scholarly journals Identifying Ecosystem Service Critical Area

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guitang Liao ◽  
Peng He ◽  
Xuesong Gao ◽  
Zhengyu Lin ◽  
Conggang Fang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Ecosystem Service ◽  
Supply And Demand ◽  
Critical Area ◽  
Assessment Framework ◽  
Multi Scale ◽  
Demand Pattern ◽  
Critical Areas ◽  
Small Scales

The purpose of this study was to establish a spatial multi-scale integrated assessment framework for critical areas of ecosystem service supply and demand, in order to provide theoretical support for regional ecological protection planning and refined management. Taking the typical hilly area of the upper reaches of the Yangtze River in China as an example, based on the assessment matrix of land use and ecosystem services, we used the method of spatial heterogeneity assessment and self-organizing feature mapping (SOFM) to explore the identification and regionalization of critical areas of ecosystem services at regional and small scales. The results show that there was spatial heterogeneity and scale effects of ecosystem services under the two scales. The small-scale supply–demand pattern was greatly affected by microtopography and land use patterns, and the importance of ecosystem services was as follows: forest area in the upper part of the mountain > orchard and dry area in the middle and lower part of the mountain > valley farming area > flat town and farming area. The regional-scale supply–demand pattern was greatly affected by landscape structure, location conditions and social economy, and the importance of ecosystem services was as follows: south > west > north > central. The SOFM network quantitatively identified four types of ecological areas with clear dominant functions at regional and small scales. The balance between supply and demand in the studied ecosystem service areas was I < II < III < IV, in which IV was the critical area in terms of supply and I was the critical area in terms of demand. This assessment framework can improve the spatial accuracy and objectivity of the quantification and mapping of ecosystem services, and provide new ideas for multi-scale identification and expression of ecosystem services.

scholarly journals Applying ecosystem services as a framework to analyze the effects of alternative bio-economy scenarios in Nordic catchments

AMBIO ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 49 (11) ◽  
pp. 1784-1796 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan E. Vermaat ◽  
Bart Immerzeel ◽  
Eija Pouta ◽  
Artti Juutinen
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Service Delivery ◽  
Ecosystem Service ◽  
Economic Value ◽  
The Other ◽  
Assessment Framework ◽  
Cropland Area ◽  
Current Scenario ◽  
Total Economic Value

Abstract The inherently unknown future development of a Nordic bio-economy was studied with four scenarios applied in an ecosystem service assessment framework. This framework couples CORINE land use cover with estimates of 15 final ecosystem services from the CICES 5.1 classification in biophysical and monetary terms. Current land use in two catchments, Lillebæk (83% cropland, area 4.7 km2, Denmark) and Ovre Haldenvassdraget (67% forest, 1006 km2, Norway) was compared with four scenarios for 2050. One scenario focusing on sustainability and environmental awareness led to considerable changes in land use and ecosystem service delivery (more diverse provisioning and higher value of regulating services, but not a higher total economic value), whereas the other three did not deviate markedly from the current scenario. Projected land use scenarios were verified with experts and stakeholder representatives. We conclude that the framework has sufficient resolution to show differences in service delivery among scenarios.

scholarly journals Supply–Demand Coupling Mechanisms for Policy Design

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (20) ◽  
pp. 5760 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bo Jiang ◽  
Yuanyuan Chen ◽  
Yang Bai ◽  
Xibao Xu
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Ecosystem Service ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Policy Design ◽  
Supply And Demand ◽  
Payments For Ecosystem Services ◽  
Institutional Reforms ◽  
Multi Scale ◽  
Services Science ◽  
Coupling Mechanisms

Ecosystem services are important for sustaining human survival and sustainable socio-economic development. For the past two decades, ecosystem services studies have greatly promoted the application of ecosystem services science in conservation. As a scientific method to integrate multi-regional and multi-scale ecosystem service providers and beneficiaries, ecosystem service supply and demand coupling mechanisms and payments for ecosystem services programs are closely linked. In this paper, we first provide an overview of the payments for ecosystem services concept and an evaluation of its effectiveness in implementation. We then analyze the correlation between payments for ecosystem services and supply–demand coupling mechanisms and propose a framework to link these two ideas. China’s practice in implementing ecological redline policy and institutional reforms for protected area management will provide a good experimental platform for comprehensive payments for ecosystem service design and effectiveness evaluation within China and beyond.

scholarly journals Assessing Matching Characteristics and Spatial Differences between Supply and Demand of Ecosystem Services: A Case Study in Hangzhou, China

Land ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 582
Author(s):  
Peng Tian ◽  
Jialin Li ◽  
Luodan Cao ◽  
Ruiliang Pu ◽  
Hongbo Gong ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Urban Area ◽  
Food Supply ◽  
Soil Conservation ◽  
Supply And Demand ◽  
Water Yield ◽  
Western Region ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Carbon Retention

Ecosystem services (ESs) is a term used to describe the foundations of the well-being of human society, and several relevant studies have been carried out in this area. However, given the fact that the complex trade-offs/synergy relationships of ESs are a challenging area, studies on matching mechanisms for ES supply and demand are still rare. In this study, using the InVEST model, ArcGIS, and other professional tools, we first mapped and quantitatively evaluated the supply and demand of five ES types (water yield, soil conservation, carbon retention, food supply, and leisure and entertainment) in Hangzhou, China, based on land use, meteorology, soil, and socio-economic data. Then, we analyzed the matching characteristics between the supply and demand of these ESs and analyzed the complex trade-offs and synergy between the supply and demand of ESs and factors affecting ESs. The results of this analysis indicate that although the ES supply and demand of carbon retention tended to be out of balance (supply was less than demand), the supply and demand of the other four ES types (i.e., water yield, soil conservation, food supply, and leisure and entertainment) were in balance (supply exceeded demand). Finally, the spatial heterogeneity of the supply and demand of ESs in Hangzhou was significant, especially in urban areas in the northeast and mountainous areas in the southwest. The supply of ESs was based on trade-offs, whereas the demand of ESs was based on synergy. Our results further show that the supply and demand of ESs in the urban area in Hangzhou were out of balance, whereas the supply and demand of ESs in the western region were coordinated. Therefore, the linkage of ES flows between this urban area and the western region should be strengthened. This innovative study could provide useful information for regional land use planning and environmental protection.

scholarly journals Ecosystem Services Changes on Farmland in Response to Urbanization in the Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area of China

Land ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 501
Author(s):  
Xuege Wang ◽  
Fengqin Yan ◽  
Yinwei Zeng ◽  
Ming Chen ◽  
Bin He ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Hong Kong ◽  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Ecosystem Service ◽  
Food Production ◽  
Great Loss ◽  
The Past ◽  
Bay Area ◽  
Farmland Loss ◽  
The World

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.

scholarly journals Qualifying Land Use and Land Cover Dynamics and Their Impacts on Ecosystem Service in Central Himalaya Transboundary Landscape Based on Google Earth Engine

Land ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 173
Author(s):  
Changjun Gu ◽  
Yili Zhang ◽  
Linshan Liu ◽  
Lanhui Li ◽  
Shicheng Li ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Land Cover ◽  
Ecosystem Service ◽  
Forest Cover ◽  
Google Earth ◽  
Forest Cover Change ◽  
Sacred Landscape ◽  
Lulc Changes ◽  
Google Earth Engine

Land use and land cover (LULC) changes are regarded as one of the key drivers of ecosystem services degradation, especially in mountain regions where they may provide various ecosystem services to local livelihoods and surrounding areas. Additionally, ecosystems and habitats extend across political boundaries, causing more difficulties for ecosystem conservation. LULC in the Kailash Sacred Landscape (KSL) has undergone obvious changes over the past four decades; however, the spatiotemporal changes of the LULC across the whole of the KSL are still unclear, as well as the effects of LULC changes on ecosystem service values (ESVs). Thus, in this study we analyzed LULC changes across the whole of the KSL between 2000 and 2015 using Google Earth Engine (GEE) and quantified their impacts on ESVs. The greatest loss in LULC was found in forest cover, which decreased from 5443.20 km2 in 2000 to 5003.37 km2 in 2015 and which mainly occurred in KSL-Nepal. Meanwhile, the largest growth was observed in grassland (increased by 548.46 km2), followed by cropland (increased by 346.90 km2), both of which mainly occurred in KSL-Nepal. Further analysis showed that the expansions of cropland were the major drivers of the forest cover change in the KSL. Furthermore, the conversion of cropland to shrub land indicated that farmland abandonment existed in the KSL during the study period. The observed forest degradation directly influenced the ESV changes in the KSL. The total ESVs in the KSL decreased from 36.53 × 108 USD y−1 in 2000 to 35.35 × 108 USD y−1 in 2015. Meanwhile, the ESVs of the forestry areas decreased by 1.34 × 108 USD y−1. This shows that the decrease of ESVs in forestry was the primary cause to the loss of total ESVs and also of the high elasticity. Our findings show that even small changes to the LULC, especially in forestry areas, are noteworthy as they could induce a strong ESV response.

scholarly journals Facilitating spatially-explicit assessments of ecosystem service delivery to support land use planning

One Ecosystem ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dirk Vrebos ◽  
Jan Staes ◽  
Steven Broekx ◽  
Leo de Nocker ◽  
Karen Gabriels ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Land Use ◽  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Ecosystem Service ◽  
Assessment Tools ◽  
Spatially Explicit ◽  
Practical Implementation ◽  
Time Investment ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The Impact

Since the early 2000s, there have been substantial efforts to transform the concept of ecosystem services into practice. Spatial assessment tools are being developed to evaluate the impact of spatial planning on a wide range of ecosystem services. However, the actual implementation in decision-making remains limited. To improve implementation, tools that are tailored to local conditions can provide accurate, meaningful information. Instead of a generic and widely-applicable tool, we developed a regional, spatially-explicit tool (ECOPLAN-SE) to analyse the impact of changes in land use on the delivery of 18 ecosystem services in Flanders (Belgium). The tool incorporates ecosystem services relevant to policy-makers and managers and makes use of detailed local data and knowledge. By providing an easy-to-use tool, including the required spatial geodatasets, time investment and the learning curve remain limited for the user. With this tool, constraints to implement ecosystem service assessments in local decision-making are drastically reduced. We believe that region-specific decision support systems, like ECOPLAN-SE, are indispensable intermediates between the conceptual ecosystem service frameworks and the practical implementation in planning processes.

scholarly journals Anthropogenic Modifications and River Ecosystem Services: A Landscape Perspective

Water ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (10) ◽  
pp. 2706 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anjana Ekka ◽  
Saket Pande ◽  
Yong Jiang ◽  
Pieter van der Zaag
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Ecosystem Service ◽  
Surface Modifications ◽  
Water Transfer ◽  
Service Research ◽  
Sand Mining ◽  
Land Use Pattern ◽  
Basin Water ◽  
Anthropogenic Modifications

The process of development has led to the modification of river landscapes. This has created imbalances between ecological, economic, and socio-cultural uses of ecosystem services (ESs), threatening the biotic and social integrity of rivers. Anthropogenic modifications influence river landscapes on multiple scales, which impact river-flow regimes and thus the production of river ESs. Despite progress in developing approaches for the valuation ecosystem goods and services, the ecosystem service research fails to acknowledge the biophysical structure of river landscape where ecosystem services are generated. Therefore, the purpose of this review is to synthesize the literature to develop the understanding of the biocomplexity of river landscapes and its importance in ecosystem service research. The review is limited to anthropogenic modifications from catchment to reach scale which includes inter-basin water transfer, change in land-use pattern, sub-surface modifications, groundwater abstractions, stream channelization, dams, and sand mining. Using 86 studies, the paper demonstrates that river ESs largely depend on the effective functioning of biophysical processes, which are linked with the geomorphological, ecological, and hydrological characteristics of river landscapes. Further, the ESs are linked with the economic, ecological, and socio-cultural aspect. The papers show that almost all anthropogenic modifications have positive impact on economic value of ESs. The ecological and socio-cultural values are negatively impacted by anthropogenic modifications such as dams, inter-basin water transfer, change in land-use pattern, and sand mining. The socio-cultural impact of ground-water abstraction and sub-surface modifications are not found in the literature examined here. Further, the ecological and socio-cultural aspects of ecosystem services from stakeholders’ perspective are discussed. We advocate for linking ecosystem service assessment with landscape signatures considering the socio-ecological interactions.

scholarly journals Spatiotemporal Variation Characteristics of Ecosystem Service Losses in the Agro-Pastoral Ecotone of Northern China

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (7) ◽  
pp. 1199 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuejuan Yang ◽  
Kun Wang ◽  
Di Liu ◽  
Xinquan Zhao ◽  
Jiangwen Fan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Ecosystem Service ◽  
Northern China ◽  
Cultivated Land ◽  
Large Area ◽  
Ecological Civilization ◽  
Land Use Pattern ◽  
Unused Land ◽  
Variation Characteristics

Being subject to climate change and human intervention, the land-use pattern in the agro-pastoral ecotone of Northern China has undergone complex changes over the past few decades, which may jeopardize the provision of ecosystem services. Thus, for sustainable land management, ecosystem services should be evaluated and monitored. In this study, based on Landsat TM/ETM data, we quantitatively evaluated the losses of ecosystem service values (ESV) in three sections of the agro-pastoral ecotone from 1980–2015. The results were as follows: (1) the main characteristic of the land conversions was that a large area of grassland was converted into cultivated land in the agro-pastoral ecotone; (2) on the spatial scale, the ESV losses of the agro-pastoral ecotone can be called an “inclined surface” in the direction of the northeast to southwest, and the northeastern section of the agro-pastoral ecotone lost more ESV than the middle and northwest sections (p < 0.05), on the temporal scale, the order of losses was 1990–2000 > 1980–1990 > 2000–2015; (3) the agro-pastoral ecotone lost more ESV, which was mainly due to four kinds of land conversion, which were grassland that was transformed into cultivated land, grassland transformed into unused land, grassland transformed into built-up areas, and cultivated land transformed into built-up areas; (4) although these land conversions were curbed after the implementation of protection policies at the end of the 1990s, due to reduced precipitation and increasing temperatures, the agro-pastoral ecotone will face a more severe situation in the future; and, (5) during the period of 1990–2015, the overall dynamic processes of increasing population gradually expanded to the sparsely populated pastoral area. Therefore, we believe that human interventions are the main cause of ecological deterioration in the agro-pastoral ecotone. This study provides references for fully understanding the regional differences in the ecological and environmental effects of land use change and it helps to objectively evaluate ecological civilization construction in the agro-pastoral ecotone of Northern China.

scholarly journals Ecosystem Service Values Changes in Response to Land-Use/Land-Cover Dynamics in Dry Afromontane Forest in Northern Ethiopia

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (23) ◽  
pp. 4653 ◽  
Author(s):  
Negasi Solomon ◽  
Alcade C. Segnon ◽  
Emiru Birhane
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Land Cover ◽  
Ecosystem Service ◽  
Forest Cover ◽  
Northern Ethiopia ◽  
Land Use Land Cover ◽  
Afromontane Forest ◽  
Land Cover Dynamics ◽  
Dry Afromontane Forest

Despite their importance as sources of ecosystem services supporting the livelihoods of millions of people, forest ecosystems have been changing into other land use systems over the past decades across the world. While forest cover change dynamics have been widely documented in various ecological systems, how these changes affect ecosystem service values has received limited attention. In this study we assessed the impact of land-use/land-cover dynamics on ecosystem service values in dry Afromontane forest in Northern Ethiopia. We estimated ecosystem service values and their changes based on the benefit transfer method using land cover data of the years 1985, 2000, and 2016 with their corresponding locally valid value coefficients and from the Ecosystem service valuation database. The total ecosystem service values of the whole study area were about USD 16.6, 19.0, and 18.1 million in 1985, 2000, and 2016, respectively. The analyses indicated an increase in ecosystem service values from 1985 to 2000 and a decrease in ecosystem service values from 2000 to 2016. Similarly, the contribution of specific ecosystem services increased in the first study period and decreased in the second study period. The findings highlight how forest cover dynamics can be translated into changes in ecosystem service values in dry Afromontane forest ecosystems in Northern Ethiopia and showed how specific ecosystem services contributed to the observed trends. The findings also illustrated the temporal heterogeneity in the impacts of land-use/land-cover dynamics on values of ecosystem services. The findings can serve as crucial inputs for policy and strategy formulations for the sustainable use and management of forest resources and can also guide the allocation of limited resources among competing demands to safeguard the ecosystems that offer the best-valued services.

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