Optimizing hotspot areas for ecological planning and management based on biodiversity and ecosystem services

Abstract

Abstract:The significance of biodiversity and ecosystem services are gradually recognized by human as an approach towards sustainability, so it is important to understand relationships and congruence between them to support conservation planning, especially in the hotspot areas with a prominent role in conservation. However, the management of most conservation hotspots mainly focused on biodiversity, and rarely concerned with ecosystem services. With the aim of proposing criteria for conservation strategies that contribute to the optimization of biodiversity and ecosystem services, in this study, a Geographic Information System (GIS)-based approach was designed to estimate and map the biodiversity and ecosystem services in Chongqing Municipality of China. Furthermore, the distributions of hotspot areas for biodiversity and ecosystem services were mapped based on the relationship between cumulative ecosystem services and areas. Finally the statistical analysis was processed focused on specific conservation objectives. The results showed that hotspot areas can conserve the most biodiversity but with the least ecosystem services under the conservation plans target to biodiversity conservation. In contrast, depending on the ecosystem services of interest, hotspot areas can conserve the largest ecosystem services but with the least biodiversity. By integrating biodiversity and ecosystem services into conservation plan, we found that the conservation and regeneration of these small areas, would contribute to a conservation of 44% of the biodiversity hotspot and 14%-42% of the ecosystem services hotspot. Moreover, the current nature reserve selection was not maximize the biodiversity and ecosystem services compared to integration strategy, indicating that hotspot areas conservation and selection is vital for optimization protection of biodiversity and ecosystem services, and has practical significance for natural resources and ecosystem management. Keywords: biodiversity; ecosystem services; hotspot; nature reserve; Chongqing Municipality, China Citation: Xiao Yang, Ouyang Zhiyun, Xu Weihua, Xiao Yi, Zheng Hua, Xian Chaofan, 2016. Optimizing hotspot areas for ecological planning and management based on biodiversity and ecosystem services.

Planning island sustainable development policy based on the theory of ecosystem services: A case study of Zhoushan Archipelago, East China

“…During the study, we find that crop yield is negatively correlated with other ecosystem services and with soil conservation, which was similar to the findings of other researchers (Qiu et al, 2013). From a natural resource management perspective, we regard management of demand as a key goal (Xiao et al 2016). In light of the importance of this ecosystem service function, we identify the ecological mechanism of the ecosystem service and advance the key indicators that affect the ecosystem service supply (Gotelli et al, 2011).…”

“…(4) Carbon sequestration: Carbon sequestration is the process of long-term capture and storage of atmospheric CO 2 , and is proposed as a mitigation of global warming (Xiao et al, 2016). The annual amount of CO 2 sequestrated by the ecosystem can be estimated based on net ecosystem productivity (NEP) (Christie et al 2012), defined as follows:…”

What Is Left for Our Next Generation? Integrating Ecosystem Services into Regional Policy Planning in the Three Gorges Reservoir Area of China

“…The dominant soil types are Ultlsols, based on USDA soil taxonomy. The region has a subtropical monsoon climate and, for most of the year, experiences humid conditions with an annual mean temperature of 17-19 • C. The mean annual precipitation reaches approximately 1100 mm [13]. Rainfall is unevenly distributed and 85% of the annual rainfall occurs during summer (6-9 months).…”

“…LULC maps with 90 m resolution for 2000, 2005, and 2010 were produced by the Institute of Remote Sensing and Digital Earth, Chinese Academy of Sciences, using Landsat-TM and Landsat-ETM+ images with overall classification accuracy ranging from approximately 82.2% to 86.4% [13]. Meteorological data (including precipitation, temperature, and total solar radiation at a monthly LULC maps with 90 m resolution for 2000, 2005, and 2010 were produced by the Institute of Remote Sensing and Digital Earth, Chinese Academy of Sciences, using Landsat-TM and Landsat-ETM+ images with overall classification accuracy ranging from approximately 82.2% to 86.4% [13]. Meteorological data (including precipitation, temperature, and total solar radiation at a monthly scale) from 2000 to 2010 were provided by the Chinese National Metrological Information Center/China Meteorological Administration.…”

“…Consequently, the results revealed that the shorter the distance to the Three Gorges Dam, the greater the changes in soil erosion and carbon sequestration. LULC changes (from 2010 to 2050) accompanied by ES changes indicate that local human welfare and public health will be strongly affected, especially in relation to the changes nearby the Three Gorges Dam [13]. Figure 4 represent the relationship between the ES changes and distance to Three Gorges Dam in each scenario.…”