Are positive correlations between biodiversity and cultural ecosystem services always reliable?
Li H. Song B. Jiang L. Sarkytkhan K. Wang S.
1 August 2025Elsevier Ltd
Journal of Cleaner Production
2025#518
Biodiversity has been widely recognized for its positive impact on ecosystem provisioning and regulating services. However, its correlation with cultural ecosystem services (CES) remains inconclusive. This study employs a systematic literature review method, selecting research from 2013 to 2023 that focuses on the correlation or trade-offs and synergies between biodiversity and CES. The study statistically analyzed the attributes of research areas, biodiversity indicators, CES categories, and correlation conclusions. ⅰ) In research on the correlation between biodiversity and CES, species richness, species abundance and morphological diversity have been widely adopted as primary biodiversity indicators, while CES categories focus on recreation and tourism value, aesthetic value, and overall cultural services; ⅱ) Positive correlation conclusions dominate in these correlation studies, but over a quarter of the conclusions hold negative or other non-monotonic relationship viewpoints; ⅲ) The spatial scale and the human intervention degree of study area may affect correlation conclusions, as the spatial scale decreases and human activity increases, the likelihood of negative correlation conclusions becomes higher; ⅳ) Studies that reached non-positive correlation conclusions tended to use more subjective assessment indicators and explored the relationships between various environmental characteristics and respondents sensory experiences. This implies that human preferences selectively influence biophysical environmental factors including species, potentially threatening biodiversity in areas near human habitation. These findings clarify the differences in correlation between biodiversity and CES, identifying key causal factors, and will benefit policy-making for ecological protection.
Biodiversity indicators , Cultural ecosystem service , Human well-being , Trade-offs and synergies
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Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, 100083, China
School of Resources and Environment, Yili Normal University, Yining, 835000, China
Institute of Resources and Ecology, Yili Normal University, Yining, 835000, China
Xinjiang West Tianshan Forest Ecosystem National Positioning Observation and Research Station, Xinjiang, Gongliu, 835400, China
Association for Science and Technology of MenTougou District, Beijing, 102300, China
Department of Natural Sciences and Geography, Abai Kazakh National Pedagogical University, Almaty, 050010, Kazakhstan
Department of Strategy and Planning, China General Nuclear Power Corporation, 518026, China
Department of Environmental Science and Engineering
School of Resources and Environment
Institute of Resources and Ecology
Xinjiang West Tianshan Forest Ecosystem National Positioning Observation and Research Station
Association for Science and Technology of MenTougou District
Department of Natural Sciences and Geography
Department of Strategy and Planning
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