生态系统服务是生态学研究的热点问题。该文首先从概念、分类、价值评估理论、评估案例等方面总结了目前国内外生态系统服务的研究现状。然后评述了目前生态系统服务研究存在的局限性,包括:评估结果的准确性问题、生态资产与生态系统服务的混淆、物理量评估方法的不确定性、价值量评估的不确定性以及生态系统功能与服务的复杂性。针对这些研究的局限,文章提出了生态系统服务研究的基本范式,包括:严格区分生态资产和生态系统服务、生态系统服务评估必须基于生态观测或生态模型以及区域生态系统服务评估应区分不同样元。最后,文章展望了今后生态系统服务研究的课题:生态系统服务与生态系统结构及生态过程的关联性和复杂关系的研究,人类干扰下生态系统服务的响应与反馈研究,生态系统服务变化对人类福利的影响研究,政策机制对生态系统服务的影响研究以及不同生态系统类型的各种生态服务价值研究等方面。

The concept of ecosystem services was first used in 1960s in abroad and the terminology of “ecosystem services” appeared in 1981. Three classifications of ecosystem services included function classification, structure classification and description classification, in which function classification has been used widely. The relationship between ecosystem services and biodiversity was examined to understand the mechanism of formation and variation in ecosystem services. At present, many case studies have been conducted to obtain the economic values of ecosystem services at local, river basin, regional and national levels with three kinds of methods: economic method, emergy method and benefit transfer. In China, the concept of ecosystem services was introduced in 1990s and, since then, there have been many studies about ecosystem services which involves the introduction of abroad studies, forming and accumulating process of ecosystem services and case studies.

Because of limitations on the studies of ecosystem services, including the reliability of the evaluation results, confusion of ecological capital and ecosystem services, uncertainty of the quantity of ecosystem services, uncertainty of the monetary values of ecosystem services, and complexity of ecosystem functions and services. A new paradigm of ecosystem services should be set to strictly distinguish the ecosystem services from ecological capital, to evaluate the ecosystem services on the basis of ecological monitoring and ecological models, and to divide the region into different units in evaluation of regional ecosystem services. The researches on ecosystem services should pay more attention in the complex relationships between ecosystem services, structure and processes, the response and feedback of ecosystem services to human activities, the impacts of changes in ecosystem services on human well_being, the impacts of policies and institutions on ecosystem services, and the monetary values of ecosystem services from different kinds of ecosystems.