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Urban ecosystems are the areas where built infrastructure covers a large proportion of the land surface but the main source of ecosystem services provision is the green infrastructure. This provision is very much dependent on the particular combination of green spaces such as parks or vegetation belts and paved areas such as buildings and streets....
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The EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2020 was a driving force behind spatially explicit quantifications of Ecosystem Services (ES) in Europe. In Portugal, the MAES initiative (ptMAES–Mapping and Assessment of Ecosystem and their Services) was conducted in 2014 to address Target 2 (Action 5) of the Strategy, namely mapping and assessing ecosystems, ecos...
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... The efforts during the national mapping under the MAES process resulted mainly in methodological publication which applicability in the real research is still to be proved. The limited number of research papers in high-ranked journals presenting results from the national mapping (the only exception is Nedkov et al. 2017) is clear evidence of the need for further development of these methodologies. Therefore, despite the undoubtable achievements during these 20 years ES research in the country is still a relatively new field that is still to be fully come of age. ...
The ecosystem services (ES) concept has established itself in recent years as the predominant paradigm for framing environmental research and policy-making. The EU Biodiversity Strategy to 2020 with its task for member countries to map and assess the state of ecosystems and their services has contributed vastly to the development of the ES studies in the European countries. Bulgaria was among the countries that made substantial progress in its implementation and the contribution of the geographers was of vital importance. This paper aims to provide an overview and analysis of the ES research in Bulgaria focusing on the contributions of the geographers and the spatial aspects of the studies. The information on the ES research was performed through a literature review by collecting all available published works that address the main objectives of the study. To systematize and characterize the content of the reviewed papers, a special database with a standard nomenclature was constructed. The findings from the review allowed us to identify both achievements and research gaps in the ES studies conducted by Bulgarian geographers. This enabled us to define the main research priorities of the coming years which can trace the future directions of ES research in the country. They include the development of the spatial aspects in the methodological frameworks for mapping and assessment of ES, better use of GIS-based tools for mapping ES alongside models’ integration, and improvement of the publication's quality and increase of the papers published in highly rated indexed journals.
... The same applies to geostatistical models that require large geospatial datasets (e.g., Cheung et al., 2021). On the other hand, an increasing body of literature in the fields of urban ecology and ecosystem services science examines the cooling service through indicators associated with land use (Derkzen et al., 2015;Farrugia et al., 2013;Larondelle & Haase, 2013;Nedkov et al., 2017; underlying the cooling dynamics, the effect of the morphological parameters of the buildings, and the daily or seasonal temperature variations, often by attributing a "cooling capacity" to a broadly defined land use type. ...
Understanding the cooling service provided by vegetation in cities is important to inform urban policy and planning. However, the performance of decision-support tools estimating heat mitigation for urban greening strategies is not systematically evaluated. Here, we develop a calibration algorithm and evaluate the performance of the Urban Cooling model developed within the open-source InVEST (Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs) software. The Urban Cooling model estimates air temperature reduction due to vegetation based on four predictors: shade provision, evapotranspiration, albedo, and building density and was designed for data-rich and data-scarce situations. We apply the calibration algorithm and evaluate the model in two case studies (Paris, France, and Minneapolis-St Paul, USA) by examining the spatial correlation between InVEST predictions and reference temperature data at 1-km horizontal resolution. In both case studies, model performance was high for nighttime air temperatures, which is an important indicator of human wellbeing. After calibration, we found a medium performance for surface temperatures during daytime but a low performance for daytime air temperatures in both case studies, which may be due to model and data limitations. We illustrate the model adequacy for urban planning by testing its ability to simulate a green infrastructure scenario in the Paris case study. The predicted air temperature change compared well with that of an alternative physics-based model (r2=0.55 and r2=0.85, for air daytime and nighttime temperatures, respectively). Finally, we discuss opportunities and challenges for the use of such parsimonious decision-support tools, highlighting their importance to mainstream ecosystem services information in urban planning.
... However, for a wide scope of users to get acquainted with this information, the stage of its presentation and delivery to stakeholders is also important. As evidenced by the results of many scientists (Nedkov et al., 2017;Bidolakh et al., 2023), assessment and mapping of ecosystem services provide valuable spatial information to support decision-making, planning activities, ensuring the sustainable development of urban ecosystems, climate regulation, and increasing environmental awareness of society. Displaying information about the ecosystem services of each tree and bush of the researched stands in the form of an electronic map using the application (Google MyMaps, 2023), according to the methodology described above, made it possible to provide open access for everyone and create conditions for a better understanding of the value of each plant and the volume of its individual ecosystem productivity (Fig. 6). ...
Researching the possibilities of using modern approaches and tools for evaluating the ecosystem services of green spaces is relevant and requires theoretical justification and applied research, especially in the context of the importance of ensuring the sustainable development of Ukraine. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to work out the procedure of quantitative and cost evaluation of ecosystem services of green spaces for public use and search for opportunities to present the received information to stakeholders. For this, an inventory of green spaces was carried out with the measurement of their biometric and sanitary indicators. For quantitative and cost assessment of the ecosystem functions of plantations and individual trees, the i-Tree Eco toolkit was used, and the Google My Maps application was used for their visualization. The conducted study helped obtain information about individual ecosystem functions of green spaces (reduction of pollutants, carbon absorption and sequestration, oxygen production volumes and regulation of surface water flows). As part of this utility, the annual ecosystem function for the absorption of 770 kilograms of harmful compounds (ozone, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, and particles of various sizes) was calculated, which is estimated at UAH 128,648,000 annually; reduction of air pollution by 7.43 metric tonnes of gross carbon sequestration (19 kg per 1 plant), with an estimated cost of UAH 41,028,000 and a reduction of water runoff by 684.9 cubic meters, which is estimated at UAH 47,042 of annual utility. Furthermore, as of the moment of the study, the researched green spaces retain carbon in their tissues, which creates an ecosystem benefit in the amount of UAH 1,493,009 thousand (€36,901). The highest indicators of ecosystem usefulness are inherent in park stands, while the trees and bushes of the central part of the city are more effective in absorbing pollutants. Trees capable of achieving significant biometric indicators in local conditions are characterized by greater ecosystem productivity. The conducted study creates conditions for better awareness of the ecosystem value of green spaces, but its popularization is also important. The practical value of the results also lies in the possibility of bringing them to authorities, enterprises, and organizations, activists and other stakeholders, which will create conditions for improving environmental awareness, promoting the security and protection of tree stands, improving management and making informed decisions in the field of green construction
... Other initiatives include the System of Environmental Economic Accounting (SEEA) from the United Nations (UN) (United Nations, 2020) and the ongoing work of the European Environment Agency (EEA). At the national and regional levels, there have been some studies assessing the condition of wetlands and forests in Greece (Hatziiordanou et al., 2019;Kokkoris et al., 2018), urban ecosystems in Bulgaria (Nedkov et al., 2017), and agroecosystems in Northern Germany (Rendon et al., 2020). Despite this ongoing research on ecosystem condition (or comparable concepts such as ecosystem health, state, quality), it is still necessary to explore the synergies and trade-offs between ecosystem condition and ecosystem services (Rendon et al., 2019). ...
Agriculture has been identified as one of the main drivers of environmental degradation in the European Union (EU). It can have negative impacts on air, water, soil and biodiversity. The condition of agroecosystems is affected by soil degradation, especially by soil erosion, which reduces agroecosystems’ capacity to provide essential ecosystem services. Therefore, it is necessary to explore synergies and trade-offs between pressures,
ecosystem condition and services to create relevant information for policy and decision-makers to implement sustainable response actions.
As part of the EU environmental policy, the Mapping and Assessment of Ecosystems and their Services (MAES) Working Group developed appropriate concepts to assess and link ecosystem condition and services. This study aims to test the indicators proposed by MAES to assess ecosystem condition and link it with the ecosystem services provision. For this, we applied a suggested operational framework developed in the context of the
Biodiversity Strategies 2020 and 2030 for the integrated assessment of agroecosystems and regulating ecosystem service control of erosion rates supply at European scale. We quantified and mapped indicators for ecosystem condition, environmental and anthropogenic pressures and soil erosion control. We explored the relationships
between the respective indicators and the capacity of agroecosystems to control soil erosion across the different Environmental Zones (EZ).
Our results indicate that, in general, European agroecosystems have a high capacity to control soil erosion with some variations within the EZ. Supply capacity is positively, negatively and not correlated with the various pressure and condition indicators. Management and climate indicators play a significant role in the assessment of
this service. These results highlight that conservational management practices are fundamental to reduce soil loss and improve agroecosystem condition. However, the design and implementation of such management practices must consider regional and local landscape characteristics, agricultural practices and the needs and opportunities
of stakeholders.
... The choice of a representative valuation indicator for cultural services is severely limited due to the lack of an established practice in Bulgaria for data collection regarding this class of services, either at the local or national level. Another important uncertainty is recognised in the assessments of soil organic carbon storage which is due to errors in soil density and rock fraction estimates, lack of data on organic carbon variability and missing or poorly quantified data for below-ground biomass and environmental control parameters, as well as more detailed information for above-ground biomass in different vegetation cover types (Nedkov et al., 2017). Markov, Nedkov (2016) reported about the limitation of the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE). ...
The overarching goal of this survey was to identify the challenges of ecosystem services assessment and mapping in Russian and Bulgarian mountain protected areas in the context of post-socialist transformations, new conservation paradigms and climate change. The Altai Mountains in Russia and the Rhodope Mountains in Bulgaria were selected as key mountain territories for comparison due to their similar characteristics: agriculture, forest exploitation, tourism activities, etc. Both in Bulgaria and in Russia, perceptions of the protected areas functioning have been changing, facilitated by global shifts. Thus, the concept of ecosystem services has now been actively introduced in nature and biodiversity conservation policies. Based on WDPA data the emergence of different types of protected areas in Russia and Bulgaria was determined. Key problems of assessment and mapping of ecosystem services in Russian and Bulgarian mountain protected areas were recognised, mainly related to the shortage and quality of baseline data. At the same time, there were also some specifics for the two countries due to their size and national legislation. Like many other mountainous regions in the world, the Rhodopes in Bulgaria and the Altai Mountains in Russia are flagships in the improvement of nature conservation strategies. These regions often participate in a variety of international conservation programmes and are constantly expanding the range of protected areas. It is generally accepted that the Altai Mountains and the Rhodopes are not only centres of biodiversity richness in their countries, but also hotspots of a variety of ecosystem services.
... Thanks to advances in geospatial technologies, UHI/SUHI maps based on the LCZ concept have been created for hundreds of cities around the world today. There are also examples of the application of the LCZ system in studies for which it was not originally intended (e.g., for mapping and assessment of urban ecosystem conditions and services [63] and urban ecohydrological studies [64]). ...
This article presents the results of the thermal survey of the capital of Bulgaria (Sofia)
carried out in August 2019, with the application of an unmanned aerial system (UAS). The study is
based on the concept of local climate zones (LCZs), taking into account the influence of the features
of land use/land cover and urban morphology on the urban climate. The basic spatial units used in
the study are presented in the form of a regular grid consisting of 3299 cells with sides of 250 × 250
m. A total of 13 types of LCZs were identified, of which LCZs 6, 5, 8, 4, D, and A form the largest
share. In the thermal imaging of the surface, a stratified sampling scheme was applied, which al-
lowed us to select 74 cells, which are interpreted as representative of all cells belonging to the cor-
responding LCZ in the urban space. The performed statistical analysis of the thermal data allowed
us to identify both the most thermally loaded zones (LCZs 9, 4, and 5) and the cells forming Urban
Cool Islands (mainly in LCZs D and C). The average surface temperature in Sofia during the study
period (in the time interval between 8:00 PM and 10:00 PM) was estimated at 20.9 °C, and between
the different zones it varied in the range 17.2–25.1 °C. The highest maximum values of LST (27.9–
30.6 °C) were registered in LCZ 4 and LCZ 5. The relation between the spatial structure of the urban
thermal patterns and urban surface characteristics was also analyzed. Regression analysis con-
firmed the hypothesis that as the proportion of green areas increases, surface temperatures decrease,
and, vice versa, as the proportion of built-up and impermeable areas increases, surface temperatures
increase. A heat load map (via applying a z-transformation to standardize the temperature values),
a map of the average surface temperature, and a map of the average intensity of the heat island on
the surface were generated in the GIS environment. The results of the study adequately reflect the
complex spatial model of the studied phenomenon, which gives grounds to conclude that the re-
search approach used is applicable to similar studies in other cities.
... Thanks to advances in geospatial technologies, UHI/SUHI maps based on the LCZ concept have been created for hundreds of cities around the world today. There are also examples of the application of the LCZ system in studies for which it was not originally intended (e.g., for mapping and assessment of urban ecosystem conditions and services [63] and urban ecohydrological studies [64]). ...
This article presents the results of the thermal survey of the capital of Bulgaria (Sofia) carried out in August 2019, with the application of an unmanned aerial system (UAS). The study is based on the concept of local climate zones (LCZs), taking into account the influence of the features of land use/land cover and urban morphology on the urban climate. The basic spatial units used in the study are presented in the form of a regular grid consisting of 3299 cells with sides of 250 × 250 m. A total of 13 types of LCZs were identified, of which LCZs 6, 5, 8, 4, D, and A form the largest share. In the thermal imaging of the surface, a stratified sampling scheme was applied, which allowed us to select 74 cells, which are interpreted as representative of all cells belonging to the corresponding LCZ in the urban space. The performed statistical analysis of the thermal data allowed us to identify both the most thermally loaded zones (LCZs 9, 4, and 5) and the cells forming Urban Cool Islands (mainly in LCZs D and C). The average surface temperature in Sofia during the study period (in the time interval between 8:00 PM and 10:00 PM) was estimated at 20.9 °C, and between the different zones it varied in the range 17.2–25.1 °C. The highest maximum values of LST (27.9–30.6 °C) were registered in LCZ 4 and LCZ 5. The relation between the spatial structure of the urban thermal patterns and urban surface characteristics was also analyzed. Regression analysis confirmed the hypothesis that as the proportion of green areas increases, surface temperatures decrease, and, vice versa, as the proportion of built-up and impermeable areas increases, surface temperatures increase. A heat load map (via applying a z-transformation to standardize the temperature values), a map of the average surface temperature, and a map of the average intensity of the heat island on the surface were generated in the GIS environment. The results of the study adequately reflect the complex spatial model of the studied phenomenon, which gives grounds to conclude that the research approach used is applicable to similar studies in other cities.
... In a number of studies, analyses took in ten or more cities at once, in one or more European countries, and some did not address all the cities in detail, but showed only general LCZ patterns. This was the situation for 42-100 cities in France [59][60][61], 235 cities in Bulgaria [62], from ten to a few dozen cities across Europe [52,[63][64][65][66]. Cities from those articles do not, therefore, appear in Figure 5. ...
... Furthermore, Bassett et al. [144] and Feng et al. [145] used urban surface information from the Birmingham region's administrative authority (UK) and from the Urban Atlas land-use types classified by the European Environmental Agency, to detect LCZs classes around BUCL (Birmingham urban climate laboratory) station locations. Nedkov et al. [63] employed the three-level MAES (mapping and assessment of ecosystems and their services) typology, where the third level included LCZ classes that contributed to more detailed spatial representation of the study area by applying GIS-based analyses and visual interpretation of orthophoto images. Using the combination of building and surface databases from France's national administration sources, such as the MApUCE project, BD TOPO, GENIUS, and INSEE, Gardes et al. [62] obtained detailed object and land-cover features in order to calculate the LCZ patterns of French cities. ...
In the light of climate change and burgeoning urbanization, heat loads in urban areas have
emerged as serious issues, affecting the well-being of the population and the environment. In response to a pressing need for more standardised and communicable research into urban climate, the concept of local climate zones (LCZs) has been created. This concept aims to define the morphological types of (urban) surface with respect to the formation of local climatic conditions, largely thermal. This systematic review paper analyses studies that have applied the concept of LCZs to European urban areas. The methodology utilized pre-determined keywords and five steps of literature selection. A total of 91 studies were found eligible for analysis. The results show that the concept of LCZs has been increasingly employed and become well established in European urban climate research. Dozens of measurements, satellite observations, and modelling outcomes have demonstrated the characteristic thermal responses of LCZs in European cities. However, a substantial number of the studies have concentrated on the methodological development of the classification process, generating a degree of inconsistency in the delineation of LCZs. Recent trends indicate an increasing prevalence of the accessible remote-sensing based approach over accurate GIS-based methods in the delineation of LCZs. In this context, applications of the concept in fine-scale modelling appear limited. Nevertheless, the concept of the LCZ has proven appropriate and valuable to the provision of metadata for urban stations, (surface) urban heat island analysis, and the assessment of outdoor thermal comfort and heat risk. Any further development of LCZ mapping appears to require a standardised objective approach that may be globally applicable.
... чрез възможностите за извличане на географска информация и данни от сателитни изображения, ГИС системите се развиват и използват широко като удобен инструмент за извършване на пространствени анализи (Гиков и др. 2016; Dimitrov et al. 2018;Nedkov et al. 2017). Особено широко е приложението на ГИС-базирани модели при оценката и картографирането на екосистемните услуги (Недков, 2018) и при рискови процеси в земеделски и горски територии (Русева 2002;маринов и др. ...
Необходимостта от систематизиране на информация, представянето на данни за природните ресурси и протичащите в тях процеси изисква използване и работа с различни техники и методи за анализ. Географските информационни системи (ГИС) намират широко приложение в съвременните изследвания като позволяват съхранение, обработка, анализ и пространствената
интерпретация на данни за процесите в ландшафта и явленията в околната среда. В настоящата работа е представено приложението на мулти-критериен анализ с помощта на софтуера ArcGIS за изследване на фактора за дължина и
наклон на склона - топографския индекс LS във водосбора на р. Стряма. Това е един от основните фактори, определящ потенциалния риск от ерозия. На база цифрови данни за релефа на местността и изчисление на LS-фактора, получените крайни резултати показват местата от водосбора на реката, на които е най-вероятно да се развият ерозионни процеси.
... Zhang et al. (2017), Ma et al. (2018) and Lei et al. (2019) conducted experiments at Chinese territory. Mureva et al. (2018) collected soil samples from South Africa, the study of Ghimire et al. (2019) Nedkov et al. (2016Nedkov et al. ( , 2017 also conducted research on carbon stocks and finally, Zhiyanski and coauthors (2015Zhiyanski and coauthors ( , 2016Zhiyanski and coauthors ( a,b, 2020 investigated the carbon pool in Western Rhodopes, Beklemeto and other key areas in the country. ...
The current study aims at examining soil organic carbon levels at the territory of Godech Municipality -one of the municipalities of Sofia Province, located in the western part of Bulgaria. The investigation includes information about some of the latest global studies, regarding soil organic carbon, including those, conducted on Bulgarian territory. Soil organic carbon plays a key role in overall carbon sequestration and it plays a key role for sustainable development. A basis of the study is the investigation of Hengl et al. (2017) who created a global soil grids at 250 m resolution. Their datasets consist of prediction data about carbon contents in g per kg at the following depths: 0 cm, 5 cm, 15 cm, 30 cm, 60 cm, 100 cm and 200 cm. This data is analyzed and developed for the purposes of the current study. Generally, soil organic carbon contents in Godech Municipality decrease from north to south, with the largest carbon pool in Berkvoska Mountain. There is an increase of carbon stocks from subsoil to topsoil, which is consistent with other results. The outcomes of the study prove to be successful and they can be applied in other investigations of this subject.
