From static state to dynamic simulation: a delivery-path-oriented approach to quantify ecosystem services and its application to ecological management

Abstract As the researches on Ecosystem Services (ESs) become more systematic and mature, concerns on ESs flow have been raising because of its high value in aid ecological management and improvement of human welfare. Despite that the importance of ESs flow have been emphasized, they are mostly semantic, lacking the empirical operation of ESs quantification. Based on the reality observation and literatures extraction, we think the ESs flow can be assessed from direction characteristics, and three classic ESs, crop provision, water yield, and carbon sequestration were chosen as the cases. Combined with their delivery mediums of road work, river runoff, and atmosphere, they are distinguished and classified as three major flow directions, i.e., specific path, single path, and omni-direction. Moreover, the revised two-step floating catchment area method are employed to quantify the ESs flow size, for which has the basic information of supply-side, demand-side, flow direction and distance. The results show (1) the mismatch between supply and demand varies with different ESs and areas. (2) The characteristics of direction, path, services extent, and delivery size of ESs flows are depicted with their own unique attributes. (3) The final ecological status of different areas is changed by integrating the ESs flow into supply and demand, which shows the necessity of ESs flow consideration rather than just supply-demand pattern. This study complements the researches on ESs, generalizes the approach to quantify ESs flow, provides a comprehensive assessment on supply-demand relationship, and offers more scientific and reasonable references to city planning and ecological strategies.