%0 Journal Article
%T Critical Studies on Integrating Land-Use Induced Effects on Climate Regulation Services into Impact Assessment for Human Well-Being
%A Zhihui Li
%A Xiangzheng Deng
%A Jikun Huang
%A Rongrong Zhang
%A Juan Huang
%J Advances in Meteorology
%D 2013
%I Hindawi Publishing Corporation
%R 10.1155/2013/831250
%X It is commonly acknowledged that land use changes (LUC) and climate changes have exerted significant effects on ecosystem services which are essential and vital to human well-being. Among all the services provided by ecosystem, climate regulation services are relatively sensitive to LUC and climate changes. This study aims to comprehensively review studies on the complex effects of LUC and climate changes on climate regulation services and further integrates the effects on climate regulation services into impact assessment for human well-being. In this study, we firstly introduced research efforts in which the drivers of and their corresponding effects on climate regulation services are briefly identified. Then, we explicitly reviewed the researches on the effects of LUC and climate changes on climate regulation services, especially focused on the certain methods and models used to quantify the effects on the major drivers of climate regulation services. After that, the effects of LUC and climate changes on human well-being via climate regulation services were revisited and commented accordingly. Finally, this paper discussed the current research gaps and proposed some research prospects in future studies. 1. Introduction Land use changes (LUC) and climate changes are two major factors that result in the changes of ecosystem services [1¨C4]. Along with the socioeconomic development and emerging ecological environmental problems, global changes, and ecosystem services are becoming the research hot topics. The relationships among LUC, climate changes and ecosystem services are interlaced and complex, in which temporal and spatial variations in human-induced LUC and climate variability can result in the difference of ecosystem services [5]. Natural ecosystem delivers a lot of benefits to human beings, and these benefits are known as ecosystem services. According to the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (2005), these ecosystem services include provisioning services such as provision of food, water, timber, fiber, and genetic resources; regulating services such as the regulation of climate, floods, disease, and water quality as well as waste treatment; cultural services such as recreation, aesthetic enjoyment, and spiritual fulfillment; and supporting services such as soil formation, pollination, and nutrient cycling [6]. Among all these services, supporting services and regulating services underpin the delivery of other service categories [7]. What is more, there often exist trade-offs between different services when humans make management choices, which can
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/amete/2013/831250/