Data from: Historical dynamics of ecosystem services bundles

Managing multiple ecosystem services (ES), including addressing trade-offs between services and preventing ecological surprises, is among the most pressing areas for sustainability research. These challenges require ES research to go beyond the currently common approach of snapshot studies limited to one or two services at a single point in time. We used a spatiotemporal approach to examine changes in nine ES and their relationships from 1971 to 2006 across 131 municipalities in a mixed-use landscape in Quebec, Canada. We show how an approach that incorporates time and space can improve our understanding of ES dynamics. We found an increase in the provision of most services through time; however, provision of ES was not uniformly enhanced at all locations. Instead, each municipality specialized in providing a bundle (set of positively correlated ES) dominated by just a few services. The trajectory of bundle formation was related to changes in agricultural policy and global trends; local biophysical and socioeconomic characteristics explained the bundles’ increasing spatial clustering. Relationships between services varied through time, with some provisioning and cultural services shifting from a trade-off or no relationship in 1971 to an apparent synergistic relationship by 2006. By implementing a spatiotemporal perspective on multiple services, we provide clear evidence of the dynamic nature of ES interactions and contribute to identifying processes and drivers behind these changing relationships. Our study raises questions about using snapshots of ES provision at a single point in time to build our understanding of ES relationships in complex and dynamic social-ecological systems.

管理多项生态系统服务（ecosystem services, ES）——包括协调服务间的权衡关系、防范生态意外事件——是可持续性研究中最紧迫的议题之一。此类挑战要求生态系统服务研究突破当前主流的单点快照研究范式——此类研究仅聚焦单一时间点下的1至2项服务。本研究采用时空分析方法，针对加拿大魁北克省一处混合土地利用景观内的131个市镇，探究了1971年至2006年间9项生态系统服务的变化及其相互关系。本研究证实，纳入时空维度的分析方法可深化我们对生态系统服务动态变化的认知。研究发现，多数服务的供给量随时间推移有所提升，但生态系统服务的供给提升在不同区域并不均衡。相反，每个市镇均专注于提供以少数几项服务为主导的服务束（即一组呈正相关的生态系统服务）。服务束的形成轨迹与农业政策变革及全球趋势密切相关；区域生物物理与社会经济特征则解释了服务束空间集聚程度不断提升的现象。服务间的相互关系随时间发生变化：部分供给服务与文化服务在1971年仍呈权衡关系或无显著关联，至2006年则转变为明显的协同关系。通过针对多项生态系统服务引入时空分析视角，本研究为生态系统服务相互作用的动态本质提供了确凿证据，并助力解析这些关系变化背后的过程与驱动因子。本研究同时提出了一项值得思考的问题：仅依托单一时间点的生态系统服务供给快照，能否帮助我们充分理解复杂动态社会-生态系统中的生态系统服务相互关系？