Trade-offs in ecosystem services based on a comprehensive regionalization method: a case study from an urbanization area in China

The lack of effective management of ecosystem services is the main reason for ecosystem degradation; it is an urgency to apply ecosystem service assessment (ESA) to ecosystem management. Ecological function regionalization is a prerequisite job. This study mainly aimed to develop a methodological framework for comprehensive regionalization (CR) and then to find the optimal development scenario by analyzing the trade-offs in eight ecosystem service values (ESVs) of different zones. The data were collected from 2000 to 2010 for a typical urbanization area in China. We used ESA, spatial clustering analysis, and scenario analysis to develop a CR method, and explore the optimal scenario further by analyzing trade-offs of ESVs. The results showed that the increment of total ESVs experienced an ascending trend from the middle to the periphery area during the period 2000-2010. Then, the study area was divided into four zones, namely synergetic development zone, ecological conservation zone, ecological degradation zone, and economic development zone. Finally, in seven scenarios, the protection and development scenario is the optimal situation, with the most balanced increments of eight ESVs. It also suggests that this regionalization result coincides well with the existing ecological protection planning, and this optimal scenario is consistent with the overall land use planning. It demonstrates the applied integrated regionalization, in combination with scenario analysis and trade-offs analysis, helps understanding and communicating index to examine the implications of land use changes for ecosystem management and provides further insights into policy making to develop differentiated ecological compensation mechanism.