The negative effect of soil erosion and soil compaction is well documented for the purpose of optimum rangeland functioning, while the impact of rangeland degradation on effective soil depth is seldom quantified. The ...The negative effect of soil erosion and soil compaction is well documented for the purpose of optimum rangeland functioning, while the impact of rangeland degradation on effective soil depth is seldom quantified. The aim of this study was to quantify the response of vegetation cover and soil properties, particularly effective soil depth and soil texture to rangeland degradation. Forty-one farms were sampled in the arid and semi-arid climate of South Africa. Within these farms, data was collected over a vegetation degradation gradient. Results showed a significant decline in relative basal cover (94% ± 15% to 39% ± 17%) and soil depth (90% ± 14% to 73% ± 24%) as rangeland degraded. Soil texture changes over the degradation gradients vary for different homogeneous vegetation types. Indications regarding the loss of a functioning rangeland ecosystem were also demonstrated, using objective long-term relations between rangeland conditions and grazing capacity. The study highlights the importance of sustainable rangeland management practices to reduce the loss in effective soil depth and to ensure the sustainable utilization of the rangeland ecosystem. These results can probably extrapolate to other arid and semi-arid rangelands worldwide.展开更多
The Wuding River Basin,situated in the Loess Plateau of northern China,is an ecologically fragile region facing severe soil erosion and imbalanced ecosystem service(ES)functions.However,the mechanisms driving the spat...The Wuding River Basin,situated in the Loess Plateau of northern China,is an ecologically fragile region facing severe soil erosion and imbalanced ecosystem service(ES)functions.However,the mechanisms driving the spatiotemporal evolution of ES functions,as well as the trade-offs and synergies among these functions,remain poorly understood,constraining effective watershed-scale management.To address this challenge,this study quantified four ES functions,i.e.,water yield(WY),carbon storage(CS),habitat quality(HQ),and soil conservation(SC)in the Wuding River Basin from 1990 to 2020 using the Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoff(InVEST)model,and proposed an innovative integration of InVEST with a Bayesian Belief Network(BBN)to nonlinearly identify trade-off and synergy relationships among ES functions through probabilistic inference.A trade-off and synergy index(TSI)was developed to assess the spatial interaction intensity among ES functions,while sensitivity and scenario analyses were employed to determine key driving factors,followed by spatial optimization to delineate functional zones.Results revealed distinct spatiotemporal variations:WY increased from 98.69 to 120.52 mm;SC rose to an average of 3.05×10^(4) t/hm^(2);CS remained relatively stable(about 15.50 t/km^(2));and HQ averaged 0.51 with localized declines.The BBN achieved a high accuracy of 81.9%and effectively identified strong synergies between WY and SC,as well as between CS and HQ,while clear trade-offs were observed between WY and SC versus CS and HQ.Sensitivity analysis indicated precipitation(variance reduction of 9.4%),land use(9.8%),and vegetation cover(9.1%)as key driving factors.Spatial optimization further showed that core supply and ecological regulation zones are concentrated in the central-southern and southeastern basin,while ecological strengthening and optimization core zones dominate the central-northern and southeastern margins,highlighting strong spatial heterogeneity.Overall,this study advances ES research by combining process-based quantification with probabilistic modeling,offering a robust framework for studying nonlinear interactions,driving mechanisms,and optimization strategies,and providing a transferable paradigm for watershed-scale ES management and ecological planning in arid and semi-arid areas.展开更多
Sand-fflled splash cups were used to study the erosive power of rainfall and throughfall in the humid subtropics of Southeast China. The splash cup measurements yielded precise and reproducible results under both open...Sand-fflled splash cups were used to study the erosive power of rainfall and throughfall in the humid subtropics of Southeast China. The splash cup measurements yielded precise and reproducible results under both open field conditions and forest vegetation. The splash cups were exposed to specific forest stands of different ages and to selected species （Schima superba, Castanopsis eyrei, Daphniphyllum oldhamii, Lithocarpus glaber） in the Gutianshan （古田山） National Nature Reserve （GNNR）. The results of the measurements under forest vegetation show that the erosive power of throughfall drops to be 2.59 times higher compared to the open field. This accentuates the importance of shrub, herb and litter layers in forest ecosystems to protect the soil against erosion. Coalescing drops from leaves and branches （drips） are responsible for this notable gain in erosive power. Moreover, differences in sandloss between the investigated tree species （deciduous, evergreen） revealed that the erosion potential and the spatial heterogeneity of throughfall are species-specific. This highlights the importance of selecting specific species for afforestation projects considering the prevention of soil erosion.展开更多
The 21st century has seen an acceleration of global change,including climate change,elevated carbon dioxide,nitrogen deposition,and land-use intensification,which poses a significant threat to ecosystem functioning.Ne...The 21st century has seen an acceleration of global change,including climate change,elevated carbon dioxide,nitrogen deposition,and land-use intensification,which poses a significant threat to ecosystem functioning.Nev-ertheless,studies on the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning(BEF)have consistently demonstrated that biodiversity enhances ecosystem functioning and its stability,even in variable environmental conditions.These findings potentially indicate the critical role of biodiversity in promoting sustainable provi-sioning of ecosystem functioning under global change.Our paper provides a comprehensive review of current BEF research and the response of BEF to multiple global change factors.We demonstrate that(1)assessing the effects of biodiversity on ecosystem functioning requires consideration of multiple dimensions of diversity,such as diversity across multiple trophic levels(plants,animals,and microbes),multiple facets(taxonomy,functional traits,and phylogeny),and multiple spatial scales(local,regional,and landscape scales).(2)The interaction of multiple global change factors may lead to a greater reduction in biodiversity and ecosystem functioning than a single global change factor.(3)Multidimensional biodiversity regulates the response of ecosystem functioning to global change factors,indicating that high levels of multidimensional biodiversity can mitigate the negative impacts of global change on ecosystem functioning.Overall,we emphasize that recognizing the importance of multidimensional biodiversity is critical for sustaining ecosystem functioning.Therefore,prioritizing conserva-tion efforts to maintain and enhance all dimensions of biodiversity is essential to address the challenges of future global change.展开更多
In order to better explore the function of urban forest in human habitation and settlement environment,the ecosystem functions were evaluated in terms of air purification,water conservation,soil conservation,maintenan...In order to better explore the function of urban forest in human habitation and settlement environment,the ecosystem functions were evaluated in terms of air purification,water conservation,soil conservation,maintenance of biodiversity in Meizhou by the methods of market price,shadow prices approach and opportunity cost,and the problems of the value assessment at home and abroad in urban forest ecosystem services function were simply discussed.展开更多
Background The relationships between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning(BEF)are of global concern due to unprecedented biodiversity loss.Although many controlled experiments advocate that biodiversity enhances eco...Background The relationships between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning(BEF)are of global concern due to unprecedented biodiversity loss.Although many controlled experiments advocate that biodiversity enhances ecosystem functioning,BEF relationships in natural ecosystems remain uncertain,especially in aquatic ecosystems.Specifically,how environmental heterogeneity shapes the effects of biodiversity on aquatic ecosystem functioning has been rarely researched.To address this issue,we explored the relationships among fish biodiversity,environmental factors,and ecosystem functioning(measured as productivity and decomposition)across different riverine zones(reference zone[Ref Z],reservoir zone[RZ],and impacted zone[IZ])along the Yangtze River mainstem(ca.6300 km).Moreover,the relative importance of biodiversity and environmental factors to ecosystem functioning were evaluated.Results Our results indicated that diverse conditions along the riverine gradient drove spatial variability in fish biodiversity,with significantly lower functional diversity in Ref Z.Moreover,divergent patterns of BEF relationships and underlying mechanisms were detected across different zones.Specifically,productivity and decomposition increased with functional richness(FRic)in Ref Z and RZ,respectively,suggesting a complementarity effect that appeared critical for maintaining high ecosystem functioning.Conversely,in IZ,decomposition exhibited negative relationships with functional evenness(FEve)and divergence(FDiv),indicating dominance-driven selection effect underlying the BEF relationships.Contrary to our prediction,environmental factors explained more variation in ecosystem functioning than biodiversity across all zones.Despite the overall lower diversity,we found that biodiversity exhibited the greatest relative contribution to ecosystem functioning in the Ref Z,highlighting its crucial role in sustaining ecosystem functioning in less-disturbed ecosystems.In addition,greater contributions of biotic factors to biodiversity and ecosystem functioning in Ref Z was mainly attributed to the role of plankton communities in supporting aquatic consumers.Conclusions Our findings suggested that BEF relationships and their underlying mechanisms were contextdependent and varied across different riverine zones,emphasizing the necessity of zone-specific and perhaps even habitat-specific conservation strategies.Although environmental factors primarily regulated ecosystem functioning across all reaches,the relative contribution of biodiversity and biotic factors was more pronounced in less-disturbed zones.To enhance the ecosystem resilience against global change,we advocate the priority of heterogeneous habitat conservation in aquatic ecosystem management.展开更多
The Loess Plateau in northern Shaanxi Province of China covers Yulin, Yan＇an, and Tongchuan cities mainly. The kind of physiognomy is complicated and various, including the transitional region of the sand and wind, t...The Loess Plateau in northern Shaanxi Province of China covers Yulin, Yan＇an, and Tongchuan cities mainly. The kind of physiognomy is complicated and various, including the transitional region of the sand and wind, the hilly-gully fragile region, the pimple mound region from North to South. Large-scale land reclamation projects that are severely affecting these ecosystems have been implemented. In this paper, we reported an investigation to the changes in land use and ecosystem services on the Loess Plateau in northern Shaanxi Province from 1978 to 2000. We used three LANDSAT TM and/or ETM data sets to estimate the changes in the size of five land-cover/land-use categories, and we also used previously published value coefficients to estimate the changes in the value of ecosystem services delivered by each land category. Finally, we ranked the contribution of various ecosystem functions to the overall value of the ecosystem services, we have estimated that the annual value of the ecosystem services is 56.95 billon RMB yuan in the Loess Plateau in northern Shaanxi Province in 2000. In the region, from 1978 to 2000, the economic value of the fixing carbon was higher, the economic value of water conservation was the lowest, but the economic value of the NPP, fixing carbon, and supplying oxygen accounted for above ninety percent of the total value, obviously the vegetation created the biggest ecosystem service value. We can conclude that future land-use policy formulation should give precedence to the conservation of these ecosystems over uncontrolled reclamation, and that further land reclamation should be based on rigorous environmental impact analyses.展开更多
Using energy analysis,the quantifying evaluation and study method on production, living and ecology functions and their sustainability of rural settlement ecosystem in mountain area is established with these energy in...Using energy analysis,the quantifying evaluation and study method on production, living and ecology functions and their sustainability of rural settlement ecosystem in mountain area is established with these energy index such as export of labor and products, export of water resource, internal energy reserve, energy consumption for human living, net energy of ecosystem function and net internal reserve. Taking rural settlement Raosi Village in Hengduan Mountains as a case study, and on the basis of the synthetic research into the ecological process of the complex ecosystem, the study shows that energy costs of production, human living and ecology functions are separately taking 1.36%, 13.59% and 85. 05% of the gross ecosystem functions, and the exertions of production and human living functions are close to a high-point state on the present using level of energy in the settlement. The study also shows that the most important function of a rural settlement in mountain area is its ecological rather productive function.展开更多
The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau(QTP),also known as the Third Pole of the Earth,is a vital ecological security barrier for China.It is a tremendously sensitive region affected by the impacts of global climate change.The esca...The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau(QTP),also known as the Third Pole of the Earth,is a vital ecological security barrier for China.It is a tremendously sensitive region affected by the impacts of global climate change.The escalating intensity of climate change has presented profound challenges to its ecosystem functions and stability.This study first analyzes the spatiotemporal variations of the QTP ecosystem patterns and the key functions of the Plateau including water conservation,soil conservation,and windbreak and sand fixation from 2000 to 2020.It clarifies the regional differences in ecosystem functions and their importance,further evaluates the stability of ecosystem functions,and lays a scientific foundation for an ecological civilization on the Plateau by implementing conservation and restoration projects.The main results show that:(1)From 2000 to 2020,the wetland area in the QTP increased,while the grassland area significantly decreased.There were improvements in water conservation and windbreak and sand fixation capacities,with annual rates of change being 3.57m~3·ha^(-1)·a^(-1)and 0.23 t·ha^(-1)·a^(-1),respectively.However,the overall soil conservation trend declined during the same period,with an annual change rate of-0.16 t·ha^(-1)·a^(-1).(2)The core areas of water conservation,soil conservation,and windbreak and sand fixation on the QTP accounted for 12.7%,13.9%,and 14.2%of the total area,respectively.The core water conservation areas are mainly the southeastern QTP,Sanjiangyuan,and Naqu,while the core windbreak and sand fixation areas were concentrated in the central and western parts of the Plateau.The core soil conservation areas surrounded the entire interior of the Plateau.(3)From 2000 to 2020,the water conservation,soil conservation,and windbreak sand-fixation function on the QTP had higher stability in the southeastern and central parts,while stability was lower in the western region.Considering the stability assessment and ecological protection and restoration practices,the QTP can be divided into three major categories and 16 ecological functional zones.Differentiated ecological protection and restoration efforts can be implemented based on the different core ecosystem functions and zoning.展开更多
In the past,evaluations of ecosystem functions were mostly based on Costanza's model,whereas the spatial,quality and temporal characteristics of regional ecosystems were not considered in the model.Focusing on the...In the past,evaluations of ecosystem functions were mostly based on Costanza's model,whereas the spatial,quality and temporal characteristics of regional ecosystems were not considered in the model.Focusing on these issues,coefficients of regional difference,spatial heterogeneity and willingness-to-pay(WTP)were established to modify Costanza's model,and a new comprehensive valuation model of ecosystem functions is proposed.The analytical results indicate that the comprehensive model could evaluate regional ecosystem functions in China accurately and provide more helpful information for decision-making.The empirical study on Zhangbei County in Hebei Province shows that the intensive human activities could limit the provision of ecosystem functions while the planned ecological programs might promote the restoration of ecosystem functions.展开更多
Ecosystem services can be enhanced through ecological restoration,industrial structure adjustment,land-use optimization,and agricultural and forestry ecosystem transformation.The ecosystem services in hilly and mounta...Ecosystem services can be enhanced through ecological restoration,industrial structure adjustment,land-use optimization,and agricultural and forestry ecosystem transformation.The ecosystem services in hilly and mountainous areas of southern China are crucially needed to be enhanced since these regions are important ecological functional zones in China.However,due to its large area,it is not possible to simultaneously upgrade the ecosystem services for all areas,and therefore,priority areas need to be selected to individually upgrade the ecosystem service function.In this study,via an approach of combining remote sensing,geographic information system,and spatial statistics,we identify the priority areas that need to be upgraded based on the analysis of ecological sensitivity,importance of ecosystem service function,and decreased degree in ecosystem services.For five counties in hilly and mountainous areas of southern China,only less than 2% of the total area was identified as the first priority area;its land-use compositions were analyzed and recommendations on how to enhance ecosystem service were suggested.This approach overcomes the conflict and contradiction issues associated with identifying priority areas in previous studies and solves the problems of high cost or difficult implementation of priority areas.展开更多
Ecosystem services have become one of the core elements of ecosystem management and evaluation. As a key area of ecosystem services and for maintaining national ecological security, ecosystem changes and implementatio...Ecosystem services have become one of the core elements of ecosystem management and evaluation. As a key area of ecosystem services and for maintaining national ecological security, ecosystem changes and implementation effect evaluation are important in national key ecological function zones, for promoting the main function zone strategy and for improving the construction of an ecological civilization. This article studies the ecological zone of a tropical rainforest region in the central mountain area of Hainan Island, China. Multi-source satellite data and ground observation statistics are analyzed with geo-statistics method and ecological assessment model. The core analysis of this paper includes ecosystem patterns, quality and services. By means of spatial and temporal scale expansion and multidimensional space-time correlation analysis, the trends and stability characteristics of ecosystem changes are analyzed, and implementation effect evaluation is discussed. The analysis shows a variety of results. The proportion of forest area inside the ecological zone was significantly higher than the average level in Hainan Island. During 1990–2013, settlement gradually increased inside the ecological zone. After implementation of the zone in 2010, human activity intensity increased, with the main land use being urban construction and land reclamation. Water conservation in the ecological function zone was higher than that outside the zone. In general, it increased slightly, but had obvious fluctuations. Soil conservation inside the zone was also better than that outside. However, it demonstrated dramatic fluctuations and relatively poor stability during 1990–2013. The human disturbance index inside the zone was significantly lower than that outside, and had a lower biodiversity threat level. Especially in 2010–2013, the increased range of the human disturbance index inside the zone was significantly less than that outside.展开更多
Based on the measurement parameters and index in the Specifications for Assessment of Forest Ecosystem Services in China(LY/T 1721-2008),the value of ecological service functions of ecological public welfare forest in...Based on the measurement parameters and index in the Specifications for Assessment of Forest Ecosystem Services in China(LY/T 1721-2008),the value of ecological service functions of ecological public welfare forest in Wenchang City was evaluated and analyzed.The results show that the total value of ecosystem service function of ecological public welfare forests in Wenchang City is about 4.020 billion yuan,of which storage capacity,water purification,soil fixation,fertilizer(N,P and K fertilizer) conservation,carbon sequestration,oxygen release,forest nutrient accumulation,providing anion,absorbing SO_2,absorbing fluoride,absorbing NxO,absorbing soil heavy metals,dust retention,noise reduction,sterilization,forest protection,forest biodiversity protection,and forest recreation(ecological tourism) are about 1.510 billion,582.256 million,3.769 million,268.220 million,116.360 million,2.747 million,22.682 million,42.817 million,1.722 million,74,600,131,900,187.918 million,77.409 million,28.721 million,43.090 million,180.696 million,571.036 million,and 108.677 million yuan展开更多
1 Introduction Fresh or saline,lakes constantly exchange with other water bodies on the Earth.Together,they form a crucial part of the water cycle–one of the most important ecosystem functions supporting humans and o...1 Introduction Fresh or saline,lakes constantly exchange with other water bodies on the Earth.Together,they form a crucial part of the water cycle–one of the most important ecosystem functions supporting humans and other biological communities.Lakes have provided invaluable and irreplaceable ecosystem services(benefits)for the展开更多
In this paper, the effects of land cover changes on the climate of the La Plata Basin in southern South America are investigated using the Weather and Research Forecasting （WRF） Model configured on a 30/10- km two-w...In this paper, the effects of land cover changes on the climate of the La Plata Basin in southern South America are investigated using the Weather and Research Forecasting （WRF） Model configured on a 30/10- km two-way interactive nested grid. To assess the regional climate changes resulting from land surface changes, the standard land cover types are replaced by time-varying Ecosystem Functional Types （EFTs）, which is a newly devised land-cover classification that characterizes the spatial and interannual variability of surface vegetation dynamics. These variations indicate that natural and anthropogenic activities have caused changes in the surface physical parameters of the basin, such as albedo and roughness length, that contributed to regional climate changes. EFTs are obtained from functional attributes of vegetation computed from properties of the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index （NDVI） to represent patches of the land surface with homogeneous energy and gas exchanges with the atmosphere. Four simulations are conducted, each experimental period ranging from September to November in two contrasting years, 1988 and 1998. The influence of an identical EFT change on the surface heat fluxes, 2-m temperature and humidity, 10-m winds, convective instabilities and large-scale moisture fluxes and precipitation are explored for 1988 （a dry year） and 1998 （a wet year）. Results show that the surface and atmospheric climate has a larger response to the same EFT changes in a dry year for 2-m temperature and 10-m wind; the response is larger in a wet year for 2-m water vapor mixing ratio, convective available potential energy, vertically integrated moisture fluxes and surface precipitation. For EFTs with high productivity and a weak seasonal cycle, the near- surface temperature during the spring of 1988 and 1998 increased by as much as I^C in the central and western portions of La Plata Basin. Additionally, for higher productivity EFTs, precipitation differences were generally positive in both dry and wet years, although the patterns are not uniform and exhibit certain patchiness with drier conditions.展开更多
In this paper, we introduce a new concept of land-surface state representation for southern South America, which is based on ＂functional＂ attributes of vegetation, and implement a new land-cover （Ecosystem Function...In this paper, we introduce a new concept of land-surface state representation for southern South America, which is based on ＂functional＂ attributes of vegetation, and implement a new land-cover （Ecosystem Functional Type, hereafter EFT） dataset in the Weather and Research Forecasting （WRF） model. We found that the EFT data enabled us to deal with functional attributes of vegetation and time-variant features more easily than the default land-cover data in the WRF. In order to explore the usefulness of the EFT data in simulations of surface and atmospheric variables, numerical simulations of the WRF model, using both the US Geological Survey （USGS） and the EFT data, were conducted over the La Plata Basin in South America for the austral spring of 1998 and compared with observations. Results showed that the model simulations were sensitive to the lower boundary conditions and that the use of the EFT data improved the climate simulation of 2-m temperature and precipitation, implying the need for this type of information to be included in numerical climate models.展开更多
It is widely accepted that there is an economic progress beyond the Gross Domestic Product （GDP）, while global GDP has increased more than three-fold since 1950, whereas ecosystems have been largely occupied and dep...It is widely accepted that there is an economic progress beyond the Gross Domestic Product （GDP）, while global GDP has increased more than three-fold since 1950, whereas ecosystems have been largely occupied and depleted. Since the 1990s, emphasis has focused on function and valuation of ecosystem services, which is rarely treated as a market issue. This paper reviews recent developments on measures to evaluate and assess ecosystem services, while elucidating the function of ecosystem services. On the one hand, functions of ecosystem services are subdivided into several items such as gas reg- ulation, water regulation, soil and nutrient recycling. Also, there exist intellectually guided functions of ecosystem services, such as culture and recreation. On the other hand, ecosystems can be viewed as a supplier in the trade between human beings and natural resources such that all resources can be labeled and quantified.展开更多
[Objective] The aim was to better reveal the type of ecosystem service function of wetlands in Chao Lake and provide references for protection and man- agement, restoration and rebuilding of local wetland ecosystem. [...[Objective] The aim was to better reveal the type of ecosystem service function of wetlands in Chao Lake and provide references for protection and man- agement, restoration and rebuilding of local wetland ecosystem. [Method] The val- ues of ecosystem function was estimated by market value method, opportunity cost approach, replacement cost method, shadow engineering approach, travel cost method, hedonic pricing method and contingent value method. [Result] With wetland ecosystem service function value totals 4.968 billion yuan, the value of eco-environ- ment regulation and maintenance was the highest, followed by the value of cultural and social function. The value of material production was the least. The values of sub-functions can be concluded by comparison of service function va}ue and pro- portions, as follows： flood mitigation 〉water purification 〉water conservation 〉 tourism＆leisure〉material production〉scientific research and education〉water supply〉 biodiversity maintenance〉regulation on atmosphere constituents. [Conclusion] The re- search performed quantitative evaluations on ecosystem service function values of wetlands in Chao Lake and is of significance for specific development and protec- tion of local wetlands.展开更多
At present about 60% of ecosystem has been damaged and degraded severely, resulting in enormous ecological loss globally. The essential cause is the irrational utilization of ecosystem by humankind, so it is tire key ...At present about 60% of ecosystem has been damaged and degraded severely, resulting in enormous ecological loss globally. The essential cause is the irrational utilization of ecosystem by humankind, so it is tire key to changing improper environmental performance of humankind so as to prevent ecosystem from being damaged The quantitative valuation on the loss of ecological damage is an effective tool to guide human eco-environmental performance. In this paper, the concepts related to the valuation on ecological damage cost are introduced,＂ uncertainties that might arise in the valuation on the loss of ecological damage such as area coverage of valuation, ecological damage quantity, borders of ecological damage cost and data support are analyzed and the valuation approaches for the loss of ecological damage are also discussed As a case study, the economic losses of ecological damage of forest in 2005 in China are valuated.展开更多
Using the principles and methods of eco-economics as the research object,Aral City comprehensively expounds the ecological service functions such as ecosystem regulation of climate,carbon sequestration,soil conservati...Using the principles and methods of eco-economics as the research object,Aral City comprehensively expounds the ecological service functions such as ecosystem regulation of climate,carbon sequestration,soil conservation,water conservation and purification environment,and evaluates its economic value.The total value of the estimated 2021 is 1303.65 million yuan.At the same time,the importance of ecological service functions of urban ecosystems,from large to small,is to sequester carbon and release oxygen,purify the environment,maintain soil,conserd water sources,regulate the climate.The ecosystem service function which needs to be paid attention to in the concept of ecological construction and restoration of the next stage of ecological construction in Aral City.展开更多
文摘The negative effect of soil erosion and soil compaction is well documented for the purpose of optimum rangeland functioning, while the impact of rangeland degradation on effective soil depth is seldom quantified. The aim of this study was to quantify the response of vegetation cover and soil properties, particularly effective soil depth and soil texture to rangeland degradation. Forty-one farms were sampled in the arid and semi-arid climate of South Africa. Within these farms, data was collected over a vegetation degradation gradient. Results showed a significant decline in relative basal cover (94% ± 15% to 39% ± 17%) and soil depth (90% ± 14% to 73% ± 24%) as rangeland degraded. Soil texture changes over the degradation gradients vary for different homogeneous vegetation types. Indications regarding the loss of a functioning rangeland ecosystem were also demonstrated, using objective long-term relations between rangeland conditions and grazing capacity. The study highlights the importance of sustainable rangeland management practices to reduce the loss in effective soil depth and to ensure the sustainable utilization of the rangeland ecosystem. These results can probably extrapolate to other arid and semi-arid rangelands worldwide.
基金supported by the Science and Technology Project of Shaanxi Province Water Conservancy,China(2025slkj-10)the Natural Science Basic Research Program of Shaanxi Province,China(S2025-JC-QN-2416).
文摘The Wuding River Basin,situated in the Loess Plateau of northern China,is an ecologically fragile region facing severe soil erosion and imbalanced ecosystem service(ES)functions.However,the mechanisms driving the spatiotemporal evolution of ES functions,as well as the trade-offs and synergies among these functions,remain poorly understood,constraining effective watershed-scale management.To address this challenge,this study quantified four ES functions,i.e.,water yield(WY),carbon storage(CS),habitat quality(HQ),and soil conservation(SC)in the Wuding River Basin from 1990 to 2020 using the Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoff(InVEST)model,and proposed an innovative integration of InVEST with a Bayesian Belief Network(BBN)to nonlinearly identify trade-off and synergy relationships among ES functions through probabilistic inference.A trade-off and synergy index(TSI)was developed to assess the spatial interaction intensity among ES functions,while sensitivity and scenario analyses were employed to determine key driving factors,followed by spatial optimization to delineate functional zones.Results revealed distinct spatiotemporal variations:WY increased from 98.69 to 120.52 mm;SC rose to an average of 3.05×10^(4) t/hm^(2);CS remained relatively stable(about 15.50 t/km^(2));and HQ averaged 0.51 with localized declines.The BBN achieved a high accuracy of 81.9%and effectively identified strong synergies between WY and SC,as well as between CS and HQ,while clear trade-offs were observed between WY and SC versus CS and HQ.Sensitivity analysis indicated precipitation(variance reduction of 9.4%),land use(9.8%),and vegetation cover(9.1%)as key driving factors.Spatial optimization further showed that core supply and ecological regulation zones are concentrated in the central-southern and southeastern basin,while ecological strengthening and optimization core zones dominate the central-northern and southeastern margins,highlighting strong spatial heterogeneity.Overall,this study advances ES research by combining process-based quantification with probabilistic modeling,offering a robust framework for studying nonlinear interactions,driving mechanisms,and optimization strategies,and providing a transferable paradigm for watershed-scale ES management and ecological planning in arid and semi-arid areas.
基金supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemein-schaft (German Science Foundation) (No. DFG FOR 891/1)the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 30710103907, 30930005)
文摘Sand-fflled splash cups were used to study the erosive power of rainfall and throughfall in the humid subtropics of Southeast China. The splash cup measurements yielded precise and reproducible results under both open field conditions and forest vegetation. The splash cups were exposed to specific forest stands of different ages and to selected species （Schima superba, Castanopsis eyrei, Daphniphyllum oldhamii, Lithocarpus glaber） in the Gutianshan （古田山） National Nature Reserve （GNNR）. The results of the measurements under forest vegetation show that the erosive power of throughfall drops to be 2.59 times higher compared to the open field. This accentuates the importance of shrub, herb and litter layers in forest ecosystems to protect the soil against erosion. Coalescing drops from leaves and branches （drips） are responsible for this notable gain in erosive power. Moreover, differences in sandloss between the investigated tree species （deciduous, evergreen） revealed that the erosion potential and the spatial heterogeneity of throughfall are species-specific. This highlights the importance of selecting specific species for afforestation projects considering the prevention of soil erosion.
基金partially supported by the National Natural Sci-ence Foundation of China(Grant No.32101309)National Key R&D Program of China(Grant No.2022YFF0802102)+1 种基金International Partnership Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences(Grant No.177GJHZ2022020BS)Youth Innovation Promotion Association CAS(2021050).
文摘The 21st century has seen an acceleration of global change,including climate change,elevated carbon dioxide,nitrogen deposition,and land-use intensification,which poses a significant threat to ecosystem functioning.Nev-ertheless,studies on the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning(BEF)have consistently demonstrated that biodiversity enhances ecosystem functioning and its stability,even in variable environmental conditions.These findings potentially indicate the critical role of biodiversity in promoting sustainable provi-sioning of ecosystem functioning under global change.Our paper provides a comprehensive review of current BEF research and the response of BEF to multiple global change factors.We demonstrate that(1)assessing the effects of biodiversity on ecosystem functioning requires consideration of multiple dimensions of diversity,such as diversity across multiple trophic levels(plants,animals,and microbes),multiple facets(taxonomy,functional traits,and phylogeny),and multiple spatial scales(local,regional,and landscape scales).(2)The interaction of multiple global change factors may lead to a greater reduction in biodiversity and ecosystem functioning than a single global change factor.(3)Multidimensional biodiversity regulates the response of ecosystem functioning to global change factors,indicating that high levels of multidimensional biodiversity can mitigate the negative impacts of global change on ecosystem functioning.Overall,we emphasize that recognizing the importance of multidimensional biodiversity is critical for sustaining ecosystem functioning.Therefore,prioritizing conserva-tion efforts to maintain and enhance all dimensions of biodiversity is essential to address the challenges of future global change.
基金Supported by Special Funds for Central Financial to Support the Local Colleges and Universities([2013]389)~~
文摘In order to better explore the function of urban forest in human habitation and settlement environment,the ecosystem functions were evaluated in terms of air purification,water conservation,soil conservation,maintenance of biodiversity in Meizhou by the methods of market price,shadow prices approach and opportunity cost,and the problems of the value assessment at home and abroad in urban forest ecosystem services function were simply discussed.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.31670459)the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities(Project.2662020SCPY007)
文摘Background The relationships between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning(BEF)are of global concern due to unprecedented biodiversity loss.Although many controlled experiments advocate that biodiversity enhances ecosystem functioning,BEF relationships in natural ecosystems remain uncertain,especially in aquatic ecosystems.Specifically,how environmental heterogeneity shapes the effects of biodiversity on aquatic ecosystem functioning has been rarely researched.To address this issue,we explored the relationships among fish biodiversity,environmental factors,and ecosystem functioning(measured as productivity and decomposition)across different riverine zones(reference zone[Ref Z],reservoir zone[RZ],and impacted zone[IZ])along the Yangtze River mainstem(ca.6300 km).Moreover,the relative importance of biodiversity and environmental factors to ecosystem functioning were evaluated.Results Our results indicated that diverse conditions along the riverine gradient drove spatial variability in fish biodiversity,with significantly lower functional diversity in Ref Z.Moreover,divergent patterns of BEF relationships and underlying mechanisms were detected across different zones.Specifically,productivity and decomposition increased with functional richness(FRic)in Ref Z and RZ,respectively,suggesting a complementarity effect that appeared critical for maintaining high ecosystem functioning.Conversely,in IZ,decomposition exhibited negative relationships with functional evenness(FEve)and divergence(FDiv),indicating dominance-driven selection effect underlying the BEF relationships.Contrary to our prediction,environmental factors explained more variation in ecosystem functioning than biodiversity across all zones.Despite the overall lower diversity,we found that biodiversity exhibited the greatest relative contribution to ecosystem functioning in the Ref Z,highlighting its crucial role in sustaining ecosystem functioning in less-disturbed ecosystems.In addition,greater contributions of biotic factors to biodiversity and ecosystem functioning in Ref Z was mainly attributed to the role of plankton communities in supporting aquatic consumers.Conclusions Our findings suggested that BEF relationships and their underlying mechanisms were contextdependent and varied across different riverine zones,emphasizing the necessity of zone-specific and perhaps even habitat-specific conservation strategies.Although environmental factors primarily regulated ecosystem functioning across all reaches,the relative contribution of biodiversity and biotic factors was more pronounced in less-disturbed zones.To enhance the ecosystem resilience against global change,we advocate the priority of heterogeneous habitat conservation in aquatic ecosystem management.
基金the National Natural Science Foundation of China(40771019)the National Natural Science Foundation of Shaanxi Province,China(2007D16).
文摘The Loess Plateau in northern Shaanxi Province of China covers Yulin, Yan＇an, and Tongchuan cities mainly. The kind of physiognomy is complicated and various, including the transitional region of the sand and wind, the hilly-gully fragile region, the pimple mound region from North to South. Large-scale land reclamation projects that are severely affecting these ecosystems have been implemented. In this paper, we reported an investigation to the changes in land use and ecosystem services on the Loess Plateau in northern Shaanxi Province from 1978 to 2000. We used three LANDSAT TM and/or ETM data sets to estimate the changes in the size of five land-cover/land-use categories, and we also used previously published value coefficients to estimate the changes in the value of ecosystem services delivered by each land category. Finally, we ranked the contribution of various ecosystem functions to the overall value of the ecosystem services, we have estimated that the annual value of the ecosystem services is 56.95 billon RMB yuan in the Loess Plateau in northern Shaanxi Province in 2000. In the region, from 1978 to 2000, the economic value of the fixing carbon was higher, the economic value of water conservation was the lowest, but the economic value of the NPP, fixing carbon, and supplying oxygen accounted for above ninety percent of the total value, obviously the vegetation created the biggest ecosystem service value. We can conclude that future land-use policy formulation should give precedence to the conservation of these ecosystems over uncontrolled reclamation, and that further land reclamation should be based on rigorous environmental impact analyses.
文摘Using energy analysis,the quantifying evaluation and study method on production, living and ecology functions and their sustainability of rural settlement ecosystem in mountain area is established with these energy index such as export of labor and products, export of water resource, internal energy reserve, energy consumption for human living, net energy of ecosystem function and net internal reserve. Taking rural settlement Raosi Village in Hengduan Mountains as a case study, and on the basis of the synthetic research into the ecological process of the complex ecosystem, the study shows that energy costs of production, human living and ecology functions are separately taking 1.36%, 13.59% and 85. 05% of the gross ecosystem functions, and the exertions of production and human living functions are close to a high-point state on the present using level of energy in the settlement. The study also shows that the most important function of a rural settlement in mountain area is its ecological rather productive function.
基金The Second Tibetan Plateau Scientific Expedition and Research Program,No.2019QZKK0404。
文摘The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau(QTP),also known as the Third Pole of the Earth,is a vital ecological security barrier for China.It is a tremendously sensitive region affected by the impacts of global climate change.The escalating intensity of climate change has presented profound challenges to its ecosystem functions and stability.This study first analyzes the spatiotemporal variations of the QTP ecosystem patterns and the key functions of the Plateau including water conservation,soil conservation,and windbreak and sand fixation from 2000 to 2020.It clarifies the regional differences in ecosystem functions and their importance,further evaluates the stability of ecosystem functions,and lays a scientific foundation for an ecological civilization on the Plateau by implementing conservation and restoration projects.The main results show that:(1)From 2000 to 2020,the wetland area in the QTP increased,while the grassland area significantly decreased.There were improvements in water conservation and windbreak and sand fixation capacities,with annual rates of change being 3.57m~3·ha^(-1)·a^(-1)and 0.23 t·ha^(-1)·a^(-1),respectively.However,the overall soil conservation trend declined during the same period,with an annual change rate of-0.16 t·ha^(-1)·a^(-1).(2)The core areas of water conservation,soil conservation,and windbreak and sand fixation on the QTP accounted for 12.7%,13.9%,and 14.2%of the total area,respectively.The core water conservation areas are mainly the southeastern QTP,Sanjiangyuan,and Naqu,while the core windbreak and sand fixation areas were concentrated in the central and western parts of the Plateau.The core soil conservation areas surrounded the entire interior of the Plateau.(3)From 2000 to 2020,the water conservation,soil conservation,and windbreak sand-fixation function on the QTP had higher stability in the southeastern and central parts,while stability was lower in the western region.Considering the stability assessment and ecological protection and restoration practices,the QTP can be divided into three major categories and 16 ecological functional zones.Differentiated ecological protection and restoration efforts can be implemented based on the different core ecosystem functions and zoning.
基金supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.40171001)National Science and Technology Support Program(Grant No.2006BAB15B02-04)+1 种基金Key Fundamental Item of Hebei Province(Grant No.08966712D)Key Discipline Construction Item of Physical Geography of Hebei Province
文摘In the past,evaluations of ecosystem functions were mostly based on Costanza's model,whereas the spatial,quality and temporal characteristics of regional ecosystems were not considered in the model.Focusing on these issues,coefficients of regional difference,spatial heterogeneity and willingness-to-pay(WTP)were established to modify Costanza's model,and a new comprehensive valuation model of ecosystem functions is proposed.The analytical results indicate that the comprehensive model could evaluate regional ecosystem functions in China accurately and provide more helpful information for decision-making.The empirical study on Zhangbei County in Hebei Province shows that the intensive human activities could limit the provision of ecosystem functions while the planned ecological programs might promote the restoration of ecosystem functions.
基金financially supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China(2017YFC0505606)the Top Discipline and First-class University Construction Project(ydzxxk201618)of Minzu University of China。
文摘Ecosystem services can be enhanced through ecological restoration,industrial structure adjustment,land-use optimization,and agricultural and forestry ecosystem transformation.The ecosystem services in hilly and mountainous areas of southern China are crucially needed to be enhanced since these regions are important ecological functional zones in China.However,due to its large area,it is not possible to simultaneously upgrade the ecosystem services for all areas,and therefore,priority areas need to be selected to individually upgrade the ecosystem service function.In this study,via an approach of combining remote sensing,geographic information system,and spatial statistics,we identify the priority areas that need to be upgraded based on the analysis of ecological sensitivity,importance of ecosystem service function,and decreased degree in ecosystem services.For five counties in hilly and mountainous areas of southern China,only less than 2% of the total area was identified as the first priority area;its land-use compositions were analyzed and recommendations on how to enhance ecosystem service were suggested.This approach overcomes the conflict and contradiction issues associated with identifying priority areas in previous studies and solves the problems of high cost or difficult implementation of priority areas.
基金National Key R&D Program of China,No.2017YFC0506506,No.2016YFC0500206National Natural Science Foundation of China,No.41501484
文摘Ecosystem services have become one of the core elements of ecosystem management and evaluation. As a key area of ecosystem services and for maintaining national ecological security, ecosystem changes and implementation effect evaluation are important in national key ecological function zones, for promoting the main function zone strategy and for improving the construction of an ecological civilization. This article studies the ecological zone of a tropical rainforest region in the central mountain area of Hainan Island, China. Multi-source satellite data and ground observation statistics are analyzed with geo-statistics method and ecological assessment model. The core analysis of this paper includes ecosystem patterns, quality and services. By means of spatial and temporal scale expansion and multidimensional space-time correlation analysis, the trends and stability characteristics of ecosystem changes are analyzed, and implementation effect evaluation is discussed. The analysis shows a variety of results. The proportion of forest area inside the ecological zone was significantly higher than the average level in Hainan Island. During 1990–2013, settlement gradually increased inside the ecological zone. After implementation of the zone in 2010, human activity intensity increased, with the main land use being urban construction and land reclamation. Water conservation in the ecological function zone was higher than that outside the zone. In general, it increased slightly, but had obvious fluctuations. Soil conservation inside the zone was also better than that outside. However, it demonstrated dramatic fluctuations and relatively poor stability during 1990–2013. The human disturbance index inside the zone was significantly lower than that outside, and had a lower biodiversity threat level. Especially in 2010–2013, the increased range of the human disturbance index inside the zone was significantly less than that outside.
基金Sponsored by Subsidy for the Running of National Positioning Observation Station of Forest Ecosystems in Wenchang City of Hainan Province(2015-LYPT-DW-095)
文摘Based on the measurement parameters and index in the Specifications for Assessment of Forest Ecosystem Services in China(LY/T 1721-2008),the value of ecological service functions of ecological public welfare forest in Wenchang City was evaluated and analyzed.The results show that the total value of ecosystem service function of ecological public welfare forests in Wenchang City is about 4.020 billion yuan,of which storage capacity,water purification,soil fixation,fertilizer(N,P and K fertilizer) conservation,carbon sequestration,oxygen release,forest nutrient accumulation,providing anion,absorbing SO_2,absorbing fluoride,absorbing NxO,absorbing soil heavy metals,dust retention,noise reduction,sterilization,forest protection,forest biodiversity protection,and forest recreation(ecological tourism) are about 1.510 billion,582.256 million,3.769 million,268.220 million,116.360 million,2.747 million,22.682 million,42.817 million,1.722 million,74,600,131,900,187.918 million,77.409 million,28.721 million,43.090 million,180.696 million,571.036 million,and 108.677 million yuan
文摘1 Introduction Fresh or saline,lakes constantly exchange with other water bodies on the Earth.Together,they form a crucial part of the water cycle–one of the most important ecosystem functions supporting humans and other biological communities.Lakes have provided invaluable and irreplaceable ecosystem services(benefits)for the
基金supported by NSF Grant ATM0646856NASA Grant NNX08AE50Gthe Inter American Institute for Global Change Research (IAI) through the Cooperative Research Network (CRN)-2094
文摘In this paper, the effects of land cover changes on the climate of the La Plata Basin in southern South America are investigated using the Weather and Research Forecasting （WRF） Model configured on a 30/10- km two-way interactive nested grid. To assess the regional climate changes resulting from land surface changes, the standard land cover types are replaced by time-varying Ecosystem Functional Types （EFTs）, which is a newly devised land-cover classification that characterizes the spatial and interannual variability of surface vegetation dynamics. These variations indicate that natural and anthropogenic activities have caused changes in the surface physical parameters of the basin, such as albedo and roughness length, that contributed to regional climate changes. EFTs are obtained from functional attributes of vegetation computed from properties of the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index （NDVI） to represent patches of the land surface with homogeneous energy and gas exchanges with the atmosphere. Four simulations are conducted, each experimental period ranging from September to November in two contrasting years, 1988 and 1998. The influence of an identical EFT change on the surface heat fluxes, 2-m temperature and humidity, 10-m winds, convective instabilities and large-scale moisture fluxes and precipitation are explored for 1988 （a dry year） and 1998 （a wet year）. Results show that the surface and atmospheric climate has a larger response to the same EFT changes in a dry year for 2-m temperature and 10-m wind; the response is larger in a wet year for 2-m water vapor mixing ratio, convective available potential energy, vertically integrated moisture fluxes and surface precipitation. For EFTs with high productivity and a weak seasonal cycle, the near- surface temperature during the spring of 1988 and 1998 increased by as much as I^C in the central and western portions of La Plata Basin. Additionally, for higher productivity EFTs, precipitation differences were generally positive in both dry and wet years, although the patterns are not uniform and exhibit certain patchiness with drier conditions.
基金supported by the Korea Meteorological Administration Research and Development Program under Grant CATER 2012-3030supported by NASA Grant NNX08AE50G+1 种基金NOAA Grant NA09OAR4310189the Inter American Institute for Global Change Research (IAI) through the Cooperative Research Network (CRN)-2094
文摘In this paper, we introduce a new concept of land-surface state representation for southern South America, which is based on ＂functional＂ attributes of vegetation, and implement a new land-cover （Ecosystem Functional Type, hereafter EFT） dataset in the Weather and Research Forecasting （WRF） model. We found that the EFT data enabled us to deal with functional attributes of vegetation and time-variant features more easily than the default land-cover data in the WRF. In order to explore the usefulness of the EFT data in simulations of surface and atmospheric variables, numerical simulations of the WRF model, using both the US Geological Survey （USGS） and the EFT data, were conducted over the La Plata Basin in South America for the austral spring of 1998 and compared with observations. Results showed that the model simulations were sensitive to the lower boundary conditions and that the use of the EFT data improved the climate simulation of 2-m temperature and precipitation, implying the need for this type of information to be included in numerical climate models.
基金supported by the Cooperation-Innovation team project of Chinese Academy of Sciencesthe National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 30970492 and No. 91025002).
文摘It is widely accepted that there is an economic progress beyond the Gross Domestic Product （GDP）, while global GDP has increased more than three-fold since 1950, whereas ecosystems have been largely occupied and depleted. Since the 1990s, emphasis has focused on function and valuation of ecosystem services, which is rarely treated as a market issue. This paper reviews recent developments on measures to evaluate and assess ecosystem services, while elucidating the function of ecosystem services. On the one hand, functions of ecosystem services are subdivided into several items such as gas reg- ulation, water regulation, soil and nutrient recycling. Also, there exist intellectually guided functions of ecosystem services, such as culture and recreation. On the other hand, ecosystems can be viewed as a supplier in the trade between human beings and natural resources such that all resources can be labeled and quantified.
基金Supported by Anhui Environment Protection Scientific Research Program in 2014(201404)~~
文摘[Objective] The aim was to better reveal the type of ecosystem service function of wetlands in Chao Lake and provide references for protection and man- agement, restoration and rebuilding of local wetland ecosystem. [Method] The val- ues of ecosystem function was estimated by market value method, opportunity cost approach, replacement cost method, shadow engineering approach, travel cost method, hedonic pricing method and contingent value method. [Result] With wetland ecosystem service function value totals 4.968 billion yuan, the value of eco-environ- ment regulation and maintenance was the highest, followed by the value of cultural and social function. The value of material production was the least. The values of sub-functions can be concluded by comparison of service function va}ue and pro- portions, as follows： flood mitigation 〉water purification 〉water conservation 〉 tourism＆leisure〉material production〉scientific research and education〉water supply〉 biodiversity maintenance〉regulation on atmosphere constituents. [Conclusion] The re- search performed quantitative evaluations on ecosystem service function values of wetlands in Chao Lake and is of significance for specific development and protec- tion of local wetlands.
文摘At present about 60% of ecosystem has been damaged and degraded severely, resulting in enormous ecological loss globally. The essential cause is the irrational utilization of ecosystem by humankind, so it is tire key to changing improper environmental performance of humankind so as to prevent ecosystem from being damaged The quantitative valuation on the loss of ecological damage is an effective tool to guide human eco-environmental performance. In this paper, the concepts related to the valuation on ecological damage cost are introduced,＂ uncertainties that might arise in the valuation on the loss of ecological damage such as area coverage of valuation, ecological damage quantity, borders of ecological damage cost and data support are analyzed and the valuation approaches for the loss of ecological damage are also discussed As a case study, the economic losses of ecological damage of forest in 2005 in China are valuated.
文摘Using the principles and methods of eco-economics as the research object,Aral City comprehensively expounds the ecological service functions such as ecosystem regulation of climate,carbon sequestration,soil conservation,water conservation and purification environment,and evaluates its economic value.The total value of the estimated 2021 is 1303.65 million yuan.At the same time,the importance of ecological service functions of urban ecosystems,from large to small,is to sequester carbon and release oxygen,purify the environment,maintain soil,conserd water sources,regulate the climate.The ecosystem service function which needs to be paid attention to in the concept of ecological construction and restoration of the next stage of ecological construction in Aral City.
