Scale‐dependent Ecosystem Service

This chapter addresses the scale-dependent features of ecosystem service by first discussing the concepts of spatial and temporal scales, then how the scale determines ecosystem service. The scale-dependent ecosystem service is embodied in the scale dependency of ecosystem provider, ecosystem beneficiary, ecosystem service measurement and ecosystem service management. Scale dependence of ecosystem service is illustrated with two cases that consider different ranges of scales and different types of service. The first is a large, polluted, former brownfield site located in Liberty State Park (New Jersey, USA), which developed into an unmanaged wild area and represents a small-scale island of wildland within an urban, metropolitan landscape. The second is the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QTP), China, which represents a case in a natural and wild area at an ecoregion scale.