Impacts of Human Activity Intensity on Ecosystem Services for Conservation in the Lhasa River Basin

Abstract

Quantifying the impacts of human activities on ecosystems and ecosystem services is crucial for the sustainable development of ecosystems at the local scale. We used the InVEST model to quantify ecosystem services and the human footprint index to calculate the human activity intensity (HAI). We evaluated the spatial correlations and fitting relationships between HAI and the key ecosystem services for the Lhasa River basin. The results showed that the spatial patterns of the 4 ecosystem services exhibited obvious heterogeneity. Excluding soil retention, the other ecosystem services exhibited overall downward trends from 2000 to 2018. The overall trend in HAI was ascending, with an average slope of 0.11. The spatial correlations between HAI and the 4 ecosystem services exhibited statistically significant differences (P < 0.01). The curve fitting results showed that water conservation and soil retention consistently decreased as HAI increased. Carbon sequestration and habitat quality increased and then decreased as HAI increased. Our findings help to understand the spatial interactions between HAI and multiple ecosystem services, thereby contributing to the development of a general scientific framework for ecological protection and integrated management.