Gross Ecosystem Product Accounting of a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System: The Longxian Rice–Fish Symbiotic System

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report (New Reviewer)

The current submitted manuscript by Jianfang Liu et al. is a average manuscript on the topic of ‘Gross ecosystem product accounting of a globally important agricultural heritage system: The Longxian Rice-Fish Symbiotic System’. The authors recommend the usage of GEP in the evaluation of commodities and services provided by the ecosystem. I have gone through the complete manuscript and the following points should be clarified.

 

1.       The introduction, literature survey, and background be provided in a proper format. The three sections do not hold any significant importance individually, hence suggest merging the first two sections. Meanwhile, try to merge the third section with the fourth one.

2.       Section 1: The introduction that is provided does not fulfill the expectations in terms of why the study is being carried out. The failure to correlate it with historical aspects and, other relevant scientific works with proper citations that lead up to the objectives of the study makes the understanding of the author on the topic blurry.

3.       Section 2: Very few works of literature survey have been carried out.

4.       Reference 7: The provided reference is incorrect. The DOI provided is incorrect which opens up for ‘Hydrothermal basis for interpreting… radar images.’

5.       Reference 20: The reference is just unverified conference material that has neither any public access nor authenticity.

6.       Reference 26: This provided DOI is from the comment section of a magazine, which also states negatives about the article chosen.

7.       Reference 39: The provided reference with the DOI opens up with the comments section rather than the article itself.

8.       Reference 41: The provided DOI is invalid. Even such articles do not exist in the database.

9.       Line 58: Remove the comma after the word ‘decision’.

10.   Line 63: Consider making the sentence as ‘…can be used to measure the impact…’ by adding ‘to’

11.   Line 71: Make the fragment of the sentence from ‘any types of things’ to ‘any type of things.

12.   Line 78: The beginning of the sentence possesses no view of singularity. Hence, change the fragment of the sentence ‘which has helped people’ to ‘which have helped people’.

13.   Line 82: Correct the fragment of the sentence from ‘Vietnam was determined’ to ‘Vietnam were determined’

14.   Line 87: Correct the fragment of the sentence from ‘and that the ecosystem’ to ‘and the ecosystem’.

15.   Line 94-98: Remove the comma in between the acronyms in brackets and the references.

16.   Line 98: Remove the additional space after referencing [24].

17.   Line 99: Add a space before starting a new sentence.

18.   Line 103: Add a comma after ‘(TNC)’.

19.   Line 107: Add a hyphen between ‘decision making’.

20.   Line 107: Remove the space between the end of the sentence and the referencing. There are many cases where there are no spaces before referencing found within the manuscript. Manage such cases and bring uniformity.

21.   Line 107-109: Please make 2 different sentences as both the in-text citations have no correlation with each other.

22.   Line 111: Capitalize the word ‘technology’.

23.   Line 113: Correct the fragment of the sentence from ‘increase of accuracy’ to ‘increase in accuracy’.

24.   Line 119: Add a hyphen between ‘GIAHS protected’.

25.   Line 123: Capitalize the word ‘forest’.

26.   Line 144: Correct the fragment of the sentence from ‘system proceed along’ to ‘system proceeds along’

27.   Line 148: Remove the comma placed after ‘aquatic organisms.

28.   Line 182: Place a space between ‘EPistands’.

29.   Line 189: Change the fragment of the sentence from ‘included in the Appendix A’ to ‘included in Appendix A’.

30.   Line 192-193: Write any general definition in the present tense. Kindly change it.

31.   Line 195: Change the ‘The calculation formula was as follows’ to ‘The calculation formula used is as follows’.

32.   Line 198-201: Change the entire paragraph to present tense as it contains only raw facts.

33.   Line 200: Write the proper superscript form of intext written ‘m2’.

34.   Line 200: Change the phrase ‘of ecosystem’ to ‘of the ecosystem’.

35.   Line 191,202,214,230,243,251,264,273: Capitalize each sub-headings of sub-section 4.2

36.   Line 206: Change the ‘The calculation formula was as follows’ to ‘The calculation formula used is as follows’.

37.   Line 209-213: Change the entire paragraph to present tense as it contains only raw facts.

38.   Line 217: Capitalize the word ‘shadow’.

39.   Line 223-228; 238-242; 248-249; 258-263; 269-271; 282-289: Change the entire paragraph to present tense as it contains only raw facts.

40.   Line 225: Change ‘storage capacity of reservoir’ to ‘storage capacity of the reservoir’.

41.   Line 274: Correct the spellings of transpiration and vegetation.

42.   Line 285: Change the phrase ‘in ecosystem’ to ‘in the ecosystem’.

43.   Line 286: Remove the space and correct it from ‘1, 2,… , n’ to ‘1, 2,…, n’.

44.   Line 343: Change the phrase ‘Symbiotic system’ to ‘Symbiotic systems.’

45.   Line 348: Change the phrase ‘ecosystem products is realized’ to ‘ecosystem products are realized’.

46.   Line 383: Change the phrase ‘contains ecological value’ to ‘contains the ecological value’.

47.   Line 393: Change ‘Results echoes’ to ‘Results echo’.

48.   Line 415: Change ‘lead to the overexploitation’ to ‘lead to overexploitation’.

49.   Line 425: Change ‘agricultural products amongst alternatives’ to ‘agricultural products from alternatives.

50.   Line 434: Change ‘continues development’ to ‘continuous development’.

51.   Line 439: Change the phrase ‘Cuisine is an approach’ to ‘A Cuisine is an approach’.

52.   Line 440: Change the phrase ‘Tourist can obtain a greater appreciation’ to ‘Tourists can obtain a greater appreciation’.

53.   Line 446: Change the phrase from ‘We found the regulating ecosystem services’ to ‘We found that regulating ecosystem services.’

54.   Line 447: Change the word ‘current’ to ‘currently.’

55.   Line 450: Change the term from ‘forest, vegetations’ to ‘forest vegetation.’

56.   Line 452: Remove the word ‘between’.

57.   Line 468: Change the phrase ‘from government’ to ‘from the government’.

Author Response

Dear reviewer,

Thank you for your comments. We have modified the article as follows:

1. The introduction, literature survey, and background be provided in a proper format. The three sections do not hold any significant importance individually, hence suggest merging the first two sections. Meanwhile, try to merge the third section with the fourth one.

Response：We merged the first and second parts (see lines 31-118); merged the third and fourth parts, and changed the title ”Material and Method”.

2. Section 1: The introduction that is provided does not fulfill the expectations in terms of why the study is being carried out. The failure to correlate it with historical aspects and, other relevant scientific works with proper citations that lead up to the objectives of the study makes the understanding of the author on the topic blurry.

Response：In the introduction, we added the relevant statements to indicate the importance of measuring and clarifying the value of rice-fish symbiosis system, as follows: “In the modern world, agricultural ecosystems provide not only production functions, but also essential ecosystem services for human survival and development.^[38] However, many of the external economic benefits of these ecosystem services are not often reflected in the market.^[39-40] With rapid urbanization and industrialization, non-farm employment and non-farm incomes have increased, and labor in mountainous regions has migrated extensively.^[41–43] It is difficult to incentivize farmers to maintain GIAHS sustainable.”

3. Section 2: Very few works of literature survey have been carried out.

Response：We merged the first and second parts (see lines 31-118).

4. Reference 7: The provided reference is incorrect. The DOI provided is incorrect which opens up for ‘Hydrothermal basis for interpreting… radar images.’

Response：We updated the link ” https://europepmc.org/article/cba/533458”

5. Reference 20: The reference is just unverified conference material that has neither any public access nor authenticity.

Response：We added the link. ”https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-642-16552-8_1”

6. Reference 26: This provided DOI is from the comment section of a magazine, which also states negatives about the article chosen.

Response：This is a reference for the research application of the InVEST model.

7. Reference 39: The provided reference with the DOI opens up with the comments section rather than the article itself.

Response：The DOI opens the article.

8. Reference 41: The provided DOI is invalid. Even such articles do not exist in the database.

Response：This is a paper published In a Chinese journal and has been marked “In Chinese”

9. Line 58: Remove the comma after the word ‘decision’.

Response：The comma has been removed (see line 48).

10. Line 63: Consider making the sentence as ‘…can be used to measure the impact…’ by adding ‘to’

Response：It has been revised in accordance with the comment (see line 53).

11. Line 71: Make the fragment of the sentence from ‘any types of things’ to ‘any type of things.

Response：It has been revised in accordance with the comment (see line 61).

12. Line 78: The beginning of the sentence possesses no view of singularity. Hence, change the fragment of the sentence ‘which has helped people’ to ‘which have helped people’.

Response：It has been revised in accordance with the comment (see line 68).

13. Line 82: Correct the fragment of the sentence from ‘Vietnam was determined’ to ‘Vietnam were determined’

Response：It has been revised in accordance with the comment (see line 72).

14. Line 87: Correct the fragment of the sentence from ‘and that the ecosystem’ to ‘and the ecosystem’.

Response：It has been revised in accordance with the comment (see line 77).

15. Line 94-98: Remove the comma in between the acronyms in brackets and the references.

Response：It has been revised in accordance with the comment (see lines 84-88).

16. Line 98: Remove the additional space after referencing [24].

Response：It has been revised in accordance with the comment (see line 87).

17. Line 99: Add a space before starting a new sentence.

Response：It has been revised in accordance with the comment (see line 88).

18. Line 103: Add a comma after ‘(TNC)’.

Response：It has been revised in accordance with the comment (see line 91).

19. Line 107: Add a hyphen between ‘decisionmaking’.

Response：It has been revised in accordance with the comment (see line 96).

20. Line 107: Remove the space between the end of the sentence and the referencing. There are many cases where there are no spaces before referencing found within the manuscript. Manage such cases and bring uniformity.

Response：We have carried out the full text check and revision.

21. Line 111: Capitalize the word ‘technology’.

Response：It has been revised in accordance with the comments (see line 102).

22. Line 113: Correct the fragment of the sentence from ‘increase of accuracy’ to ‘increase in accuracy’.

Response：It has been revised in accordance with the comments (see line 103).

23. Line 119: Add a hyphen between ‘GIAHS protected’.

Response：It has been revised in accordance with the comments (see line 124).

24. Line123: Capitalize the word ‘forest’.

Response：It has been revised in accordance with the comments (see line 128).

25. Line 144: Correct the fragment of the sentence from ‘system proceed along’ to ‘system proceeds along’

Response：It has been revised in accordance with the comments (see line 110).

26. Line 148: Remove the comma placed after ‘aquatic organisms.

Response：It has been revised in accordance with the comments (see line 156).

27. Line 182: Place a space between ‘EPistands’.

Response：It has been revised in accordance with the comments (see line 190).

 

28. Line 189: Change the fragment of the sentence from ‘included in the Appendix A’ to ‘included in Appendix A’.

Response：It has been revised in accordance with the comments (see line 197).

29. Line 192-193: Write any general definition in the present tense. Kindly change it.

Response：It has been revised in accordance with the comments (see line 202).

30. Line 195: Change the ‘Thecalculationformula was as follows’ to ‘The calculation formula used is as follows’.

Response：It has been revised in accordance with the comments (see line 205).

31. Line 198-201: Change the entire paragraph to present tense as it contains only raw facts.

Response：It has been revised in accordance with the comments (see lines 207-210).

32. Line 200: Write the proper superscript form of intext written ‘m2’.

Response：It has been revised in accordance with the comments (see line 209).

33. Line 200: Change the phrase ‘ofecosystem’ to ‘ofthe ecosystem’.

Response：It has been revised in accordance with the comments (see line 209).

34. Line 191,202,214,230,243,251,264,273: Capitalize each sub-headings of sub-section 4.2

Response：They have been revised in accordance with the comments (see lines 199,211,224,240,254,262,275,284).

35. Line 206: Change the ‘Thecalculationformula was as follows’ to ‘The calculation formula used is as follows’.

Response：It has been revised in accordance with the comments (see line 205).

36. Line 209-213: Change the entire paragraph to present tense as it contains only raw facts.

Response：They have been revised in accordance with the comments (see lines219-223).

37. Line 217: Capitalize the word ‘shadow’.

Response：It has been revised in accordance with the comments (see line 228).

38. Line 223-228; 238-242; 248-249; 258-263; 269-271; 282-289: Change the entire paragraph to present tense as it contains only raw facts.

Response：They have been revised in accordance with the comments (see lines 233-237;238-239;246-253,259-261,265,269-275,277,280-282,289).

39. Line 225: Change ‘storagecapacityof reservoir’ to ‘storage capacity of the reservoir’.

Response：It has been revised in accordance with the comments (see line 235).

40. Line 274: Correct the spellings of transpiration and vegetation.

Response：It has been revised in accordance with the comments (see line 285).

41. Line 285: Change the phrase ‘in ecosystem’ to ‘in the ecosystem’.

Response：It has been revised in accordance with the comments (see line 296).

42. Line 286: Remove the space and correct it from ‘1, 2,… , n’ to ‘1, 2,…, n’.

Response：It has been revised in accordance with the comments (see line 297).

43. Line 343: Change the phrase ‘Symbiotic system’ to ‘Symbiotic systems.’

Response：It has been revised in accordance with the comments (see line 359).

44. Line 347: Change the phrase ‘ecosystem products is realized’ to ‘ecosystem products are realized’.

Response：The value of ecosystem products is realized in the material cycle and energy flow…. (see line 364)

45. Line 383: Change the phrase ‘containsecologicalvalue’ to ‘contains the ecological value’.

Response：It has been revised in accordance with the comments (see line 400).

46. Line 393: Change ‘Resultsechoes’ to ‘Resultsecho’.

Response：It has been revised in accordance with the comments (see line 410).

47. Line 415: Change ‘leadtothe overexploitation’ to ‘lead to overexploitation’.

Response：It has been revised in accordance with the comments (see line 432).

48. Line 425: Change ‘agricultural products amongst alternatives’ to ‘agricultural products from alternatives.

Response：It has been revised in accordance with the comments (see line 443).

49. Line 434: Change ‘continues development’ to ‘continuous development’.

Response：It has been revised in accordance with the comments (see line 452).

50. Line 439: Change the phrase ‘Cuisineisan approach’ to ‘A Cuisine is an approach’.

Response：It has been revised in accordance with the comments (see line 457).

51. Line 440: Change the phrase ‘Tourist can obtain a greater appreciation’ to ‘Tourists can obtain a greater appreciation’.

Response：It has been revised in accordance with the comments (see line 458).

52. Line 446: Change the phrase from ‘Wefoundthe regulating ecosystem services’ to ‘We found that regulating ecosystem ’

Response：It has been revised in accordance with the comments (see line 464).

53. Line 447: Change the word ‘current’ to ‘currently.’

Response：It has been revised in accordance with the comments (see line 465).

54. Line 450: Change the term from ‘forest, vegetations’ to ‘forest vegetation.’

Response：It has been revised in accordance with the comments (see line 469).

55. Line 452: Remove the word ‘between’.

Response：It has been revised in accordance with the comments (see line 471).

56. Line 468: Change the phrase ‘from government’ to ‘from the government’.

Response：It has been revised in accordance with the comments (see line 486).

We appreciate for your professional guidance and hope that the correction can meet with approval. If you have any questions about this paper, please don't hesitate to let me know.

Best wishes!

 

Sincerely,

Jianfang Liu,

Shandong Technology and Business University

191 Binhai Middle Road,

Yantai, 264000 , China.

E-mail: [email protected]

Reviewer 2 Report (New Reviewer)

Comments for “Gross ecosystem product accounting of a globally important ag-ricultural heritage system: The Longxian Rice–Fish Symbiotic System” authored by Jianfang Liu et al.

 

The Rice–Fish Symbiotic System in Longxian village is an important Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System. So the value transformation mechanism of this special system is also important and interesting.

 

Here attached some comments for considering:

1.       It will be better to attached some real field pictures of the Rice–Fish Symbiotic System in Longxian villag, in Figure 1.

2.       Figure 1, the legend, there are two “Garden land”(s), pls recheck the map. Change “Km” beside the scale to “km”.

3.       Pricing List is the key factor of this research, pls cite the source references or prove them one by one. (appendix a)

4.       Line 17, change “InVest” to “InVEST”

5.       Line 115, change “Study Sites” to “Study Site”

6.       Line 117, change “east longitude” to “E”, change “north latitude” to “N”

7.       Line 118, “land area of 461.2 hectares”, but the area is about 573.38 ha, based on the text in abstract: “the GEP was estimated to be approximately 116.5 million yuan (Approx. 203,178 yuan per hectare per year)”, pls check the values.

 

 

Author Response

Dear reviewer,

Thank you for your comments. We have modified the article as follows:

1. It will be better to attached some real field pictures of the Rice–Fish Symbiotic System in Longxian villag, in Figure 1.

Response：We added two real field pictures (see line 132).

2. Figure 1, the legend, there are two “Garden land”(s), pls recheck the map. Change “Km” beside the scale to “km”.

Response：The “Km” in the figure has been changed to “km” (see line 130).

3. Pricing List is the key factor of this research, pls cite the source references or prove them one by one. (appendix a)

Response：The source has been added. ” Note: The data retrieved from the reports of the Zhejiang Development and Planning Institution. http://www.zdpi.org.cn/getsearch.php?skey=GEP”

4. Line 17, change “InVest” to “InVEST”

Response：We have changed all the “InVest” to “InVEST”(eg. Lines 17, 90,194,)

5. Line 115, change “Study Sites” to “Study Site”

Response：It has been revised in accordance with the comment (see line 119).

6. Line 117, change “east longitude” to “E”, change “north latitude” to “N”

Response：We have changed “east longitude” to “E”, change “north latitude” to “N” (see line 121).

7. Line 118, “land area of 461.2 hectares”, but the area is about 573.38 ha, based on the text in abstract: “the GEP was estimated to be approximately 116.5 million yuan (Approx. 203,178 yuan per hectare per year)”, pls check the values.

Response：We have double checked the values. (see lines 18,232; 412).

We appreciate for your professional guidance and hope that the correction can meet with approval. If you have any questions about this paper, please don't hesitate to let me know.

 

Best wishes!

 

Sincerely,

Jianfang Liu,

Shandong Technology and Business University

191 Binhai Middle Road,

Yantai, 264000 , China.

E-mail: [email protected]

Reviewer 3 Report (New Reviewer)

Dear authors,

After carrying out the review of the article entitled “Gross ecosystem product accounting of a globally important agricultural heritage system: The Longxian Rice–Fish Symbiotic System”, proposed for possible publication in Sustainability Journal would like to express that from my perspective the work is interesting, and the topic is relevant from the environmental and sustainable points of view. However, I believe that some aspects should be considered and corrected before the work could be accepted. Next, I list some suggestions for improvement and details that I observed in it:

·        In the abstract line 25 and in the rest of the document, do not use abbreviations if the meaning is not indicated at least once. Eg GIAHS. Renglón 110 GIS, USGS line 167.

·        Within figure 2, place the 2 in the subscript of the oxygen molecule.

·        In lines 200, 212 and 223 place the units in superscript.

·        In Table 3, the second column, place the units in which energy is expressed.

·        Although in section 6.1 Mechanism of transformation and realization of ecosystem services the results related to this aspect are discussed, at no time are the references that support the arguments that the authors are discussing indicated. It is suggested to add the references in that section.

·        Although in section 6.2 Composition of the gross product of the ecosystem the results related to this aspect are discussed, at no time are the references that support the arguments that the authors are discussing indicated, except in line 439. It is suggested to add the necessary references in said Section.

Once the suggestions have been addressed, the work can be considered for publication.

 

 

Kind regards.

Author Response

Dear reviewer,

Thank you for your comments. We have modified the article as follows:

• In the abstract line 25 and in the rest of the document, do not use abbreviations if the meaning is not indicated at least once. Eg GIAHS. Renglón 110 GIS, USGS line 167.

Response：It has been revised in accordance with the comment (see lines 14, 99,174).

• Within figure 2, place the 2 in the subscript of the oxygen molecule.

Response：It has been revised in accordance with the comment (see line 160).

• In lines 200, 212 and 223 place the units in superscript.

Response：They have been revised in accordance with the comment (see lines 209,220;236).

• In Table 3, the second column, place the units in which energy is expressed.

Response：It has been revised in accordance with the comment (see line 344).

• Although in section 6.1 Mechanism of transformation and realization of ecosystem services the results related to this aspect are discussed, at no time are the references that support the arguments that the authors are discussing indicated. It is suggested to add the references in that section.

Response：The discussion on endogenous and exogenous value was added in this section.” There are few references to the terms "endogenous value" and "exogenous value" in the field of ecology or ecosystem sciences. However, in ecology, "endogenous" typically refers to factors or processes that originate within an ecosystem, whereas "value" refers to the benefits or significance ecosystems provide to humans and other organisms. Consequently, combining of these concepts yields the notion of "endogenous value in ecosystem," which may be comprehended as the intrinsic or inherent value or advantages that emanate from the internal mechanisms and operations of an ecosystem. Alternatively, "exogenous value" refers to a non-biological or external value associated with an ecological system or its components.”

• Although in section 6.2 Composition of the gross product of the ecosystem the results related to this aspect are discussed, at no time are the references that support the arguments that the authors are discussing indicated, except in line 439. It is suggested to add the necessary references in said Section.

Response：We added two references. (see lines 454-457).

We appreciate for your professional guidance and hope that the correction can meet with approval. If you have any questions about this paper, please don't hesitate to let me know.

 

Sincerely,

Jianfang Liu,

Shandong Technology and Business University

191 Binhai Middle Road,

Yantai, 264000 , China.

E-mail: [email protected]

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report (New Reviewer)

Now after addressing all the comments this manuscript quality is susbstancialy inscresed and it is now ready for publication with some minor spelling and grammer check. 

 

This manuscript is a resubmission of an earlier submission. The following is a list of the peer review reports and author responses from that submission.

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The rice fish symbiosis system in Longxian Village is the first important global agricultural heritage system in Asia, but the scale of rice fish symbiosis has been shrinking for many years. This paper investigates the value transformation mechanism of rice fish symbiosis system in Longxian County. From the perspective of value mining and value realization of ecological products, the value of ecological products is calculated using the accounting standard of total value of ecological products. The topic of this paper is very good, but the author's current results show a lot of uncertainty. I hope the author will make great efforts in the evaluation of the ecosystem service evaluation model. At present, I cannot accept this manuscript published in our journal.

(1)In the introduction, what are the problems with various types of ecosystem service assessment models? What is the status quo of the research? Has the author revised the existing model? What is the result of the correction? These need to be detailed in the introduction. In addition, what is the international research level of rice fish symbiosis system? Is there any similar research case in different parts of our country? It needs to be clarified.

(2)In the overview of the study area, what is the longitude and latitude of the area? The precision of land use types in this area and the land use type map obtained by the author need to be elaborated.

(3)The core part of this paper is the value calculation of ecological products. In this part, the author uses water conservation, soil conservation, carbon fixation and oxygen release and other service functions to calculate ecological products. The author explained clearly in the formula part, but each parameter in the formula involves a lot of content. How did the author get it and how to solve the problem of time resolution and space resolution between different data.

(4)In the results section, How does the spatial resolution grid in Figure 3 reflect the spatial distribution characteristics of ecosystem services? How is this ecosystem service calculated? What is the calculation result of unit area? It is suggested that the author should read more about the relevant literature on the assessment results of ecosystem services.

Author Response

Dear Reviewer,

First of all, thank you very much for your professional guidance. Under your guidance, our article has been furtherly enriched. We have revised thoroughly according to suggestions and comments, hopefully making it more readable. Besides, the language is polished as well by MDPI team.

Point 1: In the introduction, what are the problems with various types of ecosystem service assessment models? What is the status quo of the research? Has the author revised the existing model? What is the result of the correction? These need to be detailed in the introduction. In addition, what is the international research level of rice fish symbiosis system? Is there any similar research case in different parts of our country? It needs to be clarified.

Response 1: Thank you for your professional guidance. Regarding to the literature review, we have brushed up the post literature by identifying the research gaps. Meanwhile the ecosystem service assessment model was reviewed in order to build our theoretical framework, please see lines 24 to 54 as follows:

”With recent growth in the field of ecosystem services, a variety of decision support tools has emerged to support more systematic ecosystem service. There are varieties of models that have been developed and applied to ecosystem services assessment, including Global Unified Metamodel of the BiOsphere (GUMBO) (Boumans, et al., 2002),^[22] Natural Assets Information System (NAIS) (Troy and Wilson, 2006), ^[23] Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs (InVEST) (Halpern, et al., 2008, Daily, et al., 2009),^[24-25] Artificial Intelligence for Ecosystem Services (ARIES)(Bagstad, et al., 2011; Villa, et al., 2011),^[26-27] Online Wetland Ecosystem Services Model (EcoServ) (Feng, et al., 2011),^[28] Social Values for Ecosystem Services (SolVES) (Sherrouse, et al., 2011),^[29] Ecosystem Portfolio Model (EPM) (Labiosa, et al., 2013),^[30] Multiscale Integrated Model of Ecosystem Services (MIMES) (Boumans, et al., 2015),^[22] Ecosystem Services Review (ESR) (World Resources Institute, 2012),^[31] Ecosystem Services Valuation (ESV) (Yang, et al., 2018)^[32] and so on. These models generally have some problems of complicated data acquisition and poor applicability. Among them, InVEST is a model system specifically used to evaluate ecosystem services, which was jointly developed by Stanford University, the Nature Conservancy (TNC) and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). InVEST has been widely used in many countries and regions, and its accuracy has been verified (Piyathilake, et al., 2021). The InVEST model is a visualization tool capable of quantitatively assessing ecosystem services under different scenarios, which can assess multiple ecosystem services such as water yield, water quality, soil retention, carbon storage, biodiversity, etc., and integrates and weighs multiple ecosystem services to provide a basis for decision making (Nelson, et al., 2009; Goldstein, et al., 2012).^[33-34] The InVEST model has been used to determine changes in spatial planning, biodiversity, carbon stocks, water production, soil conservation and other ecosystem service functions in many countries and regions (Nelson, et al., 2009；Goldstein, et al., 2012; Mansoor, et al., 2013; Baral, et al., 2014; Vergilio, et al.,2016; Caro, et al., 2020).^[34-38] In recent years, there have been more and more researches on ecosystem services in China. Combined with GIS technology, the InVEST model has been applied to quantitative and visual researches on ecosystem service assessment in cities, river basins, islands, nature reserves, plateaus and so on(Chen, et al., 2020; Wang, et al., 2019; Wang, et al., 2022).^[39-41]”

Considering that InVEST has strong applicability, feasibility and scientificity in evaluating ecosystem services, we didn’t modify the model. One paragraph was added to clarify the research methods, As follows: “Basis on the technical specification of gross ecosystem product (GEP) calculation for terrestrial ecosystems (DB33/T 2274-2020), we evaluated the ecosystem services of Longxian village with InVEST and ArcGIS10.8.”(Please see lines 502 to 504）

Beyond it, studies on the value of aquaculture and rice paddy ecological services have been reviewed as well, as follows: “Ecosystem services have been used in aquaculture as well as rice-field ecosystems (Weitzman, 2009; Mathé and Rey-Valette, 2015; Ajwang’, et al, 2016). For example, an ecosystem services study of shrimp-rice rotation in Vietnam showed that the value of an integrated cropping system was higher than a rice monoculture system (Loc, et al., 2017). Berg and Tam studied rice-fish symbiosis services and suggested that most farmers were willing to slightly reduce their rice yields through rice-fish symbiosis in the Mekong Delta to improve the quality of other ecosystem services (Berg and Tam, 2018). Liu used the DPSIR (Driver, Pressure, State, Impact, and Response) model to examine the value of rice–fish coculture systems in Ruyuan County, Shaoguan City, Guangdong Province (Liu, Tang, and Xie, 2020).” (Please see lines 155 to 164)

Point 2: In the overview of the study area, what is the longitude and latitude of the area? The precision of land use types in this area and the land use type map obtained by the author need to be elaborated.

Response 2: Thank you for your suggestion. The detailed latitude and longitude position of the study area were supplemented. As follows: "Longxian village is located at 120°17 '00" -120°17' 00 "east longitude and 27°59 '00" -28°00' 00 "north latitude. "(For details, Please see lines 220 to 221)

The land use and land cover data came from China's third national Land survey, which were provided by Qingtian Natural Resources and Planning Bureau. In China's third land survey, the current rural land use survey is based on remote sensing images with a spatial resolution of better than 1 meter.

Point 3: The core part of this paper is the value calculation of ecological products. In this part, the author uses water conservation, soil conservation, carbon fixation and oxygen release and other service functions to calculate ecological products. The author explained clearly in the formula part, but each parameter in the formula involves a lot of content. How did the author get it and how to solve the problem of time resolution and space resolution between different data.

Response 3: Thank you for your suggestion.

(1) According to your prompt, in the "Data Collection" section, we replace the original content with the source of the main data and parameters, and introduce the solution to the problem of temporal resolution and spatial resolution between different data.（Please see Lines 505-509）As follows:

“In this study, the main data and parameters used in the calculation listed in Table 3.”

Table 3. The Main Data and Parameters

Items	Source
Land used data	Natural resources sector
Annual precipitation and evaporation data from 1981 to 2010	Chinese Academy of Sciences
Runoff coefficient, storm runoff coefficient	Water conservancy department
R, K, L, S parameters	Chinese Academy of Sciences
NPP	MODIS（MOD17A3HGF）
Vegetation coverage	MODIS（MOD13Q1）
Rainstorm Proportion	Meteorological department

(2) The solutions to the problem of time resolution and spatial resolution between different data are as follows:

Except the rainfall data required to be the average rainfall of many years, most data involved in this paper are the data of the current year. So there is no problem of different time resolutions.

We preprocessed the data to deal with different spatial resolutions. The specific steps are as follows:

Step 1: Check the topology of the space vector data, and make sure there was no gap or surface overlap.

Step 2: Complete the unification and anastomosing of spatial raster data coordinate system, resolution and pixel position. The spatial raster data projection coordinate system was unified as CGCS2000_3_Degree_GK_CM_120E, and the resolution was unified as 250m. Based on the distributed NPP/FVC data, the pixel position of all spatial raster data were completely matched.

Step 3: According to the unified spatial raster data, fishnet and its central point with the same range and size were generated;

Step 4: Extract the attribute value of each pixel of spatial raster data into each fishnet grid;

Step 5: Complete the superposition and cutting of administrative division data, ecosystem classification data and fishnet data to ensure that each map patch generated corresponds to a unique ecosystem type and fishnet code.

Point 4: In the results section, How does the spatial resolution grid in Figure 3 reflect the spatial distribution characteristics of ecosystem services? How is this ecosystem service calculated? What is the calculation result of unit area? It is suggested that the author should read more about the relevant literature on the assessment results of ecosystem services.

Response 4: Thanks for your professional guidance.

（1）According to your suggestion, we deleted the original paragraph and reanalyzed the spatial distribution characteristics of ecosystem services. The revised content is as follows（Please see Lines 554-573）:

“From the perspective of ecosystem type, the service function value is ordered : forest > sparse forest > wetland > shrub > grassland. The spatial heterogeneity of ecosystem regulating services is significant in Longxian village. The high-value areas of all kinds of regulating services were concentrated in the southern part of Longxian village, presenting a spatial distribution pattern of high in the south and low in the north (see Figure 3). From the perspective of spatial distribution, the high-value area of regulation service in Longxian village is mainly distributed in the forest ecosystem in the south. The function quantity and value of regulation service, such as climate regulation, soil conservation, carbon sequestration and oxygen release, flood regulation and storage, etc. per unit area are presenting a gradual decline trend from south to north. In Longxian village, woodland is the main land use type with high vegetation coverage, concentrating in the southern part of Longxian Village, pushing up the value of the area. While the arable land and construction land distributed in the north of Longxian village depreciate the area value. In addition South of Longxian village is regarded as high-value area in terms of ecosystem service with homogenous carbon sequestration, oxygen release, flood regulation and storage, and water conservation brought by little change in little change in temperature, precipitation, and evapotranspiration resulting from its vegetation singularity and small scale  In terms of soil conservation regulation service, due to the influence of slope factor, slope length factor and other factors, the value distribution changed slightly. ”

（2）We further supplement the calculation results of unit area in Table 3. （Please see Lines 520-545）

 

Subject		Energy	Values (10,000RMB)	Values of unit area (10,000RMB/km2)
Water Conservation (10,000 m3 / year)		287.00	283.84	61.14
Soil Conservation (10,000 tons/year)		25.32	136.57	29.41
Flood Storage (10,000 m3 / year)	Vegetation	120.16	3277.49	705.92
	Reservoir	0.00	0.00	0.00
	Total	120.16	3277.49	705.92
Climate Regulation (10,000KWH/year)	Vegetation	8664.20	4627.20	996.63
	Reservoir	1769.94	945.25	203.59
	Total	10434.14	5572.46	1200.22
Carbon Sequestration (10,000 tons/year)		84.08	1.86	0.40
Oxygen Release (10,000 tons/year)		61.15	78.62	16.93
Water Environment Purification(tons/year)	COD	0.29	0.25	0.05
	Ammonia-nitrogen	0.22	0.22	0.05
	Total phosphorus	0.22	0.23	0.05
	Total	0.73	0.70	0.15
Air Purification (tons/year)	Sulfur dioxide	86.13	18.18	3.92
	Nitric oxide	3.16	0.84	0.18
	Total	89.29	19.02	4.10
Total		/	9370.56	2018.27

(3) On basis of the calculation formula provided in the paper, we uses the ArcGIS10.8 software and the InVEST model to calculate the ecosystem services of Longxian Village. According to your prompt, we add a paragraph in the part of research methods, As follows: “Basis on the technical specification of gross ecosystem product (GEP) calculation for terrestrial ecosystems (DB33/T 2274-2020), we evaluated the ecosystem services of Longxian village with InVEST and ArcGIS10.8.” (Please see lines 502 to 504）

（4）The calculation result of unit area was obtained by the ratio of total GEP to total area.

We have tried our best to improve the manuscript and made some changes in the manuscript. We submitted the revised manuscript online. These changes will not influence the content and framework of the paper. We appreciate for your professional guidance and hope that the correction can meet with approval. If you have any questions about this paper, please don't hesitate to let me know.

 

Sincerely,

Jianfang Liu,

Shandong Technology and Business University

191 Binhai Middle Road,

Yantai, 264000 , China.

E-mail: [email protected]

 

 

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

The fundamental analysis presented in this paper and many of the basic conclusions appear to be well founded. However, the paper is lacking in several areas of basic scholarship. While the methods present the calculations used to arrive at the ecosystem services they don't include the data sources or conversion values used to arrive at the biophysical or economic ecosystem service values. In any academic paper it must be possible to repeat the results of the authors and this paper fails that basic test. At minimum the data used needs to be cited in the paper and should be provided as supplemental materials. The authors appear to misuse a word in describing their results- epitaxial. I was unfamiliar with the term, but it is defined as "to the deposition of an overlayer on a crystalline substrate", completely unrelated to this work. Additionally, the recommendations made are not specific enough to be of use to decision makers, or to be understood by readers of this work. This article needs major revisions to be considered for publication. 

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

Dear Reviewer,

First of all, thank you very much for your professional guidance. Under your guidance, our article has been furtherly supplemented with a lot of content. We have revised accordingly and provided the response to every suggestions and comments.  Besides, the language is polished as well by MDPI team to make it more readable.

 

Point 1: The paper is lacking in several areas of basic scholarship. At minimum the data used needs to be cited in the paper and should be provided as supplemental materials

Response 1: Thank you for your professional guidance.

Firstly, the ecosystem service assessment model was reviewed in order to build our theoretical framework, please see lines 124 to 154 as follows: ”With recent growth in the field of ecosystem services, a variety of decision support tools has emerged to support more systematic ecosystem service. There are varieties of models that have been developed and applied to ecosystem services assessment, including Global Unified Metamodel of the BiOsphere (GUMBO) (Boumans, et al., 2002),^[22] Natural Assets Information System (NAIS) (Troy and Wilson, 2006), ^[23] Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs (InVEST) (Halpern, et al., 2008, Daily, et al., 2009),^[24-25] Artificial Intelligence for Ecosystem Services (ARIES)(Bagstad, et al., 2011; Villa, et al., 2011),^[26-27] Online Wetland Ecosystem Services Model (EcoServ) (Feng, et al., 2011),^[28] Social Values for Ecosystem Services (SolVES) (Sherrouse, et al., 2011),^[29] Ecosystem Portfolio Model (EPM) (Labiosa, et al., 2013),^[30] Multiscale Integrated Model of Ecosystem Services (MIMES) (Boumans, et al., 2015),^[22] Ecosystem Services Review (ESR) (World Resources Institute, 2012),^[31] Ecosystem Services Valuation (ESV) (Yang, et al., 2018)^[32] and so on. These models generally have some problems of complicated data acquisition and poor applicability. Among them, InVEST is a model system specifically used to evaluate ecosystem services, which was jointly developed by Stanford University, the Nature Conservancy (TNC) and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). InVEST has been widely used in many countries and regions, and its accuracy has been verified (Piyathilake, et al., 2021). The InVEST model is a visualization tool capable of quantitatively assessing ecosystem services under different scenarios, which can assess multiple ecosystem services such as water yield, water quality, soil retention, carbon storage, biodiversity, etc., and integrates and weighs multiple ecosystem services to provide a basis for decision making (Nelson, et al., 2009; Goldstein, et al., 2012).^[33-34] The InVEST model has been used to determine changes in spatial planning, biodiversity, carbon stocks, water production, soil conservation and other ecosystem service functions in many countries and regions (Nelson, et al., 2009；Goldstein, et al., 2012; Mansoor, et al., 2013; Baral, et al., 2014; Vergilio, et al.,2016; Caro, et al., 2020).^[34-38] In recent years, there have been more and more researches on ecosystem services in China. Combined with GIS technology, the InVEST model has been applied to quantitative and visual researches on ecosystem service assessment in cities, river basins, islands, nature reserves, plateaus and so on(Chen, et al., 2020; Wang, et al., 2019; Wang, et al., 2022).^[39-41]”

Considering that InVEST has strong applicability, feasibility and scientificity in evaluating ecosystem services, we didn’t modify the model. One paragraph was added to clarify the research methods, As follows: “Basis on the technical specification of gross ecosystem product (GEP) calculation for terrestrial ecosystems (DB33/T 2274-2020), we evaluated the ecosystem services of Longxian village with InVEST and ArcGIS10.8.” (Please see lines 502 to 504）

Secondly, the detailed latitude and longitude position of the study area were supplemented. As follows: "Longxian village is located at 120°17 '00" -120°17' 00 "east longitude and 27°59 '00" -28°00' 00 "north latitude. "(For details, Please see lines 220 to 221)

Thirdly, in the "Data Collection" section, we replace the original content with the source of the main data and parameters, and introduce the solution to the problem of temporal resolution and spatial resolution between different data.（Please see Lines 505-509）As follows: “In this study, the main data and parameters used in the calculation listed in Table 3.”

Table 3. The Main Data and Parameters

Items	Source
Land used data	Natural resources sector
Annual precipitation and evaporation data from 1981 to 2010	Chinese Academy of Sciences
Runoff coefficient, storm runoff coefficient	Water conservancy department
R, K, L, S parameters	Chinese Academy of Sciences
NPP	MODIS（MOD17A3HGF）
Vegetation coverage	MODIS（MOD13Q1）
Rainstorm Proportion	Meteorological department

Fourly, we deleted the original paragraph and reanalyzed the spatial distribution characteristics of ecosystem services. The revised content is as follows:“From the perspective of ecosystem type, the service function value is ordered : forest > sparse forest > wetland > shrub > grassland. The spatial heterogeneity of ecosystem regulating services is significant in Longxian village. The high-value areas of all kinds of regulating services were concentrated in the southern part of Longxian village, presenting a spatial distribution pattern of high in the south and low in the north (see Figure 3). From the perspective of spatial distribution, the high-value area of regulation service in Longxian village is mainly distributed in the forest ecosystem in the south. The function quantity and value of regulation service, such as climate regulation, soil conservation, carbon sequestration and oxygen release, flood regulation and storage, etc. per unit area are presenting a gradual decline trend from south to north. In Longxian village, woodland is the main land use type with high vegetation coverage, concentrating in the southern part of Longxian Village, pushing up the value of the area. While the arable land and construction land distributed in the north of Longxian village depreciate the area value. In addition South of Longxian village is regarded as high-value area in terms of ecosystem service with homogenous carbon sequestration, oxygen release, flood regulation and storage, and water conservation brought by little change in little change in temperature, precipitation, and evapotranspiration resulting from its vegetation singularity and small scale  In terms of soil conservation regulation service, due to the influence of slope factor, slope length factor and other factors, the value distribution changed slightly.” （Please see Lines 554-573）

At last, we further supplement the calculation results of unit area in Table 3.（Please see Lines 520-545）

 

Subject		Energy	Values (10,000RMB)	Values of unit area (10,000RMB/km2)
Water Conservation (10,000 m3 / year)		287.00	283.84	61.14
Soil Conservation (10,000 tons/year)		25.32	136.57	29.41
Flood Storage (10,000 m3 / year)	Vegetation	120.16	3277.49	705.92
	Reservoir	0.00	0.00	0.00
	Total	120.16	3277.49	705.92
Climate Regulation (10,000KWH/year)	Vegetation	8664.20	4627.20	996.63
	Reservoir	1769.94	945.25	203.59
	Total	10434.14	5572.46	1200.22
Carbon Sequestration (10,000 tons/year)		84.08	1.86	0.40
Oxygen Release (10,000 tons/year)		61.15	78.62	16.93
Water Environment Purification(tons/year)	COD	0.29	0.25	0.05
	Ammonia-nitrogen	0.22	0.22	0.05
	Total phosphorus	0.22	0.23	0.05
	Total	0.73	0.70	0.15
Air Purification (tons/year)	Sulfur dioxide	86.13	18.18	3.92
	Nitric oxide	3.16	0.84	0.18
	Total	89.29	19.02	4.10
Total		/	9370.56	2018.27

Point 2: In any academic paper it must be possible to repeat the results of the authors and this paper fails that basic test.

Response 2: Thank you for your question. According to the technical specification of gross ecosystem product (GEP) calculation for terrestrial ecosystems (DB33/T 2274-2020), using the ArcGIS10.8 software and the InVEST model, we can calculated the gross ecosystem product repeatedly.

Point 3: The authors appear to misuse a word in describing their results- epitaxial

Response 3: Thank you for your suggestion. The word "epitaxial" is really not proper. We attempt to express the ecological values outside the ecosystem itself. We replaced "epitaxial" with the "exogenous".（Please see Lines 611,612,620,622,627,629,641,660,674）

Point 4: The recommendations made are not specific enough to be of use to decision makers, or to be understood by readers of this work.

Response 4: Thank you for your suggestion. Some parts of the conclusion and discussion are not clear, and we have made corresponding modifications in the paper. （Please see Lines 27-30, 605-709）

Point 5: The specific problems in the article.

Response 5: Thank you for your detailed guidance. For each response in the article, we have compiled the table below for your review.

 

No.	Questons	Response	Lines
1	Why compare to disposable income and not total household or personal income.	The GEP per capita calculated in the location paper should be more appropriate to compare with the GDP per capita. We've replaced disposable income per capita with GDP per capita.	24, 724-725
2	”The optimal strategy for development is to transmit intangible cultural heritage through continual innovation via transformation pathways and transformation modes. ” Why?	We rewrote the sentence:” Through continually innovation of realizing ecological products’ value, Rice-Fish Symbiotic System can transmit and develop its intangible cultural heritage.”	29-30, 763-764
3	(1)    Cite the inctroduction about the Longxian Rice–Fish System； (2)Can you cite the document this was said?	Cite the inctroduction of Longxian Rice–Fish System from FAO website (https://www.fao.org/giahs/giahsaroundtheworld/designated-sites/asia-and-the-pacific/rice-fish-culture/zh/)	45, 57-62, 802-803
4	Cite some examples of this, Qing Yang has a number of relevant pubs	Thank you for your recommendation and guidance. We found that Dr. Yang has published more than 20 articles on ecosystem services. Due to the limited time, wedi’n't have enough time to study all the literatures. But we found the article "Development of a new framework for non-monetary accounting on ecosystem services valuation" made a large contribution to Ecosystem Services Valuation (ESV) model, so we cite it in this study. Besides, we also cite some examples using InVEST model to calculate the ecosystem services.	24-54, 848-900
5	Cite these data sources in the following paragraphs	In "Data Collection" section, we replace the original content with the source of the main data and parameters.	505-509
6	Results	We supplement the calculation results of unit area in Table 3. In addtion, we deleted the original paragraph and reanalyzed the spatial distribution characteristics of ecosystem services.	554-573520-545
7	Improve image quality	Due to Longxian village is a small scope area, the spatial resolution of data is very high, and the accounting process involves a variety of data, and some high-resolution data is difficult to obtain in the process of data acquisition, so it can only be replaced by low-resolution data (such as NPP data). When these data (factors) play a leading role in the accounting process, the result of calculation is the phenomenon of low spatial resolution as shown in the figure.
8	Large relative to what?	We would like to express that, as an ordinary small mountain village in China, Longxian Village has 937,056,600 RMB ecosystem regulating service values, it’s a relative large number. We replace “Overall” into “As an ordinary small mountain village in China”.	579
9	Delete “green”	Delete “green”	617
10	Can or does	We replaced “can” into “does”	619
11	However, the innovation way to realize the epitaxial value is not limited, so the value space is very large.	However, innovative ways to realize the exdogenous value are not limited, so the value space is very large.	626-628
12	what does this mean? To classify?	“Classify” is better than “sort out”, so we replaced “sort out ” into ”classify”	650
13	How are you defining green?	We replaced “green” into “organic”	664
14	Can this be done while maintaining the cultural heritage of this unique agricultural production system?	“The Rice–Fish Symbiotic System can promote the transformation of ecological value in a variety of ways by integrating industries of farming and breeding, agricultural product processing, leisure agriculture, health care for the elderly, and other diverse industrial forms.” Longxian Village is maintaining the rice-fish symbiosis system by developing the integration industry, and the results show that it is feasible.  In fact, in the process of protecting and inheriting the rice-fish symbiotic system, the government paid a large cost in addition to the farmers who cultivate it.  Local farmers benefit from this, ensuring that fish farming remains in the paddy fields.	693-697
15	Do you mean it is internationally recognized?	We deleted “In addition, Longxian village is a famous overseas Chinese village.” Longxian village is a well-known Chinese village overseas. There are about 1,500 residents in Longxian village, but half of them live in more than 50 countries or regions in the world.	720-721
16	Ecological products in Longxian Village are abundant and have a very high value per person.	The main purpose is to demonstrate the first conclusion:” Ecological products in Longxian Village are abundant and have a high value per person. ”	723-725
17	Avoid value statements that are not supported.	Delete “good”	726
18	This sounds like you are recommending industrialization and development. If this was done wouldn't the cultural value and ecological value suffer?	We rewrote the sentence:” In summary, through continually innovation of realizing ecological products’ value , Rice-Fish Symbiotic System can transmit and develop its intangible cultural heritage.” we think, industrialization is not a good choice ,but the integration of agriculture and other industries is an important development direction.	763-766

 

We have tried our best to improve the manuscript and made some changes in the manuscript. We submitted the revised manuscript online. These changes will not influence the content and framework of the paper. We appreciate for your professional guidance and hope that the correction can meet with approval. If you have any questions about this paper, please don't hesitate to let me know.

 

Sincerely,

Jianfang Liu,

Shandong Technology and Business University

191 Binhai Middle Road,

Yantai, 264000 , China.

E-mail: [email protected]

 

 

 

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

The author has solved most of the problems raised. Agree to accept.

Author Response

Dear Reviewer,

Thank you very much for your help. Under your professional guidance, our article has been improved too much. We are grateful for your guidance, and best wishes to you.

 

Sincerely,

Jianfang Liu,

Shandong Technology and Business University

191 Binhai Middle Road,

Yantai, 264000 , China.

E-mail: [email protected]

Reviewer 2 Report

While improvements to the article have been made the authors did not address my primary concern with the work, which is that the actual data used for the calculations is not included or cited in a way that it could be accessed and the study repeated. Based on what is included in the article the reader cannot understand the fundamental analysis performed. Basic information, like the calculations for the service physical and monetary values, is not included. The discussion and conclusions of the article are still not coherent and do not logically connect to the results. 

Author Response

Dear Reviewer,

Thank you for your reply and for your further guidance on this article. We realize that under your guidance, our articles are constantly improving. To be honest, we didn't fully understand your guidance last time, and we have made further supplementary modifications these days. We are quite appreciative and grateful to your guidance. Thank you very much!

Please see the attachment.

 

Sincerely,

Jianfang Liu,

Shandong Technology and Business University

191 Binhai Middle Road,

Yantai, 264000 , China.

E-mail: [email protected]

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf