Ecosystem Services Supply from Peri-Urban Watersheds in Greece: Soil Conservation and Water Retention

Stefanos Stefanidis (), Nikolaos Proutsos, Vasileios Alexandridis and Giorgos Mallinis
Additional contact information
Stefanos Stefanidis: Forest Research Institute, Hellenic Agricultural Organization “DIMITRA”, Vassilika, 57006 Thessaloniki, Greece
Nikolaos Proutsos: Institute of Mediterranean Forest Ecosystems, Hellenic Agricultural Organization “DIMITRA”, Terma Alkmanos, 11528 Athens, Greece
Vasileios Alexandridis: Laboratory of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (PERS Lab), School of Rural and Surveying Engineering, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece
Giorgos Mallinis: Laboratory of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (PERS Lab), School of Rural and Surveying Engineering, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece

Land, 2024, vol. 13, issue 6, 1-18

Abstract: The main objective of this study is to investigate the supply of ecosystem services (ESs) within peri-urban watersheds (PUWs) across Greece, utilizing earth observation (EO) data and empirical models. To achieve these goals, several open-access geospatial datasets were utilized and processed within a GIS environment. Specifically, the supply of soil conservation and water retention services was assessed at the watershed scale. The results indicates that the supply soil conservation service withing the examined PUWs range from 44.41 t ha −1 y −1 to 441.33 t ha −1 y −1 with an average value of 161.99 t ha −1 y −1 . Water retention services vary from 35.09 to 154.63 mm within the PUWs, with an average of 91.45 mm. Additionally, the variation in ES values across distinct altitudinal zones and ecosystem types provides useful insights for implementing protection and management measures. It is evident from the analysis that the soil conservation service gradually increases with elevation, with alpine and subalpine areas exhibiting the highest values. Moreover, mountainous and semi-mountainous regions demonstrate higher values compared to the estimated average soil conservation services of the entire study area. Furthermore, the provision of water retention services varies across different altitudinal zones. Specifically, the mountainous and semi-mountainous areas exhibit the highest values, followed by the subalpine and hilly regions, while lower values are observed in the lowland and alpine regions. The analysis also reveals distinct patterns in ecosystem services across various ecosystem types within the PUWs. Woodland and forest, along with heathland and shrubs, demonstrate higher values in terms of both soil conservation and water retention services. Our findings contribute to understanding the dynamics of ESs in PUWs, highlighting their significance for sustainable land management, and informing policy decisions aimed at preserving ecosystem health and resilience.

Keywords: ecosystem services; watersheds; erosion; USLE; runoff; SCS-CN; earth observations (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/13/6/765/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/13/6/765/ (text/html)

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:gam:jlands:v:13:y:2024:i:6:p:765-:d:1404568

Access Statistics for this article

Land is currently edited by Ms. Carol Ma

More articles in Land from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().