Identifying mismatches of ecosystem services supply and demand under semi‐arid conditions: The case of the Oasis City Urumqi, China

Abstract

Understanding the balance between supply and demand of ecosystem services (ESs) is helpful for sustainable urban management. However, the interactions among multiple ESs supplies and demands remain under-researched, and ESs supply and demand spatial heterogeneity and correlation characteristics at the city level are rarely studied, especially in arid areas. To fill this gap, we established a comprehensive assessment framework of ESs supply and demand through integrating multi-source remote sensing data, social economy, and policy objectives, for the oasis city of Urumqi, China. The ESs supplydemand mismatches were revealed at the city level, and the spatial relationship between the ESs supply and demand was analyzed using spatial statistics. The results demonstrated that: (1) The total quantity of supply and demand of food provision, carbon sequestration, PM 10 removal, and recreation services in Urumqi revealed that the demand was greater than the supply, the deficits being 16.10 × 10 7 kcal/ha, 6.88 × 10 4 t/ha, 155.86 kg/ha, and 697.26, respectively. (2) The supply and demand assessment of ESs revealed spatial differences from the city center to the suburbs, which further indicated that there are neighborhood similarities between the supply and demand of ESs. (3) The matching types of ESs supply and demand present obvious spatial heterogeneity, which can be divided into four types: High-high, high-low, low-high, and low-low. Owing to rapid urban development in the inner city, the city center is dominated by low-high, whereas the urban-rural ecotone is characterized by high-low, owing to the higher elevation and water resource advantages in the suburbs. Based on the analysis of the supply, demand, and matching of ESs, economic development and sustainable management policies are proposed for different ecological spaces.

Heavy Metal Pollution and Risk Assessment of Surface Dust in the Arid NW China

“…Oasis cities are built on a large-scale desert background substrate, and their urban development is largely constrained by the distribution characteristics of the water system [ 53 , 54 ]. In addition, oasis cities have a dry climate, sparse vegetation, and exposed surfaces due to a low precipitation and high evaporation, and their urban ecological environment is vulnerable to dust storms under the effects of human activities and atmospheric disturbances [ 26 , 55 ].…”