Quantitative Assessment of the Relative Impacts of Land Use and Climate Change on the Key Ecosystem Services in the Hengduan Mountain Region, China

Erfu Dai, Le Yin, Yahui Wang, Liang Ma and Miao Tong
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Erfu Dai: Lhasa Plateau Ecosystem Research Station, Key Laboratory of Ecosystem Network Observation and Modeling, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
Le Yin: University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
Yahui Wang: Lhasa Plateau Ecosystem Research Station, Key Laboratory of Ecosystem Network Observation and Modeling, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
Liang Ma: Lhasa Plateau Ecosystem Research Station, Key Laboratory of Ecosystem Network Observation and Modeling, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
Miao Tong: Lhasa Plateau Ecosystem Research Station, Key Laboratory of Ecosystem Network Observation and Modeling, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 10, 1-18

Abstract: In the Hengduan Mountain region, soil erosion is the most serious ecological environmental problem. Understanding the impact mechanism of water yield and soil erosion is essential to optimize ecosystem management and improve ecosystem services. This study used the Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs (InVEST) and Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) models to separate the relative contributions of land use and climate change to water yield and soil erosion. The results revealed that: (1) Although soil and water conservation has been strengthened in the past 25 years, both water yield and soil erosion increased from 2010 to 2015 due to the conversion of woodland to grassland, which indicates that continuous benefits after the implementation of ecological restoration projects were not obtained; (2) Climate change played a decisive role in water yield and soil erosion changes in the Hengduan Mountain region from 1990 to 2015, and soil erosion was not only related to the amount of precipitation but also closely related to precipitation intensity; (3) The contribution of land use and climate change to water yield was 26.94% and 73.06%, while for soil erosion, the contribution of land use and climate change was 16.23% and 83.77%, respectively.

Keywords: water yield; soil erosion; land use change; climate change; relative contribution (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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