Variations of Ecosystem Services Supply and Demand on the Southeast Hilly Area of China: Implications for Ecosystem Protection and Restoration Management
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
The article submitted for review is not only interesting, but also scientifically sound. The authors correctly presented their objectives, research method and discussion.
The paper lacked information about the industry that exists in the area, which may generate carbon dioxide or use water. It will also be important to know what agricultural crops are grown and with what techniques (this also affects water relations in the environment and soil).
I think an error was made in the legend of Figure 1 protected areas are red and not blue. Also, weather station points outside the area should take place on some terrain, not suspended in a vacuum.
The figures are not very clear, especially figure 4.
Author Response
Response to Reviewer 1
Point 1: The article submitted for review is not only interesting, but also scientifically sound. The authors correctly presented their objectives, research method and discussion.
Response 1: Thank you for your kind review of our manuscript. This manuscript has been revised according the following and other reviewers’ suggestions and comments, and all the revisions have been highlighted in the text. We hope these revisions will address your concern.
Point 2: The paper lacked information about the industry that exists in the area, which may generate carbon dioxide or use water. It will also be important to know what agricultural crops are grown and with what techniques (this also affects water relations in the environment and soil).
Response 2: Information about the industry, agricultural crops and techniques were added in the “2.1 Description of the study area” section.
The six leading industries are electronic information and digital industry, advanced equipment manufacturing industry, petrochemical industry, modern textiles and garments industry, modern logistics industry, as well as tourism. Most industrial clusters are in coastal cities. According to Fujian Province Third Land Survey Main Data Bulletin (http://zrzyt.fujian.gov.cn), the province's cropland is in areas with annual precipitation of 800mm or more. Among them, 84.8% are paddy fields; 3.4% are watered lands; and 11.8% are dry lands. The main food crop in Fujian Province is rice, followed by soybeans, potatoes and so on. There are many kinds of vegetables and two main ways to grow them. The vegetable greenhouses were mainly in the cities along the coast and summer vegetable production areas with middle and high altitude was mainly in the middle part from the northeast to the southwest of Fujian (please see lines 137-148).
Point 3: I think an error was made in the legend of Figure 1 protected areas are red and not blue. Also, weather station points outside the area should take place on some terrain, not suspended in a vacuum.
Response 3: The error in the legend of Figure 1 was revised and terrain outside the area was added to avoid the weather station suspended in a vacuum (please see line 168).
Point 4: The figures are not very clear, especially figure 4.
Response 4: We have re-done the figures. We increased the resolution of the images, standardized the range of legends, and adjusted the layout of the elements to improve the readability of the images (please see line 168, line 352, line 393, line 413 and line 446).
Reviewer 2 Report
This study “Variations of ecosystem services supply and demand on the southeast hilly area of China: implications for ecosystem protection and restoration management” assesses the supply and demand of ecosystem services in the southeast hilly area of China and its implications for ecosystem protection and restoration management using the InVEST model and remote sensing data. The findings reveal trade-offs between certain services and suggest that the supply of ESs exceeds demand. The authors suggest that ecological restoration projects have improved the supply-demand relationship for some services but not others. The study is interesting as it provides insights into the balance between the supply and demand of ecosystem services in the southeast hilly area of China and its implications for ecosystem protection and restoration management. However, the authors should discuss the novelty of their paper and how it contributes to the existing literature, especially as there are similar studies using the InVEST model in China. Additionally, the discussion should include western studies for comparison. Nevertheless, the study's findings have important implications for ensuring the sustainability of ecological protection and restoration in similar regions. Furthermore, it is not clear from the abstract what the specific research gap is and why a study at a regional scale is necessary. The authors should elaborate on this point in the manuscript, explaining how their study addresses a gap in the literature and why a regional-scale analysis is important for understanding the supply and demand of ecosystem services in this area.
Finally, the images included in the manuscript are too small and difficult to read. The authors must improve the image resolution to ensure that the results are clearly visible and easily understandable to readers.
Author Response
Response to Reviewer 2
General comment
The study is interesting as it provides insights into the balance between the supply and demand of ecosystem services in the southeast hilly area of China and its implications for ecosystem protection and restoration management.
Response: Thank you for your kind review of our manuscript. This manuscript has been revised according the following and other reviewers’ suggestions and comments, and all the revisions have been highlighted in the text. This manuscript is also revised by native speakers for language editing and the editing certification is shown as follow. We hope these revisions will address your concern.
Specific comment
Point 1: However, the authors should discuss the novelty of their paper and how it contributes to the existing literature, especially as there are similar studies using the InVEST model in China.
Response 1: The novelty and how the contributes to the existing literature have been added in the INTRODUCTION section of this manuscript. According to the literature review, the InVEST models have been used extensively in ecosystem service assessment, also in China. However, in most of these studies, only the supply of ecosystem services has been analyzed, and no further analysis has been carried out in the context of demand. For the ecosystem services supply-demand relationships, most studies have focused on arid and semi-arid regions or alpine regions where natural conditions are more restricted, and less attention has been paid to the coastal provinces of southeast China, which are relatively rich in natural resources. Among them, even less attention has been paid to the ecological restoration project area. However, although the supply of ecosystem services is relatively abundant in these regions, the demand for ecosystem services is high due to high population density and economic development. The imbalance between supply and demand could threaten regional ecological sustainability. For the research area, many of existing focus on the spatial distribution of the ESs supply for specific land use types (e.g., forests, orchards, tea plantations, agricultural land, etc.), and the study scales tend to be small (e.g., county or small watershed scales), with less research on the impact of regional-scale ecological engineering construction on ESs and the relationships between supply and demand. This study quantitatively assessed and mapped four typical ESs, including their supply and demand, and analyzed the spatial cluster of the ESs supply-demand ratios in areas with relatively abundant natural resources. It also compared the differences in the supply - demand ratios of ecosystem services inside and outside the ecological protection and restoration areas and explored the possible reasons for this. This study provides case support for ecosystem service supply and demand research.
Relevant information has been shown in the manuscript (please see lines 70-72 and lines 81-90).
Point 2: Additionally, the discussion should include western studies for comparison. Nevertheless, the study's findings have important implications for ensuring the sustainability of ecological protection and restoration in similar regions.
Response 2: The western studies have been added in the DISCUSSION section. Many international studies have also supported the impact of land use change and stakeholder preferences on ESs. Studies on ecological protection areas have shown that drivers related to economic factors and land use change combine to create the different ecological problems faced inside and outside ecological protection areas. There is a growing need to integrate ESs into protection area management strategies, and only a comprehensive ESs assessment can identify effective strategies for ecological protection and restoration. However, stakeholders are mostly ignored or only mentioned in ESs assessments related to protection areas. In complex tropical forest frontier landscapes, researchers have found that land use and tenure and the demand for specific products are key determinants of final ES outcomes. While forests have a higher regulated and overall balanced ESs, mixed agricultural lands provide subsistence and commercial products, as well as better environmental education opportunities. Research on river protection and management in the south-central United States suggests that it is both possible and useful to quantify the social demand for ecosystem services in watershed management, although the number of studies that use a sociocultural perspective in ecosystem service assessment is currently limited (please see lines 519-534).
Point 3: Furthermore, it is not clear from the abstract what the specific research gap is and why a study at a regional scale is necessary. The authors should elaborate on this point in the manuscript, explaining how their study addresses a gap in the literature and why a regional-scale analysis is important for understanding the supply and demand of ecosystem services in this area.
Response 3: The abstract has been revised and the research gap and the reason to study at regional scale have been added in the INTRODUCTION section of this manuscript.
For general studies, most of research only concerned the supply of ecosystem services, and lack further analysis has been carried out in the context of demand. Among research on the ecosystem services supply-demand relationships, most studies have focused on arid and semi-arid regions or alpine regions where natural conditions are more restricted, and less attention has been paid to the coastal provinces of southeast China, which are relatively rich in natural resources. Among them, even less attention has been paid to the ecological restoration project area. For studies in the research area, many of existing focus on the spatial distribution of the ESs supply for specific land use types (e.g., forests, orchards, tea plantations, agricultural land, etc.), and the study scales tend to be small (e.g., county or small watershed scales), with less research on the impact of regional-scale ecological engineering construction on ESs and the relationships between supply and demand.
For the study scale, we considered two reasons why regional-scale studies are necessary. One is according to existing studies. There is often a spatial mismatch between the supply of an ecosystem and its use, valuation, or management. Small-scale studies tend to consider only local stakeholders and ignore beneficiaries who are relatively distant from protected areas but have fewer or more costly opportunities for substitution. The supply of ecosystem services in one location may also be influenced by adjacent locations. Another one is the need for practice. China is currently carrying out provincial ecological conservation and restoration planning, and policymakers need to plan the region as a whole. However, the existing national-scale studies tend to use uniform parameters for model calculations, which lack relevance. And small-scale studies often have difficulty reflecting the source-sink relationships of ecosystem services. Therefore, regional-scale studies are needed to provide scientific support for the development and implementation of regional ecological protection and restoration strategies.
Relevant information has been shown in the manuscript (please see lines 17-18, lines 75-90, and lines 117-121).
Point 4: Finally, the images included in the manuscript are too small and difficult to read. The authors must improve the image resolution to ensure that the results are clearly visible and easily understandable to readers.
Response 4: We have re-done the figures. We increased the resolution of the images, standardized the range of legends, and adjusted the layout of the elements to improve the readability of the images (please see line 168, line 352, line 393, line 413 and line 446).
Author Response File: 
Author Response.docx
Round 2
Reviewer 2 Report
The paper has been improved, however, to improve the readability and overall quality of your paper, I would suggest that you take the time to carefully revise the formatting (e.g. formulas, and tables and figures are placed too close together)
Author Response
Response to Reviewer 2
Point: The paper has been improved, however, to improve the readability and overall quality of your paper, I would suggest that you take the time to carefully revise the formatting (e.g. formulas, and tables and figures are placed too close together).
Response: Thank you for your kind review of our manuscript. We have carefully revised the formatting of our manuscript, including the formulas, tables, figures, punctuation, and variable italicization. We revised the errors and some layout to make our manuscript more readable (please see lines 237-259, lines 278-306, lines 356-368, lines 379-402, lines 432-455, and lines 474-475). We hope these revisions will address your concern.
