Spatiotemporal pattern of trade-offs and synergistic relationships among multiple ecosystem services in an arid inland river basin in NW China

Ecosystem services (ES) are essential for the well-being of humans, and their measurement is an effective approach for estimating regional sustainability. In this study, the Jiayuguan-Jiuquan region (JJR) was selected as a typical arid inland river basin. Four key ES in 2000 and 2010, such as, food provision, carbon storage, soil conservation, and water retention, were calculated by using several models. The spatiotemporal distribution characteristics of ES were interpreted. And the trade-offs and synergistic relationships among multiple ES at different scales were analyzed by using correlation. In addition, the hot spot areas of ES were identified by using hot spot analysis. The results showed that the annual average value of food provision per unit area in grassland and water areas increased by 8.74 and 0.45 kJ m(-2) year(-1), respectively from 2000 to 2010, whereas, on the cultivated land, the annual average value of food provision per unit area decreased from 2522.42 kJ m(-2) year(-1) in 2000 to 2115.35 kJ m(-2) year(-1) in 2010. The annual average value of carbon storage per unit area, the annual average value of soil retention per unit area and the annual average value of water retention per unit area increased by 0.38%, 84% and 147.5%, respectively from 2000 to 2010. The spatial distribution patterns indicated that the regions with high food provision values were mainly distributed in the Suzhou District and Jiayuguan City in the central and eastern regions of the study area. The overall distribution trend of carbon storage was stronger in the central and southeastern regions of the study area, but weaker in the north. Soil conservation increased gradually from the west to the east of the study area. At the county scale, most of ES showed a synergistic relationship, particularly between food-carbon and water-carbon. At the regional scale, there was a trade-off between food provision and soil conservation, and between water conservation and soil conservation. In addition, the spatial patterns of the ES hot spots indicated that the service areas of Class 0, class 1, Class 2, Class 3, and Class 4 accounted for 58.50%, 25.20%, 11.68%, 4.59%, and 0.03% of the total area, respectively. This study may be helpful for understanding the trade-offs and synergistic relationships among multiple ES in arid inland river basins. It may also contribute to multiple integrated planning, services interaction over management of a single service, and identify compatible services to provide win-win management options in the future.