Revealing trade-off and synergistic relationships among ecosystem services plays a key role in ensuring a stable ecosystem for long-term development. It is the crucial precondition for realizing watershed protection and high-quality development. The variations in land use during 1990–2020 are investigated by taking the typical areas for returning farmland to forests as an example. The spatiotemporal distributions of six key ecosystem services, namely carbon storage, water yield, net primary productivity (NPP), soil conservation, habitat quality, and forest recreation are quantified by the InVEST model and statistical data. We also uncover the spatial difference in the ecosystem in Loess Plateau, located in northern Shaanxi, with hot spot analysis and probe the trade-off and synergistic correlations among the investigated ecosystem services. The results show that: (1) the farmland decreased dramatically. On the contrary, the forests and orchards increased significantly. (2) During the same period, carbon storage and habitat quality increased, and water yield, NPP, soil conservation, and forest recreation initially declined, but subsequently rose to higher values than that in 1990. All these services in the southeastern part of the research area surpass those found in the northwest. (3) The ecosystem services relationships in northern Shaanxi are mainly characterized by synergistic correlations, which became stronger from 1990 to 2020. The trade-off effects mainly occur among the water yield and other ecosystem services and are distributed in the west and north of the investigated area. Based on these findings, this work provides scientific principles for improving the ecological environment and enhancing the resource sustainability of the study area.

Affected by climate change and policy factors, Kazakhstan is the country with the most severe ecological degradation and grassland conflicts in Central Asia. Therefore, studying the state of grassland carrying resources in Kazakhstan is particularly important for understanding the responses of grassland ecosystems to climate change and human activities. Based on Kazakhstan's remote sensing data and animal husbandry statistics, this study analyzes the patterns of changes in grassland ecosystems in Kazakhstan based on the supply and consumption of these ecosystems. The results show that: 1) From 2003 to 2017, the number of livestock raised in Kazakhstan showed a trend of sustained and steady growth. Due to freezing damage, the scale of livestock farming decreased in 2011, but a spatial difference in the livestock farming structure was not obvious. 2) The fluctuation of grassland supply in Kazakhstan has increased, while the consumption due to animal husbandry has also continued to increase, resulting in an increasing pressure on the grassland carrying capacity. 3) Between 2003 and 2017, the overall grassland carrying status of Kazakhstan have been abundant, but the grassland carrying pressure index has shown a steadily increasing trend, the grassland carrying pressure is growing, and it is mainly determined by grassland productivity. The greater pressure in lower Kyzylorda state, the southern Kazakhstan state of the cultivated land and the northern Kazakhstan state has gradually expanded to include the agro-pastoral zone and the semi-desert zone.

Ecological degradation has occurred in global grasslands and has impaired their ecosystem services severely, so ecological conservation of grasslands should be focused more on the effectiveness of management measures. The green-up process decides the year-round forage yield and ecological conditions of grasslands. Adopting rest-grazing during the green-up process can guarantee a successful green-up, thus realizing more economic benefits without grassland degradation. Therefore, studies should pay more attention to whether the green-up process is really covered by the rest-grazing period or not. We analyze the spatiotemporal variations and the stability of the annual green-up date in Xilin Gol Grassland from 2000 to 2018 based on MODIS time series images and compare the green-up date with the rest-grazing period to assess the effectiveness of the rest-grazing policy. The results show that the green-up date of Xilin Gol Grassland had advanced 15 days on average because of the increasing trend of both temperature and precipitation during 2000~2018. The green-up date is mostly 120~130 d in the east, about 10 days earlier than the west (130~140 d) and 20 days earlier than in the central areas (140~150 d), also because of the spatial variations of temperature and precipitation. The coefficient of variation (CV) of the green-up date showed a significant negative correlation with precipitation, so the green-up date is more unstable in the arid areas. The rest-grazing period started more than 45 days earlier than the green-up date and failed to cover it in several years, which occurred more frequently in southern counties. The average green-up date appeared after rest-grazing started in over 98% of areas, and the time gap is 15~45 days in 88% of areas, which not only could not avoid grassland degradation effectively but also increased herdsmen’s life burden. This study aims to accurately grasp the temporal and spatial variations of the green-up date in order to provide references for adjusting a more proper rest-grazing period, thus promoting ecological conservation and sustainable development of animal husbandry.

The Greater Dunhuang Region has experienced ecological degradation in the past 100 years caused by human factors such as ecological immigration, expansion of arable land, and the construction of reservoirs. At present, through the restoration of various ecological projects, the progress of ecological deterioration has slowed down. Ensuring that the development and construction of the Greater Dunhuang Region Cultural Tourism Economic Circle does not threaten ecological security is the top priority of the regional sustainable development plan. Based on the balance between supply and consumption of the ecosystem, this study assesses the pressure of ecological consumption in the Greater Dunhuang Region, and analyzes the patterns and trends in the ecological carrying status. The results reveal three important aspects of the ecological carrying pressure in this Region. (1) After 2000, the ecological supply in the Greater Dunhuang Region experienced a fluctuating growth trend. In the entire ecosystem, the farmland ecosystem provides more than 55% of the ecological supply, and areas with relatively high supply capacity are concentrated in a small number of valleys. (2) The Greater Dunhuang Region is under greater production pressure and there is less pressure from living consumption. The production consumption intensity has exceeded the ecological supply since 2014. The production and consumption structure of the Greater Dunhuang Region is dominated by animal husbandry production and consumption, accounting for more than 65% of the total production and consumption. (3) The Greater Dunhuang Region has been in a state of rich and surplus from 2000 to 2017. However, Dunhuang City turned into a surplus state in 2017 due to the pressure of the fast-growing tourist population. The Greater Dunhuang Region urgently needs to alleviate the ecological pressure through the development of eco-friendly industries. It is necessary to develop an ecological protection resource utilization model that focuses on the development of ecological and cultural services in pastoral areas to ease the pressure on the ecosystem from animal husbandry production.