Ecosystem Productivity Regionalization of China
中国生态系统生产力区划

The regionalization of ecosystem productivity in China is the process and result of dividing China into different regions according to the difference and likelihood of biota productivity. The ecosystem productivity region considers the modern topographic delineation and its macro control on the formation of ecosystem landscape characteristics and the influences of monsoon climate and the differentiation of ecosystems caused by light, temperature, water, and other conditions. The productivity zone firstly considers different ecosystem types and their combination characteristics, and then considers difference of ecosystem productivity for different types (e.g., farmland, forest and grassland). According to the value of comprehensive ecosystem productivity for each productivity zone in China, the comprehensive ecosystem productivity of China is divided into 5 grades. Finally, the regionalization divides the whole country into 12 first level ecosystem productivity regions, and 64 second level ecosystem productivity zones.It can be seen clearly from the regionalization that the grade distribution of ecosystem productivity of China is stepwise, which correlates well with the three steps of China's topographic profiles. The regionalization also indicates that the level of farmland ecosystem productivity can well evaluate the level of ecosystem productivity for most parts of China (i.e., 46 zones). However, for the rest of China (i.e., 18 zones), there exists sharp difference between the level of farmland ecosystem productivity and ecosystem productivity because of the imbalance of regional development.