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 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.

     

Spatial prioritisation for conserving ecosystem services: comparing hotspots with heuristic optimisation

Context

The variation in spatial distribution between ecosystem services can be high. Hence, there is a need to spatially identify important sites for conservation planning. The term ‘ecosystem service hotspot’ has often been used for this purpose, but definitions of this term are ambiguous.

Objectives

We review and classify methods to spatially delineate hotspots. We test how spatial configuration of hotspots for a set of ecosystem services differs depending on the applied method. We compare the outcomes to a heuristic site prioritisation approach (Marxan).

Methods

The four tested hotspot methods are top richest cells, spatial clustering, intensity, and richness. In a conservation scenario we set a target of conserving 10 % of the quantity of five regulating and cultural services for the forest area of Telemark county, Norway.

Results

Spatial configuration of selected areas as retrieved by the four hotspots and Marxan differed considerably. Pairwise comparisons were at the lower end of the scale of the Kappa statistic (0.11–0.27). The outcomes also differed considerably in mean target achievement, cost-effectiveness in terms of land-area needed per unit target achievement and compactness in terms of edge-to-area ratio.

Conclusions

An ecosystem service hotspot can refer to either areas containing high values of one service or areas with multiple services. Differences in spatial configuration among hotspot methods can lead to uncertainties for decision-making. This also has consequences for analysing the spatial co-occurrence of hotspots of multiple services and of services and biodiversity.

     

How do urban park features affect cultural ecosystem services: Quantified evidence for design practices

Cultural ecosystem services (CES) in urban parks are associated with nature contact willingness and health outcomes of urban residents. However, practical knowledge on how to manage urban park features to enhance CES is still lacking, especially on more detailed scales. This study developed a practice-oriented workflow for exploring design-related indicators that affect CES by considering four aspects of urban park features, including distance to elements, density of elements, land cover proportion, and landscape diversity. Then the workflow was implemented in a case study by taking six urban parks in Beijing as study areas. Three CES types were identified with outdoor social media images, including recreation value, aesthetic value, and social interaction value. Statistical analyses indicated that a combination of the four aspects of urban park features within a specific service radius was the most significant factor in explaining CES. The importance of design-related indicators for enhancing different CES types was also identified. Density of facilities, proportion of tree canopy-shaded ground, and richness of land cover types were proved important for all the three CES types and therefore could be concerned in urban park design practices. Based on these findings, this study further proposed landscape site design strategies and three adaptive design cases for enhancing different CES types, which could provide evidence-based and practical solutions for managers and landscape architects.     

Evaluating alternative methods for biophysical and cultural ecosystem services hotspot mapping in natural resource planning

Context

Data for biophysically modeled and Public Participatory GIS (PPGIS)-derived cultural ecosystem services have potential to identify natural resource management synergies and conflicts, but have rarely been combined. Ecosystem service hot/coldspots generated using different methods vary in their spatial extent and connectivity, with important implications.

Objectives

We map biophysically modeled and PPGIS-derived cultural services for six U.S. national forests using six hot/coldspot delineation methods. We evaluate the implications of hotspot methods for management within and outside of designated wilderness areas.

Methods

We used the ARIES and SolVES modeling tools to quantify four biophysically modeled and 11 largely cultural ecosystem services for six national forests in Colorado and Wyoming, USA. We mapped hot/coldspots using two quantile methods (top and bottom 10 and 33 % of values), two area-based methods (top and bottom 10 and 33 % of area), and two statistical methods (Getis-Ord Gi* at α = 0.05 and 0.10 significance level) and compare results within and outside wilderness areas.

Results

Delineation methods vary in their degree of conservatism for hot/coldspot extents and spatial clustering. Hotspots were more common in wilderness areas in national forests near the more densely populated Colorado Front Range, while coldspots were more common in wilderness areas in more urban-distant forests in northwest Wyoming.

Conclusions

Statistical hotspot methods of intermediate conservatism (i.e., Getis-Ord Gi*, α = 0.10 significance) may be most useful for ecosystem service hot/coldspot mapping to inform landscape scale planning. We also found spatially explicit evidence in support of past findings about public attitudes toward wilderness areas.

     

Disaggregating ecosystem services and disservices in the cultural landscapes of southwestern Ethiopia: a study of rural perceptions

Context

Cultural landscapes provide essential ecosystem services to local communities, especially in poor rural settings. However, potentially negative impacts of ecosystems—or disservices—remain inadequately understood. Similarly, how benefit–cost outcomes differ within communities is unclear, but potentially important for cultural landscape management.

Objectives

Here we investigated whether distinct forest ecosystem service–disservice outcomes emerge within local communities. We aimed to characterize groups of community members according to service–disservice outcomes, and assessed their attitudes towards the forest.

Methods

We interviewed 150 rural households in southwestern Ethiopia about locally relevant ecosystem services (provisioning services) and disservices (wildlife impacts). Households were grouped based on their ecosystem service–disservice profiles through hierarchical clustering. We used linear models to assess differences between groups in geographic and socioeconomic characteristics, as well as attitudes toward the forest.

Results

We identified three groups with distinct ecosystem service–disservice profiles. Half of the households fell into a “lose–lose” profile (low benefits, high costs), while fewer had “lose–escape” (low benefits, low costs) and “win–lose” (high benefits, high costs) profiles. Location relative to forest and altitude explained differences between the “lose–escape” profile and other households. Socioeconomic factors were also important. “Win–lose” households appeared to be wealthier and had better forest use rights compared to “lose–lose” households. Attitudes towards the forest did not differ between profiles.

Conclusions

Our study demonstrates the importance of disaggregating both ecosystem services and disservices, instead of assuming that communities receive benefits and costs homogenously. To manage cultural landscapes sustainably, such heterogeneity must be acknowledged and better understood.

     

The social and economic value of cultural ecosystem services provided by urban forests in North America: A review and suggestions for future research

With the majority of the world’s human population now living in cities, urban forests provide an increasingly important range of ecosystem services, from improved air quality and climate change adaptation to better public health outcomes and increased tourism revenues. The importance of these ecosystem services in urban environments, and the central role that cities play in the lives of people around the world, have motivated various attempts to quantify the value of ecosystem services provided by urban forests. This paper reviews existing research in the fields of urban forestry, economics, sociology, and health on the value of urban ecosystem services, with a focus on cultural services, a category of ecosystem services that is of key importance to human well-being but that has suffered from a lack of empirical research. The review identified 38 studies that examined the value of mixed vegetation, 31 studies that examined the value of trees, and 43 studies that examined the value of green spaces. Psychological health is the most-studied ecosystem service category, with most research in this area focusing on the services of mixed vegetation. Social health, community economic development, and tourism are the least-studied, with most research in these areas focusing on mixed vegetation and trees. Multiple metrics were used to quantify the value of urban greenery within each ecosystem service category but only 11 metrics were assigned a monetary value. Gaps in the literature that present strong opportunities for future research include: the value of urban forests for improving social health, equitable access to ecosystem services, the impact of urban forests on community economic development, and economic valuation and green exposure metrics. We hope that this review stimulates future research in the areas highlighted and that municipalities consider including evaluations of a broad range of ecosystem services during land use planning and budgeting processes.     

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...     

Setting conservation priorities in cities: approaches,targets and planning units adapted to wetland biodiversity and ecosystem services

Context

Protecting wetlands in cities is challenging. A cost-effective spatial prioritization approach taking into account stakeholder motivations is needed to identify wetlands of conservation interest.

Objectives

This study aims to optimize the efficiency of a systematic conservation planning (SCP) approach to protect nine urban wetland ecosystem services (ES) and biodiversity.

Methods

First, we mapped ES supply and demand to capture their spatial variation as they occur at the wetland scale. Secondly, using wetland property value as cost data, we compared the efficiency of SCP to two multicriteria scoring approaches. Thirdly, we compared SCP alternatives by changing the planning unit scale and conservation objectives (i.e. emphasizing ES demand and focusing on the most important ES).

Results

The total cost of the scoring approach networks was minimally 13 times higher, when compared to the SCP approaches. Consequently, the scoring approaches were at least five times less efficient than SCP per unit of network area ($/m²). Decreasing the size of planning units resulted in further cost reduction, with networks that were up to 92% less costly. We also highlighted that beneficiary demand fulfillment in networks could be optimized without a loss in efficiency. Finally, SCP secured nine ES for the same expenditure as that required to protect four public safety related ES. However, planning solely for these four important ES failed to represent those of other ES.

Conclusions

Our results may provide a tool to better inform land use decision planning in order to mitigate the impacts of urban growth on ES.

     

Spatial fit between water quality policies and hydrologic ecosystem services in an urbanizing agricultural landscape

Context

Sustaining hydrologic ecosystem services is critical for human wellbeing but challenged by land use for agriculture and urban development. Water policy and management strive to safeguard hydrologic services, yet implementation is often fragmented. Understanding the spatial fit between water polices and hydrologic services is needed to assess the spatial targeting of policy portfolios at landscape scales.

Objectives

We investigated spatial fit between 30 different public water policies and four hydrologic services (surface and groundwater quality, freshwater supply, and flood regulation) in the Yahara Watershed (Wisconsin, USA)—a Midwestern landscape that typifies tensions between agriculture, urban development, and freshwater resources.

Methods

Spatial extent of water policy implementation was mapped, and indicators of hydrologic services were quantified for subwatersheds using empirical estimates and validated spatial models.

Results

We found a spatial misfit between the overall spatial implementation of water policy and regions of water quality concern, indicating a need for better targeting. Water quality policies can also be leveraged to protect other hydrologic services such as freshwater supply and flood regulation. Individual policy application areas varied substantially in their spatial congruence with each hydrologic service, indicating that not all services are protected by a single policy and highlighting the need for a broad spectrum of policies to sustain hydrologic services in diverse landscapes. We also identified where future policies could be targeted for improving hydrologic services.

Conclusions

Joint spatial analysis of policies and ecosystem services is effective for assessing spatial aspects of institutional fit, and provides a foundation for guiding future policy efforts.

     

Linking demand and supply factors in identifying cultural ecosystem services of urban green infrastructures: A review of European studies

Urban green infrastructure provides a number of cultural ecosystem services that are greatly appreciated by the public. In order to benefit from these services, actual contact with the respective ecosystem is often required. Furthermore, the type of services offered depend on the physical characteristics of the ecosystem. We conducted a review of publications dealing with demand or social factors such as user needs, preferences and values as well as spatially explicit supply or physical factors such as amount of green space, (bio)diversity, recreational infrastructure, etc. and linking demand and supply factors together. The aim was to provide an overview of this highly interdisciplinary research, to describe how these linkages are being made and to identify which factors significantly influence dependent variables such as levels of use, activities or health and well-being benefits. Commonly used methods were the combination of questionnaires with either on-site visual recording of elements or GIS data. Links between social and physical data were usually established either by using statistical tools or by overlaying different thematic maps. Compared to the large number of variables assessed in most studies, the significant effects in the end were relatively few, not consistent across the studies and largely dependent on the context they were seen in. Studies focused on aesthetic and recreational services, while spiritual, educational and inspirational services were not considered when creating links to spatially explicit ecological structures. We conclude that an improvement and harmonization of methodologies, cross-country studies and an expansion of this line of research to a wider range of services and more user groups could help clarify relationships and thereby increase applicability for urban management and planning.     

Perceptions of cultural ecosystem services of tree-based green infrastructure: A focus group participatory mapping in Zagreb,Croatia

Urban green infrastructure provides city dwellers numerous benefits. Among them, cultural ecosystem services (CES) are distinguished by being easily perceived and essential for people and their well-being. However, not all CES are equally easy to perceive, resulting with some of the CES categories being weakly explored. Research on CES also rarely considers elements of urban green infrastructure other than parks and forests. Therefore, there is a lack of research on different components of urban green infrastructure, especially tree-based, perceived in relation to CES. This paper presents the results of focus group participatory mapping implemented with citizens in the city districts of Zagreb on the perception of five selected CES categories in various types of urban green infrastructure. Our results show that participants perceived 13 different types of tree-based urban green infrastructure as providers of CES. We also distinguish patterns in the perception of CES categories and their connection with types of tree-based urban green infrastructure. Tree lines are perceived as providers of aesthetical experiences. Furthermore, forests and park forests are perceived in relation to place attachment and recreational activities, while parks are versatile and provide all explored CES. Other types that emerged as important were greenways, greenery around residential buildings and educational institutions, which provokes rethinking of a careful planning of the entire repertoire of urban green infrastructure.     

Opportunities and challenges for mainstreaming ecosystem services in development planning: perspectives from a landscape level

Despite much progress in ecosystem services research, a gap still appears to exist between this research and the implementation of landscape management and development activities on the ground, especially within a developing country context. If ecosystem service science is to be operationalised and used by decision-makers directing local development, an in-depth understanding of the implementation context for landscape planning and management, and of the opportunities and challenges for ecosystem services in this context are needed. Very little is known about these opportunities and constraints, largely because of the absence of methods to explore the complexity of the landscape planning, management and implementation context and the possibilities of integrating scientific information into these processes within a real-world setting. This study aims to address this need for information and methods, by focusing on a region in South Africa with a long history of ecosystem service research and stakeholder engagement, and testing a social science approach to explore opportunities and challenges for integrating ecosystem services in landscape planning processes and policies. Our methodological approach recognises the importance of social processes and legitimacy in decision-making, emphasizing the need to engage with the potential end-users of ecosystem service research in order to ensure the relevance of the research. While we discovered challenges for mainstreaming ecosystem service at a local level, we also found strong opportunities in the multi-sectoral planning processes driving development and in how the concept of ecosystem services is framed and aligned with development priorities, especially those relating to disaster risk reduction.     

Street trees as cultural elements in the city: Understanding how perception affects ecosystem services management in Porto,Portugal

Processes shaping urban ecosystems reflect and influence the cultural context in which they emerge, bearing implications for ecosystem services (ES) planning and management. Investigating the perception of benefits and losses / costs delivered by a specific service providing unit (SPU) can generate objective orientations suitable for urban planning and management deeply embedded in the social-ecological systems where they occur, because the realization of ES into benefits and losses / costs is mediated by specific beneficiaries and reflects their characteristics, information and use of ecosystems. Street trees are a particularly relevant SPU in many densely built Southern-European cities due to the difficulty in implementing new sizeable green areas. In this study, a questionnaire was developed and applied in Porto to investigate how benefits (cultural, regulating and economic) and losses / costs caused by street trees are perceived by citizens and influenced by a set of socioeconomic variables (N = 819 people aged 18 years or older), and parametric statistical tests were used to analyze the effect of gender, age and school level. Results evidenced that people in Porto valued more environmental benefits (particularly air quality improvement) than cultural ones. School level was the variable accounting for more differences, underlining a tendency in people with lower level of academic education to value less the benefits provided by street trees in Porto and attribute more importance to losses and damages, compared to people who attended university or had higher academic degree. Age also held considerable differences in mean responses, with older people showing more concern towards losses and costs, while gender influenced perception of cultural benefits, which were more important for women than for men. The findings of the research are discussed concerning implications for environmental justice, planning and management of urban ecosystems.     

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.     

Valuing ecosystem services in community-based landscape planning: introducing a wellbeing-based approach

The challenge of incorporating the concept of ecosystem services in landscape planning has been widely acknowledged, yet values of ecosystem services are not well considered in current landscape planning and environmental governance. This is particularly the case when local stakeholders are strongly involved in decision making about adapting the landscape to future demands and challenges. Engagement of stakeholders introduces a variety of interests and motives that result in diverging value interpretations. Moreover, participative planning approaches are based on learning processes, implying that the perceptions of value evolve during the planning process. Current valuation approaches are not able to support such process. Therefore we argue that there is a need for a novel view on the mechanism of integrating valuation in the different stages of community-based landscape planning, as well as for tools based on this mechanism. By revisiting the original conception of ecosystem services and redefining the value of an ecosystem service as its comparative importance to human wellbeing, we develop a conceptual framework for incorporating ecosystem service valuation that captures the full spectrum of value and value changes. We acknowledge that in the social interactions during the planning process values are redefined, negotiated and reframed in the context of the local landscape. Therefore, we propose a valuation mechanism that evolves through the phases of the cyclic planning process. We illustrate the use of this mechanism by proposing a tool that supports stakeholder groups in building a value-based vision on landscape adaptation that contributes to all wellbeing dimensions.     

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.     

Linking wind erosion to ecosystem services in drylands: a landscape ecological approach

Context

Wind erosion is a widespread environmental problem in the world’s arid landscapes, which threatens the sustainability of ecosystem services in these regions.

Objectives

We investigated how wind erosion and key ecosystem services changed concurrently and what major biophysical and socioeconomic factors were responsible for these changes in a dryland area of China.

Methods

Based on remote sensing data, field measurements, and modeling, we quantified the spatiotemporal patterns of both wind erosion and four key ecosystem services (soil conservation, crop production, meat production, and carbon storage) in the Mu Us Sandy Land in northern China during 2000–2013. Linear regression was used to explore possible relationships between wind erosion and ecosystem services.

Results

From 2000 to 2013, wind erosion decreased by as much as 60% and the four ecosystem services all increased substantially. These trends were attributable to vegetation recovery due mainly to government-aided ecological restoration projects and, to a lesser degree, slightly increasing precipitation and decreasing wind speed during the second half of the study period. The maximum soil loss dropped an order of magnitude when vegetation cover increased from 10% to 30%, halved again when vegetation increased from 30 to 40%, and showed little change when vegetation increased beyond 60%.

Conclusions

Our study indicates that vegetation cover has nonlinear and threshold effects on wind erosion through constraining the maximum soil loss, which further affects dryland ecosystem services. These findings have important implications for ecological restoration and ecosystem management in dryland landscapes in China and beyond.