Temporal variation and spatial scale dependency of the trade-offs and synergies among multiple ecosystem services in the Taihu Lake Basin of China.

Grasping the temporal-spatial characteristics of interactions and spatial scales of multiple ecosystem services is the foundation for sustainable ecosystem management. Eight ecosystem services, including crop production, freshwater supply, aquatic production, net primary production, soil conservation, water retention, flood regulation, and forest recreation were measured at the 1-km2 pixel scale in the Taihu Lake Basin (TLB) of China from 1990 to 2010. Furthermore, we quantified the trade-offs and synergies of services at different periods of urbanization and across the 1-km2 pixel scale and the county scale. We aim to find which ecosystem services interactions temporally vary and depend on spatial scale. Our results found that: 1). Tremendous amount of cultivated lands were converted to construction land, and rapidly shrank from 1990 to 2010. 2). Determined by land use, different ecosystem services had spatial heterogeneity of their strength. Ecosystem services hot spots experienced an increasing trend while cold spots showed a trend of decreasing first and then increasing from 1990 to 2010. 3). Trade-offs between provisioning services and regulating services at the 1-km2 pixel scale changed over time. There was a new synergy between freshwater supply and aquatic production at the 1-km2 pixel scale in 2010 with the human demand. 4). From 1990 to 2010, the changes of provisioning services led to trade-offs among provisioning services, regulating services and cultural services at two scales. Taking temporal variation and scale dependence into account, this research is helpful to the delineation of "Ecological Conservation Redline" and implement the project of "Grain for Green". We also provide suggestions for maintaining ecosystem services with economic growth in China's Yangtze River Economic Belt for land use policies and decision making.

Qiao X ，Gu Y ，Zou C ，Xu D ，Wang L ，Ye X ，Yang Y ，Huang X ... -  《-》

Spatiotemporal patterns of the trade-off and synergy relationship among ecosystem services in Poyang Lake Region, China.

Ran FW ，Luo ZJ ，Wu JP ，Qi S ，Cao LP ，Cai ZM ，Chen YY ... -  《-》

Ecological function zoning of Nansi Lake Basin in China based on ecosystem service bundles.

Ecological function zoning is an essential means of scientific management of ecosystems. According to the characteristics of ecological function zoning, implementing zoning control is conducive to the governance and protection of the ecological environment and the maintenance of ecological sustainability. This study was conducted with the Nansi Lake Basin as the cross-section for 2018. The Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Trade-offs model was adopted to assess and measure five ecosystem services, including water yield, crop production, soil conservation, carbon storage and carbon sequestration, and habitat quality. The Self-Organizing Feature Maps neural network was applied to obtain the ecosystem service bundles, and then, the ecological function zones were divided. The results indicated that the overall spatial pattern of ecosystem services in the study zone showed a decreasing schema from east to west; There was a trade-off between supply services and support services and a synergy between supply services and regulatory services; according to the bundling results, the Nansi Lake Basin was divided into four ecological functional zones: the eastern ecological surplus zone, the central crop supply zone, the western ecological balance zone, and the lake habitat protection zone. The results showed that (1) the spatial distribution of various ecosystem services in the Nansi Lake Basin showed spatial heterogeneity and specific regional laws, showing a decreasing pattern from the east to the west as a whole, especially in soil conservation, carbon sequestration, and habitat quality. (2) According to the supply and spatial distribution of each ecosystem service, the Nansi Lake Basin was divided into four ecological functional zones: the eastern ecological surplus zone, the central crop supply zone, the western ecological balance zone, and the lake habitat protection zone. (3) For zone I, provisioning services and regulation services were in synergy. For zone II and zone III, the provisioning service had a trade-off relationship with the regulation service and the supporting service. For zone IV, supporting services were trade-offs not only with provisioning services but also with regulating services. In general, the trade-offs between ecosystem service in the Nansi Lake Basin were stronger than the synergies, and the overall benefits of ecosystem services were smaller. Relying on the perspective of the ecosystem service bundles, at the county level, this study provided an analysis of the trade-offs and synergies among ecosystem services in the Nansi Lake Basin, which helped formulate the management plan for the corresponding region and provided the appropriate recommendations for regional habitat conservation and restoration.

Liu Y ，Jing Y ，Han S 《-》

Integrating ecosystem services trade-offs with paddy land-to-dry land decisions: A scenario approach in Erhai Lake Basin, southwest China.

Ecosystem services are the benefits people obtain from ecosystems, and ecosystem services trade-offs have been widely applied to the development of land-use policy. Although previous studies have focused on trade-offs of ecosystem services, a scenario approach has been seldom used. The scenario approach can reveal the changes of ecosystem services for different land-use patterns in the future, and is of great significance for land-use decisions and ecosystem management. Based on the actual situation of deteriorating water quality and dwindling water supply in the Erhai Lake Basin of southwest China, this study put forward to convert paddy land to dry land (PLDL) in the basin, and simulated its potential impact on ecosystem services. Taking environmental pollution, social impact, economic benefit and residential participation into consideration, four scenarios of PLDL were designed. Then, four ecosystem services (water purification, water yield, soil conservation and rice production) were calculated for each scenario. The optimal scenario of PLDL in the Erhai Lake Basin was identified by trade-offs of the four ecosystem services. The results showed that the total nitrogen export could be reduced by 42.07% and water yield can be increased by 5.61% after converting 100% of paddy lands to dry land, thereby greatly improving the water quality and increasing the water yield of Erhai Lake. However, PLDL involving 100% of paddy lands also increased the sediment export by 17.22%, and eliminated rice production in the region. By comparing the four PLDL scenarios for converting just 50% of paddy lands, the residential participation scenario was identified to be the best choice for PLDL implementation because it achieved the best level of water purification and had the smallest negative effect on other ecosystem services. The optimal scenario for each township showed spatial differentiation, and there were conflicts between the optimal scenarios at basin scale and township scale, suggesting that the object and the spatial-temporal scale should be taken into consideration in land-use decisions using ecosystem services trade-offs.

Hu Y ，Peng J ，Liu Y ，Tian L ... -  《-》

Spatio-Temporal Characteristics of Trade-Offs and Synergies in Ecosystem Services at Watershed and Landscape Scales: A Case Analysis of the Yellow River Basin (Henan Section).

Niu H ，Liu M ，Xiao D ，Zhao X ，An R ，Fan L ... -  《-》