Remarks about landsenses ecology and ecosystem services

ABSTRACT

This paper presents a concept of sustainable development from the perspective of ecosystem services and analyzes some existing problems in ecosystem service assessment. It also proposes the concepts of landsense, landsense creation (LC) and general landsenses ecology in order to expand the research and application of landsenses ecology, and discusses the relationships among landsense creation, ecosystem services and sustainable development. In view of these definitions, this paper puts forward three approaches for landsense creation, i.e. using an existing carrier, transforming an existing carrier or building a new carrier by integrating visions into the carrier to make it a landsense. This paper outlines eight main principles of landsense creation, including the bidirection principle of vision manifestation, the vein-compliance principle of orientation and bearing, the multiscale principle of spatiotemporal combination, the systematicness principle of physical senses, the integrity principle of psychological perceptions, the interactivity principle of physical senses and psychological perceptions, the dissimilarity principle of different cultures and the progressivity principle of process. Finally, this paper illustrates a general framework for the study of landsenseology.

KEYWORDS:

• Landsense
• landsense creation
• landsenses ecology
• general landsenses ecology
• landsenseology
• ecosystem services
• sustainable development

With the rapid advancement of the Internet of Things, ZeroSpace Interconnection of Things (ZeroIoT) and artificial intelligence, as well as their extensive permeation into human activities, many new disciplines and interdisciplines related to sustainable development have been developed rapidly, and at the same time, many new ideas and new needs have emerged (Zhao et al. 2013). Such a background urgently requires us to think, untangle and analyze the concepts and connotations of sustainable development and ecosystem services from the future perspectives of the form of human civilization, development trends and human well-being, so that we can promote the systematic and in-depth study of ecosystem services and sustainable development and ensure the sustainable development of human society.

The concept of landsenses ecology was put forward in 2015 and defined as a scientific discipline that studies land-use planning, construction and management toward sustainable development, based on ecological principles and the analysis framework of natural elements, physical senses, psychological perceptions, socio-economic perspectives, process-risk and associated aspects (Zhao et al. 2016). This concept indicates that landsenses ecology offers an effective methodology to study ecosystem services and sustainable development, and also provide bridge linking ecosystem services and sustainable development.

In this paper, we attempt to expand the connotation and extension of landsenses ecology to study ecosystem services and sustainable development systematically and comprehensively.

1. The concept and connotation of sustainable development from the perspective of ecosystem services

There are many explanations about the concepts and connotations of sustainable development, but people usually adopt the expression of the concept and connotation of sustainable development in the report Our Common Future released by the United Nations in 1987: ‘sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’ (WCED, 1987).

There are many forms and explanations of ecosystem services, but people generally adopt the definition given by Daily in 1997: ‘ecosystem services are the conditions and processes through which natural ecosystems, and the species that make them up, sustain and fulfill human life’ (Daily, 1997).

From the perspective of ecosystem services, we believe that sustainable development is a development mode that provides sustainable welfare for the present and future generations while maintaining, improving and increasing the capacity of ecosystem services. Furthermore, we refer to form of the civilization corresponding to this development mode as ‘ecological civilization’ (Zhao 2013). This cognition of sustainable development reflects the relationships among ecosystem services, needs and welfare, which makes us more explicitly to carry out the theoretical research and practice for sustainable development.

2. Ultimate purpose of ecosystem service assessment

There are different ways to assess ecosystem services, including the physical or material assessment of ecosystem services, the value assessment of ecosystem services, a combination of these two ways of assessment, and the assessment relative to the value of ecosystem services in terms of gross domestic product (GDP) (Daily 1997; Costanza et al. 1997).

The assessment of ecosystem services is not for the assessment itself, but to support and serve the purpose of assessment. In fact, the ultimate purpose of ecosystem service assessment is to maintain and improve the capacity for ecosystem to provide the physical or material services and further to promote and ensure sustainable development.

The purpose and the application of physical assessment of ecosystem services are different from those of value assessment of ecosystem services. The value assessment of ecosystem services is used mainly for the evaluation of ecosystem damage and/or ecological compensation (Zhao 1991), while the dynamic physical assessment of ecosystem services can reflect the changing trend and actual situation of ecosystem service capacity. When the physical assessment and the value assessment of ecosystem services are performed respectively and simultaneously for the same ecosystem, the assessment conclusions are often contradictory between the two assessments (Zhao et al. 2000).

Generally, the value assessment results of regional ecosystem services cannot really reflect the actual situation of the ecosystem service capacity. In some cases, the value assessment conclusion of ecosystem services may deviate from the original intention and purpose of ecosystem service assessment and, thus, obscure the understanding of ecosystem service capacity. For example, if only the last drop of drinkable water were left in a critical place and time, the value of this drop would be unimaginable.

Different services provided by a regional ecosystem are interrelated, and these services often cannot replace each other among themselves. The value assessment of regional ecosystem services often obscures or hides the relevance and irreplaceability of these services.

In addition to the obvious problems described above, there are logical problems in the assessment when comparing the value accounting of regional ecosystem services with GDP. GDP reflects the relationship between supply and demand and is realized through the market, whereas the value of regional ecosystem services is basically potential and hardly realizable through the market.

3. General landsenses ecology or landsenseology

In order to apply the concept and methodology of landsenses ecology more widely in research and practice, we expand the research object and content of landsenses ecology upon its connotation and extension.

In practice, people usually endow or integrate one or more of their visions into a carrier through appropriate manifestation forms, so that others (including themselves) can graft these visions from this carrier and associated manifestation forms. These visions can guide or regulate people’s words and deeds, and further promote the realization of sustainable development. The carrier can either be a city, a block or a building, or a painting, calligraphy, poem, novel, song or a logo, etc.

To better facilitate the subsequent analysis and expression, we refer to a carrier with these kinds of attributes as a landsense (景感 in Chinese), and the whole process of conception and construction of the landsense as landsense creation (景感营造 in Chinese).

The research on the theory and methodology of landsense creation belongs to a new discipline called general landsenses ecology (广义景感生态学 in Chinese) or ‘landsenseology’ (景感学 in Chinese) for short.

4. The approaches and purpose of landsense creation

There are mainly three approaches for landsense creation in terms of carrier determination. The first approach is to use an existing carrier. Visions are integrated into the existing carrier so that it becomes a landsense.

The second approach is to transform an existing carrier to different degrees to form a modified carrier according to the needs of presenting visions. Visions are integrated into the modified carrier to make it become a landsense.

The third approach is to build a new carrier and integrate visions into it to turn it into a landsense.

The purpose of landsense creation and landsenses ecology research is to maintain, improve and increase ecosystem services in a general sense, and at the same time, and more significantly, to pay special attention and emphasis on increasing an ecosystem’s services associated with sustainable development consciousness. Sustainable development needs not only the ‘hard’ support of science and technology but also the corresponding ‘soft’ support of culture and ethics even more.

The sustainable development consciousness and its related ideas can promote people’s common code of conduct for sustainable development, which will make people, in enjoying ecosystem services, consciously act together to further maintain, improve and increase ecosystem services for sustainable development.

People can be closely linked with ecosystem services and sustainable development through landsense creation. Figure 1 partially shows the relationships among landsense creation, ecosystem services and sustainable development. The eight principles of landsense creation in Figure 1 are explained as follows.

Figure 1. The relationships among landsense creation, ecosystem service and sustainable development.

5. Main principles of landsense creation

Landsenses with different natures show their own unique characteristics. In order to achieve the goal of landsense creation, we need to adopt direct expression, indirect expression, metaphor and other associated approaches for landsense creation according to the principles of landsense creation and the actual conditions and practicalities. The Landsense creation usually presents different characteristics of these principles to certain degrees.

Landsense creation follows at least eight principles, including the bidirection principle of vision manifestation, the vein-compliance principle of orientation and bearing (方位的脉势顺应性or顺脉性 in Chinese), the multiscale principle of spatiotemporal combination, the systematicness principle of physical senses, the integrity principle of psychological perceptions, the interactivity principle of physical senses and psychological perceptions, the dissimilarity principle of different cultures, and the progressivity principle of process.

It should be noted that these principles are interrelated and mutually reinforced. Therefore, we should use these principles systematically and comprehensively according to the actual situation of landsense creation.

5.1. The bidirection principle of vision manifestation

The designers of a landsense present their vision with the landsense, and at the same time hope that the vision will resonate with people and become people’s common vision. The bidirection principle of vision manifestation refers to that, on the one hand, people integrate their vision into a carrier for a landsense, and on the other hand, other people can graft, understand and resonate with the vision through this landsense.

5.2. The vein-compliance principle of orientation and bearing

In landsense creation, the position and direction of landsense elements can be ‘subjectively set’ according to the characteristics of the carrier and related ecosystem, the veins of mountain, river (water) and associated fields, the vein of vision presentation (psychological vein), and especially the needs for spatial distribution of landsense elements. These subjectively set position and direction may not be the real physical position and direction.

5.3. The multiscale principle of spatiotemporal combination

In landsense creation, people’s senses and perceptions of different places at different times can be integrated into a single landsense. The spatiotemporal combination scale in a landsense can present different scales, and even discontinuous trans-scales or cross-scales.

5.4. The systematicness principle of physical senses

People’s physical senses, such as sight, smell, hearing, taste, and touch, cannot be separated as they work together to form an integrated system and interact with each other. An ecosystem as a whole is also inseparable. In landsense creation, we should not only study people’s physical senses separately but also comprehensively study people’s physical senses as a whole system.

When analyzing the systematicness of people’s senses, we should consider that the spatiotemporal ranges of people’s different physical senses are different, and the sensitivities of different people’s senses to physical elements are also different.

5.5. The integrity principle of psychological perceptions

The systematicness of physical senses and the factors of people’s culture, social economy and knowledge determine the integrity of people’s psychological perceptions. In the process of landsense creation, we should not only study the elements of psychological perceptions but also study the interaction of these elements and the overall framework of their composition.

5.6. The interactivity principle of physical senses and psychological perceptions

People’s physical senses and psychological perceptions are two important aspects of landsense creation, which are interactive, closely related and inseparable. The interaction between people’s physical senses and psychological perceptions must be considered for landsense creation.

5.7. The dissimilarity principle of different cultures

There exist major differences in ecosystem characteristics, social and economic development processes and people’s demand systems, especially people’s cultural backgrounds among different areas or regions. The dissimilarity of the traditions, preferences and cultures among different areas and different groups should be considered first in landsense creation, and it should be given particular attention and an important position.

5.8. The progressivity principle of process

Landsense creation, especially complex and ecosystem-related landsense creation, is constrained by time, budget and people’s cognitive level, and may not complete at one time. In some cases, landsense creation needs to be gradually improved or perfected, which requires to leave organic ‘interfaces’ at an earlier stage as much as possible for its completion at later stages.

6. General framework of landsenseology research

With the development of science and technology, especially the rapid development of IoT and artificial intelligence, the globalization is deepening, the spatiotemporal scale of human activities is expanding, and the human vision is enlarging, the intensity of human impact on ecosystems is increasing.

At the same time, people’s understanding of ecosystem services and sustainable development has been constantly improved from breadth and depth. Correspondingly, these changes directly or indirectly but greatly affect the relationship between people and ecosystems and the relationship between people.

In this background, landsenseology research, especially complex and ecosystem-related landsenseology research, is more extensive and sophisticated in some aspects than the study of landsenses ecology.

Landsense creation is often a long and continuous process, during which the development of science and technology and social economy will trigger new things, new ideas and new needs.

Then, not only people’s demand system is changing but also the relative importance of the components of demand system is changing. Therefore, landsense creation needs to be adjusted, improved and perfected accordingly in its implementation process. Based on the considerations and analysis above, a general framework for landsenseology research is illustrated in Figure 2.

Figure 2. General framework for landsenseology research.

In fact, the people’s cognition to ecosystem is an endless process of accumulation and deepening. So is the cognition to ‘sense’ and the functional mechanism of sense. In the implications of landsense creation, it would become a challenge facing landsense creation to anticipate the changes and trends of the connotation of ecosystem services, the relationships between people and ecosystems, and the relationships between people.

The progressivity principle of landsense creation process is relative to this dynamic process. In order to adapt to this changing process, the study of landsense creation needs to adopt the meliorization model and associated framework of overall analysis (Zhao et al. 2016). And the problem of process risk should be considered for the process-related research, which means that risk analysis and corresponding countermeasure plan or risk countermeasure should be performed to deal with the risk.

At the same time, the process characteristics of landsense creation determine the process characteristics of the corresponding data. Moreover, some of the data needed for landsense creation are difficult to obtain through traditional methods, and some of the data obtained through new methods are often inconsistent with the ‘quality’ of the data obtained through traditional methods.

Therefore, the research of landsense creation needs to use the marching data and mixing data, namely the mix-marching data (Zhao et al. 2016). The meliorization model used in the study of landscape perception needs the input of mix-marching data.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Key projects of National Natural Science Foundation of China [71533003].