research practice, affective governing of research has not been documented to the same extent. To address this gap, we examine how scientific research can be affectively governed by research institutions. We focus on the case of ecosystem services science, an interdisciplinary field of research expected to lead to decisions capable of halting environmental degradation. Drawing on theoretical discussions bridging the concept of affect and the Foucauldian concept of government, we argue that affects can be mobilised as a technology of government in governing scientific practice. We identify three affective techniques used to govern ecosystem service research and discuss the limits of governing research through affects. Our analysis deepens the understanding of how academic work is transformed in the context of redefined relations between science and society.

An integrated method for the mapping of landscape preferences at the regional scale

Significant progress has recently been made in developing effective tools for the quantification and mapping of landscape preferences. However, while much landscape planning and decision-making operates at the regional scale, capturing public’s preferences of specific landscapes at scales beyond the local remains a challenge especially in geographically diverse areas. This paper presents a new method for the mapping of landscape preferences at regional scales by combining elements from landscape and ecosystem service research. This makes two contributions to existing literature: First, it advances existing 'generic feature mapping' approaches for extrapolating people’s perceptions and valuations of locally specific landscapes to regional maps using photographic questionnaires. Second, we approach preferences of landscapes from an ecosystem service perspective, specifically identifying i) both the perceived supply and socio-cultural valuation of ecosystem services, and ii) multiple services across the cultural, regulating, and provisioning category. Overall, we argue that these features make it possible to more accurately represent the multiple aspects of landscape preferences at a regional scale. The proposed method can be applied to regions of different size, varying geographical complexity, and for different beneficiary groups. The method is demonstrated for the mountain region of South Tyrol (Italy), located in the Central Alps.

Sociocultural valuation of ecosystem services for operational ecosystem management: mapping applications by decision contexts in Europe

Sociocultural valuation (SCV) of ecosystem services (ES) discloses the principles, importance or preferences expressed by people towards nature. Although ES research has increasingly addressed sociocultural values in past years, little effort has been made to systematically review the components of sociocultural valuation applications for different decision contexts (i.e. awareness raising, accounting, priority setting, litigation and instrument design). In this analysis, we investigate the characteristics of 48 different sociocultural valuation applications—characterised by unique combinations of decision context, methods, data collection formats and participants—across ten European case studies. Our findings show that raising awareness for the sociocultural value of ES by capturing people’s perspective and establishing the status quo, was found the most frequent decision context in case studies, followed by priority setting and instrument development. Accounting and litigation issues were not addressed in any of the applications. We reveal that applications for particular decision contexts are methodologically similar, and that decision contexts determine the choice of methods, data collection formats and participants involved. Therefore, we conclude that understanding the decision context is a critical first step to designing and carrying out fit-for-purpose sociocultural valuation of ES in operational ecosystem management.