Environmental variables affect the effectiveness of ecosystem services of ecological restoration project: Evidence from Xiangjiang River Basin-Dongting Lake

Abstract

Understanding the ecosystem services effectiveness of ecological restoration project (ERP) and their environmental impact factors is crucial for optimizing restoration strategies. However, current studies still have limitations in terms of the evaluation benchmarks for the ecological effects of ERP and the interaction pathways among the factors influencing those ecological effects. Therefore, this study explored a pilot restoration project of full-array ecosystems in the Xiangjiang River Basin-Dongting Lake area as an example. By using Patch-generating Land Use Simulation and benefit transfer methods, an assessment baseline for the scenario without ERP was established, and the effectiveness of ecosystem service value (ESV) for different restoration types was evaluated. Redundancy analysis and Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling were then employed to decouple the direct and indirect effects of environmental variables on the ESV effectiveness. The main findings indicate that climate, terrain, and human activity intensity were the primary environmental factors influencing the ESV effectiveness. In damaged areas with rich hydrothermal conditions, complex terrain, and strong human activity interference, the direct improvements in ESV after restoration were more obvious. However, the environmental constraints on the recovery of vegetation and water body were also greater, which indirectly weakens the ESV effectiveness. This study provided a comprehensive perspective for understanding the effectiveness of ERP and enriched decision-support methods for ERP.