Considering landscape-level processes in ecosystem service assessments

Author(s)

Metzger, Jean Paul ^[1] ; Villarreal-Rosas, Jaramar ^[2] ; Suarez-Castro, Andres F. ^{[2, 3]} ; Lopez-Cubillos, Soffa ^[2] ; Gonzalez-Chaves, Adrian ^[1] ; Runting, Rebecca K. ^[4] ; Hohlenwerger, Camila ; Rhodes, Jonathan R. ^[2]

Affiliation

^[1] Univ Sao Paulo, Inst Biosci, Dept Ecol, Rua do Matao 321, Travessa 14, BR-05508090 Sao Paulo, SP - Brazil

^[2] Univ Queensland, Sch Earth & Environm Sci, Brisbane, Qld 4072 - Australia

^[3] Inst Invest Recursos Biol Alexander Humboldt, Ave Paseo Bolivar 16-20, Bogota, DC - Colombia

^[4] Univ Melbourne, Sch Geog Earth & Atmospher Sci, Parkville, Vic 3010 - Australia

• Document type: Review article
• Source: Science of The Total Environment; v. 796, NOV 20 2021.
• Web of Science Citations: 2

Abstract

The provision of ecosystem services is inherently spatial. Landscape structure affects service provision through multiple landscape-level processes, such as fragmentation, edge and connectivity effects. These processes can affect areas of ecosystem service supply and demand, and the flows linking those areas. Despite the emergence of sophisticated spatial ecosystem service assessments in the last two decades, we show through a literature review that landscape-level processes are still rarely considered in a comprehensive way. Even when they are considered, landscape effects are mostly limited to landscape composition, and configuration effects are underrepresented. Furthermore, most studies infer ecosystem service provision by only evaluating supply, ignoring demand and flows. Here we present a simple conceptual framework that illustrates how to incorporate landscape-level processes in the assessment of the different components of the service provision chain (supply, demand and flows). Using simulations, we evaluated how estimations of ecosystem service provision change when considering different landscape processes and discussed the implications of disregarding landscape effects. However, to fully implement the framework, a series of challenges linked to mapping and quantifying supply and demand, defining adequate scales of analysis, measuring flows, and parameterizing models for different types of services, still need to be overcome. To promote an adequate use and management of ecosystem services, it is essential to better incorporate landscape processes in ecosystem service assessments. This will lead to more quantitatively accurate and spatially precise estimates. (C) 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 18/06330-6 - Forest cover and isolation affect annual coffee productivity in the Atlantic Forest region
• Grantee: Adrian David González Chaves
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate
• FAPESP's process: 17/50015-5 - Linking landscape structure to ecosystem services
• Grantee: Jean Paul Walter Metzger
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• FAPESP's process: 17/19411-1 - Bee conservation and pollination service provision: using a landscape approach to reach a common goal
• Grantee: Adrian David González Chaves
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• FAPESP's process: 13/23457-6 - Interface project: relationships among landscape structure, ecological processes, biodiversity and ecosystem services
• Grantee: Jean Paul Walter Metzger
• Support Opportunities: BIOTA-FAPESP Program - Thematic Grants