The carbon sequestration function of the ecosystem is one of the most important functions of ecosystem service, and it of great significance to study the spatio-temporal differentiation of carbon storage for promoting regional sustainable development. Ecosystems on the Western Sichuan Plateau are highly variable, but its spatio-temporal differentiation and driving factors are not yet clear. In this study, on the basis of land use monitoring data, meteorological and demographic data interpreted from Landsat remote sensing image, and through GIS analysis tools, the carbon storage module of InVEST (Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Trade-offs) model was used to estimate carbon storage and geodetector was used to detect the driving factors of carbon storage spatial differentiation. The results show that: (1) The carbon storage increased to 1.2455 × 1010 t from 1.2438 × 1010 t in the past 20 years, the ecosystem developed in a healthy way overall. (2) Carbon storage show High-High and Low-Low aggregation characteristics, but the area decreased by 1481.81 km2 and 311.11 km2 respectively, and the spatial cluster effect gradually weakened. (3) HAI is the leading factor causing the spatio-temporal differentiation of regional carbon storage, followed by temperature and NDVI; the interaction between factors significantly enhances the spatial differentiation of carbon storage, indicating that the change of carbon storage is the result of the joint action of natural and socioeconomic factors. The results of the study provide some theoretical basis for the development of differentiated ecological regulation models and strategies, and help to promote high-quality regional development.
Being closely related to ecosystem services, land use changes can affect ecosystem service functions by acting on ecosystem patterns and its processes, thus having impact on regional sustainable development. Taking the Western Sichuan Plateau as the study area based on land use data from 1990 to 2020, the CA-Markov model was employed to predict the land use pattern under natural change scenarios, and the improved InVEST model and equivalent method were used to evaluate the ecosystem services in the study area from two different perspectives, as to analyze the evolution trend. The results show that: 1) From 1990 to 2020, the carbon storage in the Western Sichuan Plateau showed a fluctuating increase, with an average annual increase of 3.17 × 107 t, of which the total contribution rate of woodland and grassland to the total carbon storage exceeded 95%. In recent 30 years, the carbon storage of the Western Sichuan Plateau has little spatial variation, with the increase and decrease regions accounting for less than 5% with overall sporadically dots-like distribution. 2) Ecosystem Service Value (ESV) increased by 1.36 × 1010 yuan in the past 30 years, which was similar to carbon storage and showed a wave-like increase; the contribution rate of woodland to the total ESV of the study area was more than 68%, occupying the dominant position. ESV was generally stable in the past 30 years, and the area with significant changes accounted for less than 9%, mainly located in the northeast and southwest of the study area. 3) In the next 10 years, under the current ecological protection measures, the carbon storage and ESV of the Western Sichuan Plateau will increase by 5.3980 × 107 t and 2.4087 × 109 yuan compared with that of 2020, indicating a positive development of ecosystem service function. This study results provides a scientific basis for the adjustment of land use structure and the management decision of ecological environment protection in the Western Sichuan Plateau.
The scattered, isolated, and closed nature of rural settlements in northwest Sichuan is a constraint on the high-quality development of rural areas. Determining the spatial differences and driving forces of rural settlements in this area is the essential prerequisite for promoting rural revitalization. In this paper, the methods of the nearest neighbor index, the Voronoi diagram, and the Geodetector are used to analyze the spatial distribution characteristics of rural settlements and explore the driving factors of their spatial differences. The key findings are as follows. (1) The rural settlements exhibit the feature of “an extensive dispersion with localized concentrations”. The spatial distribution is in the shape of dots, strips, and branches along the river valley. (2) The number and land use scale of rural settlements decreases from east to west. The spatial differences in settlement morphology have a clear feature that the settlement morphology along the river and road is more complex, while the settlement morphology in the plateau area and the river valley is relatively regular. (3) Mountain disasters and arable land resources have the greatest impact on the spatial differences of the settlements. The location and form of the settlements are greatly affected by the altitude and accumulated temperature, and the settlement scale is significantly affected by the traffic conditions and the scenic spots. The mutually reinforcing role of the driving factors is remarkable, especially the reinforcing effects of the enhancement between the arable land resources and other factors. The research results provide data support for the reconstruction, improvement, and high-quality development of rural settlements in this region.
Mountainous areas are susceptible to disasters; the frequent occurrence of disasters drives the changes in ecosystem service value (ESV) and also brings certain ecological risk, which further increases the incidence of disasters. However, few scholars have investigated the spatiotemporal correlation between the ESV of disaster-prone mountainous areas and ecological risk index (ERI) with basin as the unit. This paper aims to clarify the spatial relationship between ESV and ERI under the changes of land use. Taking the upper reaches of the Minjiang River as the study area, the authors collected the land use data of 2000–2020, estimated ESV by the value equivalent factor per unit area method, and constructed the ERI. On this basis, the relationship between ESV and ERI was investigated in details. The results show the following: (1) From 2000 to 2020, the total ESV exhibited a fluctuating upward trend. The spatial distribution of ESV was greatly affected by slope and altitude; an important reason for the rising ESV in the study area is the increase of forest area and water area. (2) The upper reaches of the Minjiang River had a generally low ERI and relatively good overall ecoenvironment. After 2010, however, the ecological risk continued to rise. Most of the strongly high risk areas are areas with frequent human activities, such as low-altitude areas and river banks. (3) There is a spatial correlation and coupling between ESV and ERI in the study area; i.e., the strongly high ESV areas generally had a low ecological risk. The correlation intensified with the elapse of time. The changes in the service value of regional ecosystems driven by unreasonable land use will have a great impact on the ecoenvironment. By clarifying the spatiotemporal relationship between ESV and ERI, this research provides theoretical basis and data support to the formulation of ecoenvironmental restoration and protection plans for the upper reaches of the Minjiang River and to the coordinated development between society, economy, and ecoenvironment in the region.
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