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Arid Land Geography ›› 2025, Vol. 48 ›› Issue (7): 1206-1219.doi: 10.12118/j.issn.1000-6060.2024.471

• Ecology and Environment • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Ecological services and their trade-offs/synergistic relationships in multi-scenario simulations: A case of the Shanxi section of the Yellow River Basin

XU Mingjing(), DUAN Baoling(), FENG Qiang, LYU Meng   

  1. College of Resources and Environment, Shanxi University of Finance and Economics, Taiyuan 030006, Shanxi, China
  • Received:2024-08-06 Revised:2025-01-05 Online:2025-07-25 Published:2025-07-04
  • Contact: DUAN Baoling E-mail:19503413673@163.com;sxnddbl@163.com

Abstract:

The Shanxi section of the Yellow River Basin is a crucial ecological barrier in China. Predicting future trade-offs and synergies among ecosystem services is essential for effective ecosystem management. This study employs system dynamics, a patch-level land use change simulation model, and root mean square deviation analysis to explore the trade-offs between the supply and demand of ecosystem services, including water yield, soil conservation, and carbon sequestration, across five scenarios for 2030: natural development, economic development, ecological protection, comprehensive development, and carbon peak scenario. The findings reveal the following. (1) Under the economic development scenario, the maximum water yield supply reaches 73.27 mm, whereas the demand for water yield and carbon sequestration is lowest in the ecological protection scenario, at 59.89 mm and 14.92 t C·hm-2, respectively. (2) The trade-offs between water yield and soil conservation as well as between water yield and carbon sequestration are minimized in the ecological protection scenario, indicating low synergy intensity for both the supply and demand of these services. (3) In the ecological protection and carbon peak scenarios, the supply-demand ratio for water yield and carbon sequestration is positive, whereas the supply-demand ratios for soil conservation are consistent across all scenarios. Therefore, future development within the Shanxi section of the Yellow River Basin should prioritize optimizing land use, balancing ecological safety with economic and social progress, achieving a “carbon peak”, and establishing a foundation for the goal of “carbon neutrality”.

Key words: ecosystem services, trade-offs/synergies, scenario simulation, PLUS model, Shanxi section of the Yellow River Basin