scholarly journals Disentangling the Multidimensional Relationship between Livestock Breeds and Ecosystem Services

Animals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 2548
Author(s):  
Elena Velado-Alonso ◽  
Antonio Gómez-Sal ◽  
Alberto Bernués ◽  
Daniel Martín-Collado
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Ecosystem Service ◽  
Service Provision ◽  
Farming System ◽  
Ecosystem Processes ◽  
Natural Factors ◽  
System Sustainability ◽  
Cultural Entities ◽  
Livestock System

There is an increasing interest in assessing livestock breed contributions to ecosystem services (ES) and including this knowledge in decision making. However, this task has been limited due to the complexity of the multidimensional relationship between livestock diversity and ecosystem services. In this work, we elaborate on the livestock breed characteristics central to developing a comprehensive approach to livestock breed inclusion in the ecosystem services framework. Thus, we explore the multidimensional nature of livestock breeds, i.e., as eco-cultural entities, biodiversity components, and drivers of livestock system heterogeneity and functioning. First, anthropogenic and natural factors have acted jointly to develop breeds as eco-cultural entities. This fact represents an opportunity to move toward farming system sustainability by Nature-Based Solutions and Nature’s Contribution to People paradigms. Second, livestock breeds are components of biodiversity, and as such, can be framed as goods, as final ecosystem services, and as regulators of ecosystem processes. Third, livestock breeds contribute to livestock system heterogeneity and resilience. By integrating these aspects, we might better understand how livestock breeds provide and modulate ecosystem service provision and, therefore, how to improve breed conservation and livestock policies toward farming system sustainability.

scholarly journals Modelling Hydrological Ecosystem Services – A state of the art model comparison

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Lüke ◽  
Jochen Hack
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Ecosystem Service ◽  
Service Provision ◽  
Input Data ◽  
Assessment Tool ◽  
Simulation Models ◽  
Service Models ◽  
Water Assessment ◽  
Soil And Water

Abstract. Different simulation models are used in science and practice in order to incorporate hydrological ecosystem services in decision-making processes. This contribution compares three simulation models, the Soil and Water Assessment Tool, a traditional hydrological model, and two ecosystem services models, the Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Trade-offs model and the Resource Investment Optimization System model. The three models are compared on a theoretical and conceptual basis as well in a comparative case study application. The application of the models to a study area in Nicaragua reveals that a practical benefit to apply these models for different questions in decision-making generally exists. However, modelling of hydrological ecosystem services is associated with a high application effort and requires input data that may not always be available. The degree of detail in temporal and spatial variability in ecosystem service provision is higher when using the Soil and Water Assessment Tool compared to the two ecosystem service models. In contrast, the ecosystem service models have lower requirements on input data and process knowledge. A relationship between service provision and beneficiaries is readily produced and can be visualized as a model output. The latter is especially useful for a practical decision-making context.

scholarly journals Comparing the Applicability of Commonly Used Hydrological Ecosystem Services Models for Integrated Decision-Support

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 346 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Lüke ◽  
Jochen Hack
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Ecosystem Service ◽  
Service Provision ◽  
Input Data ◽  
Assessment Tool ◽  
Simulation Models ◽  
Service Models ◽  
Water Assessment ◽  
Soil And Water

Different simulation models are used in science and practice in order to incorporate hydrological ecosystem services in decision-making processes. This contribution compares three simulation models, the Soil and Water Assessment Tool, a traditional hydrological model and two ecosystem services models, the Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Trade-offs model and the Resource Investment Optimization System model. The three models are compared on a theoretical and conceptual basis as well in a comparative case study application. The application of the models to a study area in Nicaragua reveals that a practical benefit to apply these models for different questions in decision-making generally exists. However, modelling of hydrological ecosystem services is associated with a high application effort and requires input data that may not always be available. The degree of detail in temporal and spatial variability in ecosystem service provision is higher when using the Soil and Water Assessment Tool compared to the two ecosystem service models. In contrast, the ecosystem service models have lower requirements on input data and process knowledge. A relationship between service provision and beneficiaries is readily produced and can be visualized as a model output. The visualization is especially useful for a practical decision-making context.

scholarly journals Facilitating spatially-explicit assessments of ecosystem service delivery to support land use planning

One Ecosystem ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dirk Vrebos ◽  
Jan Staes ◽  
Steven Broekx ◽  
Leo de Nocker ◽  
Karen Gabriels ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Land Use ◽  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Ecosystem Service ◽  
Assessment Tools ◽  
Spatially Explicit ◽  
Practical Implementation ◽  
Time Investment ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The Impact

Since the early 2000s, there have been substantial efforts to transform the concept of ecosystem services into practice. Spatial assessment tools are being developed to evaluate the impact of spatial planning on a wide range of ecosystem services. However, the actual implementation in decision-making remains limited. To improve implementation, tools that are tailored to local conditions can provide accurate, meaningful information. Instead of a generic and widely-applicable tool, we developed a regional, spatially-explicit tool (ECOPLAN-SE) to analyse the impact of changes in land use on the delivery of 18 ecosystem services in Flanders (Belgium). The tool incorporates ecosystem services relevant to policy-makers and managers and makes use of detailed local data and knowledge. By providing an easy-to-use tool, including the required spatial geodatasets, time investment and the learning curve remain limited for the user. With this tool, constraints to implement ecosystem service assessments in local decision-making are drastically reduced. We believe that region-specific decision support systems, like ECOPLAN-SE, are indispensable intermediates between the conceptual ecosystem service frameworks and the practical implementation in planning processes.

Environmental decision making and an ecosystems approach

2011 ◽  
Vol 35 (5) ◽  
pp. 671-680 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rob D. Fish
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Natural Resource Management ◽  
Service Provision ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Project Proposal ◽  
Stakeholder Values ◽  
Environmental Decision Making ◽  
Theoretical Design ◽  
Environmental Decision

This paper explores issues of theoretical design and application arising from ecosystem service based approaches to natural resource management. Conserving ecosystem services is now a key normative goal of environmental decision making, but the implications of embracing this concept are still little understood. In this paper I highlight two recurring and cross-cutting aspects of an ecosystems approach around which credible treatments of ecosystem services can be realized, not only in theory, but also in practice: first, the need to think ‘holistically’ about how any given project, proposal or plan would impact on service provision and human well-being; and, second, the need to manage ecosystem services in relation to wider stakeholder values, needs and priorities. While thinking about decision making from the perspective of ecosystem services is no panacea for sustainability, the paper points to a number of social science issues that interdisciplinary researchers could usefully address in these two contexts if they are to harness this concept in creative and critically engaged ways.

scholarly journals The effect of forest owner decision-making, climatic change and societal demands on land-use change and ecosystem service provision in Sweden

2017 ◽  
Vol 23 ◽  
pp. 174-208 ◽  
Author(s):  
Victor Blanco ◽  
Sascha Holzhauer ◽  
Calum Brown ◽  
Fredrik Lagergren ◽  
Gregor Vulturius ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Land Use ◽  
Land Use Change ◽  
Climatic Change ◽  
Ecosystem Service ◽  
Service Provision ◽  
Forest Owner

scholarly journals The influence of landscape context on the production of cultural ecosystem services

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kim Christie Zoeller ◽  
Georgina G. Gurney ◽  
Graeme S. Cumming
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Ecosystem Service ◽  
Service Provision ◽  
Species Recognition ◽  
Individual Species ◽  
Cultural Ecosystem Services ◽  
Multi Scale ◽  
Multi Level ◽  
Cultural Ecosystem Service ◽  
Biophysical Attributes

Abstract Context: Recent efforts to apply sustainability concepts to entire landscapes have seen increasing interest in approaches that connect socioeconomic and biophysical aspects of landscape change. Evaluating these connections through a cultural ecosystem services lens clarifies how different spatiotemporal scales and levels of organisation influence the production of cultural benefits. Currently, however, the effects of multi-level and multi-scale ecological variation on the production of cultural benefits have not yet been disentangled.Objectives: To quantify the amount of variation in cultural ecosystem service provision by birds to birders that is due to landscape-level attributes.Methods: We used data from 293 birding routes and 101 different birders in South African National Parks to explore the general relationships between birder responses to bird species and environmental conditions, bird-related observations, the biophysical attributes of the landscape and their effect on bird-related cultural benefits.Results: Biophysical attributes (particularly biome, vegetation type, and variance in elevation) significantly increased the percentage of variance explained in birder benefits from 57–65%, demonstrating that birder benefits are derived from multi-level (birds to ecosystems) and multi-scale (site to landscape) social and ecological interactions.Conclusions: Landscape attributes influence people’s perceptions of cultural ecosystem service provision by individual species. Recognition of the complex, localised and inextricable linkage of cultural ecosystem services to biophysical attributes can improve our understanding of the landscape characteristics that affect the supply and demand of cultural ecosystem services.

scholarly journals Devising Urban Biodiversity Habitat Provision Goals: Ecosystem Services Analysis

Forests ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 391 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maibritt Pedersen Zari
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Ecosystem Service ◽  
Service Provision ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Comparative Case Study ◽  
Urban Habitat ◽  
Urban Green ◽  
Analysis Methodology ◽  
Negative Environmental Impact

This paper employs a unique ecosystem services analysis methodology to evaluate how cities could support or generate ecosystem services. Ecosystem services analysis can provide quantifiable goals for urban ecological regeneration that are determined by the site-specific ecology and climate of an urban area. In this research, the ecosystem service of habitat provision is the key focus. The role of urban green space and urban forests is crucial within this. Setting ambitious targets for urban ecological performance and ecosystem services provision is of great importance due to the large negative environmental impact that cities currently have on ecosystems and, therefore, ecosystem service provision, and because healthier ecosystems enable humans to better adapt to climate change through creating potentials for increased resilience. A comparative case study analysing the ecosystem service of habitat provision in two existing urban environments with similar climates (Cfb according to the Köppen Climate Classification System) but in different parts of the world, namely Wellington, New Zealand and Curitiba, Brazil, was conducted to examine how the ecosystem services analysis concept can used to devise urban habitat provision goals. The paper concludes that, although achieving habitat provision goals derived from ecosystem services analysis in urban areas is likely to be difficult, determining quantitative site- and climate-specific staged goals could enable urban design professionals to increase the effectiveness of conservation and regeneration efforts in terms of ecosystem service provision from urban green and blue spaces.

scholarly journals Valuing Marine Ecosystems - Taking into account the value of ecosystem benefits in the Blue Economy

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melanie Austen ◽  
Peder Andersen ◽  
Claire Armstrong ◽  
Ralf Döring ◽  
Stephen Hynes ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Marine Environment ◽  
Ecosystem Service ◽  
Natural Capital ◽  
Marine Ecosystem ◽  
Ecosystem Valuation ◽  
Natural Capital Accounting ◽  
Support Policy ◽  
Marine Ecosystem Services

The main aim of this publication is to highlight the current thinking in ecosystem service valuation for the marine environment. Valuation of the benefits stemming from marine ecosystem services, including often unnoticed benefits to society, can help to assess the long-term sustainability of blue growth, support policy development and marine management decisions, and raise awareness of the importance of the marine environment to society and in the economy. Recommendations are made on how to incorporate outputs from valuation studies into the traditional analyses used in resource and environmental economics and into the European marine policy landscape and related management and decision making choices. The publication is primarily aimed at stakeholders interested in valuation of marine ecosystem services and natural capital accounting, spanning diverse roles from commissioning, managing, funding and coordinating, to developing, implementing, or advising on, marine ecosystem service and natural capital programmes. Such programmes will have strategic and policy drivers but their main purpose may vary from predominantly research driven science to provision of valuation data and reporting to legally-binding regulations or directives. The main focus is on European capabilities but set in a global context with the various actors spanning a variety of geographical scales from national to regional and European. Key stakeholder organizations include environmental or other agencies; marine research institutions, their researchers and operators; international and regional initiatives and programmes; national, regional and European policy makers and their advisors. It will also be of interest to the wider marine and maritime research and policy community. The publication recommends:1.Marine ecosystem valuation should be used to support policy making, regulation and management and decision making;2.The quality and availability of monetary and non-monetary valuation data should be improved and increased through research, development and implementation actions;3.The spatial and temporal dimensions of ecosystem valuation need to be mapped and their implications for policy and management decisions assessed;4.In order to strengthen the use and derivation of ecosystem service values to support policy, regulation and management, underpinning research and development actions should be undertaken:a.To improve understanding of the role of marine biodiversity and ecosystem processes in providing services and benefits;b.To improve modelling approaches to support ecosystem valuation and decision making;5.Systems to enable and use marine natural capital accounting and enhance the experimental ecosystem accounts should be further developed and implemented including:a. A natural capital portfolio approach utilising existing marine data sets and assessment results and addressing scale and aggregation as well as ecosystem degradation;b.Valuation methods for both ecosystem services and assets that can be standardised and are compatible with National Accounting;c.Payment for marine ecosystem services and other financing mechanisms to restore marine natural capital and improve its sustainable use.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document