Increase in precipitation and fractional vegetation cover promote synergy of ecosystem services in China’s arid regions—Northern sand-stabilization belt

Abstract

Research on synergies and trade-offs between ecosystem services (ES) contributes to a better understanding of the linkages between ecosystem functions. Relevant research mainly focuses on mountain areas, while research in arid areas is obviously insufficient. In this research, we use the northern sand-stabilization belt (NSB) as an example to explore how the synergies and trade-offs between different ES vary with the gradient of precipitation and fractional vegetation cover (FVC) over the period 2000-2020. Based on five simulated ecosystem services (habitat provision, sand-stabilization service, water conservation service, soil conservation service and carbon sequestration service), the Pearson correlation coefficient method was used to analyze the various characteristics of the trade-offs and synergies among the different ES pairs along the FVC and precipitation gradients. Results showed that: Synergies between most paired ES increased significantly with increasing precipitation and FVC. However, ES have different sensitivities to environmental change, FVC promotes bit more synergy of ES pairs than precipitation. The study also found that land use/land cover may be an important driving factor for trade-offs and synergies between paired ES. The findings demonstrate that increased precipitation and FVC promote synergy of ecosystem services in arid regions of China. In the future, it can be investigated whether anthropogenic increase in FVC in arid regions can significantly contribute to the synergy of ES. In the meantime, this study could improve our understanding of arid and semi-arid (or macro-regional) ecosystems and contribute to the development of ecosystem management and conservation measures in NSB.

Assessing the Impact of Climate and Human Activities on Ecosystem Services in the Loess Plateau Ecological Screen, China

“…The study by Zhang et al [113] in the Loess Plateau region alone showed that increased precipitation and increased canopy transpiration can lead to a decrease in soil water content. The effect of the human activities factor on all ES showed an increasing trend before PREP75 and a decreasing trend after PREP75 (Figure 11 (11)(12)(13)(14)(15)). Since precipitation is larger and overlaps with high-altitude areas, the ecosystem in alpine areas is more fragile, and anthropogenic afforestation activities will instead have a negative impact on ES [139].…”

“…In the PREP gradient, the effect of the PREP factor on ES was significantly greater than the other factors, and all showed a trend of increasing, then decreasing, and then increasing as the PREP gradient increased (Figure 11 (11)(12)(13)(14)(15)). The precipitation-based gradient provides insights into the climate distribution in the LPES region and reflects the dominance of precipitation [112,116].…”

“…The precipitation-based gradient provides insights into the climate distribution in the LPES region and reflects the dominance of precipitation [112,116]. The effect of the temperature factor on C decreased then increased (Figure 11 (11)). The effect on HP increased and then decreased (Figure 11 (12)).…”

“…The exploration of ES synergies and trade-offs has become a prominent research topic in the field of ecology [2][3][4]. Considerable progress has been made in estimating ES, understanding their spatial patterns and temporal changes, and comprehending the interactions and trade-offs among multiple ES and associated risks [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12]. Single-factor studies have broadly advanced our understanding of how individual environmental factors impact ES [13][14][15][16][17].…”