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Responses of forest eco-service values to biotopes in the China’s Conversion of Cropland to Forest Program

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Abstract

The Conversion of Cropland to Forest Program is the largest ecological program of forest in China, which has significantly increased the forest coverage. However, it has been less effective than expected. Understanding the responding features of ecological benefits of forest to their biotopes, the relationships between the categories of ‘annual eco-service value of per unit area of forest’ (EV) and their biotope conditions is important for maximizing the ecological benefit of forest in the Conversion of Cropland to Forest Program. We analyzed the EV categories of three kinds of forest type in different biotopes, using the methods of ‘specifications for assessment of forest ecosystem services in China’. The result showed that the total EV (Tev) varied in the range of 2.6–8.0 e4 RMBs hm−2 a−1. The EV categories performed differently among the forest types and the biotopes. Water conservation EV was the highest and nutrient accumulation EV was the lowest in all the four types of biotopes. Correlations between EV categories and biotope indicators were also analyzed. The Tev of the ecological forest is mainly related to slope gradient, annual average temperature and latitude, which explained 20.1%, 14.3% and 12.6% of the variability of Tev, respectively. The Tev of the economic forest is mainly related to annual sunshine duration, altitude, slope gradient and annual average temperature, which explained 29.8%, 17.6%, 13.5% and 9.7% of the variability of Tev, respectively. The Tev of the shrubbery is associated with latitude and annual average temperature, which explained 49.9% and 22.6% of the variability of Tev, respectively.

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Data Availability

We declare that the materials described in the manuscript, including all relevant raw data, are freely available, without breaching participant confidentiality.

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Acknowledgements

The Hebei Provincial Science & Technology Supporting Program (no. 15227652D) and CFERN & BEJING TECHNO SOLUSIONS Award Funds on excellent academic achievements provided the Project support. The work was also guided by ‘Observation Methodology for Long-term Forest Ecosystem Research’ of National Standards of the People’s Republic of China (GB/T 33027-2016). We appreciate that Dr. Bing Wang, a researcher from Chinese Academy of Forestry provided some of the technical data. In addition, Key Laboratory of Genetic Resources of Forest and Forest Protection of Hebei Province should be credited for part of its Supporting. We also thank the journal reviewers for their detailed and the constructive comments on the manuscript.

Funding

Hebei Provincial Science & Technology Supporting Program (No.15227652D). CFERN & BEJING TECHNO SOLUSIONS Award Funds on excellent academic achievements.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Forestry College, Agriculture University of Hebei, No. 2596, Southern Lekai Street, Baoding, 071000, China

    Wen-Ge Yuan, Jian-Wei Zheng, Jian-Cai Gu & Gui-Qiao Lu

  2. Langfang Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, No. 285, Guangyang Road, Langfang, 065000, China

    Wen-Ge Yuan

  3. Key Laboratory of Genetic Resources of Forest and Forest Protection of Hebei Province, No. 2596, Southern Lekai Street, Baoding, 071000, China

    Wen-Ge Yuan, Jian-Wei Zheng, Jian-Cai Gu & Gui-Qiao Lu

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  1. Wen-Ge Yuan
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  2. Jian-Wei Zheng
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All authors conceived the study performed research and analyzed data. W-GY wrote the paper.

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Correspondence to Jian-Cai Gu.

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Yuan, WG., Zheng, JW., Gu, JC. et al. Responses of forest eco-service values to biotopes in the China’s Conversion of Cropland to Forest Program. Environ Earth Sci 78, 147 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-019-8166-7

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