Ecohydrological Service Characteristics of Qilian Mountain Ecosystem in the Next 30 Years Based on Scenario Simulation

• Published in: Sustainability
• Main Authors: Ranghui Wang, Qing Peng, Weidong Zhang, Wenfei Zhao, Chunwei Liu, Limin Zhou
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2022
• Subjects: scenario simulation; Qilian Mountain Ecosystem (QLME); ecosystem services (ESS); ecological hydrology; model; Environmental effects of industries and plants; TD194-195; Renewable energy sources; TJ807-830; Environmental sciences; GE1-350; Land Glacier
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.3390/su14031819; https://doaj.org/article/69b73c02baf0417f995df3076ce7d78e

Mountain ecosystems have special ecohydrological services, and the study of water conservation and soil conservation services in the Qilian Mountain Ecosystem (QLME) in China has important theoretical value for scientific understanding of the ecological processes and mechanisms of mountain ecosystems. In this study, we quantitatively estimated the spatial-temporal changes of water conservation and soil conservation services in the QLME based on the Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs (InVEST) model and estimated the future ecosystem services (ESS) of the QLME under RCP4.5 (Representative Concentration Pathways) and RCP8.5 scenarios using the coupled Geosos-FLUS model. Firstly, the QLME ecohydrological service increased from 1985 to 2018, and its spatial heterogeneity was high in the east and low in the west. Among them, water conservation first decreased and then showed a trend of fluctuating increase, and soil conservation services decreased sharply from 2010 to 2015. Secondly, there are differences in the ecohydrological services of the QLME under different land-use types. The water conservation capacity in descending order is glacier snow, grassland, forest land, wetland, and cultivated land. The soil conservation intensity from strong to weak is woodland, grassland, arable land, glacier snow, and bare land. Thirdly, under different scenarios, QLME water conservation and soil conservation functions will increase to varying degrees over the next 30 years. The water conservation in the RCP4.5 scenario is higher than that in the RCP8.5 scenario, and the higher discharge scenario will lead to the decline of the water conservation service function. The increased rate of soil conservation was greater under the RCP8.5 scenario. With the development of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and scenarios below 2 °C, the future of QLME ecohydrological services will be further understood.