Evaluation of the Potential for Territorial Ecological Restoration: A Case Study of Zhaoping County, China

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

1 Abstract

Please provide specific values for the achievable upgrading potential of each ecosystem service.

2 Introduction

L33-L38 Please add the international context of TER, which is crucial for an international journal such as Land, which is indexed by SSCI.

L38-L46 What is the logical relationship between Land and TER?

L51-L57 What is the relationship between ESP and TER?

L58-L64 What is the relationship between ERP, ESP and TER? Although L64 gives an explanation, I think it is far from enough, honestly, reading this, I think the logic of the author's argument is confusing, and I have no idea what the author is arguing .

L65 It is not until L65 that the authors begin to address the core of this manuscript, ERP.If I had not had the patience to read this far, I would have assumed that the authors were addressing the scientific question of the relationship between ESP and TER.

L65-L78 The authors lack the formulation of scientific questions. The literature review should not only state what previous scholars have done on ERP, but more importantly, the following questions need to be answered: first, what is the relationship between ERP and TER? Secondly, what are the shortcomings of previous scholars in studying ERP? What problems will these shortcomings lead to? Will this manuscript by the authors address the deficiencies that exist in previous studies? In what ways will these shortcomings be addressed?

L80-L90 What is the connection between karst regions and TER?

3 Materials and methods

L123-L149 Consider this section to be abbreviated and placed in the introductory section for elaboration.

4 Discussion section

Please add any gaps in the research content and possible future directions to address them.

5 References

Please add more literature from non-Chinese scholars.

Overall, it is evident that the authors have put great effort into this manuscript this. However, the authors' poor writing and confusing logic in the introduction section may cause academics to miss out on this research paper of great significance. Secondly, why did the authors repeatedly emphasize ESP in a paper centered on the study of ERP? This question is very confusing to me. Please ask the authors to cherish such a golden opportunity as a major revision and revise the manuscript carefully.

Moderate editing of English language required

Author Response

Thank you very much for your valuable suggestions on the manuscript. Your suggestions have improved our understanding of the research, and I have made detailed revisions according to your suggestions in the manuscript. Here are your suggestions and point-to-point revision instructions.

1 Abstract

Please provide specific values for the achievable upgrading potential of each ecosystem service.

Reply：Specific values for the achievable upgrading potential of each ecosystem service have been added in abstract.

2 Introduction

L33-L38 Please add the international context of TER, which is crucial for an international journal such as Land, which is indexed by SSCI.

Reply：The international context of TER has been added in introduction.

L38-L46 What is the logical relationship between Land and TER?

Reply：Land has been changed in to Territorial space in the L38 to match TER.

L51-L57 What is the relationship between ESP and TER?

L58-L64 What is the relationship between ERP, ESP and TER? Although L64 gives an explanation, I think it is far from enough, honestly, reading this, I think the logic of the author's argument is confusing, and I have no idea what the author is arguing .

L65 It is not until L65 that the authors begin to address the core of this manuscript, ERP. If I had not had the patience to read this far, I would have assumed that the authors were addressing the scientific question of the relationship between ESP and TER.

L65-L78 The authors lack the formulation of scientific questions. The literature review should not only state what previous scholars have done on ERP, but more importantly, the following questions need to be answered: first, what is the relationship between ERP and TER? Secondly, what are the shortcomings of previous scholars in studying ERP? What problems will these shortcomings lead to? Will this manuscript by the authors address the deficiencies that exist in previous studies? In what ways will these shortcomings be addressed?

Reply：The relationship between ERP, ESP and TER has been explained in introduction. And the scientific questions have been added.

L80-L90 What is the connection between karst regions and TER?

Reply：The characteristics of the study area and the reasons for selection have been explained

3 Materials and methods

L123-L149 Consider this section to be abbreviated and placed in the introductory section for elaboration.

Reply：This section has been abbreviated and some content is placed to the introductory section.

4 Discussion section

Please add any gaps in the research content and possible future directions to address them.

Reply：Summary of the advantages and disadvantages of the study and the focus of future research have been added in discussion section.

5 References

Please add more literature from non-Chinese scholars.

Reply：Literatures from non-Chinese scholars have been added.

Reviewer 2 Report

Please see the attached file 

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

The language needs to be improved at my opinion 

Author Response

Thank you very much for your valuable suggestions on the manuscript. Your suggestions have improved our understanding of the research, and I have made detailed revisions according to your suggestions in the manuscript. Here are your suggestions and point-to-point revision instructions.

In the conclusions, the authors should refer to scholars, which have been already presented in the introduction and literature review.

Reply: The scholars presented in the introduction and literature review have been added in the conclusions.

Reflect upon the meaning of your findings, by themselves and in relation to other international research.

Reply: The meaning of the article and the relation to other international research have been added in the conclusions.

Summarize how your findings might apply to other places and situations without overgeneralizing.

Reply: The applicability of the research results has been elaborated in the conclusion.

Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the work and how it might be improved or extended in future research.

Reply: In the conclusion, the advantages and disadvantages of the research have been summarized, as well as future research priorities

Discuss the implications that your work has for architecture, planning, and/or policy.

Reply: The application direction of the research results for ecological restoration planning and ecological restoration policies have been added to the conclusion.

Discuss the learning lessons. Discuss the limitations of the study and other research paths to investigate.

Reply: The limitations of the study and other research paths to investigate has been added to the conclusion.

Summarize the main points of your paper, highlighting key findings and implications that you want people to remember about your work.

Reply: The main points of your paper has been added to the conclusion.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

Please change the systematic comment to: I have carefully read the manuscript in the second round of revision, although the authors have made revisions, however, judging from the authors' responses to the questions in the first round, the authors have not seriously responded to the questions I raised in the first round of reviewing, and I still have a lot of doubts about the manuscript, even if the authors do not agree with the reviewer's revisions, please provide a reasonable explanation.

Author Response

Thank you very much for your valuable suggestions on the manuscript. Your suggestions have improved our understanding of the research, and I have made detailed revisions according to your suggestions in the manuscript. Perhaps because the modification instructions I wrote for the first time were not detailed enough, I have clarified the modification this time as follows. If the reviewer think that the modifications are still not enough, please provide more detailed information on which content need to be improvement, and I will try my best to match the modifications.

Suggestion1：

1 Abstract

Please provide specific values for the achievable upgrading potential of each ecosystem service.

Reply：Specific values for the achievable upgrading potential of each ecosystem service have been added in abstract as follows.

ERP results which are between 0 and 1 indicated that areas with higher potential were mainly found in the west and northeast of Zhaoping, while lower potential areas were concentrated in the northwest and south, among them, the ERP index value in most regions is between 0.2 and 0.3, accounting for about 43.97%.

Suggestion2：

2 Introduction

L33-L38 Please add the international context of TER, which is crucial for an international journal such as Land, which is indexed by SSCI.

Reply：The international context of TER has been added in introduction as follows.

With the continuous growth of the global economy and the acceleration of urbanization, irrational land use and high-intensity urban construction activities have led to a series of ecological and environmental problems such as ecosystem degradation and landscape destruction. At the beginning of the 20th century, the TER emerged in Germany and other countries, and the United Nations regarded the restoration of its ecosystem as the core condition to solve the ecosystem problem, and related researches are also gradually carried out [1-5].

Suggestion3：

L38-L46 What is the logical relationship between Land and TER?

Reply：“Land” has been changed in to “Territorial space” in the L38 to match TER.

In the original text, the word 'land' was not accurate enough. Currently, the article has been revised to 'Territorial space', so the relationship between Territorial space and TER has been clarified, that is, TER is the ecological restoration of 'Territorial space'.

Suggestion4：

L51-L57 What is the relationship between ESP and TER?

L58-L64 What is the relationship between ERP, ESP and TER? Although L64 gives an explanation, I think it is far from enough, honestly, reading this, I think the logic of the author's argument is confusing, and I have no idea what the author is arguing .

L65 It is not until L65 that the authors begin to address the core of this manuscript, ERP. If I had not had the patience to read this far, I would have assumed that the authors were addressing the scientific question of the relationship between ESP and TER.

L65-L78 The authors lack the formulation of scientific questions. The literature review should not only state what previous scholars have done on ERP, but more importantly, the following questions need to be answered: first, what is the relationship between ERP and TER? Secondly, what are the shortcomings of previous scholars in studying ERP? What problems will these shortcomings lead to? Will this manuscript by the authors address the deficiencies that exist in previous studies? In what ways will these shortcomings be addressed?

Suggestion5：

Reply：

The above suggestions are all about the relationship between ERP, ESP, and TER, so I made modifications together in the article. The core of this study is to ERP calculation, which is to serve TER, and ESP is a part of calculating ERP. The above relationships are explained in the Introduction as follows:

ERP refers to the prospective ability to use diverse remediation actions to rectify and repair the disturbed and degraded ecological environment to improve the regional ecological environment following remediation. ERP refers to the ability of an ecosystem to improve its service function after the construction of a TER project. ERP is based on ERNP, which analyzes the enhancement of regional ecological service functions considering natural factors such as regional climate, soil, hydrology, terrain, and geomorphology. In this study, ERNP mainly measures the potential of vegetation coverage, water conservation, windbreak and sand fixation, and biodiversity. ERP implementation is contingent on numerous variables. First, it depends on the ecological security situation in the region. ESP is essential for the successful regulation and management of ecological processes. By constructing ESP, it is possible to ensure the full performance of ecological functions, realize the effective and rational allocation of regional natural resources and green infrastructure, and ensure the ecological and material flow of essential natural resources, thereby achieving regional ecological security. ESP is also the foundation of regional TER project construction. ERP and ESP are intertwined in the process of TER planning and TER project layout in different regions, with ecologically significant sources and corridors being the primary locations requiring protection. Therefore, the greater the likelihood of the TER project layout, the closer the area is to the key area in the ESP. Second, SS contributes significantly to regional TER planning and implementation initiatives. Since TER planning entails extensive scope and long-term issues necessitating major financial input from both state and local authorities, regional economic conditions and public support significantly impact implementation achievements.  In conclusion, the ERP focuses on enhancing ecosystem services through TER initiatives and is supported by ERNP analyses based on natural variables such as climate and topography. In addition, constructing an ESP is crucial for effective regulation, ensuring the right allocation of resources, and ensuring the necessary flow of materials. Finally, socioeconomic elements, such as local economic strength and public backing, are essential for the effective execution of TER initiatives.

Suggestion6：

And the scientific questions have been added as follows.

Previous research on ERP has mostly focused on individual potential, with inde-pendent consideration of certain potential types in the calculation process. However, there is insufficient research on comprehensive ERP.

Suggestion7：

L80-L90 What is the connection between karst regions and TER?

Reply：The characteristics of the study area and the reasons for selection have been explained as

follows.

The karst area is one of the four major ecologically fragile areas in China, and their ERP calculation has strong representativeness for the rational arrangement of TER projects and the improvement of regional ecological quality.

Suggestion8：

3 Materials and methods

L123-L149 Consider this section to be abbreviated and placed in the introductory section for elaboration.

Reply：This section has been abbreviated and some content is placed to the introductory section.

Suggestion9：

4 Discussion section

Please add any gaps in the research content and possible future directions to address them.

Reply：Summary of the advantages and disadvantages of the study and the focus of future research have been added in discussion section as follows.

This study explored the comprehensive ERP calculation method considering ESP and SS from four ERNP, which makes up for the shortcomings of existing studies. The method proposed in this study can be applied to most TER areas, especially ecologically fragile areas. Its main advantage is that it can realize the calculation of ERP by types and stages, and carry out TER engineering arrangements according to regional characteristics and development stages

Tthis study calculates ERP entirely based on current area ecological circumstances without accounting for land use changes or climatic variations over time. Therefore, additional research is required to investigate how ERP may vary in time and space. It is necessary to strengthen the application of real-time ecological monitoring data in the field. The results of this study suggest that the impacts of TER projects on regional ecological quality and ESP should be considered comprehensively in TER planning to maximize the benefits of TER projects. In the process of formulating and implementing ecological restoration policies, it is also necessary to base on regional characteristics and SS, and emphasize the operability of planning and policies.

Suggestion10：

5 References

Please add more literature from non-Chinese scholars.

Reply：Literatures from non-Chinese scholars have been added. After the increase, the number of literatures increased from 40 to 54

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

Dear authors, 

your paper was taken into the consideration my comments .

Author Response

Thank you very much for your valuable suggestions on the manuscript. Your suggestions have improved our understanding of the research, and I have made detailed revisions according to your suggestions in the manuscript.

Round 3

Reviewer 1 Report

everything is ok!