Ecosystem Service Evaluation and Multi-Objective Management of Pinus massoniana Lamb. Plantations in Guangxi, China

Research on forest ecosystem service (ES) assessments is currently a topic of much interest in forest ecology combined with geography. Forests are the mainstay of terrestrial ecosystems and provide a wide range of welfare supports for humans. Pinus massoniana (PM) Lamb. is a major silvicultural timber species in southern China and plays an important role in meeting domestic timber demand as well as providing ESs. The assessment of the ESs of PM plantation forests is beneficial for their sustainable management. In this study, we used the woody biomass method, the InVEST water content model and the USLE, a generalized soil loss equation model to assess the values of four Ess, including wood supply, carbon sequestration and oxygen release, water conservation, and soil conservation, in PM plantations in the Guangxi Paiyangshan Forest Farm, which is a national PM seed base. A spectral clustering method was used to identify the ecosystem service clusters (i.e., partitions) in the case study area, and certain strategies were provided for different partitions to form a management strategy for the sustainable management of PM plantation forest ecosystems. This study showed that the value of each ES per hectare in the northern tropical pine plantation, ranked from the largest to the smallest, was water conservation; carbon sequestration and oxygen release; wood supply; and soil conservation, with the values of the wood supply in addition to carbon sequestration and oxygen release per hectare increasing with the age of the plantation. Based on the different service characteristics within the service clusters, the northern tropical PM plantation area was divided into wood supply, ecological nourishment and ecological restoration areas, which can focus more on wood supply and ecological nourishment.