The Baltic Sea is essential for marine ecosystem services(MES)provision and the region’s socio-economic dy-namics.It is considered one of the busiest and most polluted regional seas in Europe.In recent years a collec...The Baltic Sea is essential for marine ecosystem services(MES)provision and the region’s socio-economic dy-namics.It is considered one of the busiest and most polluted regional seas in Europe.In recent years a collective effort in enforcing European and regional environmental policies and directives(e.g.Water Framework Direc-tive 2000/60/EC,2000;Marine Strategy Framework Directive 2008/56/EC,2008;Maritime Spatial Planning Directive 2014/89/EU,2014)has been carried out.Ecosystem Services assessment and mapping is integrated into these directives.An increasing number of scientific studies,projects,and other works were developed in this context,generating a vast body of knowledge.Despite all efforts to improve the Baltic Sea’s environmental status,the targets established were not fulfilled.It is also important to analyze if current methodological approaches for assessing and mapping MES are robust enough to provide the needed results.This perspective paper analyses the status of assessment and mapping methodologies.The results showed that most of the studies were focused on qualitative assessments,with limited validation and reliability.Although the number of robust and quantitative works is increasing,more are needed.It is vital to carry out quantitative assessments to inform decision-makers better and standardize MES practices across the Baltic Sea.展开更多
Background:Forests contribute to human wellbeing through the provision of important ecosystem services.Methods:In this study,we investigated how the perceived importance of ecosystem services may impact the overall ...Background:Forests contribute to human wellbeing through the provision of important ecosystem services.Methods:In this study,we investigated how the perceived importance of ecosystem services may impact the overall benefit provided by managed watersheds at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest over a 45-year period,using standardized measures of service capacity weighted by service importance weights derived from a survey of beneficiaries.Results:The capacity of watersheds to regulate water flow and quality was high in all watersheds throughout the study period,whereas cultural services such as scenic beauty declined after harvest.Impacts on greenhouse gas regulation depended on the efficiency with which harvested biomass was used.Surveys revealed that stakeholders placed high value on all ecosystem services,with regulating and cultural services seen as more important than provisioning services.When service metrics were weighted by survey responses and aggregated into a single measure,total service provision followed the same overall trend as greenhouse gas regulation.Where biomass use was less efficient in terms of greenhouse gas emissions,harvesting resulted in an overall "ecosystem service debt";where use was more efficient,this "ecosystem service debt" was reduced.Beneficiaries' educational backgrounds significantly affected overall assessment of service provision.Beneficiaries with college or university degrees incurred smaller "ecosystem service debts" and were less negatively affected by harvesting overall.Conclusions:This study highlights the importance of including empirical measures of beneficiary preference when attempting to quantify overall provision of ecosystem services to human beneficiaries over time.展开更多
Ecosystem services were defined as the conditions and processes through which natural ecosystems, and the species that make them up, sustain and fulfill human life. They include provisioning, regulating, cultural, and...Ecosystem services were defined as the conditions and processes through which natural ecosystems, and the species that make them up, sustain and fulfill human life. They include provisioning, regulating, cultural, and supporting services. These form the basis on which regional environmental reserves and development are assessed and for the valuation of ecosystem services. In this paper Hainan Island is used as an example to explore methods of regulating services based on the structure and processes of a natural ecosystem. Ecosystems were classified into 13 types: valley rain forest, mountainous rain forest, tropical monsoon forest, mountainous coppice forest, mountainous evergreen forest, tropical coniferous forest, shrubs, plantation, timber forest, windbreak forest, mangrove, savanna, and crop land. Regulating services and their economic values for Hainan Island ecosystems were assessed and evaluated in terms of water-holding, soil conservancy, nutrient cycle, C fixation and windbreak functions. The economic value of the regulating services in 2002 were estimated at 2035.88×10^8 to 2153.39×10^8 Chinese Yuan (CNY), which was eight times the value of provisioning services (wood and agricultural products), estimated at just 254.06×10^8 CNY. Our analyses imply that ecosystem regulating services play a very important role in the sustainable development of Hainan Island's society and economy.展开更多
基金“Lithuanian National Ecosystem Services Assessment and Mapping(LINESAM)”No.09.3.3-LMT-K-712-01-0104 is funded by the European Social Fund according to the activity“Improvement of researchers’qual-ification by implementing world-class R&D projects”of Measure No.09.3.3-LMT-K-712.
文摘The Baltic Sea is essential for marine ecosystem services(MES)provision and the region’s socio-economic dy-namics.It is considered one of the busiest and most polluted regional seas in Europe.In recent years a collective effort in enforcing European and regional environmental policies and directives(e.g.Water Framework Direc-tive 2000/60/EC,2000;Marine Strategy Framework Directive 2008/56/EC,2008;Maritime Spatial Planning Directive 2014/89/EU,2014)has been carried out.Ecosystem Services assessment and mapping is integrated into these directives.An increasing number of scientific studies,projects,and other works were developed in this context,generating a vast body of knowledge.Despite all efforts to improve the Baltic Sea’s environmental status,the targets established were not fulfilled.It is also important to analyze if current methodological approaches for assessing and mapping MES are robust enough to provide the needed results.This perspective paper analyses the status of assessment and mapping methodologies.The results showed that most of the studies were focused on qualitative assessments,with limited validation and reliability.Although the number of robust and quantitative works is increasing,more are needed.It is vital to carry out quantitative assessments to inform decision-makers better and standardize MES practices across the Baltic Sea.
基金support from the USDA Forest Service's Northeastern States Research Cooperative(NSRC)in collaboration with the Hubbard Brook Research Foundationthe Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies
文摘Background:Forests contribute to human wellbeing through the provision of important ecosystem services.Methods:In this study,we investigated how the perceived importance of ecosystem services may impact the overall benefit provided by managed watersheds at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest over a 45-year period,using standardized measures of service capacity weighted by service importance weights derived from a survey of beneficiaries.Results:The capacity of watersheds to regulate water flow and quality was high in all watersheds throughout the study period,whereas cultural services such as scenic beauty declined after harvest.Impacts on greenhouse gas regulation depended on the efficiency with which harvested biomass was used.Surveys revealed that stakeholders placed high value on all ecosystem services,with regulating and cultural services seen as more important than provisioning services.When service metrics were weighted by survey responses and aggregated into a single measure,total service provision followed the same overall trend as greenhouse gas regulation.Where biomass use was less efficient in terms of greenhouse gas emissions,harvesting resulted in an overall "ecosystem service debt";where use was more efficient,this "ecosystem service debt" was reduced.Beneficiaries' educational backgrounds significantly affected overall assessment of service provision.Beneficiaries with college or university degrees incurred smaller "ecosystem service debts" and were less negatively affected by harvesting overall.Conclusions:This study highlights the importance of including empirical measures of beneficiary preference when attempting to quantify overall provision of ecosystem services to human beneficiaries over time.
基金National Natural Science Foundation of China No.40635029
文摘Ecosystem services were defined as the conditions and processes through which natural ecosystems, and the species that make them up, sustain and fulfill human life. They include provisioning, regulating, cultural, and supporting services. These form the basis on which regional environmental reserves and development are assessed and for the valuation of ecosystem services. In this paper Hainan Island is used as an example to explore methods of regulating services based on the structure and processes of a natural ecosystem. Ecosystems were classified into 13 types: valley rain forest, mountainous rain forest, tropical monsoon forest, mountainous coppice forest, mountainous evergreen forest, tropical coniferous forest, shrubs, plantation, timber forest, windbreak forest, mangrove, savanna, and crop land. Regulating services and their economic values for Hainan Island ecosystems were assessed and evaluated in terms of water-holding, soil conservancy, nutrient cycle, C fixation and windbreak functions. The economic value of the regulating services in 2002 were estimated at 2035.88×10^8 to 2153.39×10^8 Chinese Yuan (CNY), which was eight times the value of provisioning services (wood and agricultural products), estimated at just 254.06×10^8 CNY. Our analyses imply that ecosystem regulating services play a very important role in the sustainable development of Hainan Island's society and economy.