Study on the trade-off/synergy spatiotemporal benefits of ecosystem services and its influencing factors in hilly areas of southern China

Abstract

IntroductionThis study aims to investigate the factors influencing ecosystem service trade-offs/synergies (TOSs) in major agricultural production areas in the southern hilly region and to propose optimization strategies to promote ecosystem sustainability in agricultural areas.MethodsThe study used a geographical detector to analyze the determinants influencing the ecosystem service trade-offs as well as correlation analysis, geographically weighted regression (GWR), and a geographical detector to analyze the spatial and temporal evolution of ecosystem service and TOS relationships from 2000 to 2020 in Hunan Province.ResultsThe results showed that the comprehensive value of ecosystem services in Hunan Province showed an increasing trend from 2000 to 2020. With spatial heterogeneity, the areas with high values were mainly distributed in the hilly areas in the west, south, and east of Hunan Province, and the areas with low values were mainly distributed in the Dongting Lake Plain and the Xiangzhong Hilly Basin. There was a trade-off relationship between food production (FP) and all other ecosystem services, of which FP has the strongest trade-off effect with habitat quality (HQ). The synergy effect between HQ, water yield (WY), carbon storage (CS), and soil conservation (SC) shows an increasing trend. Gross domestic product (GDP) and SLOPE are the dominant factors for the strength of trade-offs between food supply and other ecosystem services, and Digital Elevation Model (DEM) and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) are the dominant factors for the strength of synergy effects among ecosystem services. The strength of TOS effects of ecosystem services is determined by interactions or co-influences between the two services rather than by a single component.DiscussionThe results of this study can provide a reference basis for the enhancement of ecosystem services and the sustainable planning of agricultural landscapes in the southern hilly areas.

Editorial: Territorial spatial evolution process and its ecological resilience

“…In this field, several authors have carried out enlightening studies: Yin et al evaluate the factors influencing ecological environment and zoning control for the study case of the Dongting Lake area (Yin et al, 2024) and Ma et al analyze the spatiotemporal variation and driving factors of habitat quality in the northern foothills of the Qinling Mountains in Xi'an (Ma et al). On the other hand, other authors address this issue with a different approach: Li et al adopt a "structure-function" perspective in the analysis of the evolution and zoning of spatial ecosystem functional stability in the southern hilly province of Hunan (Li et al), Meng et al research on multilevel evaluations and zones of territorial spatial functions in Yibin Meng et al, Tan et al study the trade-off/synergy spatiotemporal benefits of ecosystem services and its influencing factors in hilly areas of the southern area of the country (Tan et al, 2024) and Huang et al analyze the spatiotemporal evolution and influencing factors of ecosystem service in the Changsha-Zhuzhou-Xiangtan urban agglomeration (X. Huang et al, 2024).…”