Abstract
Floodplain forests are considered important forest ecosystems, and providers of ecosystem functions and services. The subject of this research was to assess the level of provision of five selected ecosystem functions (climate regulation and regulation of short water cycle, biomass production, oxygen production, and carbon sequestration) and biodiversity by relevant groups of forest habitats, and their mutual comparison. Assessment of ecosystem functions was performed in biophysical units based on published data, our own research, and expert knowledge. The results showed the high importance of floodplain forests. In the majority of the services that were studied, this habitat reached high values and, in comparison with the other habitats, took one of the leading positions. When comparing the ranking in the provision of individual ecosystem functions per unit area, the best-assessed habitat in all assessed functions was floodplain and wetland forests, followed by ravine forests and beech forests, but the analysis of the rate of ecosystem function provision, related to the total area of interest, showed a different order of values. Understanding the context of the individual ecosystem functions of natural ecosystems and those close to nature, in comparison with anthropogenically altered ecosystems is a suggested route for ecologically and economically balanced landscape decision-making, which may increase the efficiency of nature and landscape protection.
Highlights
Energy moves life [1]
This study evaluates five ecosystem functions and a biodiversity value (Table 1)
The subject of the research was to assess the level of provision of five selected ecosystem functions and biodiversity by significant groups of forest habitats and their mutual comparison
Summary
Energy moves life [1]. An ecosystem is a functional system of living and non-living components of the environment, which are interconnected by the flow of energy, exchange of substances, and the transmission of information, and which interact and develop in a certain space and time [2]. In the detailed method used to evaluate revitalization measures in watercourse floodplains [7], physical characteristics are divided into geomorphology (meander geometry, bank erosion rate, the ratio between rapids and still water, and depth-to-width ratio) and hydrology (sedimentation, particle size, groundwater flow and exchange processes, the amount of runoff (annual, seasonal, and episodic), retention time, sediment flows, flow rate, and water depth). Another criterion is water quality, which corresponds to chemical characteristics
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