Estimation of Urban Ecosystem Services Value: A Case Study of Chengdu, Southwestern China

Research on the service values of urban ecosystems is a hot topic of ecological studies in the current era of rapid urbanization. To quantitatively estimate the ecosystem service value in Chengdu, China from the perspectives of natural ecology and social ecology, the technologies of remote sensing (RS) and geographic information system (GIS) are utilized in this study to extract the land use type information from RS images of Chengdu in 2003, 2007, 2013 and 2018. Subsequently, a driver analysis of the ecosystem services of Chengdu was performed based on socioeconomic data from the last 16 years. The results indicated that: (1) from 2003 to 2018, the land utilization in Chengdu changed significantly, with the area of cultivated lands, forest lands and water decreasing remarkably, while the area of construction lands dramatically increased. (2) The ecosystem services value (ESV) of Chengdu decreased by 30.92% in the last 16 years, from CNY 2.4078 x 10(10) in 2003 to CNY 1.6632 x 10(10) in 2018. Based on a future simulation, the ESV is further predicted to be reduced to CNY 1.4261 x 10(10) by 2033. (3) The ESV of Chengdu showed a negative correlation with the total population, the urbanization rate and the per capita GDP of the region, indicating that the ESV of the studied region was inter-coupled with the socioeconomic development and can be maintained at a high level through rationally regulating the socioeconomic structure.

Automated summary

This study utilized remote sensing and GIS technologies to quantitatively estimate the ecosystem service value of Chengdu from 2003 to 2018 and conducted a driver analysis. The results showed significant changes in land use in Chengdu, with a 30.92% decrease in ecosystem service value over the past 16 years. The ESV of Chengdu was found to have a negative correlation with total population, urbanization rate, and per capita GDP, indicating the importance of regulating the socioeconomic structure for maintaining a high level of ecosystem services.