scholarly journals Changes of Ecosystem Services and Landscape Patterns in Mountainous Areas: A Case Study in the Mentougou District in Beijing

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 3689
Author(s):  
Yang Yi ◽  
Mingchang Shi ◽  
Chunjiang Liu ◽  
Bin Wang ◽  
Hongzhang Kang ◽  
...  

Land use types have been strongly modified across mountainous areas. This has substantially altered the patterns and processes of ecosystems and the components of ecosystem services (ESs), and could in turn impact the sustainable development. In the mountainous Mentougou district of Beijing, we explored the changes in land use type (cropland, orchard, forested land, scrubland, grassland, bare land, water bodies, wasteland and built-up land), landscape patterns and ESs as well as their interactions during the past 30 years (1985–2014). The ESs included water yield (WY), carbon stocks (CS) and soil retention rate (SR). The results showed that 23.65% of the land use changed and the wasteland decreased by 80.87%. As for ESs, WY decreased by 47.32% since the year 2000, probably due to the increases in temperature and evapotranspiration. Although the decrease of forested land led to the decrease of CS, the increase of vegetation coverage improved SR. CS decreased by 0.99%from 1990 to 2014, and SR increased by 1.38% from 1985 to 2014. Landscape patterns became fragmented and dispersed, and MPS and CS, SHDI and SR were significantly negatively correlated. IJI and CS was positively correlated. This indicated that landscape patterns were highly correlated with ESs. In order to maintain the sustainable development of ESs, we should not only plan land use types, but also consider the rationality of landscape patterns.

Proceedings ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Veidemane

The sustainable development goals (SDGs) for 2030 are established to address global challenges including environment and human well-being. The SDGs are interconnected and achievement of them requires consideration of the planet’s ecosystems and resources - land, water and air. Ecosystem services (ES) approach has a high potential for better planning, policy and decision making. Understanding how different ecosystems (e.g., forests, rivers, wetlands, grasslands) contribute to the social and economic benefits is critical to ensure the long-term biodiversity protection and sustainable use of ecosystems. A conceptual framework linking biodiversity and ecosystem condition (its structure and functions), and ES to human well-being has been well-established in EU by so called MAES process (Mapping and Assessment of Ecosystem Services) lead by the European Commission. The framework is applied in recent research studies and projects, as well as national MAES processes. Various methods are applied for MAES in terms to determine biophysical, economic and social values and to deliver integrated ecosystem assessment. Assessment of ES and trade off analysis shall provide a new perspective for land use planning and decision making at different administrative and spatial levels and in different sectoral policies. EU and national policies for instance on agriculture, fishery, forestry, climate should account the benefits provided by relevant ecosystems and to ensure that the values are not diminished but rather enhanced during the implementation of the policies. Terrestrial and water ecosystems are interconnected as land-based human activities creates pressure that impacts the conditions in water ecosystems and thus delivery of ES by rivers and lakes. For example, intensive agricultural land use produces food for people and income; however, the activity also most frequently causes problems with water quality and quantity in the catchment area and a loss of biodiversity. A risk of such trade-off shall be handled in policy development. Ecosystems also contributes to the resilience of communities by reducing the risk of natural hazards and mitigate adverse impacts. Regulating services such as flood control are substituting investments in flood protection ensured by forests, wetlands and grasslands instead of human built infrastructure. Appropriate land cover and land use shall serve as a basic flood protection measure. Natural processes are increasingly recognised to create new-type solutions that use and deploy the properties of natural ecosystems and their services in an “engineered” way. A wide range of measures called also as nature-based solutions provide another opportunity to work with nature towards global sustainability.


2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaoqing Shi ◽  
Tianling Qin ◽  
Denghua Yan ◽  
Ruochen Sun ◽  
Shuang Cao ◽  
...  

This study analysed the temporal and spatial changes in the water yield coefficient (WYC), which represents the ratio of the gross amount of water resources to precipitation. Factors such as precipitation, rainstorm days, rainless days, vegetation cover change, and land use/cover change were considered to determine the causes of these changes. The results led to the following conclusions: (1) The average annual WYC of the Huang-Huai-Hai River Basin is between 0.03 and 0.58, with an average value of 0.17, which is smaller than the national average WYC of 0.4. (2) Temporally, the WYC varied slightly, with the western part showing a negative trend and the eastern part showing a positive trend. The WYC is positively correlated with precipitation, rainstorm days, and the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and negatively correlated with rainless days. However, a slower change in NDVI produced a faster change in WYC. In areas with land use types exhibiting a large evapotranspiration decrease, the rate of change in the WYC increased. (3) Spatially, the distribution is fairly regular, exhibiting a gradual increase from the northern part of the Yellow River Basin (WYC < 0.1) to the surrounding areas. When the WYC is correlated with precipitation, rainstorm days, rainless days, and NDVI, the R2 values of the linear fitting results are 0.98, 0.91, 0.96, and 0.73, respectively. The WYC is positively correlated with precipitation, rainstorm days, and vegetation coverage and negatively correlated with rainless days, but the correlation coefficient is greatly influenced by the precipitation characteristics and land use types. In areas featuring high proportions of land use types associated with high evapotranspiration, the average WYC is low.


Water ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (12) ◽  
pp. 2564 ◽  
Author(s):  
Li Ma ◽  
Ruoxiu Sun ◽  
Ehsan Kazemi ◽  
Danbo Pang ◽  
Yi Zhang ◽  
...  

The Aeronautical Reconnaissance Coverage Geographic Information System (ArcGIS) 10.2 and Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Trade-offs (InVEST) model are used to comprehensively evaluate ecosystem services in the Dongting Lake Wetland, focusing on water yield, soil conservation, carbon storage, and snail control and schistosomiasis prevention. The spatial and temporal variations of these services, as well as their variations between different land use types in a period of 10 years from 2005 to 2015, are investigated, and the value of such services is then estimated and analyzed. The results of this study show various temporal and spatial trends in the ecosystem services, such as (1) the overall increase of all these services during the study period (although significant in some services, such as schistosomiasis patient reduction, by 86.8%; and, very slight in some others such as soil conservation, only by 0.02%); (2) different orders of the services values that are based on different land use types; and, (3) the temporal changes in the proportion of the values of different ecosystem services with respect to the total services value. Besides, it is concluded that the evaluation of ecosystem services of a certain wetland is heavily dependent on the characteristics of the area where the wetland is located, and the assessment indicators and methods should be selected based on such characteristics through the analysis of the results and a comparison with the findings of literature.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 1201 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ranran Liu ◽  
Xiaobin Dong ◽  
Peng Zhang ◽  
Ying Zhang ◽  
Xiaowan Wang ◽  
...  

Due to the differences in the contributions of land use types to ecosystem health and human wellbeing, there is a trade-off and a coordinating relationship between ecosystem health and human wellbeing, which affects the sustainable development of a river basin. To explore the impacts of the responses of ecosystem health and human wellbeing and the combined effects under land use change, this paper, taking the Manas River Basin (MRB) as an example, evaluated the health status of the MRB by the model: Vitality (V), organization (O), resilience (R), and services (S). From a sustainability perspective, an index system of human wellbeing was constructed, which included society and the economy, health and safety, materials and resources, and ecology and the environment. On this basis, the coupling coordination relationship and sustainable development status of the basin was assessed. The results showed that as land use changed, the ecosystem health showed a downward trend, and human wellbeing grew exponentially. The sustainable development index and the coupling coordination degree of the MRB were similar, indicating that the level of balance between ecosystem health and human wellbeing was the key to the sustainable development of the basin, and the overall situation was in a state of moderate imbalance and moderate unsustainability. Therefore, it is necessary to carry out sustainable management of the whole basin.


Urban Science ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 54
Author(s):  
Yuejuan Yang ◽  
Hao Zhang ◽  
Xinquan Zhao ◽  
Zhizhang Chen ◽  
Aiguo Wang ◽  
...  

Ecosystem services are the material basis of economic and social development, and play essential roles in the sustainable development of ecosystems. Urbanization can remarkably alter the provision of ecosystem services. Most studies in this area have focused on densely populated metropolises with poor ecological environments, while comparatively few studies have focused on cities with low ecological pressures. Therefore, to avoid continuing to engage in the repetitive pattern of destroying first and rehabilitating later, quantitative analyses of urbanization and ecosystem services should be carried out in representative cities. In this study, based on partial least squares-discriminant analysis, kernel density estimation, and correlation analysis, we quantitatively evaluated the impact of urbanization on ecosystem services in Weifang city. The Data Center for Resources and Environmental Sciences at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research provided remote sensing data on land use, the gross domestic production (GDP), population data, and ecosystem services. The results were as follows: (1) The variation in population, GDP, and built-up areas consistently increased throughout the study period, whereas the ecosystem service values (ESVs) decreased; (2) food production, raw material production, nutrient cycle maintenance, and soil conservation were decisive ecosystem services that led to vast reductions in ESVs during the process of urbanization; and (3) the negative correlation coefficient between built-up areas and ecosystem services was greater than that between the population or GDP and ecosystem services, which indicated that the impacts of population and economic urbanization on ecosystem services lagged behind the impact of land urbanization. This study provides references for fully recognizing the ecological effects of urbanization, and make suggestions regarding the application of ecosystem services in sustainable development.


Forests ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 616
Author(s):  
Jie Gao ◽  
Xuguang Tang ◽  
Shiqiu Lin ◽  
Hongyan Bian

The ecosystem services (ESs) provided by mountain regions can bring about benefits to people living in and around the mountains. Ecosystems in mountain areas are fragile and sensitive to anthropogenic disturbance. Understanding the effect of land use change on ESs and their relationships can lead to sustainable land use management in mountain regions with complex topography. Chongqing, as a typical mountain region, was selected as the site of this research. The long-term impacts of land use change on four key ESs (i.e., water yield (WY), soil conservation (SC), carbon storage (CS), and habitat quality (HQ)) and their relationships were assessed from the past to the future (at five-year intervals, 1995–2050). Three future scenarios were constructed to represent the ecological restoration policy and different socioeconomic developments. From 1995 to 2015, WY and SC experienced overall increases. CS and HQ increased slightly at first and then decreased significantly. A scenario analysis suggested that, if the urban area continues to increase at low altitudes, by 2050, CS and HQ are predicted to decrease moderately. However, great improvements in SC, HQ, and CS are expected to be achieved by the middle of the century if the government continues to make efforts towards vegetation restoration on the steep slopes.


Land ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 582
Author(s):  
Peng Tian ◽  
Jialin Li ◽  
Luodan Cao ◽  
Ruiliang Pu ◽  
Hongbo Gong ◽  
...  

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.


2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 22
Author(s):  
Tianshi Pan ◽  
Lijun Zuo ◽  
Zengxiang Zhang ◽  
Xiaoli Zhao ◽  
Feifei Sun ◽  
...  

The implementation of ecological projects can largely change regional land use patterns, in turn altering the local hydrological process. Articulating these changes and their effects on ecosystem services, such as water conservation, is critical to understanding the impacts of land use activities and in directing future land planning toward regional sustainable development. Taking Zhangjiakou City of the Yongding River as the study area—a region with implementation of various ecological projects—the impact of land use changes on various hydrological components and water conservation capacity from 2000 to 2015 was simulated based on a soil and water assessment tool model (SWAT). An empirical regression model based on partial least squares was established to explore the contribution of different land use changes on water conservation. With special focus on the forest having the most complex effects on the hydrological process, the impacts of forest type and age on the water conservation capacity are discussed on different scales. Results show that between 2000 and 2015, the area of forest, grassland and cultivated land decreased by 0.05%, 0.98% and 1.64%, respectively, which reduces the regional evapotranspiration (0.48%) and soil water content (0.72%). The increase in settlement area (42.23%) is the main reason for the increase in water yield (14.52%). Most land use covered by vegetation has strong water conservation capacity, and the water conservation capacity of the forest is particularly outstanding. Farmland and settlements tend to have a negative effect on water conservation. The water conservation capacity of forest at all scales decreased significantly with the growth of forest (p < 0.05), while the water conservation capacity of different tree species had no significant difference. For the study area, increasing the forest area will be an effective way to improve the water conservation function, planting evergreen conifers can rapidly improve the regional water conservation capacity, while planting deciduous conifers is of great benefit to long-term sustainable development.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (13) ◽  
pp. 2551
Author(s):  
Wanxu Chen ◽  
Jie Zeng ◽  
Yumei Chu ◽  
Jiale Liang

In recent decades, substantial changes have occurred in the spatial structure and form of landscapes in metropolises; these have greatly impacted ecosystem provision capacities. Clarifying the impact mechanism of landscape patterns on ecosystem services can provide insights into regional ecological conservation and sustainable development measures. Although previous studies have explored the impacts of landscape patterns on ecosystem services at multiple scales, few studies have been conducted using the buffer gradient analysis approach. Using land-use/cover change data, this study measured the evolution of spatiotemporal features of landscape patterns and ecosystem services value (ESV) with 1, 2, and 3 km buffer-zone scales in Wuhan, China. Econometric models were then used to analyze the impacts of landscape patterns on ecosystem services at different buffer-zone scales. The results demonstrated that rapid urbanization in Wuhan has led to significant changes in landscape patterns, and the landscape pattern metrics exhibited significant spatial heterogeneity. The ESV in Wuhan exhibited a steady decline during the study period. Hydrological regulations and waste treatment functions contributed to the largest proportion of ESV, and raw material production functions contributed to the lowest proportion. Landscape pattern metrics exerted a significant influence on ESV; however, this influence varied greatly. The results of this study provide a new understanding of the influence mechanism of landscape patterns on ecosystem services at 1, 2, and 3 km buffer-zone scales. These findings are critical for facilitating landscape planning and regional sustainable development.


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