Abstract
The ecosystem is considered the fundamental unit of ecology which plays a crucial role in providing a range of essential services to individuals. These services include the provision of food and shelter, as well as the regulation of climate and environment, either directly or indirectly. However, the emergence of urban industrial cities has witnessed the uncontrolled exploitation of resources, the decline of biodiversity, unprecedented population growth and climate change. Consequently, these factors have led to ecological crises as the ecosystem services experience a gradual increase in the built-up areas. Considering this, the current study examines the relationship between land use change and the status of ecosystem services in Vadodara City, India. The ecosystem service value was calculated using the methodology proposed by Costanza in 1997 and 2014, while the contribution of Land Use/Land Cover (LULC) was determined using the Maximum Likelihood Classification. The findings highlighted that LULCs are critical drivers for the loss of ecosystem services. During 2001–2021, it was found that built-up and water bodies increased by 24.48% and 0.21%, respectively, while vegetation, agricultural and barren land decreased by 1.11%, 25.61% and 0.19% respectively. The valuation of ecosystem services in 2001 observed $3,517,118 and $125,607,186 using the corresponding coefficients of Costanza, 1997 and 2014, while in 2021, their cumulative value slightly increased to $3,629,024 based on the 1997 coefficient and $131,537,398 based on the 2014 coefficient. Furthermore, the study analyses the response of ecosystem service values to land use alterations and the elasticity value at the zonal level to gain insight into spatial variation.