Tradeoff between production and regulation functions of semi-arid rangelands

Abstract

This study aimed to evaluate the tradeoffs between forage production and important regulation functions in the semi-arid rangelands of Ben county, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province, Iran. The value of the forage production service was estimated using market pricing method after measuring forage production within the plant types. Five regulation functions: (1) erosion control; (2) sediment control; (3) runoff regulation; (4) carbon sequestration; and (5) oxygen production were then quantified and valued by the replacement cost approach. The five regulating services included 92.9% of total economic value, and a significant difference between economic value of different plant types was recorded. However, results suggested that provisioning and regulating services were statistically correlated (R2 = 0.83), but the decrease in provisioning services due to the increase in grazing intensity was statistically more significant than the decrease in regulating services. For each one degree increase in the grazing intensity, the value of forage production and regulating services decreased by USD27.4 and USD245.2, respectively. This was a function of the large share of regulating services in total economic value.