Better integration of knowledge from ecological,social and economic science is necessary to advance the understanding and modelling of socio-ecological systems.Tomodelecosystemintegrity(EI)and ecosystem services(ES)atthelandscapescale,assessmentmatricesarecommonlyused.Thesematrices assign capacitiestoprovidedifferentservicestodifferentlandcovertypes.Werevisedsuchanexisting matrix andexaminedtheregionalheterogeneityinEIandESprovisioninEuropeandsearchedforspatial gradients intheirprovisiontoelucidatetheirsuitabilityforlarge-scaleEIandESmappinginEurope. Overall, 28sitesbelongingtotheLong-TermEcologicalResearchnetworkinEuropeparticipatedinthis study, coveringalongitudinalgradientfromSpaintoBulgariaandalatitudinalgradientfromItalyto Sweden. Asaprimaryoutcome,animprovedandconsolidatedEIandESmatrixwasachievedwith17.5% of allmatrixfieldsupdated.Forthefirsttime,thisnewmatrixalsocontainsmeasuresofuncertainty for eachentry.EIandESprovisionassessmentsweremorevariablefornaturalandsemi-naturalthan for moreanthropogenicallydominatedlandcoverclasses.AmongthemaintypesofEIandES,cultural service provisionwasratedmostheterogeneouslyinEurope,whileabioticprovisioningserviceswere more constant.LongitudinalandlatitudinalEIandESgradientsweremostlydetectedinnaturaland semi-natural landcovertypeswheretemperatureandprecipitationaremajordrivers.Inanthropogeni- cally determinedsystemsinwhichculturalservicesplayadominantrole,temperatureandprecipitation gradients werelessimportant.OurresultssuggestthatthismatrixapproachtoassessEIandESprovision principally worksonbroadspatialscales;however,localassessmentsfornaturalsystemsseemtobeless generalizable thanassessmentsfromanthropogenicallydeterminedsystems.Provisioningandregulating services aremoregeneralizablethanculturalservices.Particularlyinnaturalandsemi-naturalsystems, spatial gradientsneedtobeconsidered.Wediscussuncertaintiesassociatedwiththismatrix-basedEI and ESassessmentapproachandsuggestthatfuturelarge-scalestudiesshouldincludeadditionalland cover informationandecosystemdisservicesandmaydetermineESfluxesbydifferentiatingbetweenES provision andconsumption.
Assessment of ecosystem integrity and service gradients across Europe using the LTER Europe network. 295:75-87.
CARRANZA, Maria LauraMembro del Collaboration Group
;STANISCI, Angela;
2015-01-01
Abstract
Better integration of knowledge from ecological,social and economic science is necessary to advance the understanding and modelling of socio-ecological systems.Tomodelecosystemintegrity(EI)and ecosystem services(ES)atthelandscapescale,assessmentmatricesarecommonlyused.Thesematrices assign capacitiestoprovidedifferentservicestodifferentlandcovertypes.Werevisedsuchanexisting matrix andexaminedtheregionalheterogeneityinEIandESprovisioninEuropeandsearchedforspatial gradients intheirprovisiontoelucidatetheirsuitabilityforlarge-scaleEIandESmappinginEurope. Overall, 28sitesbelongingtotheLong-TermEcologicalResearchnetworkinEuropeparticipatedinthis study, coveringalongitudinalgradientfromSpaintoBulgariaandalatitudinalgradientfromItalyto Sweden. Asaprimaryoutcome,animprovedandconsolidatedEIandESmatrixwasachievedwith17.5% of allmatrixfieldsupdated.Forthefirsttime,thisnewmatrixalsocontainsmeasuresofuncertainty for eachentry.EIandESprovisionassessmentsweremorevariablefornaturalandsemi-naturalthan for moreanthropogenicallydominatedlandcoverclasses.AmongthemaintypesofEIandES,cultural service provisionwasratedmostheterogeneouslyinEurope,whileabioticprovisioningserviceswere more constant.LongitudinalandlatitudinalEIandESgradientsweremostlydetectedinnaturaland semi-natural landcovertypeswheretemperatureandprecipitationaremajordrivers.Inanthropogeni- cally determinedsystemsinwhichculturalservicesplayadominantrole,temperatureandprecipitation gradients werelessimportant.OurresultssuggestthatthismatrixapproachtoassessEIandESprovision principally worksonbroadspatialscales;however,localassessmentsfornaturalsystemsseemtobeless generalizable thanassessmentsfromanthropogenicallydeterminedsystems.Provisioningandregulating services aremoregeneralizablethanculturalservices.Particularlyinnaturalandsemi-naturalsystems, spatial gradientsneedtobeconsidered.Wediscussuncertaintiesassociatedwiththismatrix-basedEI and ESassessmentapproachandsuggestthatfuturelarge-scalestudiesshouldincludeadditionalland cover informationandecosystemdisservicesandmaydetermineESfluxesbydifferentiatingbetweenES provision andconsumption.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
