Regional Patterns of Ecosystem Services in Cultural Landscapes

Andrea Früh-Müller, Stefan Hotes, Lutz Breuer, Volkmar Wolters and Thomas Koellner
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Andrea Früh-Müller: Department of Animal Ecology, Research Center for BioSystems, Land Use and Nutrition (iFZ), Justus-Liebig-University, Giessen 35392, Germany
Stefan Hotes: Department of Ecology, Philipps-University, Marburg 35043, Germany
Lutz Breuer: Institute for Landscape Ecology and Resources Management, Research Center for BioSystems, Land Use and Nutrition (IFZ), Justus-Liebig-University, Giessen 35392, Germany
Volkmar Wolters: Department of Animal Ecology, Research Center for BioSystems, Land Use and Nutrition (iFZ), Justus-Liebig-University, Giessen 35392, Germany
Thomas Koellner: Professorship of Ecological Services, University of Bayreuth, Bayreuth 95440, Germany

Land, 2016, vol. 5, issue 2, 1-19

Abstract: European agricultural landscapes have been shaped by humans to produce marketable private goods such as food, feed, fiber and timber. Land-use intensification to increase provisioning services in such productive landscapes alters the capacity of ecosystems to supply other services (often public goods and services) that are also vital for human wellbeing. However, the interactions, synergies and trade-offs among ecosystem services are poorly understood. We assessed the spatial distribution of the services carbon storage, sediment regulation, water yield, crop production, timber supply, and outdoor recreation in the counties Wetterau and Vogelsberg (Hesse, Germany). These counties represent a gradient from intensive arable land use to more extensive mixed land use systems with domination of grassland and forests. Spatially explicit models were used to map the location and quantity of service supply. We addressed the following questions: (1) Where are areas of high and low supply of individual and multiple ecosystem services? (2) Where do the strongest trade-offs and synergies between different services occur? Our results show a pronounced spatial aggregation of different ecosystem services, with locations where at least four services are being supplied at high levels occupying only 5% of the landscape. Indicators for water provision, timber supply, carbon storage, erosion control, and outdoor recreation are positively related to each other, but this relationship is influenced by the trade-offs associated with the ecosystem service food production. Optimization of ecosystem services at the landscape scale has to take these patterns into account.

Keywords: ecosystem bundles; multifunctional landscapes; landscape heterogeneity; cultural landscapes; spatial pattern (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

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