Assessing the dynamic variations of ecosystem service value in response to land use change and socio-economic development

This article establishes a dynamic evaluation model of ecosystem service value (ESV) by introducing the spatial heterogeneity coefficient and social development coefficient to assess the spatiotemporal dynamic variations of ESV. Taking Wuhan as a case study, the effects of land use change on the variations of ESV are analyzed, and the impacts of people's willingness to pay for ecosystem services and socio-economic development on a time-series ESV are also explored. The results showed that: (1) Wuhan has a large-scale land use transfer, the accumulative land transfer area reached 599 km(2). (2) The static ESV of Wuhan experienced a process of first rising and then falling, with the total ESV decreasing by 1.24 billion yuan from 2000 to 2015. (3) The dynamic ESV evaluation reversed the overall downward trend of static ESV and significantly increased after adjustment, which were 1.52 times, 1.51 times, 1.62 times and 2.06 times of static ESV for that year, respectively; (4) The ecosystem services of Wuhan bear great downward pressure, but people's demand for ecosystem services is increasing and their willingness to pay for ecosystem services has been significantly improved. These findings can provide valuable support for decision-makers to identify the providers and beneficiaries of ecosystem services and formulate rational land use management policies.