Research progress on the effects of land consolidation on ecosystem services

Land consolidation has been a vital process of realizing the intensive use of land resources and improving land productivity and utilization rate. Regional economic output and level of protection have been improved through land consolidation. However, land consolidation has also influenced regional ecological environment. With growing attention to the ecological effects of land consolidation, evaluation of ecological benefits of land consolidation has gained significant momentum in recent years. In this paper, we analyzed the economic valuation models of the ecological benefits of regional land consolidation based on the theories of ecosystem services value. Then in view of different land consolidation projects, the features and ecological effects of the projects were discussed and the influences of land consolidation on different ecosystem services highlighted. Energy analysis of current research progress and ecosystem services were compared with material and value assessment methods for different land consolidation projects. Furthermore, different quantitative methods corresponding to the land consolidation projects were discussed and their strengths and weaknesses analyzed. Meanwhile, the paper showed the application of the assessment methods in land consolidation along with different cases of land consolidation projects. Based on the introduction of the importance of ecological assessment and the application of landscape ecological design in land consolidation, we put forward the problems of ecosystem services valuation in the present land consolidation systems and the future development trends.