Community perceptions of ecosystem services and disservices linked to urban tree plantings

The planting of trees in streets and parks is critical for urban greening efforts that seek to improve climate-change resilience in cities around the world. Ecosystem services provided by urban trees range from mitigating urban heat island effects to enhancing human well-being and conserving native biodiversity. At the same time, such tree services trade off with disservices that include risk to human safety from falling branches and infrastructure damage from root growth. Here, we performed a survey of residents of a sub-tropical region in eastern Australia to determine community perceptions of the ecosystem services and disservices linked to urban tree plantings. Our aim was to better understand the diverse perceptions of the community, prior to on-the-ground implementation of urban greening, to help guide planting programs in streets and parklands that are vulnerable to UHI effects in the region. We found strong evidence for a high level of public awareness about the beneficial ecosystem services that urban trees can provide. A broad spectrum of beneficial tree services were valued highly by the community in their urban environment including the planting of native trees that can attract and provide food for preferred wildlife; provide shade and reduce heat; allow for a strong connection with nature; have the potential to store carbon to mitigate climate change; provide a level of protection from bushfires; have aesthetically pleasing properties; and produce food for people. At the same time, however, community concerns about tree disservices were concentrated primarily on root damage to infrastructure as well as property damage and injury from falling branches. Our elicitation of community attitudes to tree services and disservices will allow for residents’ most important values and strongest concerns about trees to be explicitly taken into account when establishing a community-inclusive approach to urban tree planting.     

Communication of ecosystem services and disservices in local newspapers in Winnipeg,Canada

The global intensification of urbanization is driving a disconnect between humans and nature. Communicating ecosystem services (ES) and disservices (EDS) to city residents offers an opportunity to help reassociate people with ecological processes of the urban forest, benefiting support for urban forest management. It has been theorized that the complexity of ES and EDS may dissuade their coverage by journalists in print media. Further, the complexity of the interrelationship of ES and EDS could represent a challenge for communication. To examine communication of ES and EDS, we conducted a literature review of newspaper articles published in two prominent newspapers in Winnipeg, Manitoba between January 2010 and May 2021. During the study period, 114 urban forestry articles mentioned ES and/or EDS. Cultural services were the most frequently discussed, followed by regulating services. Provisioning services were discussed least which may reflect their reduced importance in urban forestry discourse/management. Twenty-three articles mentioned EDS, only eight of which also mentioned ES. Only six articles referenced the related ES to the EDS, all of which were in articles focused on tree planting. Despite the complexity of many ES discussed in the articles, the interrelatedness of some ES and EDS were not well described. Counter to previous newspaper reviews, we found that ES were discussed more than EDS. However, the communication of EDS remains an important component of urban forest discourse. While navigating communication on the intersection of ES and EDS may prove challenging in print journalism, we argue restructuring EDS communication such that it is framed in ES discourse could mitigate public concerns surrounding urban forestry, while creating equitable coverage of urban forest affairs. We identify the need for further research on the impact of social media and television as alternative venues for urban forestry discourse.     

Spatial units and scales for cultural ecosystem services: a comparison illustrated by cultural heritage and entertainment services in Scotland

Landscape Ecology - The diverse use of spatial units and scales in cultural ecosystem service (CES) assessments hinders the development of systematic approaches and the comparability of CES studies...     

Karst landscapes of China: patterns,ecosystem processes and services

Landscape Ecology - The karst region of southwestern China, one of the largest continuous karsts in the world, is known for its unique landscapes and rich biodiversity. This region has suffered...     

Urban green spaces and sustainability: Exploring the ecosystem services and disservices of grassy lawns versus floral meadows

Urban green spaces provide important ecological, environmental, and cultural benefits, including biodiversity conservation and human wellbeing. However, a significant portion of urban green space is currently managed as highly manicured grassy lawns that provide limited ecosystem services. Managing urban green spaces as diverse meadows can have a multitude of ecosystem benefits such as biodiversity conservation, stormwater infiltration, and aesthetics. Relatively little is known about the range of ecosystem services or disservices in managing urban green spaces as lawns versus meadows. In this paper, we separately characterize three major categories of ecosystem services and disservices (provisioning, regulation and maintenance, and cultural) delivered by urban lawns and meadows while highlighting several trade-offs and synergies associated with urban lawn and meadow management strategies. Additionally, we suggest specific research priorities to better evaluate ecosystem services and disservices across these urban green spaces. Understanding ecological, environmental, and cultural trade-offs and synergies of managing different urban green spaces is key to maintaining multiple ecosystem services in urban environments.     

Landscape sustainability science: ecosystem services and human well-being in changing landscapes

The future of humanity depends on whether or not we have a vision to guide our transition toward sustainability, on scales ranging from local landscapes to the planet as a whole. Sustainability science is at the core of this vision, and landscapes and regions represent a pivotal scale domain. The main objectives of this paper are: (1) to elucidate key definitions and concepts of sustainability, including the Brundtland definition, the triple bottom line, weak and strong sustainability, resilience, human well-being, and ecosystem services; (2) to examine key definitions and concepts of landscape sustainability, including those derived from general concepts and those developed for specific landscapes; and (3) to propose a framework for developing a science of landscape sustainability. Landscape sustainability is defined as the capacity of a landscape to consistently provide long-term, landscape-specific ecosystem services essential for maintaining and improving human well-being. Fundamentally, well-being is a journey, not a destination. Landscape sustainability science is a place-based, use-inspired science of understanding and improving the dynamic relationship between ecosystem services and human well-being in changing landscapes under uncertainties arising from internal feedbacks and external disturbances. While landscape sustainability science emphasizes place-based research on landscape and regional scales, significant between landscape interactions and hierarchical linkages to both finer and broader scales (or externalities) must not be ignored. To advance landscape sustainability science, spatially explicit methods are essential, especially experimental approaches that take advantage of designed landscapes and multi-scaled simulation models that couple the dynamics of landscape services (ecosystem services provided by multiple landscape elements in combination as emergent properties) and human well-being.     

Multifunctionality of floodplain landscapes: relating management options to ecosystem services

The concept of green infrastructure has been recently taken up by the European Commission for ensuring the provision of ecosystem services (ESS). It aims at the supply of multiple ESS in a given landscape, however, the effects of a full suite of management options on multiple ESS and landscape multifunctionality have rarely been assessed. In this paper we use European floodplain landscapes as example to develop an expert based qualitative conceptual model for the assessment of impacts of landscape scale interventions on multifunctionality. European floodplain landscapes are particularly useful for such approach as they originally provided a high variety and quantity of ESS that has declined due to the strong human impact these landscapes have experienced. We provide an overview of the effects of floodplain management options on landscape multifunctionality by assessing the effects of 38 floodplain management interventions on 21 relevant ESS, as well as on overall ESS supply. We found that restoration and rehabilitation consistently increased the multifunctionality of the landscape by enhancing supply of provisioning, regulation/maintenance, and cultural services. In contrast, conventional technical regulation measures and interventions related to extraction, infrastructure and intensive land use cause decrease in multifunctionality and negative effects for the supply of all three aspects of ESS. The overview of the effects of interventions shall provide guidance for decision makers at multiple governance levels. The presented conceptual model could be effectively applied for other landscapes that have potential for a supply of a high diversity of ESS.     

Modelling dynamics of ecosystem services basket in Mediterranean landscapes: a tool for rational management

Natural ecosystems are life-supporting systems providing diverse ecosystem services (ESs) and benefits to human societies: e.g., food and clean water, recreation opportunities or climate regulation. The contribution of natural and semi-natural ecosystems to the provision of such services depends to a large extent on vegetation structure and composition, which, in turn, change as a result of interactions between human decisions about land management, and spontaneous biological and environmental processes. Rational management of these dynamic ecosystems requires an ability to predict short- and long-term effects of management decisions on the desired ESs. The vegetation then contributes to, and modifies, the products and services obtained from the land. We applied mathematical modeling to study these complex relationships. We developed a model for a Mediterranean ecosystem which predicts the dynamics of multiple services in response to management scenarios, mediated by vegetation changes. Six representative ESs representing different groups were selected, based on available scientific information, for a detailed study: (1) density of geophytes, (2) potential contribution to honey production, (3) energy density of fleshy fruits foraged by birds, (4) forage for goats, (5) forage for cattle, and (6) carbon retention in woody plants. Mean contributions to each service by different vegetation cover types were estimated, and the overall service provided by the site was calculated as a weighted mean of these contributions. Services were measured in their appropriate units and subsequently standardized to a percentage of the maximum value observed in the study area. We attempted to combine all studied ESs, despite their different nature, into one “ESs basket”. This paper presents the dynamics of simulated vegetation composition and values of services in response to management scenarios involving grazing, fire and their combinations. Our approach can help land managers to evaluate alternative management scenarios by presenting the “services basket” obtained from the entire managed area.     

Multi-functional landscapes in semi arid environments: implications for biodiversity and ecosystem services

Synergies between biodiversity conservation objectives and ecosystem service management were investigated in the Succulent Karoo biome (83,000 km²) of South Africa, a recognised biodiversity hotspot. Our study complemented a previous biodiversity assessment with an ecosystem service assessment. Stakeholder engagement and expert consultation focussed our investigations on surface water, ground water, grazing and tourism as the key services in this region. The key ecosystem services and service hotspots were modelled and mapped. The congruence between these services, and between biodiversity priorities and ecosystem service priorities, were assessed and considered in relation to known threats. Generally low levels of overlap were found between these ecosystem services, with the exception of surface and ground water which had an 80% overlap. The overlap between ecosystem service hotspots and individual biodiversity priority areas was generally low. Four of the seven priority areas assessed have more than 20% of their areas classified as important for services. In specific cases, particular service levels could be used to justify the management of a specific biodiversity priority area for conservation. Adopting a biome scale hotspot approach to assessing service supply highlighted key management areas. However, it underplayed local level dependence on particular services, not effectively capturing the welfare implications associated with diminishing and limited service provision. We conclude that regional scale (biome level) approaches need to be combined with local level investigations (municipal level). Given the regional heterogeneity and varied nature of the impacts of drivers and threats, diverse approaches are required to steer land management towards sustainable multifunctional landscape strategies.     

Perceived ecosystem services (ES) and ecosystem disservices (EDS) from trees: insights from three case studies in Brazil and France

Landscape Ecology - The landscape approach and the ecosystem services (ES) framework have been widely used to investigate human-nature relationships and orient landscape planning and management....     

Multi-scale mapping of cultural ecosystem services in a socio-ecological landscape: A case study of the international Wadden Sea Region

Landscape Ecology - The governance of international natural World Heritage sites is extremely challenging. In the search for effective multilevel governance there is a need to identify the...     

The inclusion of stakeholders and cultural ecosystem services in land management trade-off decisions using an ecosystem services approach

Context

An ecosystem service approach for land-use or conservation decisions normally uses economic or biophysical assessments for valuating nature’s services. In contrast, even though ecosystem services are required for human well-being, the actual use of services by differing stakeholder groups are rarely considered in typical ecosystem service assessments, especially the more intangible, cultural ecosystem services.

Objectives

The aim of this research was to quantify different uses for 15 cultural and provisioning ecosystem service indicators across seven stakeholder groups in a watershed proposed with large hydroelectric dam development.

Methods

We used a large-scale survey to quantify use and frequency of use for ecosystem services.

Results

We demonstrate that different stakeholder groups use ecosystem services differently, both in terms of specific ecosystem service indicators, as well as for frequency of ecosystem service use. Across all stakeholder groups, specific cultural ecosystem services were consistently more important to participants when compared to provisioning ecosystem services, especially aesthetic/scenic values.

Conclusions

This work is of global importance as it highlights the importance of considering cultural ecosystem services (e.g. aesthetic/scenic, sense-of-place values) along with multiple stakeholder groups to identify the trade-offs and synergies during decision-making processes for land-use or conservation initiatives.

     

A conceptual framework for the governance of multiple ecosystem services in agricultural landscapes

Landscape Ecology - While the concept of ecosystem services (ES) is well established in the scientific and policy arenas, its operationalization faces many challenges. Indeed, ES supply, demand and...     

Spatial patterns of cultural ecosystem services provision in Southern Patagonia

Context

Although there is a need to develop a spatially explicit methodological approach that addresses the social importance of cultural ecosystem services for regional planning, few studies have analysed the spatial distribution on the cultural ecosystem services based on social perceptions.

Objective

The main objective of this study was to identify cultural ecosystem service hot-spots, and factors that characterize such hot-spots and define the spatial associations between cultural ecosystem services in Southern Patagonia (Argentina).

Methods

The study was carried out in Southern Patagonia (243.9 thousand km²) located between 46° and 55° SL with the Andes mountains on the western fringe and the Atlantic Ocean on the eastern fringe of the study area. The study region has a range of different vegetation types (grasslands, shrub-lands, peat-lands and forests) though the cold arid steppe is the main vegetation type. We used geo-tagged digital images that local people and visitors posted in the Panoramio web platform to identify hot-spots of four cultural ecosystem services (aesthetic value, existence value, recreation and local identity) and relate these hot-spots with social and biophysical landscape features.

Results

Aesthetic value was the main cultural service tagged by people, followed by the existence value for biodiversity conservation, followed by local identity and then recreational activity. The spatial distribution of these cultural ecosystem services are associated with different social and biophysical characteristics, such as the presence of water bodies, vegetation types, marine and terrestrial fauna, protected areas, urbanization, accessibility and tourism offer. The most important factors are the presence of water in Santa Cruz and tourism offer in Tierra del Fuego.

Conclusions

Our results demonstrate that this methodology is useful for assessing cultural ecosystem services at the regional scale, especially in areas with low data availability and field accessibility, such as Southern Patagonia. We also identify new research challenges that can be addressed in cultural ecosystem services research through the use of this method.

     

The ecosystem disservices of trees on sidewalks: A study based on a municipality urban tree inventory in Central Italy

Urban green infrastructure, including street trees, plays a key role in providing ecosystem services to urban residents. However, to fully understand the effective role of trees in the urban context, it is also necessary to evaluate the disservices that they can produce in the development of their functions if not managed in an adequate and integrated way. This contribution aims to demonstrate an approach to assess three disservices (pavement damage, aesthetic damage, likelihood of tree failure) of street trees at the municipal level, starting from the existing municipal tree inventory. In this case study, from the street tree population, a sample of approximately 5% of the trees was drawn by stratified random sampling, where the strata were composed of groups of tree species. In particular, a sampling scheme is adapted in which the probability to select a tree in the sample is greater for bigger trees, under the assumption that the bigger the trees the greater are the disservices caused. In this way, a greater precision of the estimates of the considered disservices for the population of urban trees is expected. The results show a high variability of disservices provision among species groups. The results also confirmed a positive correlation between the considered disservices and tree diameter at breast height, while other tree attributes such as total height and crown diameter were found to be positively related only to pavement damages. Finally, severe pruning can lead to a high level of the aesthetic and functional disservices even for shorter and younger street trees.     

The influence of landscape context on the production of cultural ecosystem services

Landscape Ecology - Recent efforts to apply sustainability concepts to entire landscapes have seen increasing interest in approaches that connect socioeconomic and biophysical systems. Evaluating...     

Consequences of spatial heterogeneity for ecosystem services in changing forest landscapes: priorities for future research

Changes in key drivers (e.g., climate, disturbance regimes and land use) may affect the sustainability of forest landscapes and set the stage for increased tension among competing ecosystem services. We addressed two questions about a suite of supporting, regulating and provisioning ecosystem services in each of two well-studied forest landscapes in the western US: (1) How might the provision of ecosystem services change in the future given anticipated trajectories of climate, disturbance regimes, and land use? (2) What is the role of spatial heterogeneity in sustaining future ecosystem services? We determined that future changes in each region are likely to be distinct, but spatial heterogeneity (e.g., the amount and arrangement of surviving forest patches or legacy trees after disturbance) will be important in both landscapes for sustaining forest regeneration, primary production, carbon storage, natural hazard regulation, insect and pathogen regulation, timber production and wildlife habitat. The paper closes by highlighting five general priorities for future research. The science of landscape ecology has much to contribute toward understanding ecosystem services and how land management can enhance—or threaten—the sustainability of ecosystem services in changing landscapes.     

Consequences of delaying conservation of ecosystem services in remote landscapes prone to natural resource exploitation

Context

Natural resource extraction is expanding towards increasingly remote areas. Meanwhile, the sustainability of most ecosystem service (ES) supplies, which form a great part of the livelihoods, health and economy of inhabitants in remote regions, is threatened by large-scale land-use changes.

Objective

The aim of the study was to assess the consequences of postponing ES conservation planning in remote regions prone to industrial development. More specially, is there a development threshold at which ES conservation may be imperilled.

Methods

We simulated eight stages of development using actual data on hydroelectricity generation, forestry and mining expansion. Aiming to protect ten wetland’s ES provision, we assembled referential conservation networks prior to development and several alternative conservation solutions after each stage of development. We compared these networks and assessed the impact of land-use changes on the basic properties of ES conservation networks.

Results

We found that conservation network alternative solutions were more costly in terms of additional area needed to achieve all targets: up to 16 % more so, compared to referential networks. Past a certain stage of development, alternative solutions were composed of a significantly greater proportion of small sites and, consequently, the networks became much more fragmented. Development also changed the spatial configuration of networks: up to 66 % of the sites included in alternative solutions were not selected in the referential networks.

Conclusions

According to current trends, future development will strongly compete with ES conservation. Our study emphasizes the importance of implementing ES conservation actions before development, even in remote regions.