Assessment Of Social Value Of Ecosystem Services In Qinling Mountain Forest Park Based On SolVES Model

The social value of ecosystem services plays a significant role in the evaluation of the service value of natural ecosystem services.The traditional ecosystem service values evaluation is mainly based on economic value assessment,while the social value assessment is rare.The assessment results of traditional evaluation are expressed in the form of monetary value,with less attention to social attributes and spatial heterogeneity.In this paper,we selected Taibai Mountain National Forest Park and Niubeiliang National Forest Park in the Qinling mountain as the study areas.Based on the Social Value for Ecosystem Services(Sol VES),the social value of Taibai Mountain National Forest Park,Niubeiliang National Forest Park and Qinling Mountain Forest Park ecosystem services were evaluated respectively.Firstly,the spatial heterogeneity of the social value of Taibai Mountain National Forest Park,such as aesthetic,biodiversity,life sustaining and spirit,was analyzed using two sub-modules(the social value model and the value mapping model)in the Sol VES model.Secondly,the spatial heterogeneity of the social values of the aesthetic,historic,recreation and future of Niubeiliang National Forest Park was predicted with value transfer mapping model,which is sub-modules of Sol VES.Finally,the overall spatial distribution of the Qinling Mountain Forest Park ecosystem service value was predicted and analyzed,through the value transfer mapping model.The results showed that:(1)The “hotspots” of Taibai Mountain National Forest Park were concentrated in middle and alpine area,where the Dayehai and Baxiantai were the most intensive.(2)In Taibai Mountain National Forest Park,the higher aesthetic,biodiversity,life sustaining and spiritual values based on the high degree of preference for tourists were primarily distributed in the alpine area,and the relationship between the value index of each social value type and the geographical conditions was significantly correlated with the spatial distribution of the higher social value.(3)The results of spatial distribution assessment of social values in terms of male and female tourists were consistent with the overall assessment of social values;however,there were slight differences in the area at an elevation of below 3500 m in the study area.(4)The higher aesthetic and future value in Niubeiliang National Forest Park are mainly concentrated in the high-altitude scenery area,however,the higher historic and recreation value were mainly distributed in the Taurus Valley landscape recreation area.(5)In Niubeiliang National Forest Park,male and female tourists basically maintained a consistent attitude toward aesthetic value,historic value and recreation value in the park,and there were slight differences in the degree of aggregation at high points.The high value points of the male tourist group evaluation of the future value were mainly distributed in the Niu Bei Liang mountain scenery area,while the female tourist group’s high value points were evenly distributed in the whole forest park.(6)The total spatial distribution of the social value types of the ecosystem services in Taibai Mountain National Forest Park was clustered in high mountainous areas above 3500 m,and Taibai Mountain Nature Reserve area above Tianyuandifang was the most significant.(7)The total spatial distribution of the social value types of the ecosystem service in Niubeiliang National Forest Park was concentrated in the middle and low mountain areas,with the most significant in Taurus Valley Landscape Recreation Area and Landscape health and leisure resort.(8)The high value points of the overall social distribution of ecosystem services in Qinling Mountain Forest Park were mainly distributed on both sides of the mountain ridge line of Qinling Mountain,which coincided with the location of forest park.The spatial distribution of high social value points was consistent with the distribution trend of elevation factors.The spatial distribution of high social value points was affected by the elevation factors of the study area,and the two were positively correlated.The Sol VES model had a good performance in evaluating the social value of Qinling mountain forest park ecosystem services,with high reliability and wide application prospect.The model can objectively evaluate the social value of the ecosystem service of the Qinling Mountain Forest Park,and had important guiding significance for the rational utilization and optimal layout of park forest landscape resources.