Community perceptions of ecosystem services, drivers of degradation, and proposed conservation actions for Denbiq Wetland in West Gojam, Ethiopia

Efforts to conserve wetland ecosystems depend on the recognition of ecosystem services they provide. Hence, the study was conducted to analyze the ecosystem services of the Geray wetland and the driving force of its degradation. Structured questionnaires, personal interviews, focused group discussions, and field observations were used in data collection. Questionnaires were administered to 114 respondents obtained through random sampling of households. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and regression. Descriptive statistics like mean, percentage and frequency distribution were used to analyze quantitative data. The binary logistic regression model was applied to evaluate the impact of household-related independent variables on the dependent variable. Results showed that Geray wetland provides provisioning services (fish, fresh water, fodder and grazing services, firewood, crop, and fruit), regulating services (temperature regulation, water purification, sediment retention and erosion control), cultural services (recreation, tourism, and aesthetic) and supporting services (nursery, habitat, and accumulation of organic matter). Farm expansion, sedimentation, overgrazing, uncontrolled irrigation practices and deforestation of wetland vegetation, which are rooted in rapid population growth, open access to wetland resources, lack of awareness, lack of clear boundaries and weak institutional framework, were the main causes of the wetland degradation. Predictor variables like household size have a negative, and landholding size and age have positive significant impacts on the Geray wetland ecosystem. A high number of respondents were also aware of the measures (planting trees, trace building as a controlling method of erosion and conservation education to the community) to be taken to overcome the problems that face the Geray wetland. Thus, participatory sustainable wetland management is recommended to obtain more benefits from the wetland and minimize its destruction

Research that connects the effects of urbanization on biodiversity and ecosystem services is lacking. Ants perform multifarious ecological functions that stabilize ecosystems and contribute to a number of ecosystem services. We studied responses of ant communities to urbanization in the Lake Tahoe basin by sampling sites along a gradient of urban land development. We sampled ant communities, measured vegetation characteristics, quantified human activities, and evaluated ant-community responses by grouping ants into service-providing units (SPUs), defined as a group of organisms and their populations that perform specific ecosystem services, to provide an understanding of urbanization impacts on biodiversity and their delivery of ecosystem services. Species richness and abundance peaked at intermediate levels of urban development, as did the richness of 3 types of ant SPUs (aerators, decomposers, and compilers). With increasing land development aerator and decomposer ants significantly declined in abundance, whereas compiler ants significantly increased in abundance. Competing models demonstrated that precipitation was frequently among the strongest influences on ant community structure; however, urban development and human activities also had a strong, negative influence on ants, appearing in most models with DeltaAIC(c) < 2 for species richness and abundance patterns of SPUs and generalists. Response diversity was observed within SPUs, which suggests that the corresponding ecosystem services were maintained until development reached 30-40%. Our data provide evidence that ecosystem functions, such as water infiltration and soil productivity, may be diminished at sites subject to greater levels of urbanization and that conserving ant communities and the ecosystem services they provide could be an important target in land-use planning and conservation efforts.

To secure the enduring the long-term growth of ecosystem services, the city of Harbin in northeastern China must prioritize the optimization of its landscape pattern. However, there is a dearth of studies pertaining to the geospatial repercussions of landscape patterns on ecosystem services. This study examined the properties of spatio-temporal evolution of Harbin’s landscape patterns from 2000 to 2020 and six essential ecosystem services: food supply, water yield, soil conservation, carbon storage, water purification, and habitat quality. It used the geographical detector (GD) to reveal the effects of landscape pattern changes on ecosystem services and the geographically weighted regression (GWR) model to map ecosystem services’ responses to changes in landscape pattern heterogeneity. The results showed that from 2000 to 2020, the landscape types in Harbin tended to become richer, the spatial heterogeneity increased, and the degree of fragmentation decreased significantly. Water yield continued to increase, habitat quality slightly improved, soil conservation and carbon storage initially decreased and then increased, and water purification and food supply first increased and then decreased. Landscape pattern evolution had a substantial impact on ecosystem services. Landscape composition had a greater influence on ecosystem services than did landscape configuration in Harbin City, with the proportion of agricultural land, the proportion of woodland, the largest patch index, and the aggregation index having a greater effect on ecosystem services. A significant challenge in territorial spatial planning is how to develop distinct ecosystem services in a balanced fashion, because in the majority of cases, the effects of landscape patterns on individual services are different or even opposing. To optimize local landscape patterns and develop total ecosystem services in a balanced manner, policymakers can use the study’s results, which emphasize the complex response of ecosystem services to changes in landscape patterns, to develop more accurate spatial planning strategies and plans.

Mapping and assessment of lake ecosystem services in Lithuania

Groundwater is a fundamental control on biophysical processes underpinning essential ecosystem services (ES). However, interactions and feedbacks among groundwater, climate and multiple ES remain less well understood. We investigated groundwater effects on a portfolio of food, water and biogeochemical ES indicators in an urbanizing agricultural watershed. Our results show that food production, water quality and quantity, and flood control are most sensitive to groundwater, with the strongest responses under wet and dry climate extremes. Climate mediates groundwater effects, such that several ES have synergies during dry climate, but trade-offs (groundwater increased some ES but declined others) under wet climate. There is substantial spatial heterogeneity in groundwater effects on ES, which is driven primarily by water table depth (WTD) and is also sensitive to soil texture and land cover. Most ES indicators respond nonlinearly to WTD when groundwater is within a critical depth (approximately 2.5 m) of land surface, indicating that small WTD changes can have disproportionately large effects on ES in shallow groundwater areas. Within this critical WTD, increasingly shallow groundwater leads to nonlinear increases in surface flood risk, sediment erosion and phosphorus yield; nonlinear decreases in drainage to the deep vadose zone and thus groundwater recharge; and bidirectional responses of crop and grass production, carbon storage and nitrate leaching. Our study illustrates the complex role of groundwater in affecting multiple ES and highlights that strategically managing groundwater may enhance ES resilience to climate extremes in shallow groundwater settings. Groundwater influences biophysical processes behind key ecosystem services. This study finds that many ecosystem service indicators respond nonlinearly when the water table is within a critical depth, with the potential for large effects in areas with shallow groundwater.

Enhancing regional ecosystem stability and managing land resources effectively requires identifying ecological function zones and understanding the factors that influence them. However, most current studies have primarily focused on ecosystem service bundles, paying less attention to the trade-offs, synergies, and ecological sensitivity, leading to a more uniform approach to functional zoning. This study aimed to analyze and describe the spatial and temporal patterns of four essential ecosystem services, including water yield (WY), net primary productivity (NPP), soil conservation (SC), and habitat quality (HQ), in the Sichuan-Yunnan ecological buffer area over the period from 2005 to 2019. Spatial overlay analysis was used to assess ecological sensitivity, trade-offs, synergies, and ecosystem service bundles to define ecological functional zones. Geographic detectors were then applied to identify the primary drivers of spatial variation in these zones. The findings showed a progressive improvement in ecosystem service functions within the Sichuan-Yunnan ecological buffer zone. Between 2005 and 2019, NPP, soil conservation, and water yield all demonstrated positive trends, while HQ displayed a declining trend. There was significant spatial heterogeneity and distinct regional patterns in ecosystem service functions, with a general decrease from southwest to northeast, particularly in NPP and HQ. Trade-offs were evident in most ecosystem services, with the most significant between WY and HQ and most in the northeast and east regions. Ecological sensitivity decreased from southwest to northeast. Regions with a higher ecological sensitivity were primarily situated in the southwestern region, and their spatial distribution pattern was comparable to that of high habitat quality. The spatial overlay analysis categorized areas into various types, including human production and settlement zones, ecologically vulnerable zones, ecological transition zones, and ecological conservation zones, accounting for 17.28%, 22.30%, 7.41%, and 53.01% of the total area, respectively. The primary environmental factor affecting ecological function zoning was identified as precipitation, while the main social variables were human activity and population density. This study enhances the understanding of ecological functions and supports sustainable development in the Sichuan-Yunnan ecological buffer area, offering important guidance for ecological zoning.

Land use/land cover (LULC) changes impact the structure and functioning of ecosystems, which consequently influences the provisioning of a range of ecosystem services (ES). There is a growing consensus regarding the merit of integrating the evaluation of ES into regional policy planning. The Yangtze River is the world's third longest and supports more than 6% of its population. However, assessing the potential impacts of different resource management policies upon ES is complicated in the Yangtze basin. To remedy this, here we designed a scenario analysis-based approach that used remotely sensed data and GIS (geographic information system) to analyze the relationships between ES (i.e., water flow regulation, water purification) and policies envisioned to improve human welfare in the Chongqing municipality, in the upper reaches of the Three Gorges Reservoir Area (TGRA) in the Yangtze basin. This watershed area has high population density and suffers from severe flood hazard and critical pollution issues. The GEOMOD modeling technique was used to predict LULC changes according to policy planning alternatives, producing scenarios by 2050 for the TGRA watershed. The GIS-based ES model (InVEST model) was developed as a tool to inform the decision-making process with the intention of aligning conservation measures with economic development. We examine policy effectiveness by comparing three scenarios for 2050: scenario-1 maintains the current policy, with no considerations of ES; scenario-2 integrates ES into policy planning; and scenario-3 integrates ES into policy planning considering the needs of local people. Our scenario-based LULC change analysis showed thatthe land with large increases in water flow regulation (i.e., values ≤-3000 × 103 m3 km-2) were scattered over the entire study area, while phosphorus reduction (i.e., values ≤ -30 kg km-2) were located mainly along rivers in all scenarios. Scenario-2 and scenario-3 are based on policies aiming at enhancing ES provisioning; for these, the projected ecological risks of water pollution are significantly reduced (39.97% and 37.58%, respectively). Total net changes of the investigated ES under scenario-2 or scenario-3 were almost double that occurring under scenario-1. Although scenario-2 and scenario-3 showed a near-equal total net change, water purification under scenario-2 was the greatest relative to forest expansion. However, scenario-3 offered the best future environmental development scenario, as it accounted for the demand and supply characteristics of water yield and purification in different regions. The water purification service made the greatest contribution to positive and negative effects (26%-47% and -7%, respectively) on ES provisioning. Linking water purification service to policy planning would effectively improve the overall ES. These scenario forecasting results will help the Three Gorges Dam to gain more ecological benefits via improvements to water flow regulation and the effective alleviation of degraded water quality in heavily populated regions in the Yangtze basin.

Peatlands are unique ecosystems that support a wide range of very different ecological functions and processes that provide essential ecosystem goods and services. Many peatlands worldwide have been directly used by human for centuries, causing severe deterioration and losses of ecosystem services. The degradation of peatlands and related negative environmental impacts can be reduced or halted by rewetting and other restoration management practices. However, these restoration practices are in conflict with current land-use patterns, leading to a dilemma that can only be resolved through multidisciplinary understanding of peatland ecosystems and the impacts of land-use management. This thesis aims to understand the environmental impacts of different land-use practices on peatlands. Three parts of this thesis looked at intensive agricultural production, nature restoration and sustainable land use options on peatlands. In conclusion, it is hard to mitigate GHG emissions on drained peatlands, while nature restoration can provide biodiversity and climate co-benefits. Alternative land uses such as paludiculture is currently economically not compatible with the conventional drainage-based dairy farming, but have the potential to deliver substantial ecosystem services, which could be capitalized via carbon credit or payment for ecosystem services.

Linking ecological red lines and public perceptions of ecosystem services to manage the ecological environment: A case study in the Fenghe River watershed of Xi’an

Enhancement of ecological barrier function based on the nonlinear relationship between environmental factors and ecosystem services, Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau

Tropical agro-forest landscapes are dynamic mosaics of natural vegetation, semi-natural habitats, and farming systems. These landscapes provide essential ecosystem services, benefits that people obtain from ecosystems, which are not restricted to ‘natural’ ecosystems but also occur in human-modified, managed systems. Ecosystem services are co-produced in social-ecological systems, which imply the active role and influence of management decisions and practices on ecosystem processes. Thus, land use intensification affects a range of ecosystem processes and services with a potential disconnect between supporting and regulating services which form the basis for provisioning services in systems with little external inputs. I investigated the ecosystem services provided by soils in a landscape consisting of (managed) forests, rangelands and croplands with a special focus on the effect of land use intensification on the forest – rangeland frontier. I carried out my research in La Sepultura Man and the Biosphere Reserve, located in the Sierra Madre de Chiapas, Mexico, specifically in two communities or ejidos. I aimed to understand how land use intensification affects the linkages between aboveground components (vegetation) and belowground components (soil system and soil microbiota) of these human-modified agro-forest frontier (forest and rangeland) landscape and their impact on two groups of ecosystem services, supporting and forage-provisioning services. Through a general soil characterisation in both ejidos and interviews on cattle management to farmers, I evaluated the impact of landscape and land use on supporting and forage-provisioning ecosystem services and their linkages. Then, I assessed land use intensification on the soil system and litter decomposition through a decomposition field experiment. Finally, I investigated the effects of land use intensification on above and belowground components (plants, soil fertility, and soil microbiota). I evaluated whether and how these above and belowground components of the plant – soil feedback were linked. Results showed that indirect effects of land use (through some soil physicochemical characteristics) were more important than direct effects on supporting ecosystem services. Linkages between supporting and forage-provisioning ecosystem services were complex associations, sometimes with unexpected trade-offs. Although land use intensification contributed to differences in soil microbial characteristics, it had little cascading effects on litter decomposition as differences in litter quality of the two dominant litter types in this rangeland system (exotic grasses and a mixture of pine needles and oak leaves) were the main factor regulating decomposition. Furthermore, land use intensification had both positive (forage biomass and digestibility, nutrient pools in vegetation, soil microbial biomass and diversity) and negative (tree cover, plant diversity, and soil available K plus enhancement of N limitation) effects on different attributes of the plant – soil feedback in this ecosystem. The three components of the plant – soil feedback were partly coupled and plants had the strongest effect in the plant – soil feedback and, in turn, vegetation productivity was positively influenced by nutrient availability and soil microbiota. With these results I address the question: Does land use intensification inevitably have mostly negative impacts on the soil system and ecosystem processes? Many studies suggested that land use intensification leads to a decline of soil quality indicators and a loss of functional diversity, whereas other studies emphasised a trade-off between increasing short-term productivity versus maintaining long-term sustainability. I argue that alternative pathways leading to more efficient systems are needed. Ecological intensification which is defined as a process that improves performance and efficiency of managed systems through optimal management of their ecological functions and biodiversity, while providing farmers’ livelihoods, may be one of such alternative pathways. I recommend general practices of ecological intensification at the landscape level to improve overall soil quality and plant nutrient uptake and to support increasing water-holding capacity, which is a key ecosystem service, especially during the dry season. Next to the recommendations on the landscape scale I also list recommendations on farmer level for two categories of farmers: livestock specialists and livestock generalists, and include general recommendations for forest frontier landscapes.

Modeling the influence of alternative forest management scenarios on wood production and carbon storage: A case study in the Mediterranean region

Spatiotemporal variation of essential ecosystem services and their trade-off/synergy along with rapid urbanization in the Lower Pearl River Basin, China

1. Introduction.- 2. The basic ideas of the ecosystem service concept.- 3. Cultural Services in Aquatic Ecosystems.- 4. The importance of hyporheic zone processes on ecological functioning and solute transport of streams and rivers.- 5. Marine and coastal ecosystems: delivery of goods and services, through sustainable use and conservation.- 6. Terrestrial ecosystem services in river basins: An overview and an assessment framework.- 7. Quantifying, modelling and mapping ecosystem services in watersheds.- 8. A methodology for quantifying and mapping ecosystem services provided by watersheds.- 9. Assessing the impact of land-use changes on providing hydrological ecosystem functions (ESF) and services (ESS) - a case-study experience based conceptual framework.- 10. Valuation of ecosystem services regarding the Water Framework Directive on the example of the Jahna river catchment in Saxony (Germany).- 11. Water-related ecosystem services - the case study of regulating ecosystem services in the Kielstau basin, Germany.- 12. Aquatic Ecosystem services and Management in East Africa: the Tanzania case.- 13. Coastal watershed ecosystem services management in West Africa: Case of Ghana and Nigeria.- 14. Management of agriculture to preserve environmental values of the Great Barrier Reef, Australia.- 15. Ecohydrology: a new approach to old problems for sustainable management of aquatic ecosystem of Bangladesh for ecosystem service provision.- 16. Ecosystem services in estuarine systems: implications for management.

Identification and prioritisation of ecosystem services based on the socio-economic perspectives of local people in a trans-Himalayan region of Ladakh, India