Vulnerability of ecosystem services provisioning to urbanization: A case of China

Vulnerability assessment has gradually emerged as a basic tool in analyzing the response of regional and global environment to external events. Many studies have evidenced the increasing urbanization pressures on ecosystems and the threat to their potential for the provision of services. However, rather few efforts have been spared to characterize the vulnerability of ecosystem services provisioning to urbanization. This paper presents an integrated index to determine the vulnerability of ecosystem services provisioning to urbanization in China. It was based on the Exposure-Sensitivity-Capacity framework and integrated 16 indicators of ecological and socioeconomic dimensions. Quantitative analysis verified the effectiveness of the integrated index, and spatiotemporal patterns of vulnerability were obtained. Horizontal comparisons demonstrated that vulnerability was higher in the eastern provinces. The western and central provinces were roughly the same vulnerability level; however, the profiles of vulnerability for these regions were substantially different, particularly in sensitivity and capacity, respectively. The longitudinal comparisons highlighted the vulnerability degree of the eastern and central provinces was intensified between 1979 and 2010. The developed index could be further applicable to other locations and facilitate environmental management.     

The importance of considering human well-being to understand social preferences of ecosystem services

Evaluations about social preferences for ecosystem services do not always include human well-being. Using a case study in South-Central Chile, we showed how the human well-being approach might reveal social preferences on ecosystem services. We used a socio-cultural approach to compare social preferences for provisioning, regulating, and cultural services and the links people establish to human well-being. From an online questionnaire, we collected 214 responses, balanced in gender (49/51 % men/women, respectively), diverse in age (18 to 62 years), but with 68 % under 30 years. Water for human consumption and agriculture, food, and native forest products were the most preferred provisioning services (40, 28, and 21 %, respectively). In contrast, products from tree plantations were considered the lowest ones. Pollution control (40 %) and water provision during summer (18 %) were the preferred regulating services, while biodiversity conservation (25 %) and environmental education (22 %) were primarily selected cultural ones. We found a clear preference pattern for provisioning services but not for regulating and cultural services. Even though people linked multiple ES to human well-being, some links’ patterns mirrored preferences for provisioning services but not for regulating and cultural services. However, although cultural services did not show a clear preference pattern, people perceived their importance by linking them to various benefits. Understanding social preferences of ES based on their links with human well-being helps to address their relevance and potential trade-offs for land planning and management decision-making and convert the ES concept into decision-making instruments.     

The ecosystem service assessment challenge: Reflections from Flanders-REA

This paper aims to improve ecosystem assessment practice by sharing the lessons learned from the Flanders Regional Ecosystem Assessment. The ‘EU biodiversity strategy to 2020’, requests the EU member states ‘to map and assess the state of ecosystems and their services by 2014’. However, a large number of member states have yet to start this assessment, and depend on assistance from the European Commission and on experiences from ongoing national assessments. In the region of Flanders (Belgium), several ecosystem service projects have since 2009 led the way to the ‘Flanders Regional Ecosystem Assessment’ (Flanders-REA), led by the governments’ leading research institute on biodiversity. To attain high regional requirements on scientific quality, acceptance and effective local policy impact, this assessment has tackled a number of challenges. The challenges discussed in this paper are obtaining conceptual clarity and consensus across disciplines and partners, the integration of multiple sources of information, critical handling of maps and the inclusion of experts and stakeholders. This paper also critically reflects on the definition of EU targets, their implementation, the current EU assistance to the member states, and the alignment with actual local and global policy needs.     

城市生态智慧管理系统的生态系统服务评估功能与应用

开展生态系统服务评估已经成为国土空间功能管治、城市治理、生态产品价值实现等工作中的先行基础动作。生态系统服务的类型和模型方法多,数据需求复杂,传统基于多学科软件开展生态系统服务评估的工作模式知识和技术门槛较高、效率低。当前专业的生态系统服务评估软件多为美国从业人员开发,对我国的数据构成和本地化参数适应性有限。介绍了我国自主开发的生态系统分析软件（城市生态智慧管理系统,IUEMS）的主要功能和应用情况,并将其的生态系统服务评估功能与InVEST、ARIES等国外主流软件在操作逻辑、评估模型、数据取得、空间精度、界面交互五个方面进行了对比。     

Using assessment of net ecosystem services to promote sustainability of golf course in China

Golf courses have been shown to have a positive impact on local biodiversity, quality of life and the economy. However, the impacts of golf courses on local environment, including ecosystem services and dis-services are not clearly understood. To explore this relationship, we took two golf courses in Beijing (a links course and a parkland course) to develop an assessment framework and present estimates of economic values of net ecosystem services, in aspects of ecosystem goods, carbon fixation, soil retention, flood storage, recreation, water consumption and nonpoint-source pollution. The results showed that the two golf courses have provided remarkable net ecosystem services values (links 51.58 × 10⁴ yuan/ha/yr, parkland 42.60 × 10⁴ yuan/ha/yr, 6.19 yuan = 1 US$ in 2013). Over 95% of this value is generated by three services: recreation, ecosystem goods and flood storage. Our results indicate that the parkland course has better performance in sustainable supply of ecosystem services than the links course. In addition, this study provides useful improvements for golf course design and management concerning positive environmental externalities optimizing, including the scaling of non-playing areas to maximize golf course ecosystem services supply capacity, appropriate grass species selecting and irrigation with recycled water. Moreover, a policy analysis suggests that the development of public golf course in China is a necessary complement to resolve the mismatch between private and public benefits and let more people enjoy the ecosystem services.     

香溪河河流生态系统服务功能评价

河流作为水资源的重要载体,在水资源危机日益严峻的我国,有特别重要的意义。尤其是近年来国内对水电开发的强度不断上升,如何科学地评价河流在不同情况下给人类带来的效益,进而有效地开发与管理河流生态系统,是生态学家面临的重大任务和挑战。香溪河是三峡水库湖北段的最大支流,其生态系统服务功能的正常发挥与否会影响河流沿岸居民的生产生活,也会影响其自身和相关生态系统的稳定,其河流的状况将直接影响到三峡水库。在对河流生态系统服务功能分类的基础上,结合数据的可获得性,对部分河段生态系统服务功能进行初步评价。研究结果表明,所研究河段生态系统服务功能总价值可达8.41×108元.a-1,各种功能的价值量排序为贮水功能>发电>旅游>调蓄洪水>水供给>水产品>输沙>净化>大气组分调节>控制侵蚀。经分析所研究河段的水电开发和旅游功能是其核心服务功能,提出在河流管理中既要考虑到核心功能的发挥,又要保证其它功能的支持作用得以实现的管理策略。     

Perspectives on the link between ecosystem services and biodiversity: The assessment of the nursery function

The relationship between biodiversity and each ecosystem service or bundle of ecosystem services (e.g. win−win, win−lose or win−neutral) is an active field of research that requires structured and consistent information. The application of that research for conservation and decision-making can be hampered by the ambiguity found in the definition of the nursery function under the ecosystem service perspective. In this paper, we review how the role of nursery habitats is included in the ecosystem services literature, covering conceptual, biophysical and economic reflections. The role of ecosystems as nurseries is mostly analyzed in coastal environments. The main observation is that there is no consensus on the consideration of the nursery function as a service (e.g. which species or habitats) or on how to assess it (e.g. which indicators or valuation methods). After that review, we analyze three different interpretations given to the nursery function, namely the ecological, conservationist and economic point of view; and we distinguish between different types of assessment that may consider the nursery function.We conclude that the nursery function can be considered an ecosystem service on its own right when it is linked to a concrete human benefit and not when it is represented with indicators of general biodiversity or ecosystem condition. Thus, the analysis of the delivery of ecosystem services should be differentiated from the analysis of ecological integrity. Only with this distinction science may be able to quantify the link between biodiversity and ecosystem services and policy may be effective in halting biodiversity loss. Similar considerations could apply for other biodiversity constituents that may be treated as ecosystem services.     

Bundles of ecosystem (dis)services and multifunctionality across European landscapes

We present an assessment of the spatial pattern of ecosystem services (ES) associations across Europe based on models of eleven ES and one dis-service, mapped at the extent of twenty-seven Member States of the European Union (EU27) on a 1 km² grid. We isolated three clusters of cells sharing common features in multi-ES supply associated with the main land-use-land-cover types such as forests and agricultural lands. Confronting these spatial patterns with biophysical and socio-economic drivers revealed two strong gradients structuring European ES bundles, climate and land use intensity. Variations in the diversity of ES bundles provided across administrative units (NUTS 2), quantified by the Shannon diversity index, tend to be higher in forested regions (e.g. SE Romania) and in the mosaic landscapes in the central EU27 (from eastern France to Austria). Lower diversity prevails in areas of homogeneous terrain and land use in north-western Europe (e.g. Western France). Our findings illustrate that ES trade-offs and bundles cannot be reduced to land use conflicts but also depend on climate and, for a specific bundle, to biodiversity.     

The work of wetland credit markets: two cases in entrepreneurial wetland banking

Wetland banking has been discussed in the policy literature mainly at a high level of abstraction, using economic models or generic examples to illustrate the concepts and tensions within wetland banking. This article illustrates two cases of wetland bank creation in-depth using the methodology of the extended case study, following the process from the initiation of interest in forming a bank through to the approval of credits for sale. The close attention to actual cases serves to move discussion beyond the goodness of models or the supposed rationality of economic actors, towards a consideration of actual market participants in complex situations. Successful wetland credit producers must negotiate a number of different economic, political, interpersonal, and ecological forces which impact their project from a number of different scales. While no optimal solution to this complexity is likely to be reached that is generalizable, the use of entrepreneurial wetland banking as a market-based policy may expand where skillful bankers and regulators together arrive at adequate solutions that are matched to the specificity of their contexts.

张掖黑河湿地自然保护区生态服务功能价值评估

张掖黑河湿地国家级自然保护区地处内陆干旱区,是西北典型的内陆河流湿地生态系统,具有多种重要的生态服务功能。通过野外调查和实验室分析,借助市场价值法、碳税法、影子工程法、生态价值法、旅行费用法等生态服务功能评估方法,对研究区湿地的各项生态功能进行了价值估算。结果表明,黑河湿地自然保护区生态服务功能总价值约为32.89×108元,其中各生态服务功能的价值量依次为:调蓄洪水功能湿地固碳释氧功能旅游休闲功能提供水源功能气候调节功能物质生产功能生物栖息地功能科研教育价值功能降解污染物功能。直观的货币价值突显了保护区湿地对区域经济发展的重要性,同时也为我国湿地生态系统的保护和管理提供科学的理论依据。     

扎龙湿地生态系统服务价值评价

从避免重复计算的角度出发,将湿地生态系统服务分为最终服务和中间服务两部分,以最终服务的价值作为湿地生态系统服务的总价值。以扎龙湿地为例,其最终服务包括物质生产、土壤保持、水质净化、气候调节、固碳、调蓄洪水、大气调节、休闲旅游、科研教育和授粉服务,中间服务包括净初级生产力、营养循环、涵养水源、地下水补给和生物多样性维持服务,采用市场价值法、替代成本法和旅行费用法等生态经济学方法对扎龙湿地的生态系统服务进行了评价。结果表明,2011年扎龙湿地生态系统服务总价值为679.4亿元,中间服务价值为471.5亿元,各项最终服务的价值大小为气候调节调蓄洪水大气调节固碳休闲旅游授粉服务物质生产水质净化科研教育土壤保持。扎龙湿地不仅是重要的蓄洪区和泥碳储存地,在区域气候调节方面也起着巨大的作用。针对扎龙湿地的管理,应该保护和恢复湿地面积,同时注意适当的增加旅游。     

海南岛生态系统生态调节功能及其生态经济价值研究

生态系统服务功能是指生态系统与生态过程所形成及所维持的人类赖以生存的自然环境条件与效用．最新研究表明,生态系统服务功能包括生态系统产品、生态调节功能、生命支持功能与社会文化功能．对生态调节功能的认识与评价是区域生态环境保护与资源开发的基础,并已成为当前区域生态评价与生态规划的前沿课题．以海南岛为例,探讨了基于生态系统结构与过程的生态调节功能评价方法．在研究中。将海南生态系统类型划分为13类。分析、评价了海南岛各类生态系统在水源涵养、水土保持、营养物质循环、固碳、防风固沙等方面的生态调节功能及其生态经济价值,以及生态系统提供产品的价值．研究表明,2002年海南岛生态系统所提供的生态调节功能的价值为2035．88×10^8～2153.39×10^8元,而生态系统产品价值仅为254．06×10^8元,生态调节功能价值是其产品价值的8倍多。     

保障粮食安全造成的生态价值损失评估模型及应用

粮食安全和生态安全是我国政府必须切实解决的关系到社会经济发展、人民生活质量提高和社会稳定的重大战略问题。借鉴前人的生态服务价值理论与评估模型的基础上,阐明了保障粮食安全造成的生态服务价值损失的内涵,并以理论分析为依据,分别构建了评估不同类型生态服务价值损失的模型,为了验证所构建模型的可操作性和实用性,以陕西省长武县为案例区,对其2008年保障粮食安全导致的生态价值损失进行了评估,在不同类型生态服务价值损失中,由于不同生态系统的合理转换引起的生态服务价值损失为22834.16×104元;如果将长武县所有粮食生产用地作为林地、草地、水体,与作为耕地相比,可为人们多提供的生态服务价值分别为:21963.30×104元、4095.04×104元、40678.82×104元;单位面积林地、草地、水体可以多提供的生态服务价值量,最高的是水体,为19682.34元/hm2,林地和草地分别为:10627.4元/hm2和1981.37元/hm2。     

中国森林生态系统服务功能价值评估

森林作为陆地生态系统的主体,在全球生态系统中发挥举足轻重的作用,其服务功能价值的评估是研究的一个热点。本研究根据全国第5次资源清查资料(1994~1998年)及Costanza等人的计算方法估算了我国森林生态系统八项服务功能的总价值为30601.20×108yuan/a,其中间接价值是直接经济价值的14.94倍;在我国森林生态系统中,单位面积的各种森林生态系统所提供的年平均价值为23095.25yuan/(hm2·a)。在森林涵养水源、固碳释氧、营养物质循环、净化空气和保护土壤五项服务功能中,热带雨林、季雨林单位面积所提供的价值量最大为32417.45yuan/(hm2·a),温带荒漠单位面积所提供的价值最小为12507.90yuan/(hm2·a);在森林生态系统各项服务功能价值的贡献之当中,其大小顺序依次为:固碳释氧>净化空气>土壤保持>涵养水源>养分循环>林木、林副产品〉维持生物多样性〉森林游憩。该研究的目的在于尽快将自然资源和环境因素纳入国民经济核算体系而最终为实现绿色GDP提供基础,为我国可持续发展的政策与生态环境保护提供科学依据。     

Supplied,demanded and consumed ecosystem services: Prospects for national assessment in Russia

The National assessment of ecosystem services of Russia is an urgent task taking into account their key importance for maintaining the quality of life of the population and the regulation of biosphere processes. The purpose of the present paper is to propose a natural science methodology for evaluation supplied, demanded and consumed ecosystem services for national ecosystem assessment of Russia.Supplied ecosystem services were considered as services produced by ecosystems regardless of presence or absence of people, demanded – as the volume of services that is necessary for people and economy, consumed – as services actually used by people. Ratios between these three volumes of ecosystem services reveal the degree of service use and degree of meeting the demand for service that are analogous to indices of ecosystem service budget.The proposed methodology was tested in the preparation of the Prototype of the National Report on Ecosystem Services of Russia. Ecosystem services of air and water purification are considered as examples in the present paper.These examples demonstrate that proposed methodology is useful for estimation of surplus or deficit in ecosystem services across regions and identification of ecological risk areas. It also allows regional comparison at national level.     

Operationalizing ecosystem services for the mitigation of soil threats: A proposed framework

Despite numerous research efforts over the last decades, integrating the concept of ecosystem services into land management decision-making continues to pose considerable challenges. Researchers have developed many different frameworks to operationalize the concept, but these are often specific to a certain issue and each has their own definitions and understandings of particular terms. Based on a comprehensive review of the current scientific debate, the EU FP7 project RECARE proposes an adapted framework for soil-related ecosystem services that is suited for practical application in the prevention and remediation of soil degradation across Europe. We have adapted existing frameworks by integrating components from soil science while attempting to introduce a consistent terminology that is understandable to a variety of stakeholders. RECARE aims to assess how soil threats and prevention and remediation measures affect ecosystem services. Changes in the natural capital's properties influence soil processes, which support the provision of ecosystem services. The benefits produced by these ecosystem services are explicitly or implicitly valued by individuals and society. This can influence decision- and policymaking at different scales, potentially leading to a societal response, such as improved land management. The proposed ecosystem services framework will be applied by the RECARE project in a transdisciplinary process. It will assist in singling out the most beneficial land management measures and in identifying trade-offs and win–win situations resulting from and impacted by European policies. The framework thus reflects the specific contributions soils make to ecosystem services and helps reveal changes in ecosystem services caused by soil management and policies impacting on soil. At the same time, the framework is simple and robust enough for practical application in assessing soil threats and their management with stakeholders at various levels.     

基于DPSIR的吉林省白山市生态安全评价

通过对白山市的生态安全现状和问题进行分析,探究其生态环境改变的主要驱动力因子和胁迫因子;基于DPSIR模型提出了白山市生态安全综合评价指标体系,并进一步构建了适于山地地区的生态安全评价模型;利用1989年、1999年和2006年的3期TM遥感影像,结合研究区的DEM数据和实地调查数据建立解译标志,对白山市土地覆被进行景观分类,借助Fragstats分析景观指数,提取重要的生态安全评价指标,对白山市所辖各区县进行生态安全综合评价.结果表明： 白山市生态安全的空间差异显著,整体生态安全状况呈现出一种恶化趋势,人为活动对地表景观格局和物种栖息地分布产生了深刻的影响,已成为生态安全格局变化的主要驱动力因子.     

贵州草海湿地生态系统服务价值评估

贵州草海是中国三大高原淡水湖泊之一,其湿地生态系统能给人类提供产品和服务,为社会可持续发展提供基础,由于其价值没有被量化,人们对其重要性缺乏直观认识,导致了湿地的不合理开发及利用。根据草海湿地的特征,运用市场价值法、影子工程法、问卷调查法等定量评估了2010年草海湿地生态系统最终服务价值,包括供给服务、调节服务和文化服务。结果表明,草海湿地生态系统服务总价值为4.39×108元,其中供给服务价值为0.74×108元,调节服务价值为1.14×108元,文化服务价值为2.51×108元;所计算的10项服务按其价值大小排序为:休闲娱乐生物多样性与景观资源保护水资源供给调蓄洪水气候调节补给地下水大气组分调节原材料生产水质净化食物生产;单位面积服务价值为16.40×104元/hm2,是2010年贵州省威宁县单位面积GDP产值的16.91倍。从研究结果来看,草海湿地生态系统服务价值较大,为草海湿地的管理及保护提供了一定参考依据。     

太湖流域圩区水生态系统服务功能价值

以遥感图像、气象水文资料和实地水生态状况调查数据为基础,利用构建的评价指标体系对太湖流域圩区的水生态系统服务功能进行了评价,并分析其空间差异性。结果表明:太湖流域的圩区水生态系统服务功能价值为325.93×108元,以对生态系统的调节、维持功能等间接使用价值为主,是直接使用价值的6.18倍。主要受水域分布面积大小的影响,圩区水生态系统服务功能价值总量呈现出杭嘉湖区阳澄淀泖区湖西区浙西区武澄锡虞区浦西区太湖区浦东区的特点。太湖流域单位面积圩区水生态系统服务功能的平均价值为22.73元m-2a-1,整体表现为南高北低,西高东低的空间分布格局。     

Spatio-temporal assessment of urbanization impacts on ecosystem services: Case study of Nanjing City,China

Rapid urbanization is a global phenomenon that has altered many ecosystems, causing a decline in many ecosystem services, generating ecological risks such as water shortages, air pollution, and soil pollution. Here, we present a conceptual framework quantifying how urbanization influences the ecosystem services in a typical city (Nanjing) of China. Between 2000 and 2010, we separated the city into three urbanization categories (developing urban, developed urban, and rural areas) and quantified the status of six critical ecosystem services (food supply, carbon sequestration, soil water storage, air pollution removal, habitat suitability, and recreation potential). Our results show that urbanization significantly impacted all ecosystem services, with detected changes in ecosystem services being spatially heterogeneous due to urban expansion and population mobility. Developed areas contained greater amounts of green infrastructure, which improved carbon storage and reduced air pollution. In contrast, the rapid expansion of urban and industrial land in developing urban areas led to lower food supply, carbon sequestration, soil water storage, and habitat suitability. The expansion of rural residential areas led to lower soil water storage, carbon sequestration, and food supply, while greater amounts of abandoned cropland resulted in increased carbon sequestration, but decreased food supply in rural areas. Analysis of the interactions between pairs of ecosystem services identified urbanization development problems, including abandoned cropland and the expansion of rural residential land. Lastly, we proposed four key urban planning measures to mitigate the loss of ecosystem services during rapid urbanization. Acquiring quantitative knowledge about how rapid urbanization drives changes to ecosystem changes may help guide sustainable urban planning with respect to ecosystem service use, urban development, and human welfare benefits.