Land Use Change and Its Impact of Ecosystem Service Value in Yarlung Zangbo River Basin in Southern of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

Abstract

Scientific determination of ecosystem service values (ESVs) is the basis and premise of realizing sustainable management of the regional ecosystem. Therefore, it is of great significance to explore the dynamic evolution of ESV in Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QTP) to maintain the plateau landscape diversity and ecological environment protection. This paper constructed a comprehensive basin analysis perspective of horizontal distribution, vertical distribution, and basin gradient to analyze the dynamic evolution of ESV in the Yarlung Zangbo River Basin (YZRB). The results showed that: The total ESVs of YZRB increased from 1980 to 2015, in which the ESVs of grassland and water decreased, and ESVs of other sites increased. The changes in ESVs in different land-use types had obvious differences in basin gradients. In general, ESVs presented a stepwise distribution pattern of "upper < middle < lower". In terms of vertical differentiation, the lower ESVs areas were concentrated at 2000-6400 m, the medium ESVs areas were distributed below 5000 m, and the high ESVs areas can only present from 3800 to 4800 m. The areas of grassland and water were decreasing, which was the main cause of ESVs loss. The ESVs' benefits were greater than the losses, so the ESVs in the whole basin were improved. This paper completed the research of ESVs from change analysis to flow tracking and perfected the regularity study of the integrated process of basin ESV from static evaluation to dynamic evolution to conversion.