Flow Of Ecosystem Services Research Articles

Spatial flows of ecosystem services under future climate and land-use changes

Increasing global pressure on natural capital requires sustainable solutions to ensure long-term provision of ecosystem services (ES) which have complex flow dynamics. Although the importance of ES flows has been increasingly recognized during the past years, little is known about how they will be affected by future climate and land-use changes. Here, we integrated ES flows into a scenario-based assessment framework, and evaluated it by clarifying the local and distant effects of ES flows in the Black River basin, China. The spatiotemporal variations of ES flows were investigated by considering different land policies and climate scenarios, and the drivers of ES flow variations were explored. We found increasing inter-regional ES flows toward 2100. Compared to land-use change, the intra-regional flows were more sensitive to climate change, with greater shifts of flow size and synergistic areas identified under a moderate climatic forcing scenario with sustainable management strategies. Precipitation directly affected water retention flow, yet affected flood mitigation flow both directly and indirectly through changing vegetation cover, which was the major driver of soil retention flow. Biodiversity mediated the positive effects of precipitation and vegetation cover on soil retention flow. Our study highlights the importance of embracing the spatiotemporal features of ES flows in sustainable transboundary management and adaptation strategies.

Where, When, and How Much Should We Pay for Wind Erosion Prevention Services of the Largest Chinese Grassland Reserve?

The large-scale and cross-regional payment for ecosystem services (PES) contributes positively to ecology-economy balance and thus helps prevent environmental challenges such as "sand storm". However, existing PES programs often overlook the connection between service-providing areas (SPAs) and service-benefiting areas (SBAs). Here, we developed an interregional PES framework based on the theory of ecosystem services flow and applied it to the largest Chinese grassland nature reserve, Xilingol Prairie, to quantitatively identify SPAs, SBAs, and flow paths of the ecosystem wind erosion prevention service (WEPS). We showed that, from 2000 to 2020, the grassland ecosystem of Xilingol Prairie had brought an annual WEPS benefit of 1.21 × 108 t/a and economic value of 12.44 × 108 CNY/a, accounting for approximately 107.71% of the GDP in the same area and year and with a slightly increasing trend in most areas. We reveal obvious seasonal (over half in the spring) and interannual variations in the benefit and that Inner Mongolia, Hebei, and Northeast China are the most important beneficiaries of WEPS, rather than Beijing and Tianjin as traditionally thought. Our results warn that the WEPS supply capacity will not last long and call for finer spatial (e.g., among cities) and temporal (e.g., focus on the spring) resolution for PES policy design.

Spatial constraints or spatial dynamics? The spatial spillover effect of networks of flood regulation service flows on land-use degree.

In the face of frequent floods under climate and environmental changes, it is particularly important to measure the supply and demand of flood regulation services. Using the Hainan Island as an illustrative case, this study constructs a spatial spillover model to examine the spatial correlation mode and evolution of regional land-use degree through the network of ecosystem service flow. The research results show that forests, grasslands, and reservoirs function as the primary suppliers of flood regulation services, with forests contributing significantly to the regulation of floods. High flood risk was identified in the eastern, northern, and western regions of the Hainan Island, corresponding to increased demand for flood regulation services in croplands, towns, and rural settlements within these areas. The flow of flood regulation services within the Hainan Island was found to be directed from the center to the surrounding areas, with medium and high service flows predominantly concentrated in the northern and surrounding regions. The degree of land use on the Hainan Island demonstrated an influence on socio-economic development. Additionally, the flow network of ecological services was identified as a crucial factor in spatial spillovers, reflecting the level of interaction between county units.

Resources time footprint for assessment of human influence on ecosystem service from a sustainability standpoint

Nature provides diverse services to humanity, known as ecosystem services (ES), yet certain services, such as food and timber, are geographically distant from human settlements. This spatial separation of ES from supply area to demand site fosters transfer through human-made carrier as ES flow, resulting in social and ecological impacts. This study delves into this complex ES supply, flow, and demand relation. While the conventional ES assessment approach mainly quantifies ES supply potential, Resources Time Footprint (RTF) is introduced as a new indicator to evaluate human intervention part of ES supply and flow. RTF examines intergenerational sustainability of ES by evaluating material, land, labor, and pollutant resource utilization in relation to individual allocations. The efficacy of this integration is evaluated through a case study covering 17 ESs dynamics in central Bhutan for 2010 and 2020, and RTF is applied to potato-ES, given its higher human intervention in the area. This is finally validated against commonly used emergy analysis and its derivatives. The study observed a 3.5% increase in 17 ESs, with minor intergenerational implications associated with supply and flow of potato-ES. The average per capita RTF values were 0.81 and 0.52 years, or 2 and 1.3 years per 100 kg of potatoes for the 2010 and 2020 base case, respectively. This smaller RTF value for 2020 indicates reduced resource occupancy rates with higher intergenerational sustainability. This replicable indicator effectively evaluated human related impacts on ES supply and flow and identified land and labor as underperforming aspects with higher occupancy rates. The comparative validation showed inadequateness of emergy-derivatives in examining human intervention in ES flow, and limitations of ES-RTF in evaluating nature's contribution. This underscores the complementary nature of two methodologies. Overall, this study contributes to a telecoupling framework for a sustainable society, enhancing coherence and consistency in analyzing ES supply and flow.

Assessing the Connectivity of Urban Green Spaces for Enhanced Environmental Justice and Ecosystem Service Flow: A Study of Tehran Using Graph Theory and Least-Cost Analysis

Assessing the Connectivity of Urban Green Spaces for Enhanced Environmental Justice and Ecosystem Service Flow: A Study of Tehran Using Graph Theory and Least-Cost Analysis

Evaluation of flow, supply, and demand for noise reduction in urban area, Hamadan in Iran.

Noise pollution is one of the consequences of urbanization that can cause environmental disturbances in urban areas. Urban ecosystems provide noise reduction services through Urban Green infrastructures (UGIs). Many studies have been conducted to evaluate and model traffic noise, but none have addressed the flow, supply, and demand of noise reduction ecosystem services. The main purpose of this paper is to present a new methodology for estimating flow, supply, and demand for noise reduction in Hamadan city that has not been mentioned in any paper so far. UGIs were classified into six main categories: agricultural lands, gardens, parks, abandoned lands, single trees, and street trees. A total of 57 sampling stations for sound measurement were made in August 2018. The current map of noise pollution (flow) was created using the Kriging method. The amount of supply was measured up to a distance of 50 meters from the main roads based on two approaches (the distance effect and the sound barrier effect). To quantify the demand, the current sound intensity level in the noise-sensitive land uses was compared with standards. Zonal statistics was used for spatial analysis of supply-demand in the urban neighborhood as a working unit. Results showed that at distances of 5m, 10m, 15m, and 20m, the average noise reduction was found to be 1.61, 2.83, 3.92, and 5.33 dB, respectively. Sound barriers at distances of 5m and 10m resulted in an average sound reduction of 1.61 and 2.83 dB, respectively. Individual trees, strip trees, abandoned lands, parks, and gardens led to a decrease in traffic noise by 0.3, 1, 0.1, 3.5, and 4.5 dB, respectively. The clustering analysis revealed a significant spatial clustering of noise pollution in Hamedan. The results and new methodology of this research can be used in similar areas to estimate the supply and demand of noise reduction and also for decision-makers to take management actions to increase supply and meet the demand for noise reduction service.

Do provisioning ecosystem services change along gradients of increasing agricultural production?

ContextIncreasing agricultural production shapes the flow of ecosystem services (ES), including provisioning services that support the livelihoods and nutrition of people in tropical developing countries. Although our broad understanding of the social-ecological consequences of agricultural intensification is growing, how it impacts provisioning ES is still unknown.ObjectivesWe examined the household use of provisioning ES across a gradient of increasing agricultural production in seven tropical countries (Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Nicaragua and Zambia). We answered two overarching questions: (1) does the use of provisioning ES differ along gradients of agriculture production ranging from zones of subsistence to moderate and to high agriculture production? and (2) are there synergies and/or trade-offs within and among groups of ES within these zones?MethodsUsing structured surveys, we asked 1900 households about their assets, livestock, crops, and collection of forest products. These questions allowed us to assess the number of provisioning ES households used, and whether the ES used are functionally substitutable (i.e., used similarly for nutrition, material, and energy). Finally, we explored synergies and trade-offs among household use of provisioning ES.ResultsAs agricultural production increased, provisioning ES declined both in total number and in different functional groups used. We found more severe decreases in ES for relatively poorer households. Within the functional groups of ES, synergistic relationships were more often found than trade-offs in all zones, including significant synergies among livestock products (dairy, eggs, meat) and fruits.ConclusionsConsidering landscape context provides opportunities to enhance synergies among provisioning services for households, supporting resilient food systems and human well-being.

Sociocultural valuation of ecosystem services in protected areas: A study applied to Southeast Spain

Research background: Protected areas (PAs) play a fundamental role in the maintenance of ecosystem processes and in the flow of ecosystem services (ESs) they provide. However, the management of PAs is complex due to the existence of different stakeholders with disparate and, often, opposed preferences and valuations. The sociocultural assessment of ESs contributes to optimizing the management of scarce resources based on the preferences of the different stakeholders, taking into account the economic, environmental and social dimensions of the analysed area. Purpose of the article: In this work, a sociocultural assessment of the ESs provided by a PA in southeast Spain is carried out. The objective is to identify which the various ESs provided by this PA are and to establish their degree of importance for all the stakeholders involved. Methods: For this, different complementary methodologies have been used in successive phases, both qualitative and quantitative. Specifically, a literature review, in-depth interviews and an assessment questionnaire were used. Findings & value added: Based on the results obtained, a series of measures are proposed to improve the sustainable management of the PA and the socioeconomic development of its environment. The results of this study may be useful for PAs whose management tries to find a balance between conservation measures and the design of models that contribute to the socioeconomic development of their area of influence.

A social-ecological network approach to quantify the supply-demand-flow of grain ecosystem service

The supply-demand flow of food is crucial for accurately assessing ecosystem services and human well-being. However, quantifying the direction and intensity of dynamic ecosystem service (ES) flows is challenge. This study establishes a social-ecological network (SEN) framework to quantify the supply-demand flow of grain ES, which involves analyzing spatiotemporal patterns of supply and demand to distinguish between social and ecological aspects, identifying supply and demand nodes to define administrative boundaries, building a social-ecological network between supply and demand nodes, and measuring the intensity and direction of the supply-demand flow of grain ES. Taking the Pearl River Basin of China as an example, the supply-demand flow of grain ES was analyzed across three different scales during 2000–2019. The results indicated that there are significant spatial differences and mismatches in the supply-demand-flow of grain ES. The grain supply ranges from 29.18 Mt to 32.42 Mt, while grain demand ranges from 19.51 Mt to 25.28 Mt, respectively. The evolution of grain SEN reveals that most flow exhibits local characteristics, six prefecture-level city demand nodes were expected, and five prefecture-level city supply nodes with the highest flow intensity contributed a total flow intensity of 8.06–10.10 Mt. The supply nodes increased from 74.5% to 82.5% and demand nodes decreased from 25.5% to 17.5% during 2000–2019. The SEN approach can be effectively and visually used to quantify the supply-demand-flow of grain ES, support ecosystem management, and promote decision-making on food resource allocation.

Evaluation of ecosystem services budget based on ecosystem services flow: A case study of Hangzhou Bay area

Ecosystem services (ESs) flow, the spatial transfer of ESs from supply to demand, is critical but remains underexplored. Traditional studies often quantify ESs flow by crudely overlaying supply-demand, which lacks authenticity. This work develops a simulative model based on the flow-medium-path agent to simulate and quantify ESs flow, and subsequently evaluate regional ESs budget by incorporating ESs flow, because ESs aren't static but could flow to remote area, thereby altering the supply-demand relationship. Three prominent ESs, crop production (CP), water yield (WY), and carbon sequestration (CS) in Hangzhou Bay area were selected as cases. The results show: (1) a noticeable mismatch between ESs supply and demand; (2) ESs flow appears diverse features, e.g., the WY flow is single-directional and can only deliver to the downstream, determined by the topography; (3) Traditional ESs budget reveals the number of towns as supply exceeding demand for CP, WY, and CS is 313, 411, and 171. Contrastively, regional final budget considering ESs flow suggests that is 202, 581, and 0 as supply-demand balanced, indicating the ecological state is altered by integrating ESs flow into ESs budget evaluation. This study contributes to the researches on ESs comprehensive evaluation, ESs flow quantification, and ecological strategies references.

Study on the spatial changes in land use and landscape patterns and their effects on ecosystem services in Ghana, West Africa

Changes in land use significantly affect the environment by disrupting the natural landscape patterns. These changes may alter the ecological processes that affect the flow and provision of ecosystem services. In this study, we quantified land-use changes and the effects of landscape patterns on estimated Ecosystem Service Values (ESVs) at spatial and temporal scales in Ghana for four different years: 1995, 2005, 2015, and 2020. Using Fragstats spatial software, we computed landscape metrics to calculate the landscape patterns of the study area. We established a relationship between ecosystem services and landscape patterns by using correlation and regression analyses. The dominant land use in Ghana found in decreasing order were agriculture, forest, and savannah. The proportions covered by settlement and bare land were relatively small. The estimated ESVs for the study periods were US$172.11 billion in 1995, US$166.38 billion in 2005, US$166.07 billion in 2015 and US$166.59 in 2020. The entire decline observed was very significant (US$5.52 billion) because of the huge reduction in wetlands during this period. Linear multiple regression and correlation analyses revealed the relationships between ecosystem services and landscape patterns. According to the regression models, the landscape metrics of landscape composition and configuration had a net effect on the individual ecosystem services. This study provides useful reference material for land use policy makers, managers, and institutions involved in the implementation of policies and conservation practices to enhance the provision of ecosystem services.

Mainstreaming biodiversity into policy–Do the numbers add-up?

In this paper, we review the literature on economic approaches to providing value estimates of biodiversity. In most cases, the value estimates represent a lower estimate for a multitude of reasons, emanating from the complexity of definition and conceptualization of biodiversity as a capital stock and/or an ensuing flow of various ecosystem services. However, this exercise is important for accounting for these values in national income accounts, policy reforms, and raising funds for biodiversity financing. We discuss some of the theoretical and empirical challenges towards this valuation exercise along with providing estimates of biodiversity values.

Urbanization shifts freshwater service flows in the highly urbanized watersheds of Dongjiang River, China

Freshwater ecosystem services supply and demand are important for achieving Sustainable Development Goal 6 of clean water. Urbanization has significantly impacted the supply, demand, and flow of freshwater ecosystem services due to various human activities. However, the changes in freshwater ecosystem service flow (FESF) under the influence of urbanization were still unclear. This study examines the highly urbanized Dongjiang River as an example and maps the supply-flow-demand network of freshwater services based on social-ecological network analysis. The results indicate that freshwater supply has increased by 0.21 billion m3 per year, while there is a decreasing trend of 0.17 billion m3 per year in demand. The FESF approach reveals that 42%–60% of imbalanced sub-watersheds rely on artificial water diversion projects to alleviate water deficits under dynamic flow conditions. Approximately 15.6% of the region experiences water insecurity, driven by urbanization-induced demand for water diversion. This increased demand puts stress on downstream sub-watershed water supply and elevates the risk of flow reduction in the main stream. The study highlights the need for sustainable water management strategies to ensure freshwater security in large river basins within urbanized areas worldwide and to address the challenges posed by uncertain urban expansion.

Influential Factors Affecting Tea Tourists’ Behavior Intention in Cultural Ecosystem Services: An Affordance Perspective

Tea tourism has gained prominence recently, particularly with the recognition of traditional Chinese tea processing techniques as an intangible cultural heritage. Nevertheless, as a niche form of tourism, knowledge gaps persist regarding the understanding of tea tourists’ perceptions of the tourism environment and their subsequent impact on behavior intentions. Underpinned by affordance theory, this study aims to investigate the role of tourism environment affordance in shaping behavior intentions through emotional value and cultural identity. A structural equation modeling (SEM) approach was employed to analyze survey data collected from 296 online responses provided by tea tourists. The key findings are as follows: (1) tea tourists primarily visit sites like a tea village, tea garden, and tea house, typically once or twice annually, with visits lasting 2–4 or 4–8 h; (2) convenient transportation and facilities, educational opportunities, and well-designed environments emerge as the most influential aspects of tourism environment affordance; and (3) tourism environment affordance significantly influences emotional value and cultural identity, and these in turn act as mediators between tourism environment affordance and behavior intentions. Therefore, this study expands the application of affordance theory to tea tourism by elucidating how perceptions of tourism environment affordance impact tea tourists’ behavior intentions and it deepens our understanding of the flow of cultural ecosystem services. Additionally, it underscores the pivotal role of tourism in providing cultural ecosystem services for preserving intangible cultural heritage and nurturing cultural identity. Practical implications for promoting tea tourism as cultural ecosystem services are also gleaned from our findings.

Linking ecological and social systems to promote regional security management: A perspective of ecosystem services supply-flow-demand

The ecosystem services (ESs) are the extremely important basis for the identification and optimization of ecological security patterns (ESPs). Nonetheless, the great majority of existing research on ESPs has concentrated on the ESs supply, ignoring the ESs demand and flow from social systems, which hinders the connection between ecological and social systems. Consequently, using remote sensing products, meteorological observations and statistical yearbooks and other multisource data, this study analysed supply–demand matching characteristics of ESs in the West Liaohe River Basin in China based on assessment of six key ESs from 2010 to 2020, including water yield, food production, livestock breeding, soil loss by water, soil loss by wind, and net primary production, identified the ESPs in combination with the perspective of ESs supply–demand, and discussed the ecological compensation scheme for ESPs construction based on the ESs flow. The research results indicated that the supply and demand of ESs within the study area was mismatched. Therefore, identifying ecological sources solely through the high supply areas of ESs might not effectively meet the needs of human society. By expanding the scope of alternative ecological sources and taking into account the distance between alternative sources and high demand areas, it was helpful to improve the rationality and scientificity of the identification of ESPs. There was a threshold effect in identification of ecological sources and extraction of ecological corridors, but there was no significant impact on overall spatial distribution of ESPs. The results of this research will help to promote the realization of the relationship between ESs and ESPs and better guide the development of regional socio-ecological coupling systems.

Spatio-temporal explicit mapping and quantification of ecosystem services provision area: An application for wind erosion prevention service in northern China

Many ecosystem service (ES) items, such as the wind erosion prevention service (WEPS), have spatially separated service provision and benefit areas (SPA & SBA), which are connected by directional ecosystem services flows (ESF). Clarifying the specific spatial relationships between the SPA and SBA is of potential scientific and policy importance for such directional flow-conveyed ES. Much of the existing research has focused on the identification of SBA based on a given SPA. However, due to the asymmetry of supply-based and demand-based ESFs and geospatial heterogeneity, this relationship cannot be directly inferred backward to obtain the SPA for a given SBA. In this paper, we propose a methodological framework along with computational methods to delineate the SPA of a given SBA. Our methods feature ESF carrier dynamics-based algorithms to determine the specific path of the ESF which is enabled by an adapted Hybrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory (HYSPLIT) model, as well as quantification approaches for evaluating the actual realization of ecosystem services value (RESV) with the support of the Revised Wind Erosion Equation (RWEQ) model. We demonstrate the applicability of our methods with the example of three mega-cities in northern China that are severely affected by the wind erosion problem. The results show that the spatial distribution of wind erosion source areas in the three cities are different, and the SPA based on the trajectory weights shows a decreasing trend from the city center to periphery, with those in the cities of Beijing and Taiyuan mainly concentrated in the northwestern direction, while the high RESV zones in the SPA are mainly concentrated in the desert areas. In the time series, wind erosion affecting these three cities mainly occurred in late April and May. The study provides a methodological and empirical basis for applied ecological analysis including the delineation of the ecological hinterlands of cities, or the formulation of precise ecological compensation programs.

Mapping cultural ecosystem services: A case study in Lesvos Island, Greece

Coastal and marine ecosystems are under high pressure from multiple activities that take place in coastal areas. Mapping and assessment of ecosystem services are considered essential to support decision-making in policies on the sustainable management of these areas. In this paper, an integrated indicator has been developed and applied to map and assess Recreation Opportunities that are supplied by coastal and marine ecosystems on the Island of Lesvos, North Aegean, Greece, which is an area of great natural wealth and beauty, but it is under numerous threats from various activities that take place within its boundaries. The proposed indicator integrates biophysical, social and managerial aspects of Ecosystem Services (ES) to assess potential ES flow. It is a flexible methodology that utilizes available data and user-friendly geo-technologies and can be used for local scale assessment. A discussion is carried out on the importance of such methodologies for Marine Spatial Planning (MSP), and recommendations are made as to how this indicator may be improved.

Sustainability threshold for multiple ecosystem services in the Venice lagoon, Italy

One of the biggest challenges for ecosystem services (ES) science is to make the concept operational for decision-making purposes. The capacity to understand the long-term sustainability of multiple ES is still limited, while being highly needed to improve the management of natural resources. This work aims to use ES, and particularly the assessment of their capacity and flow, to explore the sustainability of the ES provision in the coastal social-ecological system of the Venice lagoon, Italy, by adopting a spatially explicit approach. By applying multivariate analysis on the ES maps, a zonation is derived which reflects the different bundles of ES in the lagoon. A new approach to analyze the ES bundles is presented, which determines their degree of sustainability. Building on the rationale that not all combinations of ES are desirable for the long-term maintenance of ES capacity, a ‘sustainability threshold’ for multiple ES is proposed. This threshold corresponds to a balance between ES capacity and flow, and to a balance between the flow of regulating ES and the flow of ES mediated by human activities. The results show that about 53% of the lagoon’s surface is exploited to a level that falls beyond the ‘sustainability threshold’ and thus should be considered in an unsustainable condition. This reveals the need to intervene to change the patterns of ES uses in some areas of the lagoon, to enjoy the benefits offered by the ecosystem without impairing its capacity to provide them. Some potential directions for change are discussed, moving towards a more sustainable management of the lagoon social-ecological system.

Measuring the cross-border spillover effects and telecoupling processes of ecosystem services in Western China

Ecosystem services provide the basic elements for global economic development. In the context of the deepening global integration process, countries and regions are increasingly connected, resulting in a series of cross-country, cross-regional, multi-scale socio-economic-environmental impacts, these new situations and changes require a multi-site, two-way, and cross-temporal and spatial scale comprehensive study of "the relationship between ecosystem services and humans". Based on this, we apply a telecoupling synthesis framework to explore the socio-economic and eco-environmental interactions of ecosystem service spillover effects. Results show that (1) the spillover effect of ecosystem services in western China is significant. More than 66% of ecosystem services spillover to eastern China provinces, and more than 40% of ecosystem services spillover to countries in Southeast Asia, South Asia, and Central Asia, resulting in a total of 679 million people benefiting from the spillover effect. (2) There are also multiple telecoupling processes between the ecosystem service spillovers in the ecologically fragile areas in western China and the rest of the world. In combination with the scenario simulation of the InVEST model, the services such as water supply, soil retention, flood mitigation, and food supply have significant impacts on sustainable development and human well-being in Asia and even the world. (3) The positive feedback effect of telecoupling is critical to the protection of the ecological environment as well as the improvement of people's livelihood and well-being in Western China's ecologically fragile areas. Therefore, we propose strengthening ecological compensation cooperation between local governments and implementing compensatory transfer payments between upstream and downstream. Simultaneously, international cooperation must be strengthened, and an ecological compensation transfer mechanism with beneficiary countries must be established, while the cross-regional flow of ecosystem services must be maintained. This study provides an example for the "ecosystem services and human relations" in multiple places, two directions and across time and space scales, and also practical reference significance for China implementation of projects such as the "the Belt and Road" initiative and transnational and cross regional resource allocation.

Forest Inventory Data Provide Useful Information for Mapping Ecosystem Services Potential

The ecosystem services framework is a convenient approach for identifying and mapping nature’s contributions to people, and an accurate assessment of ecosystem services potential is the first step in the decision support process of well-informed land management planning. The approach we use for forest ecosystem services potential assessment in Latvia is based on the principles of the matrix model and biophysical data of the forest inventory database, and it is comparable to other assessments previously carried out in the Baltic Sea Region. The proposed approach supports spatial planning and may be integrated with assessments of other ecosystems based on the same methodological principles. The evaluation results reflect the high spatial heterogeneity of forest types in Latvia. Future work should include integrating ecosystem services flows and demand into the assessment, developing additional indicators for culturally important ecosystem services, and introducing socio-cultural valuation to account for a broader set of stakeholders and values.