scholarly journals Relationships between Ecosystem Services and Urbanization in Jiangsu Province, Eastern China

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 2073
Author(s):  
Cheng Li ◽  
Ranghui Wang ◽  
Fangmin Zhang ◽  
Yunjian Luo ◽  
Yong Huang

Ecosystem services are comprehensive and quantitative indicators for describing ecosystem–human interactions. China has experienced rapid urbanization in the past 30 years, which has created a significant impact on regional ecosystem services. However, whether the impact is linear is not clear as yet. In this study, the Jiangsu province, a main body of the Chinese Yangtze River Delta city cluster, was chosen as a case study. Multi-source remotely-sensed geospatial data, including meteorological, land use, vegetation, and socio-economic data, were collected to estimate the total amount of ecosystem services (TESV) and urbanization levels. Subsequently, the relationships between TESV and urbanization indices (i.e., gross domestic product (GDP) per unit area, GPUA; population per unit area, PPUA; and built-up land proportion, BULP) were determined using the Pearson correlation analysis and piecewise linear regression. The primary findings of this study were as follows: (1) There was a distinct spatial pattern in TESV, which gradually increased from west to east with high-value areas located in eastern coastal areas of Jiangsu. Among different land use types, cropland and woodland contributed the most to TESV; (2) The three urbanization indices had spatial patterns, indicating higher urbanization in southern Jiangsu than in central or northern Jiangsu; and (3) Once GPUA and PPUA exceeded threshold values of 3719.55 × 104 yuan/km2 and 744.37 person/km2, respectively, TESV sharply decreased with an increase in these indices. However, the BULP showed a linear and significantly negative relationship with TESV at all values, which indicated that the impacts of economic and population growth on TESV lagged behind that of built-up land expansion. These findings provide a potentially significant reference for decision-makers to rationally enhance regional ecosystem services during rapid urbanization processes.

Author(s):  
Yangfan Zhou ◽  
Lijie Pu ◽  
Ming Zhu

The unreasonable land use in rapid urbanization areas induced by large-scale urban construction activities have caused massive ecological issues. In this study, landscape vulnerability index (LVI) and landscape human interference index (LHAI) were originally addressed and calculated using multi-temporal land-use data from 2000 to 2015. Then, the spatial-temporal relationship assessment model of landscape fragility caused by human activities were constructed for each county of Jiangsu Province, China, so as to analyze the spatial distribution of landscape vulnerability and determine the impacts of artificial disturbance on landscape vulnerability. The results showed: (1) The number of counties with middle and high landscape vulnerability increased from 20 in 2000 to 27 in 2015 with a peak value (33) in 2010. (2) Counties with high-intensity human activities showed an upward trend. (3) Land use generally has a significant and diverse impact on landscape vulnerability. At the county level, the LVI was positively correlated with the LHAI before 2010 and was followed by a negative correlation of them. As concluded from this study, a total of four sub-regions (continuous benefit zones, variable benefit zones, continuous harmful zones, and variable harmful zones) have been identified for sustainable landscape management in the future. (4) The LVI suggests that the landscape vulnerability in Jiangsu did not continue to deteriorate in the study period. Further, accelerated land exploitation has produced a positive impact on regional economic development and ecological protection. This study provided an effective method set for analyzing the environmental impacts caused by human activities and promoting future ecosystem management in coastal areas.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 184 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xinli Ke ◽  
Liye Wang ◽  
Yanchun Ma ◽  
Kunpeng Pu ◽  
Ting Zhou ◽  
...  

Land use and land cover change is a critical factor of ecosystem services, while water yield plays a vital role in sustainable development. The impact of urban expansion on water yield has long been discussed, but water yield change resulting from cropland protection is seldom concerned. Therefore, this paper aims to investigate the impacts of cropland protection on water yield by comparing the water yield in two cropland protection scenarios (i.e., Strict Cropland Protection scenario and No Cropland Protection scenario). Specifically, the LAND System Cellular Automata for Potential Effects (LANDSCAPE) model was employed to simulate land use maps in the two scenarios, while Water Yield module in the Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs (InVEST) model was used to calculate water yield. The results show water yield would increase by 8.7 × 107 m3 in the No Cropland Protection scenario and 9.4 × 107 m3 in the Strict Cropland Protection scenario. We conclude that implementation of strict cropland protection in rapid urbanizing areas may cause more water yield, which is also a prerequisite of potential urban flooding risk. This study throws that it is not wise to implement strict cropland protection policy in an area of rapid urbanization.


2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 67
Author(s):  
Vera Camacho-Valdez ◽  
Eva M. Tello-Alcaide ◽  
Allen Wootton ◽  
Emmanuel Valencia-Barrera

Urban wetlands provide a wide range of ecosystem services that are important for human-well-being. Despite their social and environmental importance, the degradation of urban wetlands continues mainly due to land use changes induced by rapid urbanization. Estimating the impact of these changes on ecosystem services is crucial to support the decision-making process of city planners at different levels. In this study, the spatial extents of the urban wetlands of San Cristobal de Las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico were determined for the years 2001 and 2018 in order to relate the spatial changes between these years with the provision and economic value of ecosystem services. Google Earth and SPOT imagery were used to evaluate land use/land cover changes while international coefficients were used to assess the value of the ecosystem services by category. Findings reveal a 7.3% decrease in the urban wetland area and a 12.5% increase of urban areas during the study period. The ecosystem service valuation shows that the total value flow decreased around $5 million (2007 USD) during the 17-year period, mainly due to decreases in the potential for regulating and cultural services. The use of freely available land use/land cover data together with global ecosystem service estimates reduce the cost of ground data collection and provides quick and reliable information that could help decision makers with land use planning in the context of data-scarce regions.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 728
Author(s):  
Yahong Liu ◽  
Hailian Sun ◽  
Lei Shi ◽  
Huimin Wang ◽  
Zhai Xiu ◽  
...  

With rapid urbanization in China, the dramatic land-use changes are one of the most prominent features that have substantially affected the land ecosystems, thus seriously threatening sustainable development. However, current studies have focused more on evaluating the economic efficiency of land-use, while the loss and degradation of ecosystem services are barely considered. To address these issues, this study first proposed a land use-based input–output index system, incorporating the impact on ecosystem services value (ESV), and then by taking 30 provinces in China as a case study. We further employed the super-efficiency slacks-based model (Super-SBM) and the Stochastic Impacts by Regression on Population, Affluence and Technology (STIRPAT) model to explore the spatial–temporal changes and driving factors of the evaluated land-use eco-efficiency. We found that the evaluated ESV was 28.09 trillion yuan (at the price of 2000) in 2015, and that the total ESV experienced an inverted U-shaped trend during 2000–2015.The average land-use eco-efficiency exhibited a downward trend from 0.87 in 2000 to 0.68 in 2015 with distinct regional differences by taking into account the ESV. Our results revealed that northeastern region had the highest efficiency, followed by the eastern, western, and central region of China. Finally, we identified a U-shaped relationship between the eco-efficiency and land urbanization, and found that technological innovation made great contributions to the improvement of the eco-efficiency. These findings highlight the importance of the ESV in the evaluation of land-use eco-efficiency. Future land development and management should pay additional attention to the land ecosystems, especially the continuous supply of human well-being related ecosystem services.


Land ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. 762
Author(s):  
Lei Han ◽  
Rui Chen ◽  
Zhao Liu ◽  
Shanshan Chang ◽  
Yonghua Zhao ◽  
...  

The environment of the urban fringe is complex and frangible. With the acceleration of industrialization and urbanization, the urban fringe has become the primary space for urban expansion, and the intense human activities create a high risk of potentially toxic element (PTE) pollution in the soil. In this study, 138 surface soil samples were collected from a region undergoing rapid urbanization and construction—Weinan, China. Concentrations of As, Pb, Cr, Cu, and Ni (Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry, ICP-MS) and Hg (Atomic Fluorescence Spectrometry, AFS) were measured. The Kriging interpolation method was used to create a visualization of the spatial distribution characteristics and to analyze the pollution sources of PTEs in the soil. The pollution status of PTEs in the soil was evaluated using the national environmental quality standards for soils in different types of land use. The results show that the content range of As fluctuated a small amount and the coefficient of variation is small and mainly comes from natural soil formation. The content of Cr, Cu, and Ni around the automobile repair factory, the prefabrication factory, and the building material factory increased due to the deposition of wear particles in the soil. A total of 13.99% of the land in the study area had Hg pollution, which was mainly distributed on category 1 development land and farmland. Chemical plants were the main pollution sources. The study area should strictly control the industrial pollution emissions, regulate the agricultural production, adjust the land use planning, and reduce the impact of pollution on human beings. Furthermore, we make targeted remediation suggestions for each specific land use type. These results are of theoretical significance, will be of practical value for the control of PTEs in soil, and will provide ecological environmental protection in the urban fringe throughout the urbanization process.


Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (19) ◽  
pp. 2658
Author(s):  
Rui Luo ◽  
Shiliang Yang ◽  
Yang Zhou ◽  
Pengqun Gao ◽  
Tianming Zhang

A key challenge to the sustainability and security of grassland capacity is the protection of water-related ecosystem services (WESs). With the change of land use, the supply of aquatic ecosystem services has changed, and the grassland-carrying capacity has been affected. However, the correlation mechanism between WESs and the grassland-carrying capacity is not clear. In this study, we used the InVEST(Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs) model to evaluate the impact of land-use change on WESs, and made a tradeoff analysis between WESs and grassland-carrying capacity. Considering that the Heihe River Basin (HRB) was an important grassland vegetation zone, which was a milestone for the development of animal husbandry in China, HRB was taken as a case. The main findings are as follows: (1) the spatial distribution of WESs shows the dissimilation rule, the upper reaches are the main water yield area, the soil retention is weakening in the middle and lower reaches, and the pollution has further increased in the middle and upper reaches. (2) The carrying capacity of animal husbandry decreased in the upper reaches, increased in Shandan County and Zhangye City in the middle reaches, and decreased sharply in other regions. (3) There was a positive correlation between the livestock-carrying capacity and nitrogen export in 2018, which was increasing. As the change of land use has changed the evapotranspiration structure, WESs have undergone irreversible changes. Meanwhile, the development of large-scale irrigated farmland and human activities would be the source of a further intensification of regional soil erosion and water pollution. Therefore, it is necessary to trade off the WESs and animal husbandry under land-use change. This paper revealed how WESs changed from 2000 to 2018, the characteristics of the changes in the spatial and temporal distribution, and the carrying capacity. It aims to provide a scientific basis for coordinating the contradiction between grassland and livestock resources, improving the regional ecological security situation, and carrying out ecosystem management.


One Ecosystem ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dirk Vrebos ◽  
Jan Staes ◽  
Steven Broekx ◽  
Leo de Nocker ◽  
Karen Gabriels ◽  
...  

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.


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