Dry forests conservation: A comprehensive approach linking ecosystem services to ecological drivers and sustainable management

Abstract

Assessing ecosystem services supply is an efficient way to facilitate ecosystem management, but there is no clear way to link ecosystem services to sustainable management decision-making. This study links sustainable supply of ecosystem services to sustainable management goals to evaluate the conservation value of dry forests. Hence, 11 ecosystem services (water yield, timber production, fruit production, carbon sequestration, soil retention, pollination, aesthetic, tourism, heritage, soil organic matter and habitat provision) were quantified in three dry forest communities. Evergreen forest communities were more successful in supplying ecosystem services than other ones. Pearson correlation analysis showed that water yield and carbon sequestration had a trade-off relationship with pollination (P < 0.001). Total ecosystem services of plant communities were estimated by considering both trade-off and synergy relationships between ecosystem services. Precipitation (R2 = 0.465) and leaf lifespan (R2 = 0.422) were the main ecological drivers of ecosystem services based on Nonmetric multidimensional scaling (NMDS). Criteria importance through intercriteria correlation (CRITIC) showed that water yield and carbon sequestration services had the highest weights for sustainable management. Maximizing economic and social benefits was also the most important sustainable management criterion. The importance of plant communities for conservation was determined by integrating the relative importance of ecosystems for sustainable supply of services and the importance of services for sustainable management. The comprehensive approach presented in this study not only ecologically contributes to the ecosystem health and supports the sustainable supply of ESs, but also meets other goals of sustainable management and supports management decision-making towards optimization of sustainable supply of ESs.