Quantitative assessment of ecosystem services in diverse land uses within the forest-grassland transition zone of southern Great Plains, USA

Ally M. Whiteis, Chris B. Zou, Omkar Joshi, Benedict Ferguson and Sophie Roberts

Ecosystem Services, 2025, vol. 71, issue C

Abstract: Ecosystem services, essential for supporting life, are increasingly being altered by anthropogenic activities. This study focuses on the Cross Timbers ecoregion of the southern Great Plains, USA, where oak woodland and grassland co-exist. However, grasslands are rapidly transitioning to woodlands through a process known as woody plant encroachment, or are being considered for switchgrass biofuel production. Our objectives were to quantify the supporting (plant biodiversity, aboveground net primary productivity), provisioning (water quantity, forage production), regulating (soil organic carbon, flood regulation), and cultural services (hunting-based recreation, aesthetics) of four land use types—tallgrass prairie, oak woodland, eastern redcedar woodland, and switchgrass biofuel production—using the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Framework. We integrated these services into an ecosystem sustainability index. Results showed that tallgrass prairie provided balanced services and ranked highest in this index. Eastern redcedar and switchgrass exhibited an imbalance in services, while oak woodland’s ranking varied with normalization methods. Our results highlight the need for grassland conservation by curtailment of eastern redcedar expansion. While oak woodland ranks high in cultural services, its restoration is recommended to enhance multiple ecosystem services. This study provides a roadmap for quantitatively evaluating ecosystem services to inform management decisions for ecosystem transitions and promote regional sustainability. Future research should broaden stakeholder engagement and explore integrated land use strategies within large watersheds encompassing multiple land uses to enhance regional environmental sustainability.

Keywords: Cross Timbers ecoregion; Woody plant encroachment; Sustainability index; Grassland conservation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212041625000014
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ecoser:v:71:y:2025:i:c:s2212041625000014

DOI: 10.1016/j.ecoser.2025.101697

Access Statistics for this article

Ecosystem Services is currently edited by Leon C Braat

More articles in Ecosystem Services from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().