Long-Term Dynamics of Ecosystem Services and Their Influencing Factors in Ecologically Fragile Southwest China

Abstract

Southwest China has one of the largest karst landscapes on the Earth and an ecologically fragile environment. A better understanding of how ecosystem services function in karst areas helps ecological preservation and policy implementation. However, little effort has been made to evaluate the long-term dynamics of ecosystem services across Southwest China. This study systematically analyzed the spatio-temporal patterns and the values of three typical ecosystem service functions, including water conservation, carbon sequestration, and soil conservation, as well as the effects of precipitation and land use changes between 2000 and 2020. The results showed that water conservation exhibited an overall decrease from southeast to northwest, while soil conservation showed the opposite trend. The regions with an increasing trend in carbon sequestration were mainly distributed in Guizhou, Guangxi, and Sichuan. Compared to the year 2000, the percentage of water conservation and soil conservation decreased by 4.50% and 0.76%, respectively. However, carbon sequestration increased by 94.35%. The total value of ecosystem services in Southwest China showed a 90.00% increase in 2020 relative to 2000. Water conservation and carbon sequestration had a much closer correlation with precipitation. The impact of soil conservation was more significantly influenced by land use changes.