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The response of key ecosystem services to land use and climate change in Chongqing: Time, space, and altitude

  • Special Issue: Climate Change and Its Regional Response
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Abstract

Mountainous landscapes are particularly vulnerable and sensitive to climate change and human activities, and a clear understanding of how ecosystem services (ES) and their relationships continuously change over time, across space, and along altitude is therefore essential for ecosystem management. Chongqing, a typical mountainous region, was selected to assess the long-term changes in its key ES and their relationships. From 1992 to 2018, the temporal variation in water yield (WY) revealed that the maximum and minimum WYs occurred in 1998 and 2006, which coincided with El Niño-Southern Oscillation and severe drought events, respectively. Soil export (SE) and WY were consistent with precipitation, which reached their highest values in 1998. During this period, carbon storage (CS) and habitat quality (HQ) both decreased significantly. ES in Chongqing showed large variations in altitude. Generally, WY and SE decreased with increasing altitude, while CS and HQ increased. For spatial distribution, WY and SE showed positive trends in the west and negative trends in the east. In regard to CS and HQ, negative trends dominated the area. Persistent tradeoffs between WY and soil conservation (SC) were found at all altitude gradients. The strong synergies between CS and HQ were maintained over time.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Chongqing Jinfo Mountain Karst Ecosystem National Observation and Research Station, School of Geographical Sciences, Southwest University, Chongqing, 400715, China

    Jie Gao, Hongyan Bian, Chongjing Zhu & Shuang Tang

  2. Chongqing Key Laboratory of Karst Environment, School of Geographical Sciences, Southwest University, Chongqing, 400715, China

    Jie Gao & Hongyan Bian

  3. School of Geographical Sciences, State Cultivation Base of Eco-agriculture for Southwest Mountainous Land, Chongqing, 400715, China

    Jie Gao

Authors
  1. Jie Gao
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  2. Hongyan Bian
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  3. Chongjing Zhu
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  4. Shuang Tang
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hongyan Bian.

Additional information

Author: Gao Jie (1986–), Associate Professor, specialized in the ecosystem services, land use change.

Foundation

National Natural Science Foundation of China, No.41701611, No.41830648; General Program of Social Science and Planning of Chongqing, No.2020YBZX15; Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, No.XDJK2019C090

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Gao, J., Bian, H., Zhu, C. et al. The response of key ecosystem services to land use and climate change in Chongqing: Time, space, and altitude. J. Geogr. Sci. 32, 317–332 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11442-022-1949-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11442-022-1949-x

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