Assessing and mapping cultural ecosystem services supply, demand and flow of farmlands in the Hangzhou metropolitan area, China

Shan He; Yue Su; Amir Reza Shahtahmassebi; Lingyan Huang; Mengmeng Zhou; Muye Gan; Jinsong Deng; Gen Zhao; Ke Wang

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.07.160

Assessing and mapping cultural ecosystem services supply, demand and flow of farmlands in the Hangzhou metropolitan area, China

Sci Total Environ. 2019 Nov 20:692:756-768. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.07.160. Epub 2019 Jul 13.

Authors

Shan He¹, Yue Su¹, Amir Reza Shahtahmassebi¹, Lingyan Huang¹, Mengmeng Zhou¹, Muye Gan¹, Jinsong Deng¹, Gen Zhao², Ke Wang³

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Agriculture Remote Sensing and Information Technology Application, College of Environment and Natural Resource, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China.
² Keqiao District Branch of Shaoxing Bureau of Natural Resources and Planning, Shaoxing 312000, China.
³ Institute of Agriculture Remote Sensing and Information Technology Application, College of Environment and Natural Resource, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China. Electronic address: kwang@zju.edu.cn.

PMID: 31539983
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.07.160

Abstract

Despite research on monitoring and mapping cultural ecosystem services (CESs) increasing exponentially in recent years, our knowledge of the CESs of farmlands is still inadequate, particularly in megacities. Analyzing the CESs of farmlands is a daunting challenge partly due to the lack of appropriate frameworks, and partly because of paucity of information on farmland. In this paper, the maximum entropy (Maxent) model along with agricultural big data were combined to measure and map CESs supply with respect to aesthetics and recreation, within farmlands in the Hangzhou metropolitan area of China between 2010 and 2016. We also quantified the characteristics of CESs based on demand and flow to enhance the understanding of the CESs of farmlands. The results indicated that the Maxent model was robust in mapping CESs supply. Moreover, the farmlands with high aesthetic supply were closely related to natural attributes and mainly distributed in rural areas. In contrast, the farmlands with high recreational supply were highly dependent on human factors which led to the rapid growth of such farmlands near the city center compared to aesthetic farmlands. Farmlands located along water bodies provided high integrated supply, while high demand was characteristic of strongly urbanized areas, and flow patterns of farmlands were greatly affected by popular scenic spots. The growth of CESs supply, demand and flow within farmlands might be closely related to the increase of agritourism, improved infrastructures, increasing income and leisure time of beneficiaries. This study highlighted the importance of the CESs of farmlands in the Hangzhou metropolitan area, although more research is needed to demonstrate the utility of the CESs of farmlands in urban environments.

Keywords: Aesthetics; Agritourism; Big data; Maxent; Recreation.