湖泊生态服务受益者分析及生态生产函数构建

生态系统服务管理作为生态系统管理的优化方式,是生态学研究的前沿方向。湖泊生态系统服务管理是指综合利用生态学、经济学、社会学和管理学等学科知识,对影响湖泊生态系统结构、过程、功能的关键因子进行调控,提高湖泊生态系统服务供给水平和供给能力的过程。近年来国内外学者针对湖泊生态系统服务内涵、分类、经济价值评估等方面开展了大量研究,极大地促进了湖泊生态系统服务从认知走向管理实践。然而,现有研究在开展湖泊生态系统服务价值评估时多忽略生态系统服务受益者和生态系统特征对生态系统服务的边际影响分析,无法揭示生态系统服务空间流动和转移特征及生态系统服务时空权衡关系,制约了生态系统服务研究与管理决策和政策设计结合。在综述湖泊生态系统服务定量评估方法的基础上,认为通过生态系统服务受益者分析确定湖泊生态系统最终服务,并通过构建生态生产函数确定湖泊生态系统服务权衡关系及湖泊生态系统特征对生态系统最终服务的边际影响,是生态系统服务走向管理实践和政策设计的科学依据,可以确保生态、社会、经济可持续发展。

Beneficiary analysis and ecological production function to measure lake ecosystem services for decision-making in China

Lakes provide important resources to sustain human livelihoods and economic development. Lakes have significant ecological, cultural, and economic value in China as they supply drinking water, valuable fish species, regulate local climates, and provide scenic landscapes for leisure and tourism. However, they are one of the most extensively and rapidly altered ecosystems in China. Ecosystem services offer a holistic framework to link ecological and economic outcomes to manage the interconnectivity between ecosystems and human welfare. The ecosystem services concept seeks to clarify tradeoffs among ecosystem services and other social demands to improve lake ecosystem management. In recent decades, scientists have increasingly recognized the relevance of ecosystem services in policy analysis. In China, policy makers want to use ecosystem services in ecological compensation programs where consumers of ecosystem services pay suppliers for the benefits. However, technical challenges in separating intermediate ecosystem services from final ecosystem services to quantify tradeoffs are hindering the measurement and valuation of ecosystem services for lake management. Chinese scientists are confronted with the challenge of creating credible and legitimate ecosystem service values to inform policy makers on designing effective ecological compensation programs. A transdisciplinary approach is fundamental to measuring ecosystem services to understand how biological mechanisms of lake ecosystems support final ecosystem service flows. In the present study, we identify methods to measure lake ecosystem services and the gaps in current methods, and propose using ecosystem service flow mechanisms and beneficiary analysis to identify final ecosystem services, and ecological production functions to characterize the relationships between management choices, ecological characteristics, and economically valuable final ecosystem services. Ecological production function can help advance ecosystem services quantification to clarify tradeoffs for incorporating ecosystem services into lake management in China.