Investigating the compounding effects of environmental factors on
ecosystem services relationships for the ecological conservation red
line areas
Abstract
Exploring the driving factors of ecosystem services (ESs)
trade-offs/synergies is crucial for ecosystem management, especially in
ecological conservation red line (ECRL) areas that maintain regional and
national ecological security. Soil conservation (SC), water yield (WY)
and carbon sequestration (CS) were simulated in the Beijing ECRL areas.
Geographical weighted regression was used to explore the
trade-offs/synergies, and the geographical detector was applied to
quantitatively identify their driving factors. Results show that (1) the
SC and CS show marked synergy which characterized more than 80% of each
ECRL area; the proportion of the space area of trade-off and synergy
between SC and WY, and WY and CS was roughly 3 to 7 and 4 to 6 in each
ECRL area, respectively. (2) The synergy of the three pairs of ESs was
most sensitive to terrain factors. The precipitation erodibility of soil
and its necessity for vegetation make it a determinant of the trade-off
between SC and CS; temperature was the determinant in the trade-off
between WY and CS, with an explanatory power of 32.8%; potential
evapotranspiration was best able to explain the spatial distribution of
the trade-off between SC and WY. (3) The interaction between
precipitation and other factors had the greatest explanatory power on
the spatial relationship between SC and WY. Precipitation and relief
amplitude are the main interactive factors respectively affecting the
spatial trade-off and synergy between SC and CS. The trade-off and
synergy between WY and CS were most sensitive to the interaction between
climate factors and terrain factors.