Department of Geography, Ghent University, Ghent 9000, Belgium; Faculty of Geographical Science, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China.
College of Ecology and Environment, Inner Mongolia University, West University Road 235, Hohhot 010021, China.
Sci Total Environ. 2021 Mar 10;759:143525. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.143525. Epub 2020 Nov 23.
The Ecosystem services (ESs), which play an important role in the balance of the natural ecosystem and social-economic development, are suffering from degradation caused by human activities and climate change. However, the manner in which the ESs respond to the land use/cover changes (LUCCs) and the climatic factors respectively remain elusive, especially in the forest-steppe ecotone, which is highly sensitive to climate change and anthroponotic activities. Based on the remote sensing data and in situ meteorological data, we comprehensively modeled and compared 4 key ESs changes caused by 3 LUCC types, land-use change fraction, and climate changes through two simple comparative experiments. Our results showed that: the Grain for the Green Project improved the mean soil conservation, carbon sequestration, and water yield but reduced the sand fixation. The cropland expansion had a positive influence on the water yield and sand fixation, but it induced a decline in soil conservation and carbon sequestration. The urbanization very likely increased the water yield and decreased soil conservation, carbon sequestration, and sand fixation. The unequal change fractions of the same land-use conversion may affect the ESs differently. The ESs changes have different responses to climate change in different landscapes due to the ecological process. The water yield could be well explained by the temperature, precipitation, radiation, and wind speed. Climate change had a stronger effect on the water yield and carbon sequestration than the land use/cover changes but sand fixation and soil conservation were more likely to be affected by LUCCs. The impact of three types of land-use changes and climate change on the ecosystem services should be considered when formulating land-use policies. This paper might aid the decision-makers in achieving ESs sustainable management and develop land-use strategies in the forest-steppe ecotone.
生态系统服务（Ecosystem services，ESs）在自然生态系统平衡和社会经济发展中发挥着重要作用，但正受到人类活动和气候变化导致的退化的影响。然而，ESs 分别对土地利用/覆被变化（Land use/cover changes，LUCCs）和气候因素的响应方式仍不清楚，特别是在对气候变化和人为活动高度敏感的森林-草原交错带。本研究基于遥感数据和现场气象数据，通过两个简单的对比实验，综合模拟和比较了 3 种 LUCC 类型（退耕还林还草工程、耕地扩张和城市化）和 2 种气候因子（气温、降水）变化引起的 4 种关键生态系统服务（土壤保持、固碳、水源涵养和防风固沙）变化。结果表明：退耕还林还草工程提高了平均土壤保持、固碳和水源涵养能力，但降低了防风固沙能力；耕地扩张对水源涵养和防风固沙具有积极影响，但导致土壤保持和固碳能力下降；城市化很可能增加了水源涵养能力，减少了土壤保持、固碳和防风固沙能力；相同土地利用转换的不等变化比例可能会对生态系统服务产生不同的影响；由于生态过程的不同，不同景观下的生态系统服务变化对气候变化的响应不同；水产量可以很好地用温度、降水、辐射和风速来解释；气候变化对水产量和固碳的影响大于土地利用/覆被变化，但防风固沙和土壤保持更可能受到 LUCCs 的影响；在制定土地利用政策时，应考虑三种土地利用变化类型和气候变化对生态系统服务的影响。本文可为决策者实现生态系统服务可持续管理和制定森林-草原交错带土地利用战略提供参考。
