Analysis of Chinese forest ecosystem services characteristics based on continuous inventory system for forest ecology

The technology of continuous observation and inventory of a complete index system of forest ecosystem services(referred to as continuous inventory system for forest ecology) is an organic combination of national forest resources inventory and Chinese forest ecosystem research network (CFERN). The former offers forest resource information directly, while the latter provides the mechanism and parameters among ecosystem structure, ecological process and ecosystem service. Based on the data of 8th (2009—2013) national forest resource inventory and by using continuous inventory system for forest ecology, we assessed the physical accounts and monetary values of Chinese forest ecosystem services, including water conservation, soil conservation, carbon fixation and oxygen release, atmosphere purification, forest protection, biodiversity conservation and forest recreation of forest ecosystem, which belong to 7 categories and 13 services, and analyzed the ecological characteristics of different areas and different service items. The results showed that total value of Chinese forest ecosystem service was 12.68 trillion yuan/a, equivalent to 22.3% of GDP in 2013. It was 2.68 times as much as national forestry industry output of the same year and provided ecosystem services of 9400 yuan/a for each citizen. Among the total value, biodiversity conservation value was the highest (accounting for 34.20% of the total value). The second highest value was water conservation. According to the division of regional development pattern from the 11th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development of the People's Republic of China, the physical accounts and monetary values of various ecosystem services in the western region were the highest, which is mainly due to that forest resources area in this region is larger than other regions, and precipitation, temperature, soil type and tree species are also responsible for this results. Comparisons of the proportions of forest resources in eastern and western regions to national forest resources and corresponding proportions of their ecosystem services values, and comparisons of ecosystem service value in eastern and northeast regions which have similar forest resources areas, both reflect the basic rule of China's forest resource distribution and variations of temperature and moisture gradients.