Exploring Trade-Offs/Synergies and Drivers of Ecosystem Services in the Dongting Lake Area, China

Ying Huang, Xinsheng Chen () and Lianlian Zhu
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Ying Huang: College of Economics and Management, Hunan Institute of Science and Technology, Yueyang 414000, China
Xinsheng Chen: School of Resources and Environmental Engineering, Anhui University, Hefei 230601, China
Lianlian Zhu: School of Earth Sciences and Spatial Information Engineering, Hunan University of Science and Technology, Xiangtan 411201, China

Sustainability, 2025, vol. 17, issue 4, 1-18

Abstract: Identifying ecosystem service trade-offs/synergies and their influencing factors are prerequisites for formulating scientific ecosystem management strategies. We selected Dongting Lake Area as the study area, quantified four key ESs dynamics, including food production (FP), soil conservation (SC), habitat quality (HQ) and ecological leisure (EL), identified relationships between paired ecosystem services using Spearman correlation coefficients, and analyzed how various drivers impact trade-offs and synergies by leveraging spatial panel data models; we also implemented ecosystem management zoning by superposition analysis on ecosystem services, the relationships between these services, and key drivers. The results showed that FC and SC displayed synergy before a trade-off over the period 2000–2022. The FP–HQ and HQ–EL initially displayed synergy, then trade-off, and then synergy again. Spatially, the spatial trade-off ratios of FP–HQ, SC–HQ, and HQ–EL exceeded the synergy ratios, and trade-off areas of FP–HQ, SC–HQ, and HQ–EL existed around Dongting Lake. The direct or indirect effects of DEM, slope, precipitation, and population density have the greatest effect on ecosystem service pairs. Furthermore, the DTLA was divided into ecological unbalance, soil conservation, habitat quality synergy, and ecological leisure areas. These finding may provide critical scientific insights into how to balance ecological conservation and socio-economic progress in the Dongting Lake Area.

Keywords: soil conservation; spatial trade-off ratios; spatiotemporal drivers; ecological management zone (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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