Land Use Dynamics and Ecosystem Service Trade-offs in China’s Terraced Landscapes

Land Use Dynamics and Ecosystem Service Trade-offs in China’s Terraced Landscapes | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Land Use Dynamics and Ecosystem Service Trade-offs in China’s Terraced Landscapes Wei Wei, Die Chen, Liding Chen This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7744148/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract China’s terraced landscapes represent a critical integration of agricultural heritage and ecological functionality, providing vital ecosystem services (ESs) such as water yield, soil conservation, and carbon storage. Despite their ecological importance, the spatiotemporal dynamics of ES provision in terraced systems and their trade-off/synergy relationships remain inadequately quantified. Here we address this knowledge gap by (1) quantifying nationwide changes in terraced land use from 2018 to 2023, (2) evaluating the corresponding variations in key ESs, and (3) elucidating the trade-off and synergy relationships among these services to inform sustainable land management. Utilizing the InVEST model integrated with Landsat imagery, climate, and soil data, we reveal significant transformations in China’s terraces. Rice terraced area declined dramatically by 39.2% (91400 to 55600 km 2 ), while dryland terraces expanded by 10.1% and woodland terraces surged by 104.2%.These land-use shifts led to only a marginal increase in overall water yield (211.6 to 218.1 mm/year), but a substantial rise in soil conservation (+ 18.5%, from1.57×10 9 to 1.86×10 9 t), and a moderate increase in carbon storage (+ 1.7%, from 2.96×10 9 to 3.01×10 9 t). Trade-offs among services overwhelmingly outweighed synergies, particularly between water yield and carbon storage, though strong regional disparities were evident. Notably, synergies prevailed across 72.5% of the semi-arid Loess Plateau, whereas trade-offs dominated in humid southern regions (e.g., 78.9% of the Sichuan Basin). These findings reveal how climate-mediated land-use dynamics shape multi-service interactions and highlight the need for region-specific governance to balance ecological restoration with water security in China’s terraced landscapes. Earth and environmental sciences/Ecology/Ecosystem services Earth and environmental sciences/Environmental sciences/Environmental impact Terraces Ecosystem services Land use change Trade-offs Synergies InVEST model China Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-7744148","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":527825911,"identity":"370d50ea-1eaf-4899-977a-6872b1c9fc09","order_by":0,"name":"Wei 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Landscapes","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"nature-portfolio","isNatureJournal":true,"hasQc":false,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"","title":"Nature Portfolio","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":false,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"ejp","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false},"keywords":"Terraces, Ecosystem services, Land use change, Trade-offs, Synergies, InVEST model, China","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7744148/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7744148/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eChina\u0026rsquo;s terraced landscapes represent a critical integration of agricultural heritage and ecological functionality, providing vital ecosystem services (ESs) such as water yield, soil conservation, and carbon storage. Despite their ecological importance, the spatiotemporal dynamics of ES provision in terraced systems and their trade-off/synergy relationships remain inadequately quantified. Here we address this knowledge gap by (1) quantifying nationwide changes in terraced land use from 2018 to 2023, (2) evaluating the corresponding variations in key ESs, and (3) elucidating the trade-off and synergy relationships among these services to inform sustainable land management. Utilizing the InVEST model integrated with Landsat imagery, climate, and soil data, we reveal significant transformations in China\u0026rsquo;s terraces. Rice terraced area declined dramatically by 39.2% (91400 to 55600 km\u003csup\u003e2\u003c/sup\u003e), while dryland terraces expanded by 10.1% and woodland terraces surged by 104.2%.These land-use shifts led to only a marginal increase in overall water yield (211.6 to 218.1 mm/year), but a substantial rise in soil conservation (+\u0026thinsp;18.5%, from1.57\u0026times;10\u003csup\u003e9\u003c/sup\u003e to 1.86\u0026times;10\u003csup\u003e9\u003c/sup\u003e t), and a moderate increase in carbon storage (+\u0026thinsp;1.7%, from 2.96\u0026times;10\u003csup\u003e9\u003c/sup\u003e to 3.01\u0026times;10\u003csup\u003e9\u003c/sup\u003e t). Trade-offs among services overwhelmingly outweighed synergies, particularly between water yield and carbon storage, though strong regional disparities were evident. Notably, synergies prevailed across 72.5% of the semi-arid Loess Plateau, whereas trade-offs dominated in humid southern regions (e.g., 78.9% of the Sichuan Basin). These findings reveal how climate-mediated land-use dynamics shape multi-service interactions and highlight the need for region-specific governance to balance ecological restoration with water security in China\u0026rsquo;s terraced landscapes.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Land Use Dynamics and Ecosystem Service Trade-offs in China’s Terraced Landscapes","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2025-10-13 10:30:50","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7744148/v1","editorialEvents":[],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"nature-communications","isNatureJournal":true,"hasQc":false,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"NCOMMS","sideBox":"Learn more about [Nature Communications](http://www.nature.com/ncomms/)","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"https://mts-ncomms.nature.com/","title":"Nature Communications","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"ejp","reportingPortfolio":"Nature Communications","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"46242bc2-be2e-413f-9a02-a71ba0308c92","owner":[],"postedDate":"October 13th, 2025","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"This content is not available.","date":"2026-05-12T14:47:36+00:00","index":4,"fulltext":"This content is not available."},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"This content is not available.","date":"2026-05-03T23:33:25+00:00","index":3,"fulltext":"This content is not available."},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"This content is not available.","date":"2026-05-03T23:04:09+00:00","index":2,"fulltext":"This content is not available."}],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"under-review","subjectAreas":[{"id":56110143,"name":"Earth and environmental sciences/Ecology/Ecosystem services"},{"id":56110144,"name":"Earth and environmental sciences/Environmental sciences/Environmental impact"}],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2025-10-13T10:30:50+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2025-10-13 10:30:50","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-7744148","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-7744148","identity":"rs-7744148","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"8U1c8b4HqxoKbykW_rLl7","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}