Changes in ecological networks and eco-environmental effects on urban ecosystem in China’s three typical urban agglomerations

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ying Fang ◽  
Jing Wang ◽  
Jingjing Liu ◽  
Zehui Li
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Human Activities ◽  
Carbon Stock ◽  
Quality Index ◽  
Urban Ecosystem ◽  
Ecological Networks ◽  
Ecological Network ◽  
Rapid Urbanization ◽  
Urban Agglomerations ◽  
Ecosystem Carbon

<p>Rapid urbanization caused a massive loss of natural habitats and seriously changed urban natural ecosystems. Ecological network, a spatial concept of ecosystems, maps the most valuable areas that provide multiple ecological goods and services for human demands. Ecological network has long been adopted worldwide for improving urban ecological environment under the scenarios of rapid urbanization. However, Little researches focused on changes in ecological networks and their effects on urban ecosystem. It is important to investigate the trends in ecological network changes, clear its relationship with human activities and policies for guiding sustainable economic and social development. The study aimed to analyze the relationship between the changes in ecological networks and human activities, regional policies as well as environmental changes, and to establish new ecological networks that meet the human demands of ecosystem services, in China’s three typical urban agglomerations, including Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH), Yangtze River Delta (YRD), and Pearl River Delta (PRD) from 2000 to 2015.This study used the variation of habitat quality index, ecosystem carbon stock, PM<sub>2.5</sub> and supply-demand of ecosystem services to measure the eco-environmental effects of ecological network changes under complex physical and socio-economic circumstances. Meanwhile, it established the new ecological networks based on the human-being demand of ecosystem services calculated by real-time population distribution, accessibility, and land development index, trying to optimize the land spatial patterns and ecosystem management in urban agglomerations. The results showed that a lot of areas of ecological networks had vanished into dryland, urban land and other developed land from 2000 to 2015, resulting from urban expansion, industrial development and regional land policies. The degradation in ecological networks caused a significant increase of PM<sub>2.5</sub> and decrease of habitat quality index and ecosystem carbon stock. And the spatial imbalance in the supply-demand of ecosystem services was shrinking to varying degrees, due to different regional ecological protection policies. There were regional spatial differences in the establishment of new ecological networks. However, the closer to central cities of each agglomerations, the human demands of ecosystem services and the need of strengthening the preservation ecosystems were more critical. This study contributes to the identifying the role of human activities on ecological processes and provides a scientific reference for the use of ecological network as the basis of the regional development plans. It is necessary to relieve the dilemma between the urban growth and ecosystem protection.</p>

scholarly journals Integrating Urban Agriculture and Stormwater Management in a Circular Economy to Enhance Ecosystem Services: Connecting the Dots

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (15) ◽  
pp. 8293
Author(s):  
Tolessa Deksissa ◽  
Harris Trobman ◽  
Kamran Zendehdel ◽  
Hossain Azam
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Urban Agriculture ◽  
Green Infrastructure ◽  
Circular Economy ◽  
Stormwater Management ◽  
Urban Ecosystem ◽  
Extensive Literature ◽  
Economic Sectors ◽  
Rapid Urbanization ◽  
Urban Ecosystem Services

Due to the rapid urbanization in the context of the conventional linear economy, the vulnerability of the urban ecosystem to climate change has increased. As a result, connecting urban ecosystem services of different urban land uses is imperative for urban sustainability and resilience. In conventional land use planning, urban agriculture (UA) and urban stormwater management are treated as separate economic sectors with different-disconnected-ecosystem services. Furthermore, few studies have synthesized knowledge regarding the potential impacts of integration of UA and stormwater green infrastructures (GIs) on the quantity and quality of urban ecosystem services of both economic sectors. This study provides a detailed analysis of the imperative question—how should a city integrate the developments of both urban agriculture and stormwater green infrastructure to overcome barriers while enhancing the ecosystem services? To answer this question, we conducted an extensive literature review. The results show that integrating UA with GIs can enhance urban food production while protecting urban water quality. This paper provides an initial context and mechanisms for future researchers and city planners regarding the manner in which the synergies between UA and stormwater GIs can create greater value for the wellbeing of urban ecosystems and resilience in the circular economy.

scholarly journals Estimation of Urban Ecosystem Services Value: A Case Study of Chengdu, Southwestern China

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 207
Author(s):  
Xiaoai Dai ◽  
Brian Alan Johnson ◽  
Penglan Luo ◽  
Kai Yang ◽  
Linxin Dong ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Socioeconomic Development ◽  
Urban Ecosystems ◽  
Urban Ecosystem ◽  
Land Utilization ◽  
Rapid Urbanization ◽  
Ecosystem Services Value ◽  
Driver Analysis ◽  
Urbanization Rate ◽  
High Level

Research on the service values of urban ecosystems is a hot topic of ecological studies in the current era of rapid urbanization. To quantitatively estimate the ecosystem service value in Chengdu, China from the perspectives of natural ecology and social ecology, the technologies of remote sensing (RS) and geographic information system (GIS) are utilized in this study to extract the land use type information from RS images of Chengdu in 2003, 2007, 2013 and 2018. Subsequently, a driver analysis of the ecosystem services of Chengdu was performed based on socioeconomic data from the last 16 years. The results indicated that: (1) from 2003 to 2018, the land utilization in Chengdu changed significantly, with the area of cultivated lands, forest lands and water decreasing remarkably, while the area of construction lands dramatically increased. (2) The ecosystem services value (ESV) of Chengdu decreased by 30.92% in the last 16 years, from CNY 2.4078 × 1010 in 2003 to CNY 1.6632 × 1010 in 2018. Based on a future simulation, the ESV is further predicted to be reduced to CNY 1.4261 × 1010 by 2033. (3) The ESV of Chengdu showed a negative correlation with the total population, the urbanization rate and the per capita GDP of the region, indicating that the ESV of the studied region was inter-coupled with the socioeconomic development and can be maintained at a high level through rationally regulating the socioeconomic structure.

Modeling and protecting global ecological networks

2021 ◽  
pp. 2150046
Author(s):  
Xinmiao Sun ◽  
Ruiqi Li
Keyword(s):  
Trophic Level ◽  
Human Activities ◽  
Degree Distribution ◽  
Small World ◽  
Volterra Model ◽  
Local Network ◽  
Ecological Network ◽  
Rapid Urbanization ◽  
Local Networks ◽  
Quantitative Changes

With the rapid urbanization worldwide and ever-increasing impacts of human activities since at least 200 years ago, we are now facing a harsh situation of our biosphere. Building a global-level network model on ecological systems is of great importance, which would be able to provide us predictive and quantitative responses to human activities, leading to viable suggestions to policymakers. In this paper, we propose a multi-layer model for the global ecological network, where a number of local networks are connected via long-range interactions associated with migrant species, which can be induced by human activities or natural migration of wildlife, and each local network is generated by a trophic-level-based stochastic model. Predator–prey dynamics is described by a networked Lotka–Volterra model that accounts for the self-suppression effects on basal species, and the negative feedback loops. Impacts of human activities are modeled by investigating the quantitative changes of biodiversity under certain protecting strategies. We reveal that the global ecological network is organized in a clustered small-world manner, with in-degree distribution more heterogeneous than out-degree distribution. Protecting endangered species, popular preys and predicted-to-be-extinct species is more effective than randomly selected species or influential predators. Protecting after entering the fast extinction stage is more effective than at the beginning for some high trophic level species.

The impacts of land use/land cover changes on the supply-demand budget of urban ecosystem services

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (14) ◽  
Author(s):  
Syed Atif Bokhari ◽  
Zafeer Saqib ◽  
Amjad Ali ◽  
Arif Mahmud ◽  
Nadia Akhtar ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Land Cover ◽  
Urban Ecosystem ◽  
Land Cover Changes ◽  
Land Use Land Cover ◽  
Urban Ecosystem Services

scholarly journals Trends and dynamics of material and energy flows in an urban context: a case study of a city with an emerging economy

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Clara Inés Pardo Martínez ◽  
William Alfonso Piña ◽  
Angelo Facchini ◽  
Alexander Cotte Poveda
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Population Growth ◽  
Construction Materials ◽  
The Other ◽  
Material Flows ◽  
Urban Context ◽  
Rapid Urbanization ◽  
Urban Agglomerations ◽  
Energy Flows ◽  
The City

Abstract Background Currently, most of the world’s population lives in cities, and the rapid urbanization of the population is driving increases in the demand for products, goods and services. To effectively design policies for urban sustainability, it is important to understand the trends of flows in energy and materials as they enter and leave a city. This knowledge is essential for determining the key elements characterizing future urban growth and addressing future supply challenges. Methods This paper presents an analysis of the energy and material flows in the city of Bogotá over the time span from 2001 to 2017. Urban flows are also characterized in terms of their temporal evolution with respect to population growth to compare and identify the changes in the main input flows, wealth production, emissions and waste in the city. Results The results of the analysis are then compared with those for other selected large urban agglomerations in Latin America and worldwide to highlight similarities and make inferences. The results show that in Bogotá, there was a decrease in some of the material flows, such as the consumption of water and the generation of discharge, in recent years, while there was an increase in the consumption of energy and cement and in the production of CO2 emissions and construction materials. Solid waste production remained relatively stable. With respect to the other large cities considered, we observe that the 10-year growth rates of the flows with respect to population growth are lower in Bogotá, particularly when compared with the other urban agglomerations in Latin America. Conclusions The findings of this study are important for advancing characterizations of the trends of material and energy flows in cities, and they contribute to the establishment of a benchmark that allows for the definition and evaluation of the different impacts of public policy while promoting the sustainability of Bogotá in the coming decades.

scholarly journals Assessing urban ecosystem services in support of spatial planning in the Hague, the Netherlands

2021 ◽  
Vol 214 ◽  
pp. 104195
Author(s):  
Janneke van Oorschot ◽  
Benjamin Sprecher ◽  
Maarten van 't Zelfde ◽  
Peter M. van Bodegom ◽  
Alexander P.E. van Oudenhoven
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
The Netherlands ◽  
Spatial Planning ◽  
Urban Ecosystem ◽  
Urban Ecosystem Services ◽  
The Hague

scholarly journals Urban ecosystem services in strategic planning in Swedish municipalities

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Åsa Ode Sang ◽  
Frederik Aagaard Hagemann ◽  
Nils Ekelund ◽  
Jessica Svännel
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Problem Solving ◽  
Strategic Management ◽  
Urban Ecosystem ◽  
Practical Application ◽  
Urban Ecosystem Services ◽  
Large Cities ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Growing Body ◽  
The Usa

AbstractResearch to date on urban ecosystem services has mainly been conducted in large cities, particularly in China, the USA and some European countries. This study examined the provision of urban ecosystem services in a Swedish municipality context, based on interviews with municipal stakeholders in strategic management and planning from six municipalities and a review of existing publications readily available to practitioners. The analysis focused on (1) the ecosystem services explicitly covered, (2) whether multifunctionality was covered and specific synergies and trade-offs identified and, (3) the spatial scale and context used for ecosystem services (valuation/mapping, planning, design or maintenance) in practical application. The results showed that regulatory services are very much the focus in municipal operations as well as in publications available to practitioners. This is reflected in the implementation of the concept through problem solving often related to regulatory services, using multifunctionality and win-win situations in ecosystem service supply. These findings contribute to the growing body of work exploring how the concept of ecosystem services is adapted and utilised in practice.

scholarly journals The Construction and Optimization of Ecological Security Pattern in the Harbin-Changchun Urban Agglomeration, China

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (7) ◽  
pp. 1190 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rong Guo ◽  
Tong Wu ◽  
Mengran Liu ◽  
Mengshi Huang ◽  
Luigi Stendardo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Urban Agglomeration ◽  
Ecosystem Functions ◽  
Ecological Security ◽  
Least Cost Path ◽  
Rapid Urbanization ◽  
Songhua River ◽  
Urban Agglomerations ◽  
Ecological Corridors ◽  
Ecological Protection ◽  
Security Pattern

Urban agglomerations have become a new geographical unit in China, breaking the administrative fortresses between cities, which means that the population and economic activities between cities will become more intensive in the future. Constructing and optimizing the ecological security pattern of urban agglomerations is important for promoting harmonious social-economic development and ecological protection. Using the Harbin-Changchun urban agglomeration as a case study, we have identified ecological sources based on the evaluation of ecosystem functions. Based on the resistance surface modified by nighttime light (NTL) data, the potential ecological corridors were identified using the least-cost path method, and key ecological corridors were extracted using the gravity model. By combining 15 ecological sources, 119 corridors, 3 buffer zones, and 77 ecological nodes, the ecological security pattern (ESP) was constructed. The main land-use types composed of ecological sources and corridors are forest land, cultivated land, grassland, and water areas. Some ecological sources are occupied by construction, while unused land has the potential for ecological development. The ecological corridors in the central region are distributed circularly and extend to southeast side in the form of tree branches with the Songhua River as the central axis. Finally, this study proposes an optimizing pattern with "four belts, four zones, one axis, nine corridors, ten clusters and multi-centers" to provide decision makers with spatial strategies with respect to the conflicts between urban development and ecological protection during rapid urbanization.

scholarly journals Rural–Urban Migration and Conservation Drive the Ecosystem Services Improvement in China Karst: A Case Study of HuanJiang County, Guangxi

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 566
Author(s):  
Xiangkun Qi ◽  
Qian Li ◽  
Yuemin Yue ◽  
Chujie Liao ◽  
Lu Zhai ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Human Activities ◽  
Soil Conservation ◽  
Land Reclamation ◽  
Vegetation Recovery ◽  
Water Yield ◽  
Urban Migration ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Rural Urban Migration ◽  
Huanjiang County

Under the transformation from over-cultivation to ecological protection in China’s karst, how human activities affect ecosystem services should be studied. This study combined satellite imagery and ecosystem models (Carnegie-Ames-Stanford Approach (CASA), Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) and Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Trade-offs (InVEST)) to evaluate primary ecosystem services (net ecosystem productivity (NEP), soil conservation and water yield) in a typical karst region (Huanjiang County). The relationships between human activities and ecosystem services were also examined. NEP increased from 441.7 g C/m2/yr in 2005 to 582.19 g C/m2/yr in 2015. Soil conservation also increased from 4.7 ton/ha to 5.5 ton/ha. Vegetation recovery and the conversion of farmland to forest, driven largely by restoration programs, contributed to this change. A positive relationship between increases in NEP, soil conservation and rural-urban migration (r = 0.62 and 0.53, P < 0.01, respectively) indicated decreasing human dependence on land reclamation and naturally regenerated vegetation. However, declining water yield from 784.3 to 724.5 mm highlights the trade-off between carbon sequestration and water yield should be considered. Our study suggests that conservation is critical to vegetation recovery in this region and that easing human pressure on land will play an important role.

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