Quantifying the Ecosystem Services of Soda Saline-Alkali Grasslands in Western Jilin Province, NE China

Lei Chang, Zhibo Zhao, Lixin Jiang and Yuefen Li
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Lei Chang: College of Earth Sciences, Jilin University, Changchun 130061, China
Zhibo Zhao: Faculty of Built Environment, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur 50603, Malaysia
Lixin Jiang: College of Earth Sciences, Jilin University, Changchun 130061, China
Yuefen Li: College of Earth Sciences, Jilin University, Changchun 130061, China

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 8, 1-21

Abstract: This study aimed to quantitatively describe the ecosystem services of soda saline-alkali grasslands based on literature research, the InVEST model, a transition matrix, and Spearman’s correlation analysis. The chosen methodology could provide insight into the relationships between different services to provide empirical evidence for decision-making concerning the protection and restoration of saline-alkali grasslands. The research provided several insights into the ecological situation in western Jilin Province. First, the area of saline-alkali grassland in western Jilin Province had noticeably decreased from 1990 to 2018. Moreover, the threat of grassland degradation in western Jilin Province has increased year by year, and has become the main problem facing the ecological environment of this region. Second, the results demonstrated how the amount of grassland area, and coverage, are intricately linked to the provided ecosystem services, and maintaining the stability of ecosystem services is the basis for future efforts to increase grassland area and coverage. A trade-off relationship exists between water supply services and other ecosystem services, which indirectly confirms a climatic cause for grassland salinization in western Jilin Province. The analyses identified various types of grassland ecosystem service hotspots, but the share of hotspots representing all four assessed ecosystem services was small; this indicates that the grassland ecosystem of western Jilin Province is of generally poor quality. In conclusion, increasing grassland salinization has reduced vegetation coverage, which leads to the degradation of the grassland ecosystem and, in turn, affects the relationships between various ecosystem services.

Keywords: land ecology; ecosystem services; InVEST model; saline-alkali grassland; synergy; trade-off (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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