Responses of Spatial-temporal Variation of Karst Ecosystem Service Values to Landscape Pattern in Northwest of Guangxi, China

Key words: 
• landscape pattern /
• ecosystem service values (ESVs) /
• landscape indices /
• Karst /
• Guangxi

Abstract: The responses of spatiotemporal variation of ecosystem service values (ESVs) to landscape pattern from 1985 to 2005 in a typical Karst area of the northwest Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China, were examined using remote sensing and geographic information system techniques in this paper. The total ecosystem service values declined significantly from 1985 to 1990, and then increased slowly from 1990 to 2005, almost equaled to the 1985 level. The ecosystem service values tended to decline from the west to the east and from mountainous regions to peak-cluster depression areas in 1985, 1990, 2000 and 2005 respectively. During the period from 1985 to 2005, the ecosystem service values have increased in the middle and eastern parts of the study area. Landscape pattern indices, such as total area, largest patch index, contagion, aggregative index, effective mesh and proportion of like adjacencies, are significantly correlated with ecosystem service values. This suggests that ecosystem service values tend to increase with the growth of patch area and patch connectivity. However, there are negative correlations between ecosystem service values and landscape pattern indices, such as division index and patch richness. It indicates that ecosystem service values decrease with patch fragmentation and patch size shrinkage. The ecosystem conditions in the typical Karst area have been improved because of the control measures of rocky desertification. It is important to protect key landscape types, such as woodland, shrub and grassland, and to increase patch size and connectivity to avoid further fragmentation. Furthermore, it is necessary to reduce disturbances to ensure the growth of ecosystem service values and to facilitate the sustainable development in this region.