Distinguishing the impacts of land use and climate change on ecosystem services in a karst landscape in China

Land use and climate change are the most important factors driving the change of ecosystem services (ESs). It is critical to understand the mechanisms behind such changes for improving ESs. However, existing studies mainly focus on ES changes due to combined effects of land use and climate change, while the interactions between these factors and ESs remain unclear. This study took Guizhou Province, China as the case study area and examined the impact of land use and climate change on three ESs, i.e. net primary productivity (NPP), soil retention, and water yield. The impacts of land use and climate change on ESs were compared within and between different zones (including terrain zones, geomorphic zones, and urban development zones). The results showed that all the three ESs were characterized with high values in the south and low values in the north, and an overall increasing trend during 2000–2015. Changes in NPP and water yield were dominated by land use change, accounting for 85.2% and 74.9% of the total area, respectively, whereas for soil retention it was climate change, accounting for 71.0% of area proportion. As to zoning contrast, the impact of climate change on NPP and water yield differed the most across geomorphic zones, with terrain zones for soil retention. The impact of land use change on all the three ESs behaved the most difference across urban development zones, indicating high sensitivity of ESs to human activity.