Exploring the linkage between the supply and demand of cultural ecosystem services in Loess Plateau, China: a case study from Shigou Township

Public perception of cultural ecosystem services in historic districts based on biterm topic model

Historic districts are integral components of urban space, possessing diverse ecosystems that can offer various cultural services to the public. Urbanization and tourism development have led to the degradation of the ecological landscapes within historic districts, impacting sustainable development. Incorporating Cultural Ecosystem Services (CES) into the environmental research of historic districts can meet people's spiritual needs, enhance intangible benefits for humanity, and promote the conservation of the ecological environment within historic districts. Therefore, this study conducted perceptual quantification research on CES in four typical historic districts in Fuzhou City, crawling the online comment data through Python, mined its potential themes using Biterm Topic Model (BTM), and extracted and categorized the indicators of CES of historic districts by combining with expert consultation; meanwhile, the satisfaction of CES of historic districts is further explored with the help of two methods, namely, sentiment analysis and Importance-Performance analysis (IPA), and summarized the public perception of CES of historic districts. The results of the study show that: (1) the dimensions of public perception of CES in urban historic districts include Cultural Heritage, Leisure Tourism, Aesthetic Enjoyment, Spiritual Fulfillment, Inspiration, and Science Education six indicators, of which Leisure Tourism is most easily perceived by the public, but its satisfaction is not high; (2) the public's perception of positive emotions towards the CES of historic districts in Fuzhou is greater than negative emotions, with positive emotions accounting for 80.61%; (3) the public's overall satisfaction with the CES of Fuzhou's historic districts is high, and according to the final analysis results of the IPA, the four historic districts of Fuzhou are respectively proposed to improve the opinions. Based on big data, this study explores the public perception characteristics of CES in Fuzhou historic districts to promote its sustainable development and improve public well-being, which is of great significance to protecting the ecological environment of historic districts and improving the quality of cultural services.

Optimizing spatial patterns of ecosystem services in the Chang-Ji-Tu region (China) through Bayesian Belief Network and multi-scenario land use simulation

To foster an ecological civilization and ensure sustainable development of population resources, a critical focus of China's land spatial planning initiatives is the complex interplay among the prudent utilization of regional natural resources, stable socio-economic growth, and ecological environment preservation and governance. This interplay is vital for improving the population's quality of life, enhancing national resilience, and fostering the development of an ecological civilization. Within this context, this research focuses on the Chang-Ji-Tu region, employing a hybrid InVEST-Bayesian Belief Network-PLUS model. This approach facilitates a comprehensive assessment of habitat quality (HQ), carbon sequestration (CS), soil conservation (SC), crop production (CP), and total ecosystem services (TES) spanning 2005 to 2020, to optimize spatial structures based on these assessments. The findings indicate significant insights: (1) temporally, both HQ and CS exhibit an initial ascent followed by a subsequent decline, while SC demonstrates a rise, subsequent decrease, and then a gradual increase. CP shows a consistent increase, and TES initially decreases before experiencing a rise. Spatially, regions exhibiting high CP are primarily located in the northwest, in contrast to the southeast, demonstrating lower values. Conversely, HQ, CS, and SC exhibit lower values in the northwest and higher values in the southeast. TES exhibits considerable variability in the northwest and a more equilibrated distribution in the southeast. (2) A positive correlation is observed between land use/cover changes (LUCC) and HQ, CS, and SC, while a negative correlation is noted with CP and TES. (3) In exploring potential scenarios for economic development (ED), natural development (ND), and ecological protection (EP) in 2035, our study categorizes TES into distinct zones: ecological protection prohibited zones, ecological buffer prohibited zones, construction and development suitable zones, and restricted zones for arable land protection. This study, grounded in the current ecosystem status, thoroughly analyzes spatial structural optimization, offering crucial insights for future land spatial planning and ecological restoration.

Multi-functional identification of social-ecological landscape in ecologically fragile areas under the background of regional transformation development

To realize the coordinated development of regional economy, society, and ecosystem is the ultimate goal of economic development and ecological protection in ecologically fragile areas. The multi-functional identification of socio-ecological landscape in ecologically fragile areas is helpful to alleviate the practical contradictions and conflicts faced by the region, and to better realize the optimal allocation of regional resources and the formulation of rational regional land management and planning strategies. This study takes Mizhi County, the most prominent and representative area of the ecologically fragile areas of the Loess Plateau, as the research area. The three dimensions of the ecosystem, social system, and production system were used to construct a landscape multi-functionality identification and evaluation model. A comprehensive identification method for the landscape multi-functionality evaluation, dominant-secondary function recognition, and dominant-secondary obstacle function recognition were carried out to realize the recognition of the landscape multi-functionality. The results were the following: (1) The identification of the landscape multi-functionality through multi-objective optimal decision making with limited scheme for the determination of regional functions should follow the optimal decision rule. (2) The multi-function comprehensive identification method for the landscape could be used to scientifically identify the landscape multi-functions in the ecologically fragile areas. (3) The multi-functions of the social-ecological landscape were obvious. An area with an extreme value was prominent and presented a state of aggregation. The spatial difference between the dominant and secondary functions (obstacle functions) was strong, and the degree of interdependence between functions was high. This study provides a scientific reference for landscape optimization management in the ecologically fragile areas of the Loess Plateau.

Identifying the Spatial Imbalance in the Supply and Demand of Cultural Ecosystem Services

Cultural ecosystem services (CESs) are an important part of ecosystem services (ESs). Correctly understanding the supply and demand relationship of CES is the premise of ES sustainable management and helps to improve human well-being. However, the evaluation and mapping of CES supply and demand represents a significant gap in ES research. Using the Shigou Township of Mizhi County in China as an example, in this study, we evaluated CES supply and demand at the village scale. We first considered three aspects of supply potential, accessibility and quality to construct an indicator system of six types of CES supply, including aesthetic (Aest), sense of place (SP), social relations (SR), cultural heritage (Cult), education (Edu) and recreation (Recr) and obtained demand data through a questionnaire. Then, we identified the imbalance in the supply and demand of CES by Z-score standardization based on the quantification of the CES supply and demand. Secondly, bivariate spatial autocorrelation analysis was used to identify tradeoffs/synergies on the CES supply side, and chi-square tests were used to identify CES demand differences between stakeholder groups. The results indicated that the supply–demand patterns of CES presented evident spatial differences. The low-supply–high-demand patterns of Aest, SR and Recr accounted for the largest proportions, with values of 33.33%, 33.33% and 30.95%, respectively. The low-supply–low-demand patterns of SP and Cult accounted for the largest proportions, with values of 30.95% and 38.10%, respectively. The low-supply–low-demand pattern of Edu accounted for the smallest proportion (21.43%) and was mainly located in the south of Shigou Township. The southwest, northeast and central areas of Shigou Township were the key regions of tradeoffs/synergies of CES supply. There were significant differences in CES demand for SR, Cult and Edu among stakeholder groups. The results could contribute to optimizing regional ecosystem management and provide effective information for improving the imbalance between the supply and demand of CES.

The impact of individual capabilities on the access to ecosystem services: a case study from the Loess Plateau, China

Exploring how people access ecosystem services and revealing the individual capabilities that affect the accessibility of ecosystem services are important for obtaining a clear understanding of the contribution of ecosystem services to human well-being. Previous studies on ecosystem services have incorporated too little empirical research on the accessibility of ecosystem services and on the individual capabilities that affect accessibility. We chose the ecologically fragile and economically underdeveloped Loess Plateau as the research area because local farmers in this area are dependent on ecosystem services. The importance and accessibility of ecosystem services were evaluated on the basis of questionnaire surveys and semistructured interviews. The results showed that crops, meat, and water yield were the most important ecosystem services but were the most difficult to access. In contrast, fruit and soil fertility were easier to access. Furthermore, we determined the individual capabilities of local farmers based on Nussbaum's capabilities list as well as the actual conditions for local farmers and explored the impact of individual capabilities on the accessibility of ecosystem services. The results showed that local ecological knowledge and the ability to socialize were the key individual capabilities determining whether local farmers can access ecosystem services. Compared with farmers who have a formal education, farmers with rich local ecological knowledge can more easily access to crops and erosion control. The ability to socialize reflects the exchanges or donations of ecosystem services among farmers, which increase the accessibility of fodder and organic fertilizer. Physical health, financial capital, and other individual capabilities also have an impact on the accessibility of certain ecosystem services. Therefore, improving these individual capabilities is of great value for improving farmers' well-being. In policy-making and community management, the government needs to consider the development of farmers' individual capabilities in addition to considering poverty alleviation measures.

Research on Mediating Mechanisms and the Impact on Food Provision Services in Poor Areas from the Perspective of Stakeholders

Exploring and analyzing the common demands and behavioral responses of different stakeholders is important for revealing the mediating mechanisms of ecosystem service (ES) and realizing the management and sustainable supply of ES. This study took Mizhi County, a poverty-stricken area on the Loess Plateau in China, as an example. First, the main stakeholders, common demands, and behavioral responses in the food provision services were identified. Second, the relationship among stakeholders was analyzed. Finally, this study summarized three types of mediating mechanisms of food provision services and analyzed the influence of the different types of mediating mechanisms. The main conclusions are as follows: (1) Five main stakeholders in the study area were identified: government, farmers, enterprises, cooperatives, and middlemen. (2) Increasing farmers’ income is the common demand of most stakeholders in the study area, and this common demand has different effects on the behavioral responses of different stakeholders. (3) There are three types of mediating mechanisms in the study area: government + farmers mediating corn and mutton, government + enterprises mediating millet, and government + cooperatives mediating apples. On this basis, the effects of the different types of mediating mechanisms on variations in food yield, and trade-offs and synergies in typical townships, were analyzed.