Dynamics of Ecosystem Service Values in Response to Landscape Pattern Changes from 1995 to 2005 in Guangzhou, Southern China

This study analyzed the landscape pattern changes, the dynamics of the ecosystem service values (ESVs) and the spatial distribution of ESVs from 1995 to 2005 in Guangzhou, which is the capital of Guangdong Province and a regional central city in South China. Remote sensing data and geographic information system techniques, in conjunction with spatial metrics, were used to facilitate the analysis. The forest was the main landscape with a total coverage of 37.36% during the study period. Between 1995 and 2005, the forest and garden became less fragmented while the cultivated land, grassland, water body and built-up area became more fragmented. Such landscape pattern changes have resulted in a significant increase in the overall annual ESVs in Guangzhou of approximately 3.37%. Two important landscape types (forest and water body) were the main contributor to the total ESVs, the proportion of both of which was over 75%. During the period from 1995 to 2005, the ESVs tended to decline from the north and south to the central part in Guangzhou. The average ESVs was more than 15 000 Yuan/ha in the north for the mountainous forest area and 20 000 Yuan/ha in the south for the water body at the Pearl River mouth, but the average ESVs was lower than 5 000 Yuan/ha in the central part of the study area due to low vegetation coverage and widely scattered built-up area for rapid urbanization. So, it is important to protect the key landscape types, such as forest, water body and garden, to avoid fragmentation. Furthermore, this study offers important insights to those in fast-urbanizing regions for achieving more successful landscape to obtain the increasing of ESVs. Ye et al.: Dynamics of ecosystem sevice values in response to landscape pattern changes 22 APPLIED ECOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH 13(1): 21-36. http://www.aloki.hu ● ISSN 1589 1623 (Print) ● ISSN 1785 0037 (Online) DOI: 10.15666/aeer/1301_021036  2015, ALÖKI Kft., Budapest, Hungary