Ecosystem Services and Ecological Restoration in the Northern Shaanxi Loess Plateau, China, in Relation to Climate Fluctuation and Investments in Natural Capital

Abstract

Accurately identifying the spatiotemporal variations and driving factors of ecosystem services (ES) in ecological restoration is important for ecosystem management and the sustainability of nature conservation strategies. As the Green for Grain project proceeds, food provision, water regulation and climate regulation services in the Northern Shaanxi Loess Plateau (NSLP) are changing and have caused broad attention. In this study, the dynamic pattern of the normalized differential vegetation index (NDVI) and the main drivers of grain production (GP), water yield (WY) and net primary production (NPP) in the NSLP from 2000-2013 are identified by incorporating multiple data and methods, in order to provide a better understanding of how and why ES change during ecological restoration. WY was simulated by hydrological modeling, and NPP was estimated with the Carnegie Ames Stanford Approach (CASA) model. The results show that vegetation restoration continued from 2000-2013, but fluctuated because of the comprehensive influence of climate and human activity. GP and NPP both exhibited significantly increasing trends, while changes in WY occurred in two stages: decline (2000)(2001)(2002)(2003)(2004)(2005)(2006) and growth (2007)(2008)(2009)(2010)(2011)(2012)(2013). Spatially, significantly increasing trends in NPP and WY were detected in 52.73% and 24.76% of the region, respectively, in areas that correspond with the Green for Grain project and high precipitation growth. Correlation and partial correlation analyses show that there were different dominant factors (i.e., natural vs. anthropogenic) driving ES change in the NSLP from 2000-2013. The change in WY was mainly driven by precipitation, while the improvements in GP and NPP can be attributed to investments in natural capital (i.e., chemical fertilizer, agricultural machinery power and afforestation). We also found that vegetation restoration can produce positive effects on NPP, but negative effects on WY by using response analyses of WY or NPP change to NDVI change, demonstrating that additional research on the role of water in vegetation restoration is needed. Our results provide support for ES management and the sustainable development of ecological restoration in the NSLP.

Integrating Biophysical and Sociocultural Methods for Identifying the Relationships between Ecosystem Services and Land Use Change: Insights from an Oasis Area

“…These studies then estimated the impact of land use changes to ESs via scenario simulation or correlation analysis [26][27][28][29][30]. Wei et al [28] quantified the change in CS using the Carnegie-Ames-Stanford approach (CASA) model and found that although afforestation decreased the cropland area in the Northern Shaanxi Loess Plateau, the CS increased because of investments in natural capital (i.e., afforestation, chemical fertilizer, and agricultural machinery power). Except individual ESs, a few studies have found that ES bundles are linked to land use [30,31].…”

“…Biophysical methods are usually applied to analyze the relationships between land use changes and ESs, but the results of most studies in the field do not meet the information requirements of decision makers and have not yet been incorporated into the relevant policy decisions given that these results do not take into account the perspectives of local stakeholders [16,18,20,26,28,30]. Given that biophysical methods are unable to capture the perceptions of local residents toward ESs and land use change, multidisciplinary approaches, including biophysical and sociocultural methods, must be applied to understand the relationships between ESs and land use change.…”

Land Use/Land Cover Change Modeling and the Prediction of Subsequent Changes in Ecosystem Service Values in a Coastal Area of China, the Su-Xi-Chang Region

“…The consequences of these changes result in the degradation of ESs, which is the aggregate of ecosystem goods (such as food) and services (such as waste assimilation), that represent the benefits human populations derive, directly or indirectly, from ecosystem functions [12]. These impacts make the quantification of Ecosystem Service Values (ESVs) essential to raise awareness [13], develop decision making for the distribution of scarce resources among conflicting demands [14], incorporate ESs into the socioeconomic and marketing systems [15], formulate policy [16] and stimulate the conservation of ecosystems that deliver the most valuable services in support of human well-being [17].Following the pioneering works of Costanza et al [18], who estimated global ESVs by suggesting a list of ESV coefficients for different biomes, the evaluation of ESVs and their changes has received broad attention [15,16,19]. Since then, to support mitigations of local degradation and global change problems, the interest in the valuation of ESs has grown rapidly in research and policy making communities.…”

“…The consequences of these changes result in the degradation of ESs, which is the aggregate of ecosystem goods (such as food) and services (such as waste assimilation), that represent the benefits human populations derive, directly or indirectly, from ecosystem functions [12]. These impacts make the quantification of Ecosystem Service Values (ESVs) essential to raise awareness [13], develop decision making for the distribution of scarce resources among conflicting demands [14], incorporate ESs into the socioeconomic and marketing systems [15], formulate policy [16] and stimulate the conservation of ecosystems that deliver the most valuable services in support of human well-being [17].…”

Ecohydrological processes and ecosystem services in the Anthropocene: a review

“…Ecosystem services, the goods and services that ecosystems provide for human well-being (Alcamo et al 2003;Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (Program) 2005), are increasingly used as a framework worldwide for the purposes of ecological restoration and conservation (Wei et al 2017), watershed management (Falkenmark et al 2004), and sustainable development policy making (Asbjornsen et al 2015). Among the myriad of services provided by ecosystems, hydrological services such as water purification and water supply are considered the key to realizing other ecological services such as drinking water, recreation, and human health (Brauman et al 2007;Keeler et al 2012).…”