Multifunctionality at what scale? A landscape multifunctionality assessment for the European Union under conditions of land use change

Julia Stürck,Peter H Verburg

doi:10.1007/s10980-016-0459-6

Abstract

ContextThe provision of multiple ecosystem services (ES) within a landscape is commonly referred to as landscape multifunctionality. Modifying landscapes to increase multifunctionality and reduce trade-offs with concurrent services bears the potential to enhance sustainability in human-dominated landscapes. Assessing landscape multifunctionality is thus crucial for land management and planning, but lack of a clear definition and operationalization of multifunctionality impedes comparisons of different study results.ObjectivesWe want to address how elements of the study design affect results of multifunctionality assessments. Furthermore, we want to quantify future multifunctionality in the European Union (EU) and indicate the role of land use change and land use diversity on multifunctionality.MethodsWe analyzed diverging scenarios depicting land use change in the EU between 2000 and 2040 for their effects on landscape multifunctionality. We tested different multifunctionality indicators at various spatial scales based on the modelling of 12 ES and biodiversity indicators.ResultsParticularly the analysis scale determines the interpretation of landscape multifunctionality. Coldspots identified by different indicators are in higher agreement than hotspots. We could not confirm links between land use diversity and landscape multifunctionality. While, at EU scale, multifunctionality slightly increases in future scenarios, agricultural intensification and (peri-)urban growth pose large threats to multifunctional landscapes.ConclusionsThe choice of indicator and analysis scale strongly determine possible interpretations of the results. Rather than focusing on the impacts of land use change on multifunctionality, it is recommended to base land use policy on the impacts of location-specific change on ES supply and demands.

Highlights

IntroductionHuman-dominated landscapes, such as agricultural land and urban agglomerations, are often managed to serve a particular purpose
At NUTS2 level, with s reciprocal index (SRI) and T30, maxima are found in central Europe, while at T60, Scandinavia and southern European regions stand out
At NUTS2 level, Shannon’s H0 and multiple ecosystem services landscape index (MESLI) both level out intraregional differences that can be found at smaller analysis scales, resulting in a more homogeneous pattern of multifunctionality across Europe

Summary

Introduction

Human-dominated landscapes, such as agricultural land and urban agglomerations, are often managed to serve a particular purpose. Modifying a landscape to maximize the supply of a particular function often involves the depletion of other functions (Goldstein et al 2012). These trade-offs are strong between regulating services, such as water purification, and provisioning services, such as crop production (Bennett et al 2009; RaudseppHearne et al 2010; Howe et al 2014). It has been shown that appropriate land management decisions are able to counteract these trade-offs and facilitate multifunctional landscapes (Paletto et al 2012; Bradford et al 2014; Schindler et al 2014). Assessment tools to quantify ecosystem services (ES) and to assess multifunctionality have become popular to determine current and future multifunctionality (Maes et al 2012; Rodrıguez-Loinaz et al 2015)

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Discussion

Conclusion