Provision Of Multiple Ecosystem Services Research Articles

Management to Support Multiple Ecosystem Services from Productive Grasslands

Sustainable intensification will require the development of new management systems to support global food demands, whilst conserving the integrity of ecosystem functions. Here, we test and identify management strategies to maintain or enhance agricultural production in grasslands whilst simultaneously supporting the provision of multiple ecosystem services. Over four years, we investigated how the establishment of three plant functional groups (grasses, legumes, and other flowering forbs), using different cultivation (minimum tillage and deep ploughing) and management (cutting, grazing and their intensity) techniques, affected provision and complementarity between key ecosystem services. These ecosystem services were agronomic production, pollination, pest control, food resources for farmland birds, and soil services. We found that the establishment of floristically diverse swards, particularly those containing grasses, legumes and forbs, maximised forage yield and quality, pollinator abundance, soil nitrogen, and bird food resources, as well as enhancing populations of natural predators of pests. Cutting management increased bird food resources and natural predators of pests without depleting other services considered. However, a single management solution to maximise the delivery of all ecosystem services is unlikely to exist, as trade-offs also occurred. Consequently, management options may need to be tailored to strategically support localised deficits in key ecosystem services.

Stakeholder priorities determine the impact of an alien tree invasion on ecosystem multifunctionality

Abstract While the ecological impact of environmental change drivers, such as alien plant invasions, is relatively well described, quantitative social‐ecological studies detailing how these changes impact multiple ecosystem services, and subsequently stakeholders, are lacking. We used a social‐ecological approach to assess how Prosopis juliflora (Prosopis henceforth), an invasive tree, affects the provision of multiple ecosystem services to different stakeholder groups in a degraded East African dryland. We combined plot‐based ecological data on the impacts of the tree on indicators of ecosystem service supply with questionnaire survey data describing ecosystem service priorities from eight different stakeholder groups. These data were then used to quantify how tree invasion impacted individual ecosystem services, and the overall supply of services, relative to the priorities of each stakeholder group, using an ecosystem service multifunctionality metric. In the study area, we found that Prosopis significantly increased the supply of shade, wood production and honey production, but reduced the supply of water availability, tourism potential and biodiversity protection. Priorities for specific services differed between stakeholder groups. Although most groups assigned a high priority to provisioning services, such as water and crop production, it was either provisioning or cultural services which were a primary source of income, that were deemed most important. Combining supply and priority data showed that most stakeholder groups saw a net decrease in ecosystem service multifunctionality with increasing Prosopis invasion, or no significant change overall. Increasing Prosopis cover increased multifunctionality for only two stakeholder groups, charcoal producers and NGOs involved in regional development. Our research highlights the need to account for stakeholder priorities in studies of how global change impacts ecosystem multifunctionality. We found that there are conflicting patterns of ecosystem service priority between different stakeholder groups, resulting in large variation in how different groups were impacted by the invasive tree. Our approach also highlights possible synergies and conflicts when managing this tree invasion. More broadly, we recommend that future studies of ecosystem multifunctionality explicitly consider differing stakeholder priorities, as these strongly influence the perceived impact of environmental and land management change. A free Plain Language Summary can be found within the Supporting Information of this article.

Ecological restoration of agricultural land can improve its contribution to economic development.

Given the negative environmental impacts of intensive agriculture, there is an urgent need to reduce the impact of food production on biodiversity. Ecological restoration of farmland could potentially contribute to this goal. While the positive impacts of ecological restoration on biodiversity are well established, less evidence is available regarding impacts on economic development and employment. Potentially, prospects for economic development could be enhanced by ecological restoration though increased provision of ecosystem services, on which some economic activity depends. Here we examined this issue through the development of contrasting land use scenarios for the county of Dorset, southern England. Two scenarios of future agricultural expansion were compared with two scenarios of landscape-scale ecological restoration and the current situation. Impacts on provision of multiple ecosystem services (ES) were explored using InVEST models and proxy values for different land cover types. Impacts on economic employment were examined using an economic input-output model, which was adjusted for variation in ES flows using empirically determined ES dependency values for different economic sectors. Using the unadjusted input-output model, the scenarios had only a slight economic impact (≤ 0.3% Gross Value Added, GVA). Conversely, when the input-output model was adjusted to take account of ES flows, GVA increased by up to 5.4% in the restoration scenarios, whereas under the scenario with greatest agricultural expansion, GVA was reduced by -4.5%. Similarly, employment increased by up to 6.7% following restoration, compared to declines of up to -5.6% following maximum agricultural expansion. These results show that the economic contribution of rural land is far greater than that attributable to agricultural production alone. Landscape-scale restoration of agricultural land can potentially increase the contribution of farmland to economic development and employment, by increasing flows of multiple ES to the many economic sectors that depend on them.

Effects of declining oak vitality on ecosystem multifunctionality: Lessons from a Spanish oak woodland

Mediterranean oak woodlands are currently facing unprecedented degradation threats from oak decline. The Iberian oak decline “Seca”, related to Phytophthora infection, causes crown defoliation that may adversely affect ecosystem services (ESs). We aim to improve our understanding of how Seca-induced declines in crown foliation affect the provision of multiple ecosystem services from understory vegetation. We selected holm (Quercus ilex) and cork oak (Q. suber) trees in a Spanish oak woodland and evaluated three proxies of canopy effects. One proxy (crown defoliation) solely captured Seca-dependent effects, one proxy solely captured Seca-independent effects (tree dimensions such as diameter and height), while the third proxy (tree vigor) captured overall canopy effects. We then used the best-performing proxies to assess canopy effects on key ecosystem services (ESs) such as above-ground net primary production (ANPP), grass and legume biomass, species diversity, litter decomposition rates, and a combined index of ecosystem multifunctionality.We found that both types of canopy effects (i.e. Seca-dependent and Seca-independent effects) were related, indicating that ANPP was disproportionally more affected by Seca when defoliated trees were large. Responses of other ESs were mostly not significant, although lower species diversity was found under trees with intermediate vigor. Our results underline that a Seca-related decline in canopy density triggered a homogenization of ecosystem service delivery on the ecosystem scale. The ecosystem functions (EFs) under trees of low vigor are similar to that in adjacent open microsites indicating that the presence of vigorous (i.e. old and vital) trees is critical for maintaining EFs at a landscape level. Our results also highlight the importance of quantifying not only defoliation but also tree dimensions as both factors jointly and interactively modify canopy effects on ecosystem multifunctionality.

Belowground biomass C outweighs soil organic C of perennial energy crops: Insights from a long‐term multispecies trial

AbstractThe cultivation of perennial energy crops (PECs) couples the production of ligno‐cellulosic biomass to the provision of multiple ecosystem services, such as the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and the mitigation of climate change through carbon (C) sequestration in soil. Though C sequestration in soil by PECs has been widely studied, the contribution of their belowground biomass (BGB) to soil C sequestration and their influence on soil nitrogen (N) storage potential has received very little attention. In this study, C and N stocks in soil and BGB fractions (plant belowground organs and fine roots) were measured for six PECs (Populus spp. ‘Poplar’, Robinia pseudoacacia ‘Black locust’, Salix spp. ‘Willow’, Arundo donax ‘Giant reed’, Miscanthus × giganteus ‘Miscanthus’ and Panicum virgatum ‘Switchgrass’) grown on marginal soil, 11 years after establishment. All PECs had a higher soil organic carbon (SOC) stock and soil total nitrogen (STN) stock than arable land in the top (0–10 cm) soil layer. In this same top layer, woody crops had the highest SOC stock. The increase in SOC under PECs led to increased soil porosity in the top‐soil layer. On average, 43% of the belowground C stock of PECs was allocated in the plant belowground organs (PBO; i.e. in the rhizomes of herbaceous PECs and the stump for woody PECs). Giant reed had the highest C stock in PBO, whereas switchgrass the lowest (22.7 vs. 5.9 Mg C ha−1). On the contrary, switchgrass had the highest C stock in fine roots. Giant reed had the highest belowground C stock (sum of soil and BGB contribution) and black locust the highest belowground N stock. After 11 years of PEC cultivation, 68% of the belowground C stock was allocated in the BGB, and 32% was as SOC.

Beaver dams attenuate flow: A multi-site study.

Beavers can profoundly alter riparian environments, most conspicuously by creating dams and wetlands. Eurasian beaver (Castor fiber) populations are increasing and it has been suggested they could play a role in the provision of multiple ecosystem services, including natural flood management. Research at different scales, in contrasting ecosystems is required to establish to what extent beavers can impact on flood regimes. Therefore, this study determines whether flow regimes and flow responses to storm events were altered following the building of beaver dams and whether a flow attenuation effect could be significantly attributed to beaver activity. Four sites were monitored where beavers have been reintroduced in England. Continuous monitoring of hydrology, before and after beaver impacts, was undertaken on streams where beavers built sequences of dams. Stream orders ranged from 2nd to 4th, in both agricultural and forest‐dominated catchments. Analysis of >1000 storm events, across four sites showed an overall trend of reduced total stormflow, increased peak rainfall to peak flow lag times and reduced peak flows, all suggesting flow attenuation, following beaver impacts. Additionally, reduced high flow to low flow ratios indicated that flow regimes were overall becoming less “flashy” following beaver reintroduction. Statistical analysis, showed the effect of beaver to be statistically significant in reducing peak flows with estimated overall reductions in peak flows from −0.359 to −0.065 m3 s−1 across sites. Analysis showed spatial and temporal variability in the hydrological response to beaver between sites, depending on the level of impact and seasonality. Critically, the effect of beavers in reducing peak flows persists for the largest storms monitored, showing that even in wet conditions, beaver dams can attenuate average flood flows by up to ca. 60%. This research indicates that beavers could play a role in delivering natural flood management.

Maintaining biodiversity promotes the multifunctionality of social-ecological systems: holistic modelling of a mountain system

Monitoring the provision of multiple ecosystem services (ES) in social-ecological systems is a major challenge. Most tools usually tackle the problem by modelling individual ES, but do not perform a holistic analysis of a dynamic and integrated system. We developed a discrete-event model (DORIAN) and explored its potential for assessing biodiversity and multifunctionality of a mountain ski resort subjected to a changing climate. We represented this social-ecological system as a network comprising 16 binary components and 51 processes that define component interactions. We identified 22 economy- and ecology-related ES, depending on the presence/absence of components. We simulated six scenarios representing different economic, environmental and climatic situations and calculated a score (the sum of proxies for biodiversity or ES), corresponding to the level of biodiversity and multifunctionality. Results showed that climate change reduced the system’s multifunctionality and increased the number of degraded states, as well as the trajectories from healthy to degraded states. With increasing levels of biodiversity, only ecology-related ES were boosted at low biodiversity levels, while both high levels of ecology- and economy-related ES were maintained at high biodiversity levels. This result demonstrates the importance of conserving high biodiversity in a social ecological system, for an optimal “biodiversity – multifunctionality” win-win strategy.

Merging Multiple Equilibrium Models and Adaptive Cycle Theory in Forest Ecosystems: Implications for Managing Succession

We review the dynamics of multiple equilibrium models with the adaptive cycle concept and propose a unified theoretical framework. We highlight how the shape of basins of attraction changes along secondary succession and how the shape is influenced by the properties of the adaptive cycle (i.e., potential, connectedness, and resilience) and by ecological traps such as poverty, rigidity, and lock-in. We use degraded forest ecosystems undergoing arrested succession as an example, how the new framework can improve our understanding of restoration and management options. Here, we highlight how the adaptive cycle uses three properties to describe ecosystem dynamics and how this information can be useful for management decisions at the stand level. “Potential” is related to biomass accumulation along succession; “connectedness” to the rigidity of internal control to resist external influences (e.g., disturbances), as quantified by the depth of the basin of attraction; and “resilience” to the ability of ecosystems to stay in a basin of attraction, as determined by the basin width. We integrate these aspects of the adaptive cycle with the basins of attraction model, ecological trap properties, and succession and disturbance concepts into a conceptual framework and highlight the resulting conceptual insights by contrasting forests that follow typical successional development (and associated provision of multiple ecosystem services) and forests that have arrested succession (e.g., degraded forests that do not provide desired ecosystem services). We use restoration practices aimed at overcoming arrested succession as examples how our framework can be downscaled to stand-level conditions. The framework views restoration practices as disturbances of different severities that may modify connectedness and resilience through the manipulation of species composition and the enhancement or constraint of resources (i.e., modifying a desirable basin of attraction by deepening and widening its shape to facilitate typical successional development or vice versa for an undesirable basin). Our review led to a unified theoretical framework. The resulting conceptual basis will improve the general understanding of vegetation development, which is especially important for restoration efforts in novel, no-analog conditions, as expected under global change.

Ecosystem Service Multifunctionality: Decline and Recovery Pathways in the Amazon and Chocó Lowland Rainforests

The balance between the supply of multiple ecosystem services (ES) and the fulfillment of society demands is a challenge, especially in the tropics where different land use transition phases emerge. These phases are characterized by either a decline (from intact old-growth to logged forests) or a recovery of ES (successional forests, plantations, and agroforestry systems). This highlights the importance of ecosystem service multifunctionality (M) assessments across these land use transition phases as a basis for forest management and conservation. We analyzed synergies and trade-offs of ES to identify potential umbrella ES. We also evaluated the impact of logging activities in the decline of ES and M, and the influence of three recovery phases in the supply of ES and M. We installed 156 inventory plots (1600 m2) in the Ecuadorian Central Amazon and the Chocó. We estimated indicators for provisioning, regulating, supporting services and biodiversity. M indicator was estimated using the multifunctional average approach. Our results show that above-ground carbon stocks can be considered as an umbrella service as it presented high synergetic relations with M and various ES. We observed that logging activities caused a decline of 16–18% on M, with high impacts for timber volume and above-ground carbon stocks, calling for more sustainable practices with stricter post-harvesting control to avoid a higher depletion of ES and M. From the recovery phases it is evident that, successional forests offer the highest level of M, evidencing high potential to recover multiple ES after human disturbance.

Eucalyptus and alder field margins differ in their impact on ecosystem services and biodiversity within cropping fields of the Peruvian Andes

Intensified rotations and increased reliance on agrochemical inputs in many parts of the Andean highlands generate concern for soil health, biodiversity, and key ecosystem functions that are essential for maintaining agricultural productivity and the well-being of smallholder communities throughout the region. Improved management of perennial vegetation within field margins represents a promising option currently being explored in many Andean communities, with the potential to better design these field margins to support multiple ecosystem services (ES). In this study we examined the effect of two types of common woody perennial field margins (eucalyptus vs. alder) on crop production and other soil-based ES at variable distances from the field edge. Sampling was conducted in twenty potato fields, ten with borders dominated by alder trees (Alnus acuminata) and another ten with eucalyptus (Eucalyptus globulus). Within each field, transects (∼10 m) were established with six sampling points extending from the perennial field margins towards the center of the production field. At each point, a suite of ES was assessed including: nutrient provision (based on levels of SOM, pH, P, K, and N in the soil), biodiversity maintenance (ground vegetation and soil macrofauna), erosion control (infiltration, aggregation, bulk density), bio-control (occurrence of common crop pests/pathogens and predators) and crop production (potato yields and quality). The provision of ES was generally found to be higher in the field margins than in the arable fields. The dominant tree species in the field margin was also important, such that fields bordered by alder trees showed higher SOM, macrofauna diversity and aggregate stability compared to those bordered by eucalyptus trees. Fields bordered by eucalyptus trees showed higher values for overall vegetation diversity, pH and available phosphorus. While potato yields did not differ between fields bordered by alder vs. eucalyptus, potato pest pressure was higher in fields bordered by eucalyptus trees. Our findings suggest that improved management of perennial field margins can enhance the provision of multiple ES in agricultural landscapes of the Peruvian highlands.

CHALLENGES IN IMPLEMENTATION OF GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE IN METROPOLITAN CITIES—CASE OF AHMEDABAD

The current development issues related to rapid urban expansion and economic growth in India can be rationalized by Green infrastructure planning. Green infrastructure (GI) has been identified as a promising approach to assist cities adapt to global climate change through the supply of multiple ecosystem services. Here, we interrogate key challenges and the barriers for the effective implementation of GI. This research proposal intends to study the current urban issues with unplanned sprawling and environmental repercussions and green infrastructure for the city of Ahmedabad in Gujarat State as the case study. Green Infrastructure should be as typically incorporated into the progress of urban greening of Indian cities and pursue region based approach to develop urban planning and sustainability for the town. The investment in green infrastructure not only provide scope for economic development but also helps achieving ecological sustainability effectively.

Ecosystem service management and spatial prioritisation in a multifunctional landscape in the Bay of Plenty, New Zealand

ABSTRACT Sustaining ecosystem services (ES) is a key interest in the management of land use in multifunctional landscapes (i.e. ES that support ecosystem function and sustain human livelihoods). In making land management decisions, it is important to understand the relationships and spatial distributions of multiple ES, and the synergies and trade-offs between them. We analysed nine ES in a catchment in the Bay of Plenty region, New Zealand, to identify areas in the catchment are high (hotspots) and low (coldspots) in supplying multiple ES, the relationships among ES, and where ES trade-offs and synergies occur. We found ES hotspots occurred mainly in indigenous forest. Synergies occurred among provisioning services (milk and meat) and dis-service nitrogen leaching as well as synergies with carbon sequestration and wood supply. Trade-offs occurred between regulating services and a supporting service. We identified ES bundles (services that occur repeatedly together) of provisioning services and those associated with exotic forest. Spatial concurrences and relationships of different ES provide a way to optimise the supply of multiple ES. These results may be used to guide landscape management whereby spatial prioritisation can be used to conserve areas of high ES supply or bundles of ES.

Soil type and cropping system as drivers of soil quality indicators response to no-till: A 7-year field study

Conventional agricultural practices (CAP) highly impacted soil functions involved in the provision of multiple ecosystem services. No-till (NT) has been repeatedly indicated as a key way to enhance soil fertility and biodiversity, while having a positive effect on the environment and climate change. However, experimental evidence to date shows contrasting effects of NT on physical parameters of soil fertility, as well as on soil organic carbon (SOC) storage and soil biodiversity especially if different soil types and cropping systems are considered.The objectives of the present 7-year field study were: (i) to unravel the effect of NT on SOC, soil bulk density, and water stability index (WSI) of soil aggregates across five different soil types (Silty Clay, Silty Clay Loam, Clay Loam, Silt Loam, and Sandy Loam) and cropping systems (silage vs grain production), (ii) to examine how soil fauna (i.e. microarthropods and earthworms) is affected by NT practices under those soil-crop conditions, and (iii) to assess relationships among responses of soil physical indicators (i.e. soil bulk density and WSI), SOC, and soil fauna.Our results showed that soil bulk density was generally not affected by 7-year NT across all soil types. At the same time, NT increased WSI. It follows that NT may increase stable rather than artificial tillage-derived porosity due to reduced soil disturbance, and increased SOC and biological activity. However, reduced importance for boosting aggregates stability should be attributed to NT where initial SOC is high, clay and silt are predominant soil fractions, and the rate of crop residue is low.Our findings suggest that NT may enhance SOC stock (on average 0.66 Mg C ha−1 year−1) in the 0–30 cm soil layer. However, we found (i) a tendency of NT to decrease SOC concentration in the 15–30 cm soil layer (on average −1.18 g C kg−1), and (ii) no SOC increase induced by NT if crop residues were not left onto the soil surface.Nevertheless, NT practices promoted (i) the microarthropods adaptation measured with the QBS-ar index (105.5 vs 64.7), and (ii) the increase of earthworm abundance (412 vs 123 individuals m−2), which are fundamental for enhancing nutrient cycling and soil porosity.Correlations among soil fauna (i.e. QBS-ar and earthworm density), soil physical parameters (i.e. soil bulk density and WSI), and SOC (i.e. concentration and stock) corroborates the hypothesis that soil fauna adaptation and proliferation are main detectors of soil quality and sensitive indicators of changes in soil tillage.

Flowering alyssum (Lobularia maritima) promote arthropod diversity and biological control of Myzus persicae

Radish, Raphanus sativus is an important vegetable crop worldwide. It is the second most important vegetable after cabbage and cauliflower in winter (January to March) in Nepal. This crop is damaged by various herbivores such as the green peach aphid, Myzus persicae, the soybean hairy caterpillar, Spilarctia casigneta and the flea beetle, Monolepta signata. Prophylactic pesticide use is a part of the common pest management practice in Nepal. The candidate floral plant, alyssum, Lobularia maritima, was deployed in a radish field to improve pest biological control. Beneficial arthropods trapped such as Syrphidae, Coccinellidae, Carabidae, Staphylinidae, Formicidae, Lycosidae, Apidae and Ichneumonidae were significantly more abundant in flowering alyssum plots than the control (non-flowering) plots. Flowering alyssum in radish fields significantly increases the population of observed syrphids (larva and adult). Similarly observed ladybirds was slightly higher in flowering plot compared with control plot however that was not significant. These beneficial predators potentially increase the biological control of M. persicae. These results provide evidence of the alyssum’s ability to increase the abundance of predators and support the suppression of M. persicae in radishes. This study is useful in developing an integrated pest management protocol by integrating flowering strips in radish fields. Habitat manipulation in radish fields by maintaining flower strips can improve pest biological control and support the provision of multiple ecosystem services that restore diminished ecosystem functions in agriculture.

Plant functional traits shape multiple ecosystem services, their trade‐offs and synergies in grasslands

Abstract Functional traits offer promising avenues to investigate how community composition and diversity define ecosystem functioning and service delivery. In recent years, many empirical studies on the importance of functional traits for ecosystem service provisioning have been undertaken, but a general understanding and synthesis of results is lacking for many ecosystems. Here we focus on temperate grasslands and present a systematic literature review synthesizing how plant functional traits are interrelated with ecosystem services. Based on 108 studies, we identified a core set of 40 functional traits and 11 ecosystem services. Several of these traits were only linked to one, while 75% of traits were linked to two or more ecosystem services. We found that trait‐specific constraints can lead to both synergies and trade‐offs in the supply of multiple ecosystem services. For instance, synergies between biomass production and climate regulation can be achieved by changing morphometric root traits such as increasing root diameter, tissue density or shoot to root ratio. On the other hand, supporting fast‐growing exploitative species characterized by high specific leaf area and nitrogen content typically leads to trade‐offs between fodder quality and water purification. Synthesis and applications. By applying network analysis, we found five groups of ecosystem services sharing common functional traits. Within and among these groups, we identified trade‐offs among traits as well as among services and found options for synergies. These can be particularly useful in landscape planning, and when management aims focus on maintaining multifunctionality of ecosystems and maximizing corresponding ecosystem service delivery.

Functional trait diversity is a stronger predictor of multifunctionality than dominance: Evidence from an Afromontane forest in South Africa

Studies on how biodiversity influences ecosystem multifunctionality (EMF) help elucidate ecological mechanisms (e.g. niche complementarity and selection) underlying provision of multiple ecosystem services. While it is acknowledged that biodiversity contributes to EMF, the relative importance of functional traits diversity (niche complementarity) and dominance (selection effects) for EMF needs further investigation. To address this gap, we analysed how tree species diversity influences EMF, using data on species functional traits (specific wood density, specific leaf area and maximum plant height) and four ecosystem functions (carbon storage, habitat quality, forage provision and rockfall protection) in an Afromontane forest in South Africa. We tested the hypotheses that (i) trait diversity rather than dominance would link species richness to EMF; and (ii) diversity rather than species richness effects would increase with the level of EMF. For all possible scenarios of EMF indices, functional trait diversity metrics, especially functional divergence and functional richness correlated positively with EMF. On the other hand, functional dominance also influenced EMF, but played limited role in mediating EMF response to species richness, when compared with functional diversity. Results further revealed that total diversity effects, not species richness effect, generally increased with the level of EMF. In summary, we show that species richness does not fully capture the functional contribution of different species. Compared to dominance, trait diversity had significant advantage in explaining biodiversity-EMF relationship, stressing a greater role of niche complementarity as mechanism underpinning delivery of multiple functions. We argue that functional dominance reflects more the competitive dominance of traits and species within a given community and therefore is more likely to have greater effects on single functions than on multifunctionality.

Impacts of rural tourism-driven land use change on ecosystems services provision in Erhai Lake Basin, China

Tourism is an expanding activity worldwide, with vital implications for local economies but also for ecosystem management. Rural tourism in particular drives land use change, which results in ecosystem services provision being altered. We performed a comprehensive temporal and spatial assessment of the impact of tourism-driven land use change on ecosystem services and sought to identify tradeoffs between tourism income and provision of multiple ecosystem services in Erhai Lake Basin (ELB), China. The results show that constructed area in ELB, especially in the lakeside zone, increased strongly from 2000 to 2015 due to a tourism boom (in which tourism revenues increased 12-fold), at the expense of farmland, grassland, and forest. With these land changes, ecosystem services also changed greatly, to the detriment of ELB as a whole and especially the lakeside zone. By 2015, soil retention had decreased and nitrogen and soil export had increased, compared with the levels in 2000, while there was only a slight fluctuation in carbon storage and water yield. The nitrogen and soil exports are impairing water quality in Erhai Lake and causing severe environmental problems. This study provides empirical evidence of the important impact of tourism-driven land use change on provision of multiple ecosystem services. For environmentally friendly tourism in ELB and beyond, a form of sustainable tourism should be established. Tourism development and ecosystem services provision should be fully weighed up and considered in future tourism planning and land use management.

Lo que sabemos y no sabemos sobre los sistemas agroforestales tropicales y la provisión de múltiples servicios ecosistémicos. Una revisión

Ruiz-Agudelo, C.A., Hurtado Bustos, S.L., Carrillo Cortés, Y.P., Parrado Moreno, C.A. 2019. What we know and do not know about tropical agroforestry systems and multiple ecosystem services provision. A review. Ecosistemas 28(3):26-35. Doi.: 10.7818/ECOS.1697 The methods search for agriculture sustainability has led to a renewed interest in the ancestral practice of associating trees with the agroecosystem, known as agroforestry, and which is based on the benefit provided by trees to the farming system in which they are integrated, and their potential to provide multiple ecosystem services (ES). Based on a comprehensive literature review, a conceptual model is formulated to understand the relationships between tropical agroforestry systems, shade types, and ES provision (agricultural biomass, carbon capture and organic carbon in the soil, soil fertility and water regulation). We highlight key aspects that must be considered in the design and management of tropical agroecosystems, in addition to research gaps that should be addressed.

Improving the provision of ecosystem services from urban forest by integrating the species’ potential environmental functions in tree selecting process

Due to the fact that urban environments and population demands are evolving rapidly and species selection is inevitable, it is possible to gain substantial environmental benefit by implementing more effective urban tree planting programs, especially with the aim of increasing the upcoming provision of multiple ecosystem services (ES) through proper species selection. In this paper, we used a new approach to improve the potential of urban trees in optimizing more desirable environmental benefits. This was done by selecting the most appropriate tree species among a vast range of species based on their potential environmental function (both services and disservices) in Tabriz city, Iran. Also, three main planting scenarios (divided to six sub-scenarios) were developed so as to understand the long-term effectiveness of introducing the selected tree species in improving the environmental benefits (both urban forest structure and ES) in comparison with planting the existing tree species. The results indicate that regardless of the quantity of planting, the benefits of introducing the selected trees will be more than planting the existing species. Moreover, as the amount of the annual planting of the recommended species increases, so does the improvement in the projected tree characteristics and ES. This approach creates more opportunities which enable urban forest managers and policymakers to understand the importance of selecting the proper urban tree species when looking for a nature-based solution to promote the wellbeing of the urban population, to create more livable and ecologically sustainable cities and to mitigate urban environmental problems.

Mangrove Mapping and Above-Ground Biomass Change Detection using Satellite Images in Coastal Areas of Thai Binh Province, Vietnam

Mangroves are recognized as a highly valuable resource due to their provision of multiple ecosystem services. Therefore, mangrove ecosystems mapping and monitoring is a crucial objective, especially for tropical regions. Thai Binh province is one of the most important mangrove ecosystems in Vietnam. The mangrove ecosystem in this province has faced threats of deforestation from urban development, land reclamation, tourism activities, and natural disasters. Recently, to maintain the fundamental functions of the ecosystems, a large mangrove area was planted in Thai Binh. The aim of this research is to detect the change in the mangrove areas and to create an aboveground biomass map for mangrove forests in Thai Binh province. Landsat and Sentinel-2 satellite images from 1998 to 2018 were analysed using the supervised classification method to detect mangrove area change. Mangrove Above-ground Biomass (AGB) was estimated using linear regression between vegetation indices and field AGB survey. The accuracy assessment for the classified images of 1998, 2003 and 2007, 2013 and 2018 are 93%, 86%, 96%, 94% and 91% respectively with kappa of 0.8881, 0.7953, 0.9357, 0.9114 and 0.8761. The mangrove cover in the study area was estimated at 5874.93 ha in 1998. This figure decreased significantly to 4433.85 ha in 2007, before recovery began to take place in the study area, which was estimated at 6587.88 ha in 2018. In 1998, the average AGB in this study area was 22.57 ton/ha, and in 2018 it was 37.74 ton/ha with a standard error of 12.41 ton/ha and the root mean square error (RMSE) was ±12.08 ton/ha.