Analysis on spatio-temporal changes in ecosystem services attributable to urbanization

The study on the spatio-temporal analysis of ecosystem service of urban spaces with urbanization. Modern cities have experienced rapid economic development since the Industrial Revolution in the 18th century. The rapid economic growth caused an exponential concentration of population to the cities and decrease of green spaces due to the conversion of forest and agricultural lands to build-up areas with rapid urbanization. As green areas including forests, grasslands, and wetlands provide diverse economic, environmental, and cultural benefits, the decrease of green areas might be a huge loss. Also, the process of urbanization caused pressure on the urban environment more than its natural capacity, which accelerates global climate change. This study tries to see the spatial and temporal changes in ecosystem services and interactions among ecosystem services according to urbanization. For ecosystem services assessment, this study used InVEST (Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs) model, which provide several sub-models for different study interests such as carbon storage and sequestration, habitat quality, water purification and so on. Study sites are urban and peri-urban areas in South Korea. To see the trend of ecosystem services during the urbanization period, the study used data from the 1980s to 2010s as South Korea has experienced rapid economic growth as well as urbanization since the 1980s. With urbanization, ecosystem services functions might decrease, whereas values of ecosystem services might increase as with high population density. From the result of the study, the effect of the urbanization can be understood with regard to ecosystem services, which might be helpful for the future decision making in consideration of ecosystem services.