Relationships Between Key Dryland Ecosystem Services: A Case Study in Ordos, China

Dryland ecosystem services (ESs) have been severely harmed by global environmental changes and increased human activities. To improve ESs, it is necessary to understand how they interact in drylands. In this study, we selected Ordos dryland, which is situated in northern China, as the study area to assess its four key ESs—food supply (FS), carbon storage (CS), water yield (WY), and habitat quality (HQ)—and to identify the hotspots of multiple ES supply. Furthermore, we studied the constraint effects between ESs in Ordos in 2000, 2010, and 2020 and used a spatial trade-off model to map the trade-off and synergy areas of ESs from 2000 to 2010 and from 2010 to 2020. The results indicated that all four ESs in Ordos increased significantly over the study period. The hotspots for the supply of multiple ESs also increased in areal extent during this period, and the state of the regional ecological environment continued to improve. The constraint effect between ESs showed that as the CS increased, its constraint effect on WY and FS decreased and then increased, whereas its constraint effect on HQ only decreased; as the WY increased, its constraint effect on HQ decreased and then increased, and its constraint effect on FS continued to decrease; as the FS increased, its constraint effect on HQ continued to increase. From the change in the area of ESs trade-offs and synergies, there was an increase in the area of positive synergy for four pairs of ESs in Ordos, which were CS-WY, CS-HQ, WY-HQ, and FS-HQ. These findings help in establishing a scientific foundation for the management and optimization of ESs in drylands.