scholarly journals Ecosystem Services in Working Lands of the Southeastern USA

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alisa W. Coffin ◽  
Vivienne Sclater ◽  
Hilary Swain ◽  
Guillermo E. Ponce-Campos ◽  
Lynne Seymour
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Multiple Scales ◽  
Net Primary Production ◽  
Study Region ◽  
Natural Systems ◽  
Spatial Coupling ◽  
Southeastern Us ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Working Lands ◽  
Provisioning Services

Agriculture and natural systems interweave in the southeastern US, including Florida, Georgia, and Alabama, where topographic, edaphic, hydrologic, and climatic gradients form nuanced landscapes. These are largely working lands under private control, comprising mosaics of timberlands, grazinglands, and croplands. According to the “ecosystem services” framework, these landscapes are multifunctional. Generally, working lands are highly valued for their provisioning services, and to some degree cultural services, while regulating and supporting services are harder to quantify and less appreciated. Trade-offs and synergies exist among these services. Regional ecological assessments tend to broadly paint working lands as low value for regulating and supporting services. But this generalization fails to consider the complexity and tight spatial coupling of land uses and land covers evident in such regions. The challenge of evaluating multifunctionality and ecosystem services is that they are not spatially concordant. While there are significant acreages of natural systems embedded in southeastern working lands, their spatial characteristics influence the balance of tradeoffs between ecosystem services at differing scales. To better understand this, we examined the configuration of working lands in the southeastern US by comparing indicators of ecosystem services at multiple scales. Indicators included measurements of net primary production (provisioning), agricultural Nitrogen runoff (regulating), habitat measured at three levels of land use intensity, and biodiversity (supporting). We utilized a hydrographic and ecoregional framework to partition the study region. We compared indicators aggregated at differing scales, ranging from broad ecoregions to local landscapes focused on the USDA Long-Term Agroecosystem Research (LTAR) Network sites in Florida and Georgia. Subregions of the southeastern US differ markedly in contributions to overall ecosystem services. Provisioning services, characterized by production indicators, were very high in northern subregions of Georgia, while supporting services, characterized by habitat and biodiversity indicators, were notably higher in smaller subregions of Florida. For supporting services, the combined contributions of low intensity working lands with embedded natural systems made a critical difference in their regional evaluation. This analysis demonstrated how the inclusion of working lands combined with examining these at different scales shifted our understanding of ecosystem services trade-offs and synergies in the southeastern United States.

Trade-offs and Synergies of Ecosystem Services in Karst Area of China Driven by Grain-for-Green Program

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaofeng Wang
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Net Primary Production ◽  
Karst Area ◽  
Ecosystem Functions ◽  
Water Yield ◽  
Natural Ecosystem ◽  
Grain For Green ◽  
Grain For Green Program ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
The Impact

<p>As an important means regulating the relationship between human and natural ecosystem, ecological restoration program plays a key role in restoring ecosystem functions. The Grain-for-Green Program (GFGP, One of the world’s most ambitious ecosystem conservation set-aside programs aims to transfer farmland on steep slopes to forestland or grassland to increase vegetation coverage) has been widely implemented from 1999 to 2015 and exerted significant influence on land use and ecosystem services (ESs). In this study, three ecological models (InVEST, RUSLE, and CASA) were used to accurately calculate the three key types of ESs, water yield (WY), soil conservation (SC), and net primary production (NPP) in Karst area of southwestern China from 1982 to 2015. The impact of GFGP on ESs and trade-offs was analyzed. It provides practical guidance in carrying out ecological regulation in Karst area of China under global climate change. Results showed that ESs and trade-offs had changed dramatically driven by GFGP . In detail, temporally, SC and NPP exhibited an increasing trend, while WY exhibited a decreasing trend. Spatially, SC basically decreased from west to east; NPP basically increased from north to south; WY basically increased from west to east; NPP and SC, SC and WY developed in the direction of trade-offs driven by the GFGP, while NPP and WY developed in the direction of synergy. Therefore, future ecosystem management and restoration policy-making should consider trade-offs of ESs so as to achieve sustainable provision of ESs.</p>

scholarly journals Biogas originated from residual biomass in ecosystem services

2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gladis Maria Backes Bühring ◽  
Vicente Celestino Pires Silveira
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Small Areas ◽  
Residual Biomass ◽  
Energy Product ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Provisioning Services

Human demand for the provisioning services of the ecosystem has been rising and shows the existence of trade-offs in their generation. Brazil is a great producer of agricultural commodities and animal protein, which generates a large amount of residual biomass throughout the production process, especially animal highly polluting waste concentrated in small areas. Ecosystems provide a wide range of services that are of fundamental importance to the well-being, health, subsistence and survival of human beings. The impacts of the waste generated by confined animals can degrade the ecosystem and reduce the services it can supply. Using waste to generate biogas does not require direct resources from the ecosystems to generate energy. In this context, it is an energy product classified as a provisioning service and, at the same time, an ecosystem regulating service, as it mitigates undesirable effects in the environment. The main goal of the classification of biogas as an ecosystem service is to explore its contributions to the ecosystem and to human well-being.

scholarly journals Agroforestry trade-offs between biomass provision and aboveground carbon sequestration in the alpine Eisenwurzen region, Austria

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bastian Bertsch-Hoermann ◽  
Claudine Egger ◽  
Veronika Gaube ◽  
Simone Gingrich
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Carbon Sequestration ◽  
Primary Production ◽  
Net Primary Production ◽  
Land Use Policy ◽  
Simultaneous Increase ◽  
Ecological Indicator ◽  
Aboveground Carbon ◽  
Trade Offs

AbstractMountain agroecosystems deliver essential ecosystem services to society but are prone to climate change as well as socio-economic pressures, making multi-functional land systems increasingly central to sustainable mountain land use policy. Agroforestry, the combination of woody vegetation with crops and/or livestock, is expected to simultaneously increase provisioning and regulating ecosystem services, but knowledge gaps concerning trade-offs exist especially in temperate industrialized and alpine regions. Here, we quantify the aboveground carbon (C) dynamics of a hypothetical agroforestry implementation in the Austrian long-term socio-ecological research region Eisenwurzen from 2020 to 2050. We develop three land use scenarios to differentiate conventional agriculture from an immediate and a gradual agroforestry implementation, integrate data from three distinct models (Yield-SAFE, SECLAND, MIAMI), and advance the socio-ecological indicator framework Human Appropriation of Net Primary Production (HANPP) to assess trade-offs between biomass provision and carbon sequestration. Results indicate that agroforestry strongly decreases HANPP because of a reduction in biomass harvest by up to − 47% and a simultaneous increase in actual net primary production by up to 31%, with a large amount of carbon sequestered in perennial biomass by up to 3.4 t C ha-1 yr-1. This shows that a hypothetical transition to agroforestry in the Eisenwurzen relieves the agroecosystem from human-induced pressure but results in significant trade-offs between biomass provision and carbon sequestration. We thus conclude that while harvest losses inhibit large-scale implementation in intensively used agricultural regions, agroforestry constitutes a valuable addition to sustainable land use policy, in particular when affecting extensive pastures and meadows in alpine landscapes.

scholarly journals Land use management based on multi-scenario allocation and trade-offs of ecosystem services in Wafangdian County, Liaoning Province, China

PeerJ ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. e7673
Author(s):  
Wenzhen Zhao ◽  
Zenglin Han ◽  
Xiaolu Yan ◽  
Jingqiu Zhong
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Net Primary Productivity ◽  
Liaoning Province ◽  
Weighted Averaging ◽  
Water Yield ◽  
Land Use Management ◽  
Natural Habitats ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Provisioning Services

Developing effective methods to coordinate the trade-offs among ecosystem services (ES) is important for achieving inclusive growth and sustainable development, and has been the focus of scholars and ecosystem managers globally. Using remote sensing and geographic information system (GIS) data, our study examined Wafangdian County of Liaoning Province as a case study to reveal the spatiotemporal evolution of four ES (food supply [FS], net primary productivity [NPP], water yield [WY], and soil conservation [SC]) and changes among their interactions. Then, an ordered weighted averaging model was introduced to simulate the optimal scenario of ES allocation. Results showed that: (1) the spatial and temporal changes in ES were significant over 14 years. All ES presented an inverted U-shaped growth curve from 2000–2014. (2) Synergies were observed within provisioning services, and there were trade-offs between provisioning services and regulating services, as well as provisioning services and supporting services. (3) The optimal scenario for Wafangdian was scenario 5 (trade-off coefficient, 0.68). The allocation of FS, NPP, WY, and SC in scenario 5 were 0.187, 0.427, 0.131, and 0.063, respectively. Implementing each ES weight of optimal scenario in land use management contributed to achieving intercoordination of ES. We propose to coordinate land and sea management to restore natural habitats that were expanded into in the high ES area. It is our anticipation that this study could provide a scientific basis for optimizing the allocation of ES and improving land use structure of coastal zones in the future.

scholarly journals Spatially Explicit Analysis of Trade-Offs and Synergies among Multiple Ecosystem Services in Shaanxi Valley Basins

Forests ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 209
Author(s):  
Yijie Sun ◽  
Jing Li ◽  
Xianfeng Liu ◽  
Zhiyuan Ren ◽  
Zixiang Zhou ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Ecosystem Service ◽  
Water Conservation ◽  
Net Primary Production ◽  
Rate Of Change ◽  
Ecosystem Structure ◽  
The North ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Guanzhong Basin ◽  
Service Interactions

Understanding the spatiotemporal characteristics of trade-offs and synergies among multiple ecosystem services (ESs) is the basis of sustainable ecosystem management. The ecological environment of valley basins is very fragile, while bearing the enormous pressure of economic development and population growth, which has damaged the balance of the ecosystem structure and ecosystem services. In this study, we selected two typical valley basins—Guanzhong Basin and Hanzhong Basin—as study areas. The spatial heterogeneity of trade-offs and synergies among multiple ESs (net primary production (NPP), habitat quality (HQ), soil conservation (SC), water conservation (WC), and food supply (FS)) were quantified using the correlation analysis and spatial overlay based on the gird scale to quantitatively analyze and compare the interaction among ESs in two basins. Our results found that: (1) Trade-offs between FS and other four services NPP, HQ, SC, and WC were discovered in two basins, and there were synergistic relationships between NPP, HQ, SC, and WC. (2) From 2000 to 2018, the conflicted relationships between paired ESs gradually increased, and the synergistic relationship became weaker. Furthermore, the rate of change in Guanzhong Basin was stronger than that in Hanzhong Basin. (3) The spatial synergies and trade-offs between NPP and HQ, WC and NPP, FS and HQ, SC and FS were widespread in two basins. The strong trade-offs between pair ESs were widly distributed in the central and southwest of Guanzhong Basin and the southeast of Hanzhong Basin. (4) Multiple ecosystem service interactions were concentrated in the north of Qinling Mountain, the central of Guanzhong Basins, and the east of Hanzhong Basin. Our research highlights the importance of taking spatial perspective and accounting for multiple ecosystem service interactions, and provide a reliable basis for achieving ecological sustainable development of the valley basin.

Impacts of Global River Delta Modification on Ecosystem Services

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin O. Reader ◽  
Maria J. Santos ◽  
Alexander Damm ◽  
Owen Petchey ◽  
Hugo de Boer
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Net Primary Productivity ◽  
Global Analysis ◽  
Natural State ◽  
Natural Systems ◽  
Human Footprint ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Human Modification

<p>Human modification of natural systems has typically enhanced provisioning ecosystem services (ES), such as agriculture, at the expense of biodiversity and other types of services. Long-term sustainability requires a balance of ES flows to both maintain human wellbeing, while preserving biodiversity. In river deltas this balance is critical – fertile flat land, well stocked fisheries, and water for use and navigation have promoted rapid population growth and development. Yet the same development degrades the key ES protecting these deltas from hazards and pollution. Many deltas face a critical juncture, at risk or already ‘locked-in’ to the need for engineered solutions to global change problems, unsustainable globally and in the long-term.</p><p>We created a global dataset of 237 deltas and collected indicators of the extent each was modified from its natural state, and its ES supply. Several types of modification to the most important aspects of delta systems were considered – overall human impact (human footprint), pressure and demand on ES (population density), modification of water systems (flow disruption) and modification of natural productivity (human appropriation of net primary productivity); grouping deltas by modification state. The impacts of this human modification on over 50 robust biodiversity and ES indicators were then analysed.</p><p>Firstly, we attempted to create bundles of commonly associated ES in delta areas. Hierarchical clustering highlighted several logical clusters related to crops, fisheries, water, species richness, biodiversity intactness and NPP. Secondly, we examined synergies and trade-offs between different ES. Provisioning services all showed clear correlations with one another, but clear trade-offs with supporting services or biodiversity. There were weaker synergies within and between regulating and supporting ES. Finally, the relationship between each type of modification and the ES was classified using six typologies fitted by applying a decision tree to their LOESS regression curves. Crop indicators typically had an inverted-U relationship, increasing in moderately modified deltas, but decreasing in the most modified, presumably pushed out by other land uses. While many other ES declined with modification, interestingly, species richness and intactness both began to increase again in the most modified deltas. In summary, this global analysis is the first to illustrate how ES vary along a gradient of development in deltas, and highlights the need to balance further modification against these critical services.</p>

scholarly journals Comparative analysis of trade-offs and synergies in ecosystem services between Guanzhong Basin and Hanzhong Basin in China

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bo-Yan Li ◽  
Wei Wang ◽  
Yun-Chen Wang
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Net Primary Production ◽  
Trade Off ◽  
Temporal Characteristics ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Temporal And Spatial ◽  
Spatio Temporal ◽  
Guanzhong Basin ◽  
Spatial And Temporal Characteristics ◽  
Capacity Method

Abstract. An important feature of the relationships among ecosystem services (ES) is they have temporal and spatial patterns. The purpose of this research was to study the spatial and temporal characteristics of the synergies and trade-offs in ES in Guanzhong Basin and Hanzhoung Basin, as well as to compare the ES differences between the two basins. The spatio-temporal characteristics of the relationships among ES were analysed and compared from 1995–2014 for Hanzhong Basin, which has a good ecological environment, and the economically developed Guanzhong Basin, using linear relationship between grain output and NDVI (LRGO & NDVI), the Carnegie–Ames–Stanford Approach (CASA), the integrated storage capacity method(ISCM), and the revised universal soil loss equation (RUSLE) model to simulate the four types of ES: food production (FP), net primary production (NPP), water retention (WR) and soil conservation (SC). The results of this study were as follows: (1) The trade-off relationships between FP and NPP in Guanzhong Basin and Hanzhong Basin were the most significant, and the trade-off relationship between FP and NPP in Guanzhong Basin (R = −0.40, P 

scholarly journals A quantitative review of relationships between ecosystem services

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heera Lee ◽  
Sven Lautenbach
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Scientific Community ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
Cultural Services ◽  
Land System ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
System Archetypes ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Provisioning Services

Ecosystems provide multiple ecosystem services to society. Ignoring the multi-functionality of land systems in natural resource management generates potentially trade-offs with respect to the provisioning of ecosystem services. Understanding relationships between ecosystem services can therefore help to minimize undesired trade-offs and enhance synergies. The research on relationships between ecosystem services has recently gained increasing attention in the scientific community. However, a synthesis on existing knowledge and knowledge gaps is missing so far. We analyzed 67 case studies that studied 476 pairwise combinations of ecosystem services. The relationships between these pairs of ecosystem services were classified into three categories: "tradeo ff", "synergy" or "no-effect". Most pairs of ecosystem services (74%) had a clear association with one category: the majority of case studies reported similar relationships for pairs of ecosystem services. A synergistic relationship was dominant between different regulating services and between different cultural services, whereas the relationship between regulating and provisioning services was trade-off dominated. Increases in cultural services did not influence provisioning services ("no-effect"). We further analyzed the pattern of relationships between ecosystem services across scales, land system archetypes and methods used to determine the relationship. Our analysis showed that the overall pattern of relationships between ecosystem services did not change significantly with scale and land system archetypes. However, some pairs of ecosystem services showed changes in relationships with scale. The choice of methods used to determine the relationship had an effect on the direction of the relationship: studies that employed correlation coefficients showed an increased probability to identify no-effect relationships, whereas descriptive methods had a higher probability of identifying trade-offs. The regional scale was the most commonly considered, and case studies were biased among different land system archetypes which might affect our ability to find the effect of scale or land system archetypes on the pattern of relationships. Our results provide helpful information of which services to include in ecosystem services assessments for the scientific community as well as for practitioners. Furthermore, they allow a first check if critical trade-offs have been considered in an analysis.

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