Impacts of Human Activities on Ecosystem Service Value in Arid and Semi-Arid Ecological Regions of China

Abstract

The quantitative and spatial–temporal variations in the characteristics of ecosystem value can be helpful to improve environmental protection and climate adaptation measures and adjust the balance between economic development and the ecological environment. The arid and semi-arid regions of China are undergoing the effects of climate change across the entire northern hemisphere. Their ecological environments are fragile and in conflict with anthropogenic activities, which significantly altered more ecosystems services in these regions. Therefore, estimating the effects of anthropogenic activities on ecosystem services is important for formulating ecological policy and regional environmental mitigation plans of these regions. This study employed the model of ecosystem service value (ESV) assessment and the bivariate spatial autocorrelation method to reveal the spatiotemporal variations in the characteristics of ecosystem value in the arid and semi-arid ecological regions of China and its interaction with human activities. Results showed that (1) the total value of ES of the study area increased from USD 487,807 billion in 2000 to USD 67,831,150 billion 2020; (2) the ES value provided by forest land first increased by 5.60% from 2000 to 2020; (3) the ESV provided by grassland showed an overall decline over the 20 years. Food and raw material production showed the lowest ES value, and climate regulation and soil conservation decreased from 2000 to 2020; (4) the index of human footprint patches decreased from 45.80% in 2000 to 17.63% in 2020, while the high and very high human footprint index areas increased significantly, mainly due to the rapid urbanization and improvement of railway networks in these areas. Spatially, the regions with high human footprint were mostly dispersed in the northeastern of China such as Shanxi and Gansu, whereas the regions with a low human footprint remained mainly located in the central and southwestern parts of China; (5) significant spatial dependencies between changes in ESV and the human footprint index were recorded. Our study could provide a scientific basis for ecosystem functions regulation and land development security in arid and semi-arid ecological regions.

Monitoring 3D Changes in Urban Forests Using Landscape Metrics Analyses Based on Multi-Temporal Remote Sensing Data

“…Data Acquisition Date Resolution/ GSD * ALS LiDAR point cloud 1 November 2006 ~12 pts/m 2 ALS LiDAR point cloud 2 July 2012 ~12 pts/m 2 ALS LiDAR point cloud 2 November 2017 ~12 pts/m 2 IKONOS-2 (SpaceImaging) 3 June 2005 0.8 m PAN/3.2 m MS QuickBird-2 (DigitalGlobe) 3 September 2006 0.6 m PAN/2.4 m MS WorldView-2 (DigitalGlobe) 3 October 2014 0.5 m PAN/2.0 m MS Aerial orthophoto (CIR) 2 May 2017 0.25 m…”

“…Invested areas and green spaces try to fulfill their functions, which, at the same time, are more or less suited as habitats for various species of plants and animals. Human activity and urban management decisions have profoundly affected cities' ecosystem functions [1,2]. Contemporary urban sprawl brings about numerous transformations in the structure and functioning of the cityscape.…”

Does road construction have beneficial effects on vegetation biodiversity and tree regeneration in arid woodlands?

“…They face numerous challenges, including biodiversity loss (Moradi Behbahani et al, 2017), lower soil nutrient and carbon stock (Moradi et al, 2017), higher effects of anthropogenic climate changes (Burrell et al, 2020), and tree regeneration reduction (Moradi et al, 2022). Plant diversity in arid ecosystems is threatened by climate change effects (Korell et al, 2021), human disturbance (Fan et al, 2021), fire (Archibald et al, 2013), and soil salinization (Naorem et al, 2023).…”