生态系统服务供需关系研究进展与趋势展望

厘清生态系统服务供需关系,对于实现自然资本永续利用与生态系统服务供需协调具有重要意义。结合国内外生态系统服务研究情况,提出了生态系统服务供需关系研究框架,阐释了生态系统服务供需关系形成机制与表现形式,概括了生态系统服务供需关系基本特征,总结了生态系统服务供需关系研究方法,并梳理了未来可能研究方向,以期能够为生态系统服务研究与管理提供参考。总体来看,生态系统服务供需关系产生于两种非排他性机制,主要有簇、权衡、协同与兼容四种表现形式,并具有空间异质性、时间变异性与尺度效应特征;生态系统服务供需关系主要有指数构建与评估、指标统计与分析、情景制定与模拟及空间制图与分析四种研究方法。     

秦巴山区生态系统服务与居民福祉耦合关系的时空变化

保护生态系统、提高居民福祉是实现联合国2030可持续发展目标的核心内容。在分析秦巴山区生态系统服务与居民福祉时空演化特征的基础上,采用弹性系数揭示了二者的时空耦合关系。研究发现：（1）1990—2018年秦巴山区水源涵养总量、土壤保持总量均呈波动下降趋势,碳储量总量则呈缓慢增长趋势,且各生态系统服务呈不同的空间分异特征。（2）1990—2018年居民福祉呈上升趋势,增幅高达220%,并呈“南高北低”的分布格局。（3）县域尺度上,三种生态系统服务与居民福祉明显不协调发展。其中,水源涵养、固碳服务与居民福祉的耦合关系均以“福祉增—服务减”为主,占比分别为88.75%、62.5%;而土壤保持服务与居民福祉的耦合关系则以“双增”为主,占比为57.5%。此外,各项生态系统服务与居民福祉反向变化区多分布于汉江河谷盆地和秦岭山脉中段。研究结果可为促进贫困山区生态系统服务与居民福祉协调发展提供决策依据。     

生态系统服务研究的问题与展望

生态系统服务的研究是当前资源经济学和生态经济学的研究热点之一。通过分析生态系统服务的概念辨析,认为从生态系统功能的定义过渡到生态系统服务定义的过程中,在关注生态系统整体性的同时忽略了生态系统要素之间的相互作用,导致生态系统服务的评估中可能存在着重复估值或者估值不全面等风险。针对目前的很多生态系统的评估对生态系统的耗损贬值和环境退化所造成的负效益的忽略,以及对人类活动的干扰和气候变化等对生态系统服务产生影响研究不足,提出在今后的研究中应该在深入理解生态系统的复杂生态学机制的基础上,结合数学模型模拟在不确定性下的各种风险损失,加强对生态系统服务的时空动态分析,重视在气候变化、经济发展、环境污染、城市化以及人类活动的过度放牧和过度开垦引起的水土流失、环境退化、荒漠化等土地利用变化的干扰时生态系统服务的变化和反馈,更进一步分析和预测生态系统服务的损益和响应研究;通过长期的试验监测揭示生物多样性和生态系统的关系,测度出土地利用和环境变化对生物多样性的影响和边际效益,及其对生态系统服务的影响的弹性值,实现生态系统服务的精确估值;关注生态系统服务对人类福利的影响,尤其重视贫困地区和生态脆弱区的生态系统服务对减小贫困的研究,建立科学的生态补偿机制,实现可持续发展。     

南方丘陵山地农户对生态系统服务的感知及其影响因素——以湖南省慈利县为例

生态系统服务是保障乡村生态安全、环境健康以及经济可持续发展的重要基础,农户作为乡村地域生态系统与乡村经济发展的重要关联主体,其生产生活以及对生态系统服务的认知与感知变化对维护生态系统功能具有重要影响。以南方丘陵山地重点生态功能区——湖南省慈利县6个不同发展类型的农村社区为研究对象,基于农户访谈与入户调查,探究了2008—2018年农户对各类生态系统服务的多样性感知变化,采用多元线性回归方法构建农户对生态系统服务多样化感知指数模型,分析其影响因素,在此基础上提出两者协同发展的建议策略。结果表明：（1）农户对各类生态系统服务感知变化以及不同区域之间的感知均呈现差异性,农业生产主导区感知强于生态保护核心区和生态经济发展区;（2）农户对林地、农田、园地、湿地生态系统服务的多样性感知以及属性感知依次减弱;（3）自然环境、资源禀赋、个体特征等是影响农户生态系统服务属性感知的重要因素。研究结果以期为维护区域生态系统服务,提升农户福祉推进生态服务提升及乡村协同发展提供参考。     

The missing pieces for better future predictions in subarctic ecosystems: A Torneträsk case study

Arctic and subarctic ecosystems are experiencing substantial changes in hydrology, vegetation, permafrost conditions, and carbon cycling, in response to climatic change and other anthropogenic drivers, and these changes are likely to continue over this century. The total magnitude of these changes results from multiple interactions among these drivers. Field measurements can address the overall responses to different changing drivers, but are less capable of quantifying the interactions among them. Currently, a comprehensive assessment of the drivers of ecosystem changes, and the magnitude of their direct and indirect impacts on subarctic ecosystems, is missing. The Torneträsk area, in the Swedish subarctic, has an unrivalled history of environmental observation over 100 years, and is one of the most studied sites in the Arctic. In this study, we summarize and rank the drivers of ecosystem change in the Torneträsk area, and propose research priorities identified, by expert assessment, to improve predictions of ecosystem changes. The research priorities identified include understanding impacts on ecosystems brought on by altered frequency and intensity of winter warming events, evapotranspiration rates, rainfall, duration of snow cover and lake-ice, changed soil moisture, and droughts. This case study can help us understand the ongoing ecosystem changes occurring in the Torneträsk area, and contribute to improve predictions of future ecosystem changes at a larger scale. This understanding will provide the basis for the future mitigation and adaptation plans needed in a changing climate.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1007/s13280-020-01381-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

Operationalizing ecosystem service bundles for strategic sustainability planning: A participatory approach

The ecosystem service concept is recognized as a useful tool to support sustainability in decision-making. In this study, we collaborated with actors in the Helge å catchment, southern Sweden, in an iterative participatory ecosystem service assessment. Through workshops and interviews, we jointly decided which ecosystem services to assess and indicators to use in order to achieve a sense of ownership and a higher legitimacy of the assessment. Subsequently, we explored the landscape-level interactions between the 15 assessed services, and found that the area can be described using three distinct ecosystem service bundles. The iterative, participatory process strengthened our analysis and created a shared understanding and overview of the multifunctional landscape around Helge å among participants. Importantly, this allowed for the generated knowledge to impact local strategic sustainability planning. With this study, we illustrate how similar processes can support local decision-making for a more sustainable future.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1007/s13280-020-01378-w) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

Prioritizing the provision of urban ecosystem services in deprived areas,a question of environmental justice

The distribution of urban ecosystem services (UES) is often uneven across socioeconomic groups, leading to environmental justice issues. Understanding the distribution of UES across a landscape can help managers ensure an equitable distribution of services. While many past studies have focused on the distribution of green spaces in relation to socioeconomic variables, this research analyzes the distribution of UES provided by these green spaces. This research quantified air pollution removal, atmospheric carbon reduction, and surface runoff mitigation provided by urban trees in Strasbourg city (France). The provision of these three UES was studied at the census block scale by creating an index of UES delivery, which was contrasted with a constructed social deprivation index. Our results show that there is no significant association between the delivery of UES and social deprivation. Some deprived populations benefit from high UES delivery. Results also suggest that mapping associations between UES delivery and social deprivation should be integrated with future development plans to enhance the equitable distribution of UES. This study provides insights into the French context where studies about the distribution of UES at a small-area level remain lacking.     

Economic assessment of rewilding versus agri-environmental nature management

Policies aiming at improving biodiversity often consist of costly agri-environmental schemes, i.e. subsidized grazing or mowing of semi-natural areas. However, these practices have widely been found to be insufficient to mitigate biodiversity loss. Rewilding, i.e. restoring natural processes in self-sustaining biodiverse ecosystems, has been proposed as an alternative and is hypothesized to be a more cost-efficient approach to promote biodiversity conservation. Rewilding requires the availability of large natural areas which are not allocated for farming, forestry, and infrastructure to avoid potential conflicts over the use of the area. We perform an ex-ante private cost–benefit analysis of the establishment of four large nature reserves for rewilding in Denmark. We analyse the economic effects of changing from summer grazing in nature areas in combination with cultivated fields and forestry to the establishment of nature reserves in four case areas. We consider two scenarios involving conversion of agriculture and forestry areas into natural areas in combination with either extensive year-round cattle grazing or rewilding with wild large herbivores. In two case areas, it appears possible to establish large nature areas without incurring extra costs. Additionally, rewilding further reduces costs compared to year-round cattle grazing. Two opposing effects were dominant: increased economic rent occurred from the shift from summer grazing to year-round grazing or rewilding, while cessation of agriculture and forestry caused opportunity costs.     

How does a nature-based solution for flood control compare to a technical solution? Case study evidence from Belgium

The strategy of reconnecting rivers with their floodplains currently gains popularity because it not only harnesses natural capacities of floodplains but also increases social co-benefits and biodiversity. In this paper, we present an example of a successfully implemented nature-based solution (NBS) in the Dijle valley in the centre of Belgium. The research objective is to retrospectively assess cost and benefit differences between a technical solution (storm basins) and an alternative NBS, here the restoration of the alluvial floodplain. The method is a comparative social cost–benefit analysis. The case study analysis reveals similar flood security, lower costs, more ecosystem services benefits and higher biodiversity values associated with the NBS option in comparison to the technical alternative. However, the business case for working with NBS depends substantially on the spatial and socio-ecological context. Chances for successful NBS implementation increase in conditions of sufficient space to retain flood water, when flood water is of sufficient quality, and when economic activity and housing in the floodplain is limited.Supplementary InformationThe online version of this article contains supplementary material available at (10.1007/s13280-021-01548-4).