生态效益及其特性

生态效益从1980年代提出以来,在我国得到了广泛的应用。但到了1990年代,随着外来词—生态系统服务(功能)的引进,生态效益在生态学界的使用不像从前普遍。将探讨生态效益的定义、与生态系统服务的关系、形成机制和主要特征,为国家将落实生态效益纳入到社会经济发展评价指标体系提供理论基础。将生态效益定义为生态系统及其变化引起的人类生存和社会经济发展条件的改善程度,并指出了生态效益形成机制及其特性的范围,其中机制包括:生态系统功能发挥机制、生态系统内部稳定机制以及人与自然耦合机制;生态效益特性包括:生态系统介导性、人类福祉相关性、区域环境依赖性、持续再生性、多维性、跨尺度性、外部性、基础性和非市场性。这将为生态效益监测评价方法的建立和不同研究成果比较提供科学基础。

Ecological benefit and its characteristics

Ecological benefit has been largely applied in China since the 1980s. However, in the 1990s, the concept of ecological benefit was overshadowed by the introduction of the concept of ecosystem service. This paper explores the definition of the ecological benefit, as well as its relationship to ecosystem service, its formation mechanism, and the main features, thereby providing theoretical consideration for the incorporation of ecological benefit into evaluation index system for social and economic development in China. Here, the ecological benefit is defined as the improvement of the conditions for human survival and socio-economic progress derived from ecosystems and their changes. It stresses that the mechanisms for the formation of ecological benefits include: ecosystem functioning mechanism, ecosystem internal stability mechanism and human-natural coupling mechanism. Nine characteristics of ecological benefit include ecosystem mediation, human well-being, regional context dependence, sustainable regeneration, multidimensionality, multiple scale, externality, fundamentality, and non-marketability. This offers a scientific basis for establishing a methodology for ecological benefit monitoring and evaluation and for comparing the results of different studies.