Economic valuation of ecosystem service bundles based on landscape pattern evolution in karst plateaus

As a key ecological barrier in China, the evolution of ecosystem service value (ESV) on the karst plateau is crucial for regional sustainable development. Using multitemporal remote sensing data from 2005 to 2020, the impacts of landscape pattern changes on ESV in the karst plateau region were analyzed by combining the landscape pattern index with ESV and ecosystem service bundle assessments. (1) The landscape pattern was characterized by “east–west divergence and central–west linkage”, with the central and western regions forming a high fragmentation–high dominance–high complexity pattern, whereas the eastern region shifted to a low dominance–low complexity–concentration pattern. (2) The total ESV increased by 5.595 billion yuan from 2005 to 2020, with regulating and support services accounting for 89 % of total ESV. Provisioning services decreased by 752 million yuan due to the reduction in cultivated land, whereas the value of cultural services showed a fluctuating trend of “first increasing then decreasing”. (3) Four categories of service bundles were identified based on economic value—agricultural production (number of patches/patch density (NP/PD) dominated), ecological vulnerability (Shannon diversity index/evenness index (SHDI/SHEI dominated), core ecology (largest patch index (LPI)/SHDI dominated) and ecological protection (NP/PD dominated)—which revealed the dominance of regulating services and the vulnerability of support services. (4) Landscape pattern indices exhibited significant type-specific heterogeneity in terms of their impacts on ESV. Specifically, the LPI dominated regulating services, PD suppressed provisioning services, and the SHDI and SHEI promoted support and cultural services. These results provide an important basis for optimizing ESV and sustainable management on the karst plateau.