scholarly journals Assessing the Impacts of Urban Expansion on Bundles of Ecosystem Services by Dmsp-Ols Nighttime Light Data

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (21) ◽  
pp. 5888 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yangyang Gu ◽  
Xuning Qiao ◽  
Mengjia Xu ◽  
Changxin Zou ◽  
Dong Liu ◽  
...  

Urban expansion poses severe threats to ecosystems. It is therefore important we better understand the impact of different urban expansion level on ecosystems for developing regionally differentiated ecological protection policies. Here, we proposed a conceptual framework to describe the impacts of urbanization on bundles of ecosystem services. Referred to as the concept of land use degree by nighttime light data, we put forward and verified an urban expansion level model. According to this model, study area was divided into a slow increase zone, increase zone, and rapid increase zone. Then, taking Taihu Lake Basin in China as a case, we used Zonal-statistics and Pearson correlation coefficients to reveal the impact in different zones of urban expansion level on multiple ecosystem services: crop production, freshwater supply, aquatic production, net primary productivity, soil conservation, water retention, flood regulation, and forest recreation index. Our results revealed that urban expansion levels significantly impacted all ecosystem services. In either increase zone or rapid increase zone, we found lowered values of crop production, net primary productivity, soil conservation, water retention, and flood regulation, while both aquatic production and forest recreation index increased in all zones from 1990 to 2010. Across the levels of urbanization, urban expansion level was always negatively correlated with provisioning services. This result suggests local governors should improve crop production per unit area and increase the cultivated land area to guarantee food security. In addition, urban expansion level had positive correlations with the trade-offs between flood regulation and forest recreation index, and those among crop production, freshwater supply, and net primary productivity. Therefore, policy-makers should effectively maintain the land use balance among ecological protection, agriculture development, and urban expansion to better coordinate relationships between development and protection. In acquiring quantitative knowledge of how urban expansion level drives ecosystem changes, our findings may help guide future sustainable urban planning with respect to ecosystem services, urban development, and human welfare benefits.

Complexity ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pengyan Zhang ◽  
Yanyan Li ◽  
Wenlong Jing ◽  
Dan Yang ◽  
Yu Zhang ◽  
...  

Urbanization is causing profound changes in ecosystem functions at local and regional scales. The net primary productivity (NPP) is an important indicator of global change, rapid urbanization and climate change will have a significant impact on NPP, and urban expansion and climate change in different regions have different impacts on NPP, especially in densely populated areas. However, to date, efforts to quantify urban expansion and climate change have been limited, and the impact of long-term continuous changes in NPP has not been well understood. Based on land use data, night light data, NPP data, climate data, and a series of social and economic data, we performed a comprehensive analysis of land use change in terms of type and intensity and explored the pattern of urban expansion and its relationship with NPP and climate change for the period of 2000–2015, taking Zhengzhou, China, as an example. The results show that the major form of land use change was cropland to built-up land during the 2000–2015 period, with a total area of 367.51 km2 converted. The NPP exhibited a generally increasing trend in the study area except for built-up land and water area. The average correlation coefficients between temperature and NPP and precipitation and NPP were 0.267 and 0.020, respectively, indicating that an increase in temperature and precipitation can promote NPP despite significant spatial differences. During the examined period, most expansion areas exhibited an increasing NPP trend, indicating that the influence of urban expansion on NPP is mainly characterized by an evident influence of the expansion area. The study can provide a reference for Zhengzhou and even the world's practical research to improve land use efficiency, increase agricultural productivity and natural carbon sinks, and maintain low-carbon development.


2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 4334 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yushuo Zhang ◽  
Xiao Lu ◽  
Boyu Liu ◽  
Dianting Wu

Conflicts between ecological conservation and socio-economic development persisted over many decades in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei urban agglomeration (BTH). Ecosystem services were affected drastically by rapid urbanization and ecological restoration programs in the BTH since 2000. This study aims to identify the spatial patterns of the four types of ecosystem services (net primary productivity (NPP), crop production, water retention, and soil conservation) in 2000 and 2010, and to make clear the impacts of urbanization and associated factors on the spatial patterns of ecosystem services. Based on the quantification of ecosystem services, we assessed the spatial patterns and changes, and identified the relationships between the type diversity of ecosystem services and land-use change. We also analyzed the effect of the spatial differentiation of influencing factors on ecosystem services, using the geographical detector model. The results showed that the average value of crop production increased substantially between 2000 and 2010, whereas the net primary productivity decreased significantly, and the water retention and soil conservation decreased slightly. The ecosystem services exhibited a spatial similar to that of influencing factors, and the combination of any two factors strengthened the spatial effect more than a single factor. The geomorphic factors (elevation and slope) were found to control the distribution of NPP, water retention, and soil conservation. The population density was responsible for crop production. We also found that the urbanization rate plays a major indirect role in crop production and water retention when interacting with population density and slope, respectively. The normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) indirectly influences the spatial distribution of NPP when interacting with geomorphic factors. These findings highlight the need to promote new strategies of land-use management in the BTH. On the one hand, it is necessary to carefully select where new urban land should be located in order to relieve the pressure on ecosystem services in dense urban areas. On the other hand, the maintenance of ecological restoration programs is needed for improving vegetation coverage in the ecological functional zones in the medium and long term.


2022 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 699
Author(s):  
Sheng Wang ◽  
Wenjing Li ◽  
Qing Li ◽  
Jinfeng Wang

The contradiction between urban expansion and ecological protection in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region (BTH) is increasingly acute, which has become one of the main problems restricting regional development, and sustainable development of ecosystem services is the key to increasing human well-being. Based on GIS platform and multiple models, this paper analyzes the temporal and spatial variation characteristics of four key ecosystem services (water conservation, soil conservation, habitat quality, and plant net primary productivity) in different ecological regions of BTH in recent 20 years, quantifies the impact of different climate factors and land use change on ecosystem services (ESs), and discusses the primary ecosystem hotspots and ecological security pattern. The results showed that the interannual variation of water conservation (WC) and plant net primary productivity (NPP) increased from 2000 to 2020, while the change of soil conservation (SC) was not obvious, which was mainly controlled by climate factors, WC and SC were more affected by precipitation, and temperature was the key factor affecting NPP. Habitat quality (HQ) presented a significant downward trend; it was mainly attributed to the deterioration of ecological environment caused by accelerated urbanization expansion. According to hotspot analysis, it could be found that WC was the fastest-growing ecosystem service function in BTH, and NPP would become the factor with the greatest contribution to ecological importance in the future. The important protected areas and main ecological sources of ecological security pattern were mainly distributed in Yanshan-Taihang mountain area, which was consistent with the key areas of ecosystem services. In this study, the temporal and spatial differences of ecosystem service in BTH were demonstrated in a more intuitive way and provided scientific guidance for decision makers to formulate effective ecological protection policies in different regions.


2018 ◽  
Vol 38 (16) ◽  
Author(s):  
乔旭宁 QIAO Xuning ◽  
顾羊羊 GU Yangyang ◽  
邹长新 ZOU Changxin ◽  
黄贤峰 HUANG Xianfeng ◽  
胡涛 HU Tao

Water ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 1247 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sikhululekile Ncube ◽  
Annie Visser ◽  
Lindsay Beevers

River systems provide diverse ecosystem services (ES), such as flood regulation (regulating), fresh water (provisioning), nutrient cycling (supporting), and recreation (cultural), among others. The construction of infrastructure (e.g., for hydropower, irrigation) enhances the delivery of tangible ES for example food or energy (generally provisioning) to meet human needs. However, the resulting change to river flows threatens both the ecological health of a river and its ability to provide intangible but vital ES, for example those which support the delivery of other services. Understanding these supporting ES processes in river systems is essential to fully recognise the impact of water resources development on ES delivery. Whilst approaches for assessing instream supporting ES are under development, to date few provide quantitative methods for assessing delivery. Thus, this paper sets out a framework for the assessment of instream supporting ES using hydroecological modelling. It links supporting ES delivery to fluvial hydrological indicators through the use of ecologically relevant hydrological indices and macroinvertebrate flow preferences. The proposed framework is demonstrated on the Beas River basin (Western Himalayas, India), and is flexible enough to be transferred to a basin-wide model, thereby allowing ES relationships to be accounted for in basin-wide water resources planning.


1998 ◽  
Vol 353 (1365) ◽  
pp. 131-140 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. J. Beerling ◽  
F. I. Woodward ◽  
M. R. Lomas ◽  
M. A. Wills ◽  
W. P. Quick ◽  
...  

Geochemical models of atmospheric evolution predict that during the late Carboniferous, ca . 300 Ma, atmospheric oxygen and carbon dioxide concentrations were 35% and 0.03%, respectively. Both gases compete with each other for ribulose–1,5–bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase–the primary C–fixing enzyme in C 3 land plants: and the absolute concentrations and the ratio of the two in the atmosphere have the potential to strongly influence land–plant function. The Carboniferous therefore represents an era of potentially strong feedback between atmospheric composition and plant function. We assessed some implications of this ratio of atmospheric gases on plant function using experimental and modelling approaches. After six weeks growth at 35% O 2 and 0.03% carbon dioxide, no photosynthetic acclimation was observed in the woody species Betula pubescens and Hedera helix relative to those plants grown at 21% O 2 . Leaf photosynthetic rates were 29% lower in the high O 2 environment compared to the controls. A global–scale analysis of the impact of the late Carboniferous climate and atmospheric composition on vegetation function was determined by driving a process–based vegetation–biogeochemistry model with a Carboniferous global palaeoclimate simulated by the Universities Global Atmospheric Modelling Programme General Circulation Model. Global patterns of net primary productivity, leaf area index and soil carbon concentration for the equilibrium model solutions showed generally low values everywhere, compared with the present day, except for a central band in the northern land mass extension of Gondwana, where high values were predicted. The areas of high soil carbon accumulation closely match the known distribution of late Carboniferous coals. Sensitivity analysis with the model indicated that the increase in O 2 concentration from 21% to 35% reduced global net primary productivity by 18.7% or by 6.3 GtC yr –1 . Further work is required to collate and map at the global scale the distribution of vegetation types, and evidence for wildfires, for the late Carboniferous to test our predictions.


2003 ◽  
Vol 86 (3) ◽  
pp. 401-410 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristina Milesi ◽  
Christopher D. Elvidge ◽  
Ramakrishna R. Nemani ◽  
Steven W. Running

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (suppl 1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rafael Cavalcanti Lembi ◽  
Cecilia Cronemberger ◽  
Caroline Picharillo ◽  
Sheina Koffler ◽  
Pedro H. Albuquerque Sena ◽  
...  

Abstract: The Atlantic Forest is an important hotspot of biodiversity and ecosystem services that contributes to the well-being of its 125 million human inhabitants, about three quarters of the Brazilian population. In the coming decades, forecasts show that urban areas in the Atlantic Forest will grow at the expense of natural ecosystems, leading to increasing pressure on biodiversity and ecosystem services. We used the Nature Futures Framework (NFF) for envisioning positive scenarios for cities in the Atlantic Forest. First, we developed a conceptual model based on the Driver-Pressure-State-Impact-Response (DPSIR) approach to describe consequences of urban growth for the three NFF perspectives: Nature for Society, Nature for Nature and Nature as Culture. Second, we proposed scenario storylines that encompass multiple social-ecological values of nature and could be used by policy makers to plan desirable futures for the Atlantic Forest. Then, we discussed the impact of distinct policies on these values, identifying the different ways in which the management of urban green and blue spaces, natural ecosystems, and urban densities can lead to different social-ecological outcomes. We further detail the complexity, trade-offs, and synergies regarding city development, nature conservation, and human well-being in this tropical hotspot. Applying NFF can contribute to the ongoing debate regarding urban sustainability, by providing an interdisciplinary and integrative approach that explicitly incorporates multiple values of nature and the visualization of positive futures.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document