A spatially explicit method to examine the impact of urbanisation on natural ecosystem service values

Abstract

We developed a spatially explicit method to examine the effects of urbanisation on ecosystem service values. Especially, a spatially explicit urban growth model was developed through incorporating a macro-scale model (system dynamics) and a micro-scale model (CLUE-S). In addition, spatially explicit ecosystem service values were simulated under three socio-economic scenarios: (1) current economic growth, (2) rapid economic growth, and (3) sustainable economic growth. Analysis of results suggests that the degradation of ecosystem functions is associated with the conversion from water body and farmland to built-up and barren lands. Moreover, obvious spatial variations were found associated with ecosystem service values.

Keywords:

• spatially explicit method
• urban growth modeling
• ecosystem service valuation

Acknowledgements

This research was partially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 41030743 and 41171322). We would like to acknowledge the anonymous reviewers for their constructive and valuable suggestions on the earlier drafts of this manuscript.