Spatiotemporal Variation of Ecosystem Services Value and its Response to Land Use Change in the Yangtze River Basin, China

Abstract

Land use and land cover change (LUCC) have a significance influence on ecosystem services value. The Yangtze River Basin is an important ecologically sensitive area in China, and has experienced rapid land use change. How to understand the impact of land use change on ecosystem service value is of great significance for the utilization of ecological environment protection. In this study, based on the 2001–2018 land use data in the Yangtze River Basin and the revised ecosystem service value per unit area. The Land use change were analyzed and the ecosystem service value (ESV) were estimated in the Yangtze River Basin, Specifically, the spatiotemporal variation characteristics of ESV and the influence of LUCC on ESV were analyzed by using fishnet method, spatial autocorrelation analysis, high-low clustering, and hotspots methods. The results showed that the Yangtze River basin was dominated by forests, grasslands and croplands, with grasslands covering the largest area, about 60% of the basin. The expansion of urban and construction land was mainly due to the occupation of grassland and farmland around towns. ESV in the Yangtze River Basin increased by about 330.7 billion RMB, with grasslands and forests contributing the most to ESV throughout the study period. ESV in the Yangtze River Basin was mainly contributed by regulating services and supporting services, followed by supply services. The increase of regulating services was mainly due to the increase of wetland area, and the increase of supporting services came from the continuous expansion of forest area. The spatial distribution of ESV in the Yangtze River basin was positively correlated, with spatial aggregation and significant spatiotemporal differentiation of ecosystem service values in the study area. The results of the study can provide a reference for the optimization of land use structure and ecological environmental protection in the Yangtze River basin.