Assessment of Ecosystem Services: Spatio-Temporal Analysis and the Spatial Response of Influencing Factors in Hainan Province

Abstract

The impact of human activities on ecosystems is receiving increasing attention because their mechanisms of action are complex; the spatial response of ecosystem service drivers still needs to be explored further. This study evaluated three ecosystem services—water yield, soil conservation, and carbon storage—in Hainan Province from 2000 to 2020; we analyzed the spatial and temporal changes of the ecosystem services, and the spatial heterogeneity of the influencing factors. The results were as follows: (1) The average water yield, soil conservation and carbon storage of Hainan Province from 2000 to 2020 were 42.36 billion, 8.01×108 t and 1.52 × 107 t, respectively. Overall, the ecosystem services were relatively weak at lower elevations. (2) There were obvious hot spots and cold spots in the water yield and soil conservation, and the hot spot distribution of carbon storage was not obvious. (3) There were differences between the ecosystem services for different land use types; trade-off relationships only appeared between unused land and ecosystem services. (4) The precipitation, normalized difference vegetation index and elevation factors had great impacts on the ecosystem services. Most of the human activity factors showed a significant nonlinear enhancement effect during their interaction. Population and elevation had obvious spatial differentiation effects on the water yield and carbon storage services.