Applying the Human Appropriation of Net Primary Production framework to map provisioning ecosystem services and their relation to ecosystem functioning across the European Union

A new method to quantify the impacts of human activity on soil conservation service

Human activities and climate change impact ecosystem services, thereby affecting economic and social sustainable development. Measuring the heterogeneity in space and time of how human activities affect ecosystem services poses a challenge for the sustainable management of land resources. Based on "human appropriation of net primary production (HANPP) - Fractional Vegetation Cover (FVC) - Soil Conservation Service (SCS)" cascading effect, first, a geographically and temporally weighted regression (GTWR) model was employed to assess the impact of HANPP in percent of potential NPP (hereafter HANPP%) on the FVC; second, changes in the FVC caused by human activities were quantified; and third, the potential soil conservation service (SCSp) and actual soil conservation service (SCSa) were estimated using the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) model, and the difference between them represented the changes in soil conservation service caused by human activities (SCSh). Taking the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau as a case study, we found that the GTWR model was well suited for analyzing the relationship between the HANPP% and the FVC (R2 = 0.897). The HANPP resulted in a decrease in the FVC from 0.222 in 2001 to 0.199 in 2019 and correspondingly resulted in a decrease in the ratio of SCSh to SCSp from 8.95% to 7.24%. This study provides a quantitative method that allows quantifying the influence of human activity on ecosystem services closely related to the FVC.

New criteria for sustainable land use planning of metropolitan green infrastructures in the tropical Andes

Context

Urbanization is rapidly increasing worldwide, with about 60% of the global population currently residing in cities and expected to reach 68% by 2050. In Latin America's tropical Andes region, managing these changes poses challenges, including biodiversity loss and vulnerability to climate change.

Objectives

This study assesses urban growth and agricultural intensification impacts on the ecological functionality of metropolitan green infrastructures and their capacity to provide ecosystem services using a landscape sustainability and sociometabolic approach. Specifically, it aims to identify landscape configurations promoting socio-ecological sustainability amidst rapid urbanization.

Methods

A landscape-metabolic model (IDC) was applied to evaluate the interactions between land use changes and ecosystem functions in the metropolitan region of Cali.

Results

Agricultural intensification and industrialization, coupled with uncontrolled urban growth, have significantly transformed the landscape, posing threats to its sustainability. The prevailing biocultural landscapes hold a substantial potential to provide essential ecosystem services to the metropolis. The IDC offers an approach that utilizes a land cover map and agricultural production/metabolism data to calculate an indicator closely related to ecosystem services and multifunctionality.

Conclusions

The IDC model stands out for efficiently capturing landscape dynamics, providing insights into landscape configuration and social metabolism without extensive resource requirements. This research highlights the importance of adopting a landscape-metabolic and green infrastructure framework to guide territorial policies in the tropical Andes and similar regions. It stresses the need for informed land use planning to address challenges and leverage opportunities presented by biocultural landscapes for regional sustainability amidst rapid urbanization and agricultural expansion.

Exploring the relationships between human consumption and environmental pressure: A case study of the Yangtze river economic zone in China

It is crucial to decouple and coordinate human consumption and its environmental pressure for achieving sustainable development. As an important aspect of United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG12), sustainability on material consuming is still in its early stages of research. To address the research gap in sustainable consumption of vegetation net primary productivity (NPP), this study analyzed the spatio-temporal dynamics of human consumption and environmental pressure in the Yangtze River Economic Zone (YREZ) using consumption-based HANPP (cHANPP) and Human Appropriation of Net Primary Production (HANPP) as indicators. Later, we measured their decoupling relationship using Tapio decoupling approach. We found that distribution of HANPP and cHANPP were regionally separated, with the former mainly concentrated in the middle and upper reaches provinces, while the latter concentrated in the lower reach provinces. From 2004 to 2019, the relationship between HANPP and cHANPP changed from strong negative decoupling to weak decoupling in the YREZ. Furthermore, the relationship was differed among different regions. As a whole, developing regions showed a weak decoupling state, experiencing an increase in environmental pressure (i.e., HANPP) alongside increased human consumption (i.e., cHANPP). In contrast, developed regions showed a strong decoupling state, experiencing a decrease in environmental pressure (i.e., HANPP) alongside increased human consumption (i.e., cHANPP). Our study highlights that different countermeasures should be formulated by regions according to their own situation to realize sustainable regional development.

Embodied HANPP of feed and animal products: Tracing pressure on ecosystems along trilateral livestock supply chains 1986-2013

The global livestock system puts increasing pressures on ecosystems. Studies analyzing the ecological impacts of livestock supply chains often explain this pressure by the increasing demand for animal products. Food regime theory proposes a more nuanced perspective: it explains livestock-related pressures on ecosystems by systemic changes along the supply chains of feed and animal products, notably the liberalization of agricultural trade. This study proposes a framework supporting empirical analyses of such claims by differentiating several steps of livestock supply chains. We reconstructed "trilateral" livestock supply chains linking feed production, livestock farming, and final consumption, based on the global flows of 161 feed and 13 animal products between 222 countries from 1986 to 2013. We used the embodied Human Appropriation of Net Primary Production (eHANPP) indicator to quantify pressures on ecosystems linked to these trilateral livestock supply chains. We find that livestock induced 65 % of agriculture's pressure on ecosystems, mostly through cattle grazing. Between 1986 and 2013, the fraction of livestock-related eHANPP that was traded internationally doubled from 7.1 % to 15.6 %. eHANPP related to the trade of feed was mostly linked to soybean imported for pig meat production, whereas eHANPP associated to traded animal products was mostly linked to cattle meat. eHANPP of traded animal products was lower but increased faster than eHANPP of feed trade. eHANPP was highest at the feed production level in South and North America, and at the consumption level in Eastern Asia. In Northern Asia and Eastern Europe, eHANPP was lowest at the animal products production level. In Western Europe, the eHANPP was equal at the animal products production and consumption levels. Our findings suggest that options to reduce livestock's pressures on ecosystems exist at all levels of the supply chain, especially by reducing the production and consumption in high-consuming countries and regulating international supply chains.

Transformation of Plant to Resource Acquisition Under High Nitrogen Addition Will Reduce Green Roof Ecosystem Functioning

Ecosystem engineering, such as green roof, provides numerous key ecosystem functions dependent on both plants and environmental changes. In the recent years, global nitrogen (N) deposition has become a hot topic with the intensification of anthropogenic disturbance. However, the response of green roof ecosystems to N deposition is still not clear. To explore the effects of N addition on plant ecological strategy and ecosystem functioning (biomass), we conducted a 3-month N addition simulation experiment using 12 common green roof species from different growth forms on an extensive green roof in Tianjin, China. The experiment included three different N addition treatments (0, 3.5, and 10.5 gN m^-2 year^-1). We found that plants with the resource-acquisitive strategy were more suitable to survive in a high N environment, since both aboveground and belowground traits exhibited synergistic effects. Moreover, N addition indirectly decreased plant biomass, indicating that ecosystem functioning was impaired. We highlight that there is a trade-off between the survival of green roof species and keeping the ecosystem functioning well in the future N deposition. Meanwhile, these findings also provide insights into how green roof species respond to global climate change and offer important information for better managing and protecting similar ecosystem engineering in the background of high N deposition.

Assessing the Net Primary Productivity Dynamics of the Desert Steppe in Northern China during the Past 20 Years and Its Response to Climate Change

The net primary productivity (NPP) dynamics in arid and semi-arid ecosystems are critical for regional carbon management. Our study applied a light-utilization-efficiency model (CASA: Carnegie–Ames–Stanford Approach) to evaluate the vegetation NPP dynamics of a desert steppe in northern China over the past 20 years, and its response to climate change. Our results show that the annual average NPP of the desert steppe was 132 g C m−2 y−1, of which the grass- and shrub-dominated biome values were 142 and 91 g C m−2 y−1, respectively. The average change rate of NPP was 1.13 g C m−2 y−1, and in the grassland biome 1.31 g C m−2 y−1, a value which was significantly higher than that in shrubland, at 0.84 g C m−2 y−1. The precipitation and temperature at different time scales in the desert steppe showed a slow upward trend, and the degree of aridity tended to weaken. The correlation analysis shows that NPP changes were significantly positively and negatively correlated with precipitation and temperature, respectively. In terms of temperature, 43% of the area was significantly correlated during the growing season, which decreased to 12% on the annual scale. In 31% of the changed areas, the average NPP was 148.1 g C m−2 y−1, which was higher than the remaining significant areas. This suggests that higher NPP levels help to attenuate the negative effects of high temperature during the growing season on plant productivity in the desert steppe. This improves the understanding of the carbon cycle mechanism of arid and semi-arid ecosystems, which is beneficial to improving sustainable grassland development strategies.

Integrating remote sensing with ecology and evolution to advance biodiversity conservation

Remote sensing has transformed the monitoring of life on Earth by revealing spatial and temporal dimensions of biological diversity through structural, compositional and functional measurements of ecosystems. Yet, many aspects of Earth's biodiversity are not directly quantified by reflected or emitted photons. Inclusive integration of remote sensing with field-based ecology and evolution is needed to fully understand and preserve Earth's biodiversity. In this Perspective, we argue that multiple data types are necessary for almost all draft targets set by the Convention on Biological Diversity. We examine five key topics in biodiversity science that can be advanced by integrating remote sensing with in situ data collection from field sampling, experiments and laboratory studies to benefit conservation. Lowering the barriers for bringing these approaches together will require global-scale collaboration.