scholarly journals Evaluating the Influences of Urban Expansion on the Concurrent Loss of Multiple Ecosystem Services in Drylands

Author(s):  
Shixiong Song ◽  
Chunyang He ◽  
Zhifeng Liu ◽  
Tao Qi

Abstract Context Effectively estimating the influences of urban expansion on multiple ecosystem services (ESs) is of great importance for improving urban planning in drylands. However, there are some shortcomings in the existing urban expansion models, which lead to great uncertainties in the assessment of the influences of urban expansion on the concurrent loss of multiple ESs.Objectives This study sought to effectively estimate the influences of urban expansion on the concurrent loss of multiple ESs in drylands.Methods We combined the improved the urban expansion model and ES models to estimate the influences of urban expansion on five key ESs, including food production (FP), water retention (WR), air quality regulation (AQR), natural habitat quality (NHQ), and landscape aesthetic (LA).Results The results showed that (1) our method can effectively evaluate the influences of urban expansion on the concurrent loss of multiple ESs in drylands, and the accuracy increased by more than 20% on average. (2) Under the effect of future urban expansion, FP, WR, AQR, NHQ and LA will accelerate the decline. (3) These five ESs will show concurrent degradation, and the degree will be further intensified. (4) Future urban expansion will occupy more cropland and grassland which will be the dominating reason for the intensified degradation of multiple ESs. Conclusions We suggest that urban expansion through occupying a large amount of cropland and grassland should be strictly controlled via urban land planning to alleviate the potential influences of future urbanization on the concurrent loss of multiple ESs.

Forests ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 14
Author(s):  
Han Zhi-Ying ◽  
Youn Yeo-Chang

This paper aims to investigate the Beijing resident’s preferences over various options of urban forest management strategies. The literature investigation and expert Delphi method were conducted to classify the ecosystem services of urban forests into six categories: (1) fresh water provision, (2) noise reduction, (3) moderation of extreme events, (4) air quality regulation, (5) species diversity and wildlife habitat, and (6) recreation and spiritual experience. To elicit the relative preferences to ecosystem service (hereafter referred to as ES) of Beijing residents, we employed the choice experiment method. The data were collected by interviews with questionnaires conducted in October 2017, and a total of 483 valid questionnaires were analyzed. The subjects of this experiment were residents older than 19 years old who have lived in Beijing for more than 1 year and have visited any one of the urban forests located in Beijing more than once during 2016. The results were as follows: Firstly, the air quality regulation ES was considered as the most important service for Beijing residents in terms of their choices of urban forest. In addition, Beijing residents regarded the fresh water provision ES as the second most important ES. Beijing residents were willing to pay up to 1.84% of the average monthly income of Chinese households annually to expand urban forest ecosystems in order to improve air quality. Secondly, apartment owners were willing to pay more municipality tax for forest ESs than residents who did not own an apartment. Thirdly, residents were more willing to pay for urban forest ESs as their income increases. The results indicated that Beijing residents were willing to pay more tax in support of urban forestry for air quality improvement. This research suggests that urban environmental policy makers in Beijing should pay more attention to the regulation function of forests (especially improving air quality) when designing and managing urban forests.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tiantian Chen ◽  
Li Peng ◽  
Qiang Wang

Abstract The Grain to Green Program (GTGP), as a policy tool for advancing ecological progress, has been operating for 20 years and has played an important role in improving ecosystem service values. However, there are few studies on the trade-off/synergy changes in ecosystem services during the implementation of the GTGP and how to select the optimal scheme for regional ecological security based on the trade-off relationship. Thus, we took the Chengdu-Chongqing urban agglomeration (CCUA) in southwestern China as the study area; we used multisource data and the corresponding models and methods to estimate the regional food production, carbon sequestration, water yield, soil conservation and habitat quality services. Then, we clarified the trade-off/synergy relationships among ecosystem services from 2000 to 2015 by spatial analysis and statistical methods and evaluated the influential mechanism of the GTGP on trade-offs between ecosystem services. Finally, different risk scenarios were constructed by the ordered weighted average algorithm (OWA), and the regional ecological security pattern was simulated under the principle of the best protection efficiency and the highest trade-off degree. We found that (1) the trade-offs/synergies of regional ecosystem services changed significantly from 2000 to 2015. Among them, food production, water yield and soil conservation have always had trade-off relationships, while carbon sequestration, soil conservation and habitat quality have all had synergistic relationships. The relationships between carbon sequestration and water yield and food production changed from non-correlated to trade-off/synergistic, and the relationship between habitat quality and food production and water yield was not obvious. (2) Except for carbon sequestration service, the trade-off intensity between other ecosystem services decreased, indicating that the change trend of ecosystem services in the same direction was obvious. (3) The GTGP has been an important factor affecting the trade-off intensity of regional ecosystem services. On the one hand, it has strengthened the synergistic relationships among carbon sequestration, soil conservation and habitat quality; on the other hand, it has increased the constraints of water resources on soil conservation and vegetation restoration. (4) The decision risk coefficient α = 1.6 was the most suitable scenario, the total amount of regional ecosystem services was high, and the allocation was balanced under this scenario. The ecological security area corresponding to this scenario was also the area with high carbon sequestration and habitat quality services. The purpose of this study was to provide a scientific reference for the precise implementation of the GTGP.


2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 153
Author(s):  
La Baco Baco Sudia

Ecosystem services to regulate air quality, climate, water system and water purification are important ecosystem services for human life and other living things. The objective of the research was to analyze the distribution and value of ecosystem services index of air quality, climate, water system and water purification of Konawe Regency. This research was conducted through the study of ecoregion characteristics, covering landforms, natural vegetation types and land cover.  Data analysis includes the calculation of ecosystem services index and spatial distribution of ecosystem services index. The results showed that the dominant type of landform in Konawe Regency was the structural hills of metamorphic rock material with natural vegetation in the form of forests and the dominant land cover was primary dry land forests.The average value of the Ecosystem Services Index (ESI) of air quality regulation were 2.88 (medium), climate regulation and water system arrangements were 3.18 (medium) and 3.12 (medium) and water purification settings was 2.12 (low).  The average value of the ecosystem services index of the four types of regulatory services was 2.83 with a moderate category. The average ESI value of Sub District of Latoma, Asinua, Routa, Abuki and Meluhu were 3.92, 3.65, 3.62, 3.51 and 3.49 with high categories, respectively. The performance of environmental services of air quality regulation is dominated by a high category of 221,489.56 hectares or 41.99 percent, while climate regulation was dominated by a very high category of 243,516.50 hectares or 46.17 percent. The performance of ecosystem services of water system and water purification arrangements reached an area of 235,459.44 hectares or 44.64 percent and 32,723.16 hectares or 43.04 percent respectively.Keywords: ecoregion, ecosystem services index, regulating ecosystem services,spatial distributionJasa ekosistem pengaturan kualitas udara, iklim, tata air dan pemurnian air merupakan jasa ekosistem penting terhadap kehidupan manusia dan mahluk hidup lain. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menganalisis sebaran dan nilai indeks jasa ekosistem pengaturan kualitas udara, iklim, tata air dan pemurnian air Kabupaten Konawe.  Penelitian ini dilakukan melalui kajian karakteristik ekoregion, mencakup bentang lahan, tipe vegetasi alami dan tutupan lahan.  Analisis data meliputi perhitunganindeksjasaekosistem dan sebaranspasialindeksjasaekosistem. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa tipe bentang lahan yang dominan di Kabupaten Konawe adalah perbukitan structural lipatan bermaterial batuan metamorfik dengan vegetasi alami berupa hutanpamah (non dipterokarpa) dan tutupan lahan dominan adalah hutan lahan kering primer. Rata-rata nilai Indeks Jasa Ekosistem pengaturan kualitas udara adalah 2,88 (sedang), pengaturan iklim dan pengaturan tata air masing-masing sebesar 3,18 (sedang) dan 3,12 (sedang) dan pengaturan pemurnian air adalah 2,12 (rendah).  Nilai rata-rata indeks jasa ekosistem dari empat jenis jasa pengaturan tersebut adalah 2,83 dengan kategori sedang. Nilai IJE rata-rata Kecamatan Latoma yakni 3,92,  Kecamatan Asinua sebesar 3,65, KecamatanRouta sebesar 3,62, serta KecamatanAbuki dan KecamatanMeluhu masing-masing 3,51 dan 3,49 dengan kategori tinggi.  Kinerja jasa lingkungan pengaturan kualitas udara didominasi oleh kategori tinggi seluas 221.489,56 hektaratau 41,99%, sementara itu pengaturan iklim didominasi oleh kategori sangat tinggiseluas 243.516,50 hektaratau 46,17%.  Kinerja jasa ekosistem pengaturan tata air dan pengaturan pemurnian air mencapai luas masing-masing 235.459,44 hektaratau 44,64% dan 32.723,16 hektaratau 43,04%.Kata Kunci:ekoregion, jasa ekosistem pengaturan, indeks jasa ekosistem, sebaran spasial


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (16) ◽  
pp. 9155
Author(s):  
Qiongrui Zhang ◽  
Xuechao Sun ◽  
Kebin Zhang ◽  
Zhenni Liao ◽  
Songjun Xu

Since ecosystem services (ESs) have become effective tools for urban planning, spatiotemporal analysis of regional ESs and a deep understanding of the trade-offs among ESs are of great significance to regional governance. In this study, the spatial and temporal changes of four basic ESs were analyzed by combining statistical data with the InVEST model across the Pearl River Delta (PRD) urban agglomeration, China. The trade-offs among the related ESs were analyzed at the urban agglomeration scale and the city scale by correlation analysis. The results showed that: (1) Construction land increased by 6.78% from 2000 to 2018, while cultivated land and forest decreased. (2) Water yield showed an increasing trend, while carbon storage, food production, and habitat quality showed a downward trend from 2000 to 2018. (3) The four ecosystem services were significantly correlated, with synergies existing between water yield and food production, and between habitat quality and carbon storage, while other relationships are trade-offs. What is more, the scale has little influence on the direction of ES trade-off or synergy but influences the degree of the relationship. This empirical evidence on ES relationships in urban agglomerations can provide a reference for the sustainable development of ESs and efficient management of urban agglomerations.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Montoya ◽  
Sabrina Gaba ◽  
Claire de Mazancourt ◽  
Vincent Bretagnolle ◽  
Michel Loreau

AbstractAgricultural management should consider multiple services and stakeholders. Yet, it remains unclear how to guarantee the provision of ecosystem services that reaches stakeholders’ demands, especially considering the observed biodiversity decline and the current global change predictions that may affect food security. Here, we use a model to examine how landscape composition – fraction of semi-natural habitat (SNH) – affects biodiversity and crop production services in intensively-managed agricultural systems. We analyse three groups of stakeholders assumed to value different ecosystem services most – individual farmers (crop yield per area), agricultural unions (landscape production) and conservationists (biodiversity). We find that trade-offs among stakeholders’ demands strongly depend on the degree of pollination dependence of crops, the strength of environmental and demographic stochasticity, and the relative amount of an ecosystem service demanded by each stakeholder, i.e. function thresholds. Intermediate amounts of SNH can allow for the delivery of relatively high levels of the three ecosystem services. Our analysis further suggests that the current levels of SNH protection lie below these intermediate amounts of SNH in intensively-managed agricultural landscapes. Given the worldwide trends in agriculture and global change, these results suggest ways of managing landscapes to reconcile the demands of several actors and ensure for biodiversity conservation and food production.


2022 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 239
Author(s):  
Yongge Li ◽  
Wei Liu ◽  
Qi Feng ◽  
Meng Zhu ◽  
Linshan Yang ◽  
...  

Ecosystem services in arid inland regions are significantly affected by climate change and land use/land cover change associated with agricultural activity. However, the dynamics and relationships of ecosystem services affected by natural and anthropogenic drivers in inland regions are still less understood. In this study, the spatiotemporal patterns of ecosystem services in the Hexi Region were quantified based on multiple high-resolution datasets, the InVEST model and the Revised Wind Erosion Equation (RWEQ) model. In addition, the trade-offs and synergistic relationships among multiple ecosystem services were also explored by Pearson correlation analysis and bivariate spatial autocorrelation, and redundancy analysis (RDA) was also employed to determine the environmental drivers of these services and interactions. The results showed that most ecosystem services had a similar spatial distribution pattern with an increasing trend from northwest to southeast. Over the past 40 years, ecosystem services in the Hexi Region have improved significantly, with the water retention and soil retention increasing by 87.17 × 108 m3 and 287.84 × 108 t, respectively, and the sand fixation decreasing by 369.17 × 104 t. Among these ecosystem services, strong synergistic relationships were detected, while the trade-offs were found to be weak, and showed significant spatial heterogeneity in the Hexi Region. The spatial synergies and trade-offs in the Qilian Mountains were 1.02 and 1.37 times higher than those in the Hexi Corridor, respectively. Human activities were found to exacerbate the trade-offs between ecosystem services by increasing water consumption in the Hexi Corridor, with the exception of carbon storage. In particular, there were significant tradeoffs between food production and water retention, and between soil retention and habitat quality in the oases of the Hexi Corridor, which is affected by rapid population growth and cropland expansion. Additionally, precipitation, temperature and vegetation cover in the Qilian Mountains have increased significantly over the past four decades, and these increases significantly contributed to the enhancements in water retention, carbon storage, habitat quality, soil retention and food production. Nevertheless, the amount of sand fixation significantly decreased, and this was probably associated with the reduction in wind speed over the past four decades. Our results highlighted the importance of climate wetting and water resource management in the enhancement of ecosystem services and the mitigation of food production trade-offs for arid inland regions.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew G. E. Mitchell ◽  
Kai M. A. Chan ◽  
Nathaniel K. Newlands ◽  
Navin Ramankutty

Improving the management of multiple ecosystem services (e.g., food provision, water and air quality regulation, carbon storage, and erosion control) in agricultural landscapes is a critical challenge to improve food system sustainability. However, we currently lack spatially-resolved national-level assessments of the relationships among services in agricultural landscapes over time. This limits our ability to make decisions and predict how environmental changes or agricultural management actions will impact multiple services. How do multiple ecosystem services vary across both space and time, at regional-to-national scales? To address this question, we quantified eight indicators of four ecosystem services across 290 Canadian agricultural landscapes in 1996, 2001, and 2006. We observed consistent correlations between pairs of services across the 290 ecodistricts in each of the 3 years of our study. In particular, ecodistricts with high livestock production had low provision of most regulating services, while ecodistricts with high air quality (ammonia retention) also had high soil and water quality regulation services. However, these ‘snapshot’ correlations poorly predicted how pairs of services changed through time. Ecosystem service change from 1996–2001 to 2001–2006 (as measured by pairwise correlations) showed markedly different patterns than snapshot correlations. In particular, where livestock production increased between years, so did most regulating services. Ecosystem service bundles also showed similar divergent patterns. The distribution of ecosystem service “snapshot” bundles—sets of ecodistricts with similar levels of provision across multiple ecosystem services in a single year—was generally stable between 1996 and 2006; only 15% of ecodistricts changed bundle types in this time period. However, ecosystem service “change” bundles—sets of ecodistricts with similar changes in ecosystem service provision through time—were much more dynamic. Nearly 60% of ecodistricts exhibited a different set of ecosystem service changes from 2001 to 2006 compared to 1996 to 2001. Our results add to the growing evidence that relationships between services across space do not necessarily predict service change through time. Improved understanding of the spatial patterns and temporal dynamics of ecosystem services, and better understanding of underlying processes, is crucial to improve agricultural landscape management for multifunctionality and sustainability.


Land ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 501
Author(s):  
Xuege Wang ◽  
Fengqin Yan ◽  
Yinwei Zeng ◽  
Ming Chen ◽  
Bin He ◽  
...  

Extensive urbanization around the world has caused a great loss of farmland, which significantly impacts the ecosystem services provided by farmland. This study investigated the farmland loss due to urbanization in the Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) of China from 1980 to 2018 based on multiperiod datasets from the Land Use and Land Cover of China databases. Then, we calculated ecosystem service values (ESVs) of farmland using valuation methods to estimate the ecosystem service variations caused by urbanization in the study area. The results showed that 3711.3 km2 of farmland disappeared because of urbanization, and paddy fields suffered much higher losses than dry farmland. Most of the farmland was converted to urban residential land from 1980 to 2018. In the past 38 years, the ESV of farmland decreased by 5036.7 million yuan due to urbanization, with the highest loss of 2177.5 million yuan from 2000–2010. The hydrological regulation, food production and gas regulation of farmland decreased the most due to urbanization. The top five cities that had the largest total ESV loss of farmland caused by urbanization were Guangzhou, Dongguan, Foshan, Shenzhen and Huizhou. This study revealed that urbanization has increasingly become the dominant reason for farmland loss in the GBA. Our study suggests that governments should increase the construction of ecological cities and attractive countryside to protect farmland and improve the regional ESV.


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