Spatial correlation between the changes of ecosystem service supply and demand: An ecological zoning approach

The continuous supply of ecosystem services is the foundation of the sustainable development of human society. The identification of the supply–demand relationships and risks of ecosystem services is of considerable importance to the management of regional ecosystems and the effective allocation of resources. This paper took the Yihe River Basin as the research area and selected water yield, carbon sequestration, food production, and soil conservation to assess changes in the supply and demand of ecosystem services and their matching status from 2000 to 2018. Risk identification and management zoning were also conducted. Results show the following: (1) The spatial distribution of the four ecosystems service supply and demand in the Yihe River Basin was mismatched. The food production supply levels in the middle and lower reaches and the upstream water yield, carbon sequestration, and soil conservation supply levels were high. However, most of the areas with high demand for ecosystem services were concentrated downstream. (2) From 2000 to 2018, the supply of water yield and carbon sequestration in the Yihe River Basin decreased, while that of food production and soil conservation increased. The demand for the four ecosystem services also increased. (3) Water yield faced considerable supply–demand risks. Fifty percent of the sub-basins were at a high-risk level, and the risk areas were concentrated in the middle and lower reaches. The three remaining services were mainly at low-risk levels. The Yihe River Basin was divided into eight types of supply–demand risk spatial management zones based on the ecosystem service supply and demand levels, which will help promote refined regional ecosystem management and sustainable development. The supply and demand assessment of ecosystem services from a risk perspective can integrate the information of natural ecosystems and socio-economic systems and provide scientific support for watershed spatial management.

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Temporal and Spatial Assessment of Supply and Demand of the Water-yield Ecosystem Service for Water Scarcity Management in Arid to Semi-arid Ecosystems

Water Resources Management ◽

10.1007/s11269-020-02706-1 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Mohsen Sharafatmandrad ◽

Azam Khosravi Mashizi

Keyword(s):

Water Scarcity ◽

Ecosystem Service ◽

Supply And Demand ◽

Arid Ecosystems ◽

Water Yield ◽

Spatial Assessment ◽

Temporal And Spatial ◽

Semi Arid

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Understanding Intra-Annual Dynamics of Ecosystem Services Using Satellite Image Time Series

Remote Sensing ◽

10.3390/rs12040710 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (4) ◽

pp. 710 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Trinidad del Río-Mena ◽

Louise Willemen ◽

Anton Vrieling ◽

Andy Nelson

Keyword(s):

Ecosystem Services ◽

Spatial Variability ◽

Ecosystem Service ◽

Vegetation Cover ◽

Agricultural Land ◽

Supply And Demand ◽

Satellite Image ◽

Field Measurements ◽

Temporal Variations ◽

The Impact

Landscape processes fluctuate over time, influencing the intra-annual dynamics of ecosystem services. However, current ecosystem service assessments generally do not account for such changes. This study argues that information on the dynamics of ecosystem services is essential for understanding and monitoring the impact of land management. We studied two regulating ecosystem services (i. erosion prevention, ii. regulation of water flows) and two provisioning services (iii. provision of forage, iv. biomass for essential oil production) in thicket vegetation and agricultural fields in the Baviaanskloof, South Africa. Using models based on Sentinel-2 data, calibrated with field measurements, we estimated the monthly supply of ecosystem services and assessed their intra-annual variability within vegetation cover types. We illustrated how the dynamic supply of ecosystem services related to temporal variations in their demand. We also found large spatial variability of the ecosystem service supply within a single vegetation cover type. In contrast to thicket vegetation, agricultural land showed larger temporal and spatial variability in the ecosystem service supply due to the effect of more intensive management. Knowledge of intra-annual dynamics is essential to jointly assess the temporal variation of supply and demand throughout the year to evaluate if the provision of ecosystem services occurs when most needed.

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