Quantifying multiple ecosystem services for adaptive management of green infrastructure

Abstract

Demands for ecosystem service assessments are growing around the world. However, management applications remain limited in part because we lack measurements linking ecosystem characteristics (ecosystem structure and processes) to final ecosystem services. Policymakers need marginal values, changes in final ecosystem services (direct link to human welfare) relative to additional units of ecosystem characteristics (∆final ecosystem services/∆ecosystem characteristics) to assess tradeoffs. Progress, however, has been slow due to confusion on ecological production functions (EPFs) in ecology. Here, we apply a new interdisciplinary approach to craft EPFs to evaluate four ecosystem services using the Yongding River Green Ecological Corridor as our case study. The Yongding Corridor is Beijing's largest, most expensive green infrastructure project (~ $2.5 billion USD), constructed as a network of seven artificial lakes and wetlands. The Beijing Government wants the Yongding Corridor to improve four ecosystem services: (1) water storage, (2) local climate regulation, (3) water purification, and (4) aesthetics. We first worked with stakeholders to determine final ecosystem service levels and then used the Variable Infiltration Capacity model to estimate key ecosystem processes from the designed lakes and wetlands. We coupled the modeling with ecological field data and social surveys to create EPFs. We evaluated the ecosystem services by calculating shortfalls and then determined synergies and tradeoffs to identify actions for reducing shortfalls. We found the Yongding Corridor is meeting desired levels for aesthetics, but incurred shortfalls on the remaining services. To obtain the desired services, we recommend managers: (1) maintain inflow rates and/or make the lakes deeper to reduce water loss rates; (2) improve water quality—wetlands have high nutrient retention, but nutrient loads must be reduced; and (3) plant shade trees since evaporative cooling from the lakes and wetlands is having no measurable impact on human comfort. Results indicate the absence of ecosystem functions in landscape design led to shortfalls, but solutions require coupling green and built infrastructure to obtain multi‐functionality. Managers found marginal values useful for clarifying connections, which led to adaptive policy changes for improving green infrastructure.

Urban Green Infrastructure and Sustainable Development: A Review

“…Most quantitative documents (62) focused on spatial analysis. They are papers that use mapping through GIS or remote sensing to describe and analyze topics such as landscape connectivity (e.g., Niedźwiecka-Filipiak et al [37]), urban sprawl (e.g., Gavrilidis et al [38]), assessing urban heat island (e.g., Marando et al [39]), water management (e.g., Wong et al; Kuller et al [40,41]) and related subjects. The remaining 27 quantitative papers focused on metrics: quantitatively evaluating variables of UGI and SD such as assessment of green development (e.g., Wu et al [42]), estimating the value of UGI or ES using cost-benefit analysis of UGI (e.g., Sutton and Anderson [43]) and analyzing the economic sustainability in storm water urban catchments (e.g., Boguniewicz-Zabłocka and Capodaglio [44]).…”

Indirect impacts of future urban expansion on ecosystem services in the transnational area of China, North Korea, and Russia

“…Second, we suggest strengthening the management of cropland growth and displacement with a particular focus on protecting natural habitats in the process of cropland displacement. Finally, ecosystem services and trade-offs should be considered as important tools to be incorporated into land-use planning to promote the sustainable development of this transnational area (Zheng et al, 2013(Zheng et al, , 2019Wong et al, 2018;Zhang et al, 2019;Liu et al, 2021).…”

Assessment of ecosystem functions of public green spaces in the city of Berezhany, Ternopil region

“…An important requirement today in the context of the balanced development of settlements around the world is their sustainable development. In such operating conditions, according to scientists Wong et al (2018), green infrastructure is the basic concept of using an ecosystem approach to enhance the sustainable development of urban landscapes. According to the research by various authors (Castro-Díez et al, 2019), tree and shrub plantations, as an integral element of urban ecosystems, provide critically important ecosystem functions for the safe existence and well-being of residents, such as improving air quality by removing pollution and reducing noise, protecting and purifying water, protecting and stabilizing the soil, improving and regulating the microclimate, mitigating the consequences of urbanization, improving the biological interchange of the matter, preserving biodiversity, etc.…”

“…Specifically, according to Wolf et al (2020), simultaneously with the growth and development of settlements, a consequent deterioration of climatic, hydrological, and biotic conditions of the urban environment occurs, which adversely affects the health of residents of settlements. Furthermore, according to other scientists, such as Wong et al (2018), due to built-up density, urban landscapes experience higher levels of pollution, biodiversity loss, and social inequality compared to rural areas. Under such conditions, green spaces become important for cities, which, according to the conclusions of Rötzer et al (2019) can not only mitigate the consequences of this negative impact but improve the condition of urban landscapes and create optimal conditions for human habitation.…”