Qualifying Land Use and Land Cover Dynamics and Their Impacts on Ecosystem Service in Central Himalaya Transboundary Landscape Based on Google Earth Engine
Land use and land cover (LULC) changes are regarded as one of the key drivers of ecosystem services degradation, especially in mountain regions where they may provide various ecosystem services to local livelihoods and surrounding areas. Additionally, ecosystems and habitats extend across political...
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MDPI AG
2021-02-01
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| Series: | Land |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/10/2/173 |
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| author | Changjun Gu Yili Zhang Linshan Liu Lanhui Li Shicheng Li Binghua Zhang Bohao Cui Mohan Kumar Rai |
| author_facet | Changjun Gu Yili Zhang Linshan Liu Lanhui Li Shicheng Li Binghua Zhang Bohao Cui Mohan Kumar Rai |
| author_sort | Changjun Gu |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Land use and land cover (LULC) changes are regarded as one of the key drivers of ecosystem services degradation, especially in mountain regions where they may provide various ecosystem services to local livelihoods and surrounding areas. Additionally, ecosystems and habitats extend across political boundaries, causing more difficulties for ecosystem conservation. LULC in the Kailash Sacred Landscape (KSL) has undergone obvious changes over the past four decades; however, the spatiotemporal changes of the LULC across the whole of the KSL are still unclear, as well as the effects of LULC changes on ecosystem service values (ESVs). Thus, in this study we analyzed LULC changes across the whole of the KSL between 2000 and 2015 using Google Earth Engine (GEE) and quantified their impacts on ESVs. The greatest loss in LULC was found in forest cover, which decreased from 5443.20 km<sup>2</sup> in 2000 to 5003.37 km<sup>2</sup> in 2015 and which mainly occurred in KSL-Nepal. Meanwhile, the largest growth was observed in grassland (increased by 548.46 km<sup>2</sup>), followed by cropland (increased by 346.90 km<sup>2</sup>), both of which mainly occurred in KSL-Nepal. Further analysis showed that the expansions of cropland were the major drivers of the forest cover change in the KSL. Furthermore, the conversion of cropland to shrub land indicated that farmland abandonment existed in the KSL during the study period. The observed forest degradation directly influenced the ESV changes in the KSL. The total ESVs in the KSL decreased from 36.53 × 10<sup>8</sup> USD y<sup>−1</sup> in 2000 to 35.35 × 10<sup>8</sup> USD y<sup>−1</sup> in 2015. Meanwhile, the ESVs of the forestry areas decreased by 1.34 × 10<sup>8</sup> USD y<sup>−1</sup>. This shows that the decrease of ESVs in forestry was the primary cause to the loss of total ESVs and also of the high elasticity. Our findings show that even small changes to the LULC, especially in forestry areas, are noteworthy as they could induce a strong ESV response. |
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| issn | 2073-445X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T05:08:52Z |
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| spelling | doaj.art-348282cb97834530bd64e21fe4a0dd402023-12-03T12:51:31ZengMDPI AGLand2073-445X2021-02-0110217310.3390/land10020173Qualifying Land Use and Land Cover Dynamics and Their Impacts on Ecosystem Service in Central Himalaya Transboundary Landscape Based on Google Earth EngineChangjun Gu0Yili Zhang1Linshan Liu2Lanhui Li3Shicheng Li4Binghua Zhang5Bohao Cui6Mohan Kumar Rai7Key Laboratory of Land Surface Pattern and Simulation, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, CAS, Beijing 100101, ChinaKey Laboratory of Land Surface Pattern and Simulation, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, CAS, Beijing 100101, ChinaKey Laboratory of Land Surface Pattern and Simulation, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, CAS, Beijing 100101, ChinaFujian Key Laboratory of Pattern Recognition and Image Understanding, Xiamen University of Technology, Xiamen 361024, ChinaDepartment of Land Resource Management, School of Public Administration, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, ChinaKey Laboratory of Land Surface Pattern and Simulation, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, CAS, Beijing 100101, ChinaKey Laboratory of Land Surface Pattern and Simulation, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, CAS, Beijing 100101, ChinaKey Laboratory of Land Surface Pattern and Simulation, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, CAS, Beijing 100101, ChinaLand use and land cover (LULC) changes are regarded as one of the key drivers of ecosystem services degradation, especially in mountain regions where they may provide various ecosystem services to local livelihoods and surrounding areas. Additionally, ecosystems and habitats extend across political boundaries, causing more difficulties for ecosystem conservation. LULC in the Kailash Sacred Landscape (KSL) has undergone obvious changes over the past four decades; however, the spatiotemporal changes of the LULC across the whole of the KSL are still unclear, as well as the effects of LULC changes on ecosystem service values (ESVs). Thus, in this study we analyzed LULC changes across the whole of the KSL between 2000 and 2015 using Google Earth Engine (GEE) and quantified their impacts on ESVs. The greatest loss in LULC was found in forest cover, which decreased from 5443.20 km<sup>2</sup> in 2000 to 5003.37 km<sup>2</sup> in 2015 and which mainly occurred in KSL-Nepal. Meanwhile, the largest growth was observed in grassland (increased by 548.46 km<sup>2</sup>), followed by cropland (increased by 346.90 km<sup>2</sup>), both of which mainly occurred in KSL-Nepal. Further analysis showed that the expansions of cropland were the major drivers of the forest cover change in the KSL. Furthermore, the conversion of cropland to shrub land indicated that farmland abandonment existed in the KSL during the study period. The observed forest degradation directly influenced the ESV changes in the KSL. The total ESVs in the KSL decreased from 36.53 × 10<sup>8</sup> USD y<sup>−1</sup> in 2000 to 35.35 × 10<sup>8</sup> USD y<sup>−1</sup> in 2015. Meanwhile, the ESVs of the forestry areas decreased by 1.34 × 10<sup>8</sup> USD y<sup>−1</sup>. This shows that the decrease of ESVs in forestry was the primary cause to the loss of total ESVs and also of the high elasticity. Our findings show that even small changes to the LULC, especially in forestry areas, are noteworthy as they could induce a strong ESV response.https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/10/2/173land use and land coverecosystem service valueGoogle Earth Engine (GEE)forest fragmentationtransboundary landscapeHimalaya |
| spellingShingle | Changjun Gu Yili Zhang Linshan Liu Lanhui Li Shicheng Li Binghua Zhang Bohao Cui Mohan Kumar Rai Qualifying Land Use and Land Cover Dynamics and Their Impacts on Ecosystem Service in Central Himalaya Transboundary Landscape Based on Google Earth Engine Land land use and land cover ecosystem service value Google Earth Engine (GEE) forest fragmentation transboundary landscape Himalaya |
| title | Qualifying Land Use and Land Cover Dynamics and Their Impacts on Ecosystem Service in Central Himalaya Transboundary Landscape Based on Google Earth Engine |
| title_full | Qualifying Land Use and Land Cover Dynamics and Their Impacts on Ecosystem Service in Central Himalaya Transboundary Landscape Based on Google Earth Engine |
| title_fullStr | Qualifying Land Use and Land Cover Dynamics and Their Impacts on Ecosystem Service in Central Himalaya Transboundary Landscape Based on Google Earth Engine |
| title_full_unstemmed | Qualifying Land Use and Land Cover Dynamics and Their Impacts on Ecosystem Service in Central Himalaya Transboundary Landscape Based on Google Earth Engine |
| title_short | Qualifying Land Use and Land Cover Dynamics and Their Impacts on Ecosystem Service in Central Himalaya Transboundary Landscape Based on Google Earth Engine |
| title_sort | qualifying land use and land cover dynamics and their impacts on ecosystem service in central himalaya transboundary landscape based on google earth engine |
| topic | land use and land cover ecosystem service value Google Earth Engine (GEE) forest fragmentation transboundary landscape Himalaya |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/10/2/173 |
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