Science Explorer Interactive view Map

Land Use and Ecosystem Services

Land Use and Ecosystem Services is a research topic within Global and Planetary Change. Science Explorer counts 59k research works in it since 1951. 29.5% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers focuses on the global analysis of ecosystem services and land use, including the impacts of urbanization, biodiversity conservation, and sustainability. It explores the spatial dynamics of human-nature interactions and provides insights for environmental policy and the management of social-ecological systems.

  • Ecosystem Services
  • Land Use Change
  • Urbanization
  • Global Impact
  • Biodiversity Conservation
  • Sustainability
  • Spatial Dynamics
  • Human-Nature Interactions
  • Environmental Policy
  • Social-Ecological Systems
Research works
59k
fractional, since 1951
In the world top 10%
18k
per year above
Top-10% rate
29.5%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2013–17 → 2018–22
+86%
the tick is no change

Which countries lead Land Use and Ecosystem Services research?

By volume, China and the United States publish the most (8.2k and 1.3k works in 2022–2025).

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 China 8.2k works
  2. 2 United States 1.3k works
  3. 3 India 1.1k works
  4. 4 Italy 701 works
  5. 5 Germany 564 works
  6. 6 United Kingdom 543 works
  7. 7 Brazil 425 works
  8. 8 Spain 366 works
  9. 9 Australia 349 works
  10. 10 Japan 343 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

China: 58.9%United States: 9.7%India: 7.8%Italy: 5.0%6 others listed: 18.7%59%largest
China8,178 · 58.9%United States1,342 · 9.7%India1,079 · 7.8%Italy701 · 5.0%6 others listed2,591 · 18.7%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Land Use and Ecosystem Services research?

By volume in 2022–2025, Chinese Academy of Sciences publishes the most Land Use and Ecosystem Services research, followed by Beijing Normal University and University of Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Who are the leading researchers in Land Use and Ecosystem Services?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Land Use and Ecosystem Services include David Tilman, Josep Peñuelas and Peter B. Reich.

  1. 1 David Tilman United States 6.9k citations
  2. 2 Josep Peñuelas Spain 4.1k citations
  3. 3 Peter B. Reich United States 4.1k citations
  4. 4 Philippe Ciais France 4k citations
  5. 5 Stephen Polasky United States 3.8k citations
  6. 6 W. Neil Adger United Kingdom 3.7k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

Where is Land Use and Ecosystem Services research done?

The largest centres of Land Use and Ecosystem Services research in 2022–2025 are Beijing (China), Wuhan (China), Nanjing (China) and Guangzhou (China). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Potenza and Lin’an Shi.

Largest cities, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Beijing China 2.2k works
  2. 2 Wuhan China 502 works
  3. 3 Nanjing China 493 works
  4. 4 Guangzhou China 294 works
  5. 5 Shanghai China 278 works
  6. 6 Xi'an China 249 works
  7. 7 Lanzhou China 216 works
  8. 8 Chengdu China 206 works
  9. 9 Hangzhou China 197 works
  10. 10 Chongqing China 171 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. PotenzaIT · 24.7 works17×
  2. Lin’an ShiCN · 36.5 works12×
← less than its size predictsmore →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Land Use and Ecosystem Services than the world average.

See Land Use and Ecosystem Services on the map

Where is the best place to study Land Use and Ecosystem Services?

Among universities, judged by research, China University of Geosciences, Beijing Normal University and University of Tübingen score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%20%40%60%mean 42.45%fractional works in this node (log) →share in the world top 10% →China University of Geosciences: 101, 39.5%Beijing Normal University: 165, 44.3%University of Tübingen: 38, 55.4%Jiangxi University of Finance and Economics: 19, 40.2%Wuhan University: 124, 44.7%Beijing Forestry University: 136, 35.8%Jiangxi Agricultural University: 23, 45.0%Zhejiang A & F University: 36, 39.2%Yunnan Normal University: 30, 35.2%Northwest A&F University: 55, 45.2%University of TübingenBeijing Normal Unive…Jiangxi University o…China University of …
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the table below. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1 China University of GeosciencesChina 72.139.5%11.6×101 +127.4%
2 Beijing Normal UniversityChina 71.744.3%12.5×165 +29.5%
3 University of TübingenGermany 68.955.4%5.4×38 +1146.0%
4 Jiangxi University of Finance and EconomicsChina 65.640.2%11.9×19 +180.1%
5 Wuhan UniversityChina 64.944.7%5.4×124 +149.3%
6 Beijing Forestry UniversityChina 64.835.8%25.0×136 +27.9%
7 Jiangxi Agricultural UniversityChina 63.445.0%10.3×23 +92.5%
8 Zhejiang A & F UniversityChina 63.139.2%12.3×36 +85.4%
9 Yunnan Normal UniversityChina 62.835.2%12.1×30 +153.7%
10 Northwest A&F UniversityChina 62.145.2%7.4×55 +85.8%

Universities only. Score blends excellence (30%), specialisation (25%), size (20%), growth (15%) and international reach (10%), 2015–2022; growth compares 2010–14 with 2015–19.

Is Land Use and Ecosystem Services research growing?

Output in 2018–2022 was 86% higher than in 2013–2017, peaking in 2023. The fastest-growing topics are Land Use and Ecosystem Services.

19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon — one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.