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Mapping supply and demand of a provisioning ecosystem service across Europe
Abstract
Human welfare is dependent on the availability of ecosystem services (ESs). There is an urgent need to explore the balance between ES production and consumption areas to ensure the sustainable use of the natural capital. Here, we present a spatial accessibility analysis to explicitly evaluate the balance between ES supply and demand across Europe. We used a central food product (crop) as an example of provisioning ES, where transportation is required to satisfy the demand. Our results show large differences in a country’s ability to produce food in relation to its demand, leading to significant risks of over- and underproduction on a regional scale. An ecosystem’s capacity to provide services exceeded especially in the middle of Europe. The majority of the countries would benefit significantly by balancing the supply and demand at international level, even at close distances. Our results demonstrate how the situation in Europe can change if the international distribution of the food ES is prevented. By using a state-of-the-art accessibility method instead of commonly used overlay analysis, it is possible to identify where to invest in transportation and enhance natural capacity to respond to the possible changes in food production or the growing demand of food energy.
... Meanwhile, recently, growing attention has been paid to ecosystem service supply and demand mismatch [46][47][48]. Researchers tried to measure the changes in supply-demand of ecosystem services and the drivers [47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54]. Considerable progress was seen in the study of ecosystem services trade-offs, including trade-offs between any two ecosystem services [33,48,55] and trade-offs in supply-demand mismatch [48,51,56,57]. ...
... Researchers tried to measure the changes in supply-demand of ecosystem services and the drivers [47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54]. Considerable progress was seen in the study of ecosystem services trade-offs, including trade-offs between any two ecosystem services [33,48,55] and trade-offs in supply-demand mismatch [48,51,56,57]. However, little study has considered to adjust and improve the ecosystem services combining the changes in the demand and the trade-offs/synergies in ecosystem services, using land-change survey data. ...
... On the other hand, it was a good way of making better use of surplus FS in most areas of the city. Additionally, it required a construction of food transportation corridors and distribution stations [51,56,90]. However, in this dietary structure, CD increased a lot, especially in more developed area [99]. ...
Ecosystem services are characterized by region and scale, and contribute to human welfare. Taking Yantai city, a typical bay city in China, as the example, its three representative ecosystem services: food supply (FS), carbon sequestration (CS) and water yield (WY) were chosen as study targets. Based on analyzation of six different aspects of the supply and variation characteristic of demand, this study tried to propose advices for comprehensive improvement of ecosystem services for spatial optimization. The results showed that: (1) ecosystem services supply was strong in central and southern areas of Yantai, while the northern coastal areas were relatively weak; (2) synergistic relationships were found of FS-CS, FS-WY and CS-WY both in 2009 and 2015, with the strongest one for FS-WY. Additionally, in the synergistic relationships, each pair of ecosystem services was dominated by one ecosystem service; (3) most of the three pairs of synergistic relationships had the tendency to strengthen with larger scales; (4) four ecosystem demands changing areas were observed and comprehensive improvement suggestions for them were proposed. This work provides a new attempt to improve ecosystem services based on its supply-demand relationship, which will give a baseline reference for related studies in Yantai city, as well as other similar bay cities.
... Our results indicated that ecoregions across Europe provide ES at different levels, depending on the LULC composition. This matched the findings of previous studies [3][4][5]28,35]. In general, ecoregions focusing on intensive agricultural production are characterised by lower ES values than ecoregions with a high share of seminatural LULC types such as forest, shrubs, and wetlands. ...
... Furthermore, it has to be considered that the ES values used in this study refer to the potential ES supply, i.e., the capacity of ecosystems to provide ES [60]. Our maps, therefore, do not reflect the actual use (i.e., flow) of ES, which varies greatly within and across regions depending on individual management decisions, accessibility, and the demand for ES [31,33,35,78]. To support the development of sustainable management strategies across various management and decision levels, further studies should integrate the ES demand, as spatial mismatches between supply and demand require the transfer of ES from areas that provide ES to areas where beneficiaries of ES are located, and vice versa [35,36,78,89]. ...
... Our maps, therefore, do not reflect the actual use (i.e., flow) of ES, which varies greatly within and across regions depending on individual management decisions, accessibility, and the demand for ES [31,33,35,78]. To support the development of sustainable management strategies across various management and decision levels, further studies should integrate the ES demand, as spatial mismatches between supply and demand require the transfer of ES from areas that provide ES to areas where beneficiaries of ES are located, and vice versa [35,36,78,89]. ...
The growing pressure on society due to global change requires better integration of ecosystem services (ES) into decision-making. Despite a growing number of ES assessments, Europe-wide information on recent changes of multiple ES is still rare. This study aimed at analysing changes in ES values between 2000 and 2018 across Europe based on land use/land cover (LULC) distribution. We mapped 19 ES for 52 ecoregions and identified six major groups of ecoregions with similar LULC distribution and trends. Our results indicated that provisioning ES mainly increased in the forest-dominated region (G2), decreasing in the near-natural grassland region (G1), the region with agricultural mixed systems (G3), and the intensively-used steppic region (G6). Regulating ES slightly decreased in G1 and G6, but increased in G2 and the wetland-dominated region (G5). Cultural ES had generally low negative trends for most ecoregions. In addition, our results revealed ecoregions with differing trends in ES that could be related to specific socioeconomic developments. Our findings provide spatial and quantitative information that can be used for policy development at European national and regional levels—as well as for monitoring of ES.
... A positive ESDR indicates that supply exceeds demand. When ESDR > 0, supply exceeds demand; when ESDR = 0, the supply and demand of ecosystem services remain balanced; when ESDR < 0, supply exceeds demand [18,23]. ...
... Local indicators of spatial associations (LISA) are used to measure the spatial clustering and attribute correlations between neighboring spatial units [2,18,44]. In the context of analyzing the spatial correspondence between ES supply and demand, LISA can be used to visualize the spatial matching patterns of each ES. ...
The assessment of ecosystem service (ES) supply and demand is crucial for the sustainable development of dryland drainage basins. The natural ecosystems in the Kaidu-Kongque River Basin have experienced severe ecological degradation in recent years, and the ES supply and demand were contradicted due to water scarcity and excessive water utilization. In this paper, the supply–demand of five key ecosystem services were evaluated, and their spatial matching was also analyzed to provide total insights. The services assessed were food supply, water yield, carbon sequestration, habitat quality, and windbreak and sand fixation. We utilized various models, including InVEST, RWEQ, and GeoDa, to quantify and analyze the spatial and temporal patterns of ecosystem service supply and demand between 1990 and 2020. Our findings indicate that the supply and demand for all ecosystem services in the basin have increased over the last 30 years. However, the spatial distribution of supply and demand for each ecosystem service is not completely consistent. Except for windbreak and sand fixation, where supply exceeds demand, there is a spatial mismatch between supply and demand for each service. Furthermore, we observed a positive and synergistic correlation between the supply and demand of each ecosystem service, with water yield services being the dominant and limiting factor. The spatial correlation between the supply and demand of ecosystem services was dominated by “low supply—low demand”, “high supply—high demand” spatial matching, and “low supply—high demand” mismatch, which could explain the variation in water yield from upstream to downstream. Based on our findings, we recommend policies and recommendations for ecological conservation and sustainable development in the Kaidu-Kongque River Basin. The ES supply and demand will become more reliable by increasing water supplies in the middle and lower reaches of the basin. Our results provide illumination for the maintenance and sustainability of ecosystem services in arid regions.
... Here, the focus is on ES which are delivered or accessed either passively, via biophysical processes (e.g. airflow) or actively, as a result of human involvement (i.e. via water pipelines, through food transport etc.) (Ala-Hulkko et al. 2019). Individual actors can also play an important role in the ES flow dynamics by enabling or restricting the transport and access of ES in the first place (La Notte and Dalmazzone 2018). ...
... Matching ES supply and demand, based on conservation and sustainable use of ecosystems and their services, can help safeguard human well-being by avoiding unmet demands. Information and data from respective ES assessments (including the comprehensive and robust data provided by ecosystem and natural capital accounting following SEEA) that integrate ecological, social-cultural and economic value domains, provide the evidence base for appropriate public and private decision-making on relevant spatial and temporal scales -from local to global and from short-to long-term (Goldenberg et al. 2017, Ala-Hulkko et al. 2019, González-García et al. 2020, Vysna et al. 2021. ...
People require multiple ecosystem services (ES) to meet their basic needs and improve or
maintain their quality of life. In order to meet these needs, natural resources are exploited,
threatening biodiversity and increasing the pressure on the Earth's ecosystems.
Spatial-structural approaches are used to explain and visualise the spatial relationships and connections between areas that provide and benefit from ES. However, areas where the demand for these ES occurs are rarely considered in existing spatial approaches or equated with areas where people can use the benefits.
In order to highlight the differences between these two areas, we would like to introduce
the 'Service Demanding Area' (SDA) in an adapted spatial-structural approach.
This approach relates SDA to already familiar ES provision and use units, namely Service
Providing Areas (SPA), Service Connecting Areas (SCA) and Service Benefitting Areas (SBA) and can be used to schematically illustrate, understand and analyse the different forms of demand that can emerge.
A literature review was conducted to provide an overview of the spatial mapping of ES demand. Three issues arose that should be addressed to improve the assessment of ES demand: 1) The term ES demand is not used consistently. To avoid confusion, it is important to clarify how ES demand is understood and how it differs from the other components of the ES concept (e.g. ES supply, ES potential, ES flow); 2) It is important to consider that ES demand is multi-faceted and is generated on different geographical scales, including the full range of stakeholders' perceptions, needs and desires which broadens the picture of societal demand for ES; 3) Meaningful interpretations between ES supply and demand need to be available to inform decision-makers about interventions for reducing ES trade-offs and mismatches.
... Among them, spatial flow is crucial for understanding the supply and demand relationship of ES and the spatial connectivity between SPA and SBA (Wolff et al., 2015). The transportation of goods and services from SPAs to nonadjacent SBAs depends on spatial flow (Syrbe and Walz, 2012;Ala-Hulkko et al., 2019). Spatial flow provides spatial connections and paths for ES transportation between SPAs and SBAs that are spatially disconnected from each other (Bagstad et al., 2013;Villamagna et al., 2013;Serna-Chavez et al., 2014). ...
... For spatial flow, in the process of allocating ES demand from SBAs to SPAs, the flow quantity also exhibits a specific pattern under the influence of distance. For example, some studies have demonstrated that some ES delivered with spatial flows are distance dependent (Schirpke et al., 2014;Baró et al., 2016;Tardieu, 2017;Ala-Hulkko et al., 2019), presenting distance decay. ...
Co-urbanized areas around large cities in developing countries face the problem of spatial disconnection between supply and demand areas of ecosystem services (ES). To explore the reflection of human needs in the nonadjacent surrounding natural spaces and identify the response of the existing natural space system to the ES demand in terms of total amount and spatial distribution, a new method for ES demand mapping in co-urbanized areas was proposed. Based on the theory of the ES delivery chain, urban built-up areas are identified as service benefiting areas (SBAs) and the sources where demands are generated, natural spaces are regarded as service provision areas (SPAs) and the sinks and destinations where demands are satisfied, and ES spatial flow is considered as the delivery mechanism and ecological process that promotes the demand flow from sources to sinks. An indicator cluster composed of four multidimensional indicators, including flow quantity, flow boundary, flow direction and allocation mode along the distance, was used to characterize the spatial flow and represent the four key links in the technical path of allocating ES demand from built-up areas to natural spaces with spatial flow to intuitively reflect the spatial characteristics of human social demands projected in them. We quantified and mapped the distribution of three ES demands in builtup areas and surrounding natural spaces. In the former, the high-demand spaces are concentrated in the areas with high population density or high aging degree; while in the latter, the high-demand spaces are mainly adjacent to the built-up areas or the large-scale natural paces. By controlling the flow quantity, expanding the flow area, increasing the flow directions and improving the ES supply capacity of SPAs within a given distance, the high ES demands in the above spaces can be effectively regulated.
... Using the floating population grid data of tourist attractions, Baró et al. [31] calculated and mapped a demand index and evaluated the relationship between the ES capacity and demand. Additionally, Ala-Hulkko et al. [32] used populated areas as a yardstick to form a population grid measuring forest product demand in Europe. ...
... By doing so, they were not only able to portray the spatial pattern of the ES demand but, also, could evaluate the relationship between the ES capacity and demand. Ala-Hulkko et al. [32] also applied a population grid to measure the forest product's demand in Europe, and the population concentration area was used as a measure of such demand. Since the floating population data are purely quantitative, any comparison based on the data would be objective. ...
This study is aimed to compare the strengths and weaknesses of three approaches—analytic hierarchy process analysis, sentiment analysis, and floating population analysis—in estimating the social demands for local forest ecosystem services (ES) in South Korea: Gariwangsan and Yeoninsan. The results were as follows: First, the survey respondents of Gariwangsan and Yeoninsan believed that the cultural ES category was the most fundamental one that should be maintained, whereas they thought the supporting ES category needed the least maintenance. Second, both forests had a high frequency of sentiment words related to the cultural ES category, followed by the regulating ES category, such as air and water quality improvement. Third, the spatiotemporal distribution of the floating populations in both forests was concentrated in their valleys and mountainous areas, indicating the finer-scale demands for the cultural and regulating ES category. Fourth, the research shows the areas that are high in demand and those that are not; this result helps forest management. In conclusion, none of the three methodologies was superior to the other two, as they each captured distinct ES demands. To investigate ES demands in a multifaceted way, we suggest applying the three approaches in tandem.
... However, knowledge regarding ESF is inchoate due to the following two reasons. First, the term 'ESF' has been ambiguous and context-dependent across studies (Schirpke et al., 2019a,b), as it may refer to the actual use of ES (i.e., flow result or utility) (Burkhard et al., 2014;Schirpke et al., 2019a,b) or the flow paths of ES from supply to demand regions (Ala-Hulkko et al., 2019;Bagstad et al., 2019;Schirpke et al., 2019a,b). Combined with the above two definitions, in our study, we define ESF as the ES that flows from the supply area along specific paths to beneficiaries by natural or Fig. 1. ...
... These nodes connected with interruption edges should be the main areas of water resource replenishment. In addition to increasing supply, reducing consumption for freshwater service is another vital aspect of alleviating the shortage of freshwater resources (Ala-Hulkko et al., 2019). To cope with the contradiction between supply and demand of water resources, Yan'an city has implemented the strictest water resources management system since 2014 , and the main measures are to control the total amount of water use and improve the efficiency of water resources utilization (Ge et al., 2018). ...
Spatial mismatch often occurs between high-supply and high-demand regions of ecosystem services (ES), as human dwellings and workplaces are usually distant from natural ecosystems. In this regard, studies have increasingly focused on ecosystem service flows (ESF) from ecosystems to humans. However, current mapping methods for ESF are rarely able to visually display the flow relationships between supply and demand regions. Network models that commonly used for dealing with relational data show great potential in mapping ESF. Here, we demonstrated the effectiveness of the network model in mapping ESF by constructing a freshwater service flow network for the Yanhe watershed in China. We concluded that from 2000 to 2015 freshwater demand was approaching the limit of freshwater supply in the Yanhe watershed, with the freshwater demand continuously increasing. Due to the shortage of freshwater service, the deficit nodes and stop-flowing edges in the freshwater service flow network increased, and the network density decreased. These results can provide useful information to guide watershed freshwater resource management (e.g. optimizing the allocation of freshwater resources across the watershed and designing payment schemes for freshwater service) in the Yanhe watershed, particularly in a time of population growth, climate change, and threats of water scarcity. Finally, we pointed out that applications of the network model in ESF deserves more attention and further study and analyzed the wide applicability of the network model in mapping ESF and the possible future efforts in this field.
... At present, research on water security mainly focuses on the relationship between the supply and demand (Anand et al. 2018) and multi-factor coupling to evaluate the regional water security (Biggs et al. 2015;Fabiani et al. 2020). Abu-Zeid et al. (2003) evaluated the water security in various countries based on the supply-demand relationship of water resources. Gai and Zhai (2021) evaluated water security using multiple indicators, such as energy, food, economy, society, and management in 31 provinces in China. ...
Water resources are the foundation of human survival and development. Thus, it is essential to quantify the relationship between water supply and demand and assess water security to ensure sustainable use of water resources. In this study, we quantified the relationship between water supply and demand in the Yiluo River Basin (YRB) using the InVEST model, constructed a spatial flow model of water provision service at the sub-watershed scale, and analyzed the water security index (WSI) under static and dynamic conditions. Subsequently, we used geographic detectors to identify the explanatory power of the main influencing factors of the WSI. The results showed that (1) from 2005 to 2018, the water supply decreased continuously and the water demand first increased and then decreased in the YRB; (2) the spatial pattern of WSI showed that it was high in the southwest and low in the northeast, wherein the highest and lowest WSI values occurred in 2005 and 2018, respectively. From 2005 to 2018, the mean values of the static and dynamic WSI decreased from 0.77 to 0.60 and 1.56 to 1.20, respectively. (3) The precipitation factor from the supply dimension and the gross domestic product (GDP) factor from the demand dimension had the strongest explanatory power for the static WSI. For the dynamic WSI, the flow quantity of the water provision service flow had the strongest explanatory power. This study provided a reference for governments to formulate sustainable water resource management.
... Scholars have also gradually focused on the demand side of regional ESs [18]. Some scholars have selected ESs such as food supply [19] and water conservation [20], and calculated their supply and demand relationship, and then evaluate the level of regional ESs. Based on ESs assessment, some scholars will analyze its influencing factors. ...
Ecosystems offer a wide array of benefits to support human livelihoods and enhance quality of life. Quantitative evaluation of Ecosystem services (ESs) is crucial for achieving the goal of sustainable development. The Yellow River Basin has a large population, and there are contradictions and conflicts in ecological protection, resource utilization, and economic development, among which the downstream region is the most prominent. However, the ecosystem services selected in existing research are not comprehensive enough, and there are also few studies that further focus on the effects of urbanization on this basis. This paper calculated seven types of ESs based on the InVEST model and related methods, and then constructed a composite ecosystem service index (CESI), and studied its spatiotemporal evolution and response to urbanization indicators through bivariate spatial autocorrelation and spatial metrological models. We found that from 1990 to 2020, the CESI fluctuated and decreased with time, with a significant positive spatial correlation, but showed a weakening trend. There were differences in the evolution process of the spatial correlation between the CESI and population density, economic density, and land development degree, but ultimately the spatial correlation changed from positive to negative. In terms of spatial spillover effect, population density had a significant positive effect on the CESI, land development had a significant negative effect, and economic density had a weak spillover effect. This paper provides a certain reference basis for governments at all levels to formulate relevant strategies for environmental protection and economic development.
... Since 2000, research on ESs supply and demand has mainly focused on basic and applied research, including conceptual discussion [17], quantitative analysis on ESs supply and demand [18][19], ESs types and spatio-temporal evolution [4,20], reversibility trade-offs and synergies [12,21], supply-demand matching at different spatio-temporal scales [22][23] and the application of their research results [24]. Research methods include (1) expert assessment of supply and demand matrices [25]; (2) model calculation methods such as InVEST and ARIES models [21,26]; (3) ecological process simulation [27]; (4) data spatial overlay method [28][29]; (5) land use estimation [30][31]; (6) value equivalents [32][33]. As technology has improved, academic research on the supply and demand of ESs has grown even more prevalent, and there is a wide range of the research methods and types of ESs, but there is little applied research on the relationship between the supply and demand of ESs. ...
To achieve the best management of the ecosystem and sustainable socioeconomic development, it is crucial to clarify the matching relationship between the supply and demand of ecosystem services (ESs). Therefore, four types of ESs were chosen for the Hexi region in this study: food supply, carbon sequestration, water yield, windbreak and sand fixation. This study evaluated the supply-demand and matching relationships between various ecosystem services tapping into the InVEST model, the supply-demand ratio of ecosystem services, and the four-quadrant model. It also analyzed the supply-demand ratio of comprehensive ecosystem services and their cold and hot spots. The findings suggest that (1) the overall ESs supply showed an increasing trend, with a spatial pattern of “high in the southeast and low in the northwest”. The demand for food supply and carbon sequestration services has been increasing annually, while the demand for water production and wind and sand prevention services has been declining. The demand space is characterized by a layout similar to the distribution of population, production and living areas, and ecologically vulnerable areas; (2) From the perspective of quantity matching, with the exception of windbreak and sand fixation services which are in short supply, all others are in a state of oversupply. Regrading spatial matching, all ESs are primarily dominated by low-low spatial matching zones, with large areas concentrated in the northwest desert region; (3) The supply-demand ratio of overall ESs shows a fluctuating upward trend. The proportion of cold spots and sub-cold spots, which are mainly concentrated in the northwest region, accounts for more than 50%, while that of hot spots and sub-hot spots is relatively small and mainly appears in the Qilian Mountains of the southern region and a few oasis areas.
... In recent years, the focus has mainly been on the quantification and spatialization of the supply and demand of ecological system services, the balance between supply and demand, and the spatial distribution of supply and demand [19][20][21]. Among them, the quantification of ecological system service supply and demand mainly uses methods such as ecological process simulation, ecological value equivalent, land use estimation, expert assessment matrix, and ecological model [22,23]. Research on supply-demand balance often uses methods such as the ecological supply-demand ratio, demand rate, and supply-demand coordination degree. ...
Ecological security pattern construction is a fundamental approach to ensuring regional ecological security and enhancing human welfare. Taking Henan Province, a typical region of China’s main agricultural production area, as the study area, we use multi-source spatial data to calculate the high-value areas of ecosystem services and identify ecological source sites. On the basis of calculating the degree of land use development and GDP per land and population density to determine high-demand areas of the ecosystem, the ecological resistance surface coefficient is modified with nighttime lighting data, and the ecological corridor between the source site and the high-demand area is extracted using the minimum cumulative resistance model, so as to construct and optimize the regional ecological security pattern. The following results are presented. (1) The total area of ecological source sites in Henan Province is 3.02 × 104 km2, accounting for 18.12% of the total study area, which is concentrated in the mountainous areas of East Henan and South Henan. (2) The high-demand area of ecosystem services has a total area of 4.1 × 104 km2, accounting for 24.73% of the total study area, mainly concentrated in the central and eastern regions of Henan, with poor spatial matching of ecosystem service supply and demand. (3) The total length of ecological corridors is 1062.3 km, and the overall pattern forms the main corridor axes. The identification of ecological corridors focuses on the ecological demand space and puts forward suggestions for the optimization of the regional ecological security pattern based on it.
... Bukvareva et al. (2017) established a comprehensive index to evaluate the ES of air and water purification in Russia, which shows the practicability of this method in estimating inter-regional ES budgets. Ala-Hulkko et al. (2019) used spatial accessibility analysis to measure crop supply and demand in the European Union, considering cultivated land types and population density. Burkhard et al. (2012) developed an ES matrix model to calculate ES supply, demand, and overall budget, based on the potential impact of land use/cover change (LUCC) on ES and an expert scoring method. ...
Rapid economic development and human activities have severely affected ecosystem function. Analysis of the spatial distribution of areas of rapid urbanization is the basis for optimizing urban-ecological spatial design. This paper evaluated the spatial distribution of urbanization in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) region, and then quantified the ecosystem services (ES) budget in the region based on an ES supply and demand matrix. The results showed that (1) urbanization patterns in the BTH region were relatively stable from 2000 to 2015, with clear patterns of low levels of urbanization in the northwest and high levels in the southeast; (2) areas with positive ES budget values were found throughout the region, except in built-up areas, with high ES supply areas concentrated in the northwest, and high ES demand areas in the southeast; (3) at both the county and prefecture-city levels, urbanization had negative, positive, and negative correlations with ES supply, demand, and budget, respectively; (4) the coupling coordination degree (CCD) increased, with high CCD values in the southeast. Based on these results, policy recommendations include strengthening rational land-use planning and ecosystem management, promoting the coordinated development of the economy and ecological function, and coordinating the provision of production-life- ecological functions.
... Although the ability of food supply in the study area is continuously growing, there still exist the supply-demand risk of food supply in fast-growing regions such as Xi'an City because of the continuing population aggregation effect. As a result, the inter-regional exchange of food supply services between regions should be strengthened to form a food supply network with a certain degree of resilience to cope with the spatial mismatch between supply and demand in the face of emergencies (Ala-Hulkko et al. 2019). Overall, the supply-demand risk for soil conservation service in the study area is the lowest; however, from the trend of risk changes, there is still a possibility of supply-demand risk in the future, so urban development should be planned rationally and soil conservation measures should be strengthened. ...
The rapid development of society and economy in the post-industrial era has exacerbated the spatial matching contradiction between the demand of humans and the supply of the natural environment, while ecosystem service (ES) as a bridge linking nature and society, identifying and assessing its supply–demand risk, was beneficial to ecosystem management and promoted regional high-quality development. Based on the data of multi-source remote sensing and statistics, the supply and demand levels of four ESs, which contain food supply, carbon storage, soil conservation, and water yield in the main stem of the Weihe River in 2000, 2010, and 2020, were quantitatively measured. The spatial and temporal analysis of the supply, demand, and supply–demand ratio of each service was carried out using spatial mapping. The spatio-temporal pattern of the supply–demand risk was recognized by the method of spatial overlay, which means overlaying the supply and demand for material quality, ratio, trend, and the degree of trade-off coordination together between each service. The results showed that (1) the demand for water yield decreased slightly while the demand for food and the supply of carbon storage remained stable. In addition, the supply and demand of other services showed an upward trend. (2) The spatial distribution of the supply–demand ratio of each service shows “high in the south and low in the north” and “high in the east and low in the west,” among which the supply–demand ratio of carbon storage is decreasing. (3) The overall supply–demand risk of soil conservation in the study area is low with characteristics of small range and high degree, the risk distribution characteristics of the other services are high in the east and low in the west, and the risk is high in the city center and low around. Otherwise, the supply–demand risk of food supply showed a downward trend, the risk of carbon storage showed an upward trend, the risk of soil conservation remained stable, and the risk of water yield showed a significant downward trend. Based on static supply–demand risk identification, this study assesses supply–demand risk over two periods and analyzes the trend of supply–demand risk changes over time. It clarifies the extent and direction of supply–demand risk shifts, as well as provides improved theoretical support for ecosystem service management.
... Tradeoffs/synergies among ESs mainly come from two resources. The first is ESs intrinsically correlated with the same ecological process or those that benefit stakeholders, e.g., the photosynthesis process in vegetation growth would increase the carbon sequestration service but decrease water resources, resulting in the tradeoff between carbon sequestration and water yield (Zhou et al., 2017); crop production and recreational opportunity both aim to satisfy the demand of the same stakeholders (Stålhammar and Pedersen, 2017;Ala-Hulkko et al., 2019). The second is ESs externally impacted by the same socioecological factors, e.g., high elevation is beneficial for wind prevention and sand fixation but harmful for crop production, contributing to their tradeoff (Shi et al., 2009;Li and Wang, 2018). ...
The imbalance between the supply and demand of ecosystem services (ESs) is one of the main reasons for ecological degradation, which significantly impacts human well-being and ecological safety. Spatial heterogeneity of ES supply–demand, ES tradeoffs, and the socioecological environment calls for zoning management, while few studies have combined the above three aspects in dividing management zones and proposed strategies. Using the City Belt along the Yellow River in Ningxia in northwestern China as a case study, this study quantified the supply and demand for five key ESs (crop production, carbon sequestration, nutrient retention, sand fixation, and recreational opportunity), analyzed ES tradeoffs/synergies and bundles through correlation analysis and the self-organizing map (SOM) method, and investigated their socioecological driving mechanisms through a random forest model and the SOM method. Management zones were proposed and differentiated suggestions were provided through overlaying ES bundles and driver clusters. The results suggested that crop production, carbon sequestration, and nutrient retention mostly correlated to the same intrinsic ecological process, resulting in consistent synergies among these three ESs at both supply and demand sides. On the contrary, the variance in interactions between the two ESs of sand fixation and recreational opportunity and the other three ESs is due to the low similarity of their intrinsic ecological processes and external driving mechanisms. Fourteen socioecological factors could effectively explain the spatial heterogeneity of ES supply, demand, and match degree. Fourteen management zones with similar ecological problems and socioecological environments were delineated, and differentiated suggestions were provided for each zone. Adopting both ES characteristics and the socioecological environment into zoning management could effectively detect ecological problems and help to promote management suggestions in different socioecological contexts. This framework could offer new insights for integrating ESs into actual decision-making and ecosystem management.
... However, for their practical use in forestry and conservation policy, supportive studies are needed as a facilitator for policy decisions and meeting the goals of the MEA (Ash et al. 2010;Seppelt et al. 2011). To meet the MEA objectives and sustainably use the forest natural capital, it is necessary to strike a balance between ES production and consumption (Ala-Hulkko et al. 2019). According to Syrbe and Grunewald (2017), it is necessary to thoroughly analyze the demand for the ES to prevent the misuse of primary resources by large market players. ...
Ecosystem services are investigated from many perspectives, but there are very few studies comparing the perception of forest and demand for forest ecosystem services (FES) in a cross-cultural analysis. This study aims to map the demand for FES and find out the forest perception of forest visitors in both Czech and Chinese societies. Data were collected by structured questionnaire among three different groups of respondents ( n = 847) in six forest areas. The questions were focused on the demand for FES, expectations from the forest, preference for the visual form of the forest, and the willingness of forest visitors. Analysis demonstrates that the demand for some FES is related to geographical and cultural conditions. The results indicated that provisioning and regulation services are perceived as more important than cultural services. The differences by country were obvious in the cultural and provisioning services: Chinese demand more relaxing and meditation activities, whereas Czech demand mushroom picking. A significant outcome is a high demand of Chinese respondents for recreational facilities. Tree planting was rated as one of the most popular voluntary activity across the whole sample. Meanwhile, some findings point to an increasing pressure on forest ecosystems and their protection, which emerge due to the strong demand for recreational facilities. According to the findings, active involvement of forest visitors in various activities is recommended so that their appreciation of FES will constantly increase and to take into account the profile of visitors and incorporate them in forest management and planning in order to meet societal demand.
... Similarly, Maes et al. (2015) investigated how an expansion of the GI network across the EU would help to maintain ES level, estimating a need of about 20,000 km 2 of additional GI to maintain ES at 2010 levels: an increase of 2.2% in the share of GI area would be needed to face any additional percentage of artificial land. Ala-Hulkko et al. (2019) used combined network and mapping analysis to study the supply and demand of ES across Europe, showing an unbalanced distribution of ES supply and demand sites. Methodologies and results can help to identify where investments, both in terms of natural infrastructure, restoration and eventually transport, are more needed. ...
Significance Statement
Landscape fragmentation is increasingly undermining the capacity of ecosystems to provide services and benefits to humans. The development of a green infrastructure network can enhance the provision of ecosystem services connecting ecosystem features. We review and explore the concepts, methodologies, and applications that allow to analyse connectivity of green infrastructure networks and the role of spatial connectivity for supporting and maintaining ecosystem services. Together with connectivity, the quality, quantity, diversity, redundancy, and distances of ecosystem elements result to be important characteristics to support the provision of services. We report how spatial and connectivity-based methodologies (for example, network indices and spatial pattern analysis) can support characterisation and prioritization of green infrastructure networks for crucial interventions, both for preserving and restoring connection elements.
... Recently, several studies made a distinction between ES supply and demand ( [38,39]). Supply can be defined as the capacity of an ecosystem to provide ES within a certain timeframe, while demand can be described as the sum of all ecosystem goods and services currently consumed or used in a particular over a given time period ( [38,40]). The analysis of supply and demand of ES is important to assess the sustainability of ES provision. ...
Wetlands constitute important habitats that provide several ecosystem services (ES). Wetlands have been termed the kidneys of the world for their water purification services and contain 20–25% of total soil organic carbon. This paper is a review of published studies dealing with the ES of temperate wetlands. Wetlands are among the ecosystems with the most valuable ES, with regulating services being the most important for inland wetlands. While the number of articles on the ES of wetlands has increased exponentially over the past 10 years, more research is needed to achieve a methodological homogenisation in the quantification and valuation of the ES of wetlands. More attention should also be targeted to specific ES of wetlands, and for the geographical distribution of studies. It is also evident that ES have not been valued for some categories of wetlands, such as intermittent karst lakes (poljes/turloughs) which may require more bespoke methodologies to quantify certain aspects of their ES due to their unique annual flooding behaviour.
... Many frameworks for measuring the demand and flow of ES focus on social variables that influence ES provision (Olander et al., 2018;Quintas-Soriano et al., 2018;Spangenberg et al., 2014) investigate trade-offs between ES and conservation (Chianucci et al., 2018;Lang & Song, 2018;Moein et al., 2018), or categorize the world's ES potential on global, national, and municipal levels (Ala-Hulkko et al., 2019;Milheiras & Mace, 2019). Unfortunately, these methods of measurement and mapping remain inconsistent between studies, often relying on indirect indicators such as land cover (Burkhard et al., 2009) which overlooks significant beta diversity changes and other heterogeneity across a single habitat. ...
Despite the relevance of ecosystem services (ES) to society and modern ecological research, current methods of measurement and mapping remain inconsistent and often lack primary data in estimating and modeling ES. A key player in our understanding of ES and their measurements are plant functional traits—chemical and physical aspects of plants—which are often cited as one of the drivers of ecosystem processes and functions. In order to better quantify the ES–plant functional trait indicators, we outline existing evidence of this relationship and identify gaps between the best predicted ES and the most valued ES. This study offers an up‐to‐date review of plant functional traits' direct or indirect relationships with ecosystem service provision and discusses the quantitative evidence these traits might hold as indicators. With this review, we seek to (1) offer a current summary of the quantitative evidence on ecosystem service–plant functional trait relationships, (2) identify which traits have been used to successfully indicate ecosystem services, and (3) identify research gaps, and ecosystem services or traits that receive little attention or have weak criteria as indicators. In a comprehensive literature review of the 19 services that were searched for, genetic materials, medicine, and cultural services had no relevant plant functional trait indicators, while the remaining 16 services had a range of traits associated with them. We found that functional traits showed varying relationships to ES, with some depending on the ecosystem type they were found in, while others appeared to remain consistent across ecosystems and conditions. This indicates that there could exist a subset of traits that are “universal” indicators across all ecosystem types, while others are ecosystem dependent. Our review suggests the need for more research on less clearly defined ES (such as cultural, educational, and refugium services) both by more careful definitions to make quantitative measures more applicable, and through increased quantitative and qualitative studies to better understand the nature of ES indicators for these services. This summary shows how plant functional traits can quantitatively and reliably predict and provide details on a subset of ES.
... The capacity of cultivated fields (i.e. cropland) to provide agri-food products (Ala-Hulkko et al., 2019;Schröter et al., 2014) Human final consumption of food during a given reference period. ...
Quantifying and mapping trans‐boundary ecosystem service (ES) flows can help identify dependencies and responsibilities for promoting economic development and environmental sustainability between nations, but few studies have focused on ES flows beyond national boundaries.
Our case‐study region—Central Asia—hosts one of the largest dryland areas in the world, and this ecosystem is vulnerable to climate variability and anthropogenic impacts. Understanding ES supply, demand and flows is essential for supporting human wellbeing, livelihoods and economic development.
In this study, we mapped the supply, demand and flows of four ES including freshwater provision, food provision, carbon sequestration and cultural (recreation) services between the five Central Asian nations of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan for the year 2016. We quantified the spatial patterns in ES supply and demand at local and regional scales, driven by environmental heterogeneity and socio‐economic development, and revealed complex telecoupling of ES flows between nations. Kazakhstan provided the greatest amount of ES to other countries, especially food provision and carbon sequestration, while Uzbekistan was the biggest ES beneficiary, especially from freshwater and food provision services.
Our analysis of trans‐boundary ES flows helps to understand the complex telecoupling and rich interdependencies between people and nature between different countries. This information is essential for policy making to balance human and ecological needs, enhance the management of natural capital, and sustain ES provision in our metacoupled world.
A free Plain Language Summary can be found within the Supporting Information of this article.
... In general, the spatial mismatches between ES supply and demand are manifested in quantitative differences and spatial misalignment (Geijzendorffer et al., 2015), with related terms including budget (Burkhard et al., 2012), gap (Sun et al., 2020), and balance (Ala-Hulkko et al., 2019). Current research on ES supply-demand matching analysis ranges from local to global scales, among which the regional scales, including studies on watersheds (Meng et al., 2020), municipalities (González-García et al., 2020), and city agglomerations (Peng et al., 2020;Tao et al., 2018) have received the most attention. ...
Metropolitan environments have been confronted with green space configuration issues, which is reflected not only in quantitative deficits of resources, but also in spatial mismatches between ecosystem service (ES) supply and demand. Investigating on whether ES supply meets demand provides support for urban green space (UGS) planning and management. However, scientific spatial quantification methods for UGS-ES supply–demand matching status at fine scale remain insufficient, especially from a lack of practice on addressing extraterritorial effects in ES flows. Therefore, this research proposed a systematic framework for the fine-scale identification of mismatches and matches between UGS-ES supply and demand. Five UGS-ESs, i.e., cooling, air purification, noise reduction, landscape aesthetics, and outdoor recreation, were selected for a case study in the downtown area of Hangzhou, China. The framework comprised three key steps: (1) mapping UGS-ES supply and demand, (2) applying a demand-oriented geographically weighted regression (GWR) model to modify the spatial patterns of supply–demand matching degrees, and (3) identifying supply–demand mismatches and matches. The results showed that cooling and landscape aesthetics had the largest mismatched areas overall. Upon zoning by UGS social functions, commercial and public service lands had the largest the mismatches of cooling and outdoor recreation; residential areas had the largest mismatches of cooling and landscape aesthetics; yet few mismatches were found in public green spaces. UGSs in matched areas had more reasonable proportion of vegetation types and spatial configurations compared to the average. The comprehensive multiservice analysis of mismatches and matches helped identify priority areas and generate optimization suggestions based on trade-offs among ESs, vegetation types, and urban functions. This study demonstrates how fine-scale ES supply–demand matching analysis can support decision-making, thus promoting the integration of ES knowledge to achieve optimal UGS configurations in the future.
... Furthermore, it has to be noted that our results represent the potential ES supply weighted by socio-cultural preferences, that is, the capacity of ecosystems to provide ES independently of their actual use [80]. However, many studies indicated spatial mismatches between ES supply and ES demand, i.e., the demand exceeds the supply at the local or regional level, requiring the transfer of goods or the movement of people [19,52,85,86]. Such dynamics need to be taken into account in the development of sustainable management strategies, and our results should, therefore, be complemented with spatial information on ES demand [20,24]. ...
Mountain farming sustains human well-being by providing various ecosystem services (ES). In the last decades, socio-economic developments have led to worldwide changes in land-use/cover (LULC), but the related effects on ES have not been fully explored. This study aimed at assessing the impacts of the transformation of agricultural land on ES in the European Alps. We mapped 19 ES within the agriculturally used areas in the year 2000 and analyzed LULC changes by 2018. We compared eight regions with a similar development, regarding social–ecological characteristics, to outline contrasting trends. Our results indicate that the ES decreased most strongly in regions with a massive abandonment of mountain grassland, while ES in the ‘traditional agricultural region’ remained the most stable. In regions with an intensification of agriculture, together with urban sprawl, ES had the lowest values. Across all regions, a shift from ES that are typically associated with mountain farming towards forest-related ES occurred, due to forest regrowth. By relating differing trends in ES to social–ecological developments, we can discuss our findings regarding new landscapes and farming systems across the European Alps. Our quantitative and spatially explicit findings provide a valuable basis for policy development, from the regional to the international/EU level, and for adopting sustainable management strategies.
... When using actual human consumption to characterize the demand for ES, evaluation of supply and demand needs to be conducted using corresponding methods; therefore, there are certain restrictions on the choice of ES. Most studies of ES supply and demand to date have focused on water yield, carbon sequestration, cultural services, food supply, soil conservation, and particle reduction services (Ala-Hulkko et al., 2019;Chen et al., 2019aChen et al., , 2019bZhao et al., 2018), although a few have included services such as flood and heat regulation (Larondelle and Lauf, 2016;Wang et al., 2021a). In this study, the selection of ES is based on the following considerations. ...
Previous studies on the supply and demand of ecosystem services (ES) mainly focused on inter-annual changes, and no studies have explored the impact of demographic change on the ES supply and demand on fine-grained time scales. Thus, taking Shenzhen as an example, the status of ES supply and demand, as well as diurnal population changes and their impacts on cultural services were analyzed at different time periods using mobile phone signaling data, ecological supply-demand ratio (ESDR), Geo-Informatic Tupu, InVEST model and buffer zone. The results showed that the population declines successively on workdays, weekends and holidays, and that the daytime population is greater than the nighttime. Water yield services can basically meet the demand in terms of quantity and spatial distribution, however, carbon sequestration and cultural services showed the opposite results. The main type of ESDR changes in cultural services are the mutual conversion of deficit and balance, and these are concentrated in areas with high forest coverage and small populations, but frequent population changes. In addition, when the fixed population is too large, the use of time-varying population data will conceal the impact of demographic changes on ES supply and demand, and other data are needed for auxiliary analysis. Overall, this study provides a new research perspective for the ES supply and demand and can provide a theoretical basis for refined sustainable urban management.
... Step Floating Catchment Area (E2SFCA) -method, which is developed in the field of health geography (Luo & Wang 2003), but is appicalble to measure spatial (mis)match of supply and demand of food (Ala-Hulkko et al. 2019). The method is a special case of a gravity model and is easy to use, interpret and understand as it measures accessibility in two steps by considering both supply and demand. ...
... We selected the following seven indicators for mapping the supply for ESs according to the study of MEA [6]. They are selected from three dimensions of provision services, regulating and supporting services, and cultural services: (1) Provision services indicators include fresh water supply, which is a significant function of green spaces in a city with mountains and water [35,36,48]. (2) Regulating and supporting services include water regulation, water purification, carbon cycling, air purification, and temperature regulation. ...
Objective measurement of the supply–demand of ecosystem services (ESs) has received increasing attention from recent studies. It reflects the relationship between green spaces and human society. However, these studies rarely assess the mountainous cities. To fill this gap, this study takes a typical mountainous city as a research case to reveal the supply–demand relationship of ecosystem services, then development and management strategies are proposed for different districts according to their spatial differentiation characteristics. Results shows that: (1) there are differences of ESs supply between each district, and supply from Banan District is significantly higher than others. (2) The demands for ES also vary widely, which are higher in the core urban areas. (3) There are different degrees of imbalance between supply and demand in each district. We classified green spaces into four types based on their supply–demand characteristics, and optimization strategies are proposed. We found that most of the districts are lack of ES supply while there is a relatively high demand for ES in Chongqing, and the balance of supply and demand between different districts varies greatly. Our study indicates that targeted urban green spaces strategies for different districts must be considered to adequately optimize ES in mountainous cities.
... Most studies have assessed the actual amount of ecosystem services eventually consumed by humans, which does not capture the flow path in the space, especially the food flows. Ala-Hulkko et al. (2019) applied an enhanced two-step floating catchment area (E2SFCA) model to evaluate the food accessibility score of different countries across Europe, however, the study did not assess food imports and exports between the countries across Europe. In addition to this perspective, food is essential for human beings, but agriculture is easily affected by emergencies (novel corona virus), climate change (drought and flood), and disasters (locust plague). ...
Ecosystem service flows are a research topic of significant interest, and exploring this topic may mitigate the shortcomings related to the spatial mismatches between supply and demand in the current ecosystem services studies. The Pearl River Delta (PRD) experiences a serious spatial mismatch in ecosystem services in particular the food supply, between the supply areas (hilly areas) and demand areas (central areas). Therefore, this study focused on the PRD as a case study to analyze change trends of food supply-demand ratio (FSDR) at city level, and depict the spatial flow path within and between cities from the perspective of ecosystem service flow with different threshold distance, using an enhanced two-step floating catchment area accessibility method. The results showed that the food demand significantly exceeded the supply, the budget was 3.58 million tons and FSDR was 0.49 in 2015. There were large discrepancies in the FSDR at the city level before and after when considering the ecosystem service flows. The FSDR of cities in the central areas increased 0.1%–30%, due to the ecosystem service flow from the low hilly areas. As delivery distances increased, the size of food flow decreased within cities and increased among cities. This led to a significant decline in the population living in severe undersupplied areas (FSDR＜0.1) and oversupplied areas (FSDR＞1), and an increase in undersupplied areas (0.1＜FSDR＜0.9). Our findings indicate that local governments would benefit from enhancing connections between supply and demand areas to meet the food demand of big cities. This study offers a comprehensive and realistic understanding of the physical situation of ecosystem service consumption by human beings, and provides decision-making information for optimize land use allocation.
... The research focuses on mapping, relationship, and scaling of the ESs supply-demand. Ala-Hulkko et al. (2019) described the spatial balance between food supply and demand in Europe. Cui et al. (2019) evaluated the supply-demand relationship of ESs in Hulunbuir (Inner Mongolia) on local, township, and county scales. ...
Understanding the balance between supply and demand of ecosystem services (ESs) is helpful for sustainable urban management. However, the interactions among multiple ESs supplies and demands remain under‐researched, and ESs supply and demand spatial heterogeneity and correlation characteristics at the city level are rarely studied, especially in arid areas. To fill this gap, we established a comprehensive assessment framework of ESs supply and demand through integrating multi‐source remote sensing data, social economy and policy objectives. The ESs supply‐demand mismatches were revealed at the city level, and the spatial relationship between the ESs supply and demand was analyzed using spatial statistics. The results showed that: (1) The total quantity of supply and demand of food provision, carbon sequestration, PM10 removal and recreation services in Urumqi all showed that the demand was greater than the supply, the deficits being 16.10× 107 kcal/ha, 6.88 × 104 t/ha, 155.86 kg/ha and 697.26, respectively. (2) The supply and demand assessment of ESs showed spatial differences from the city center to the suburbs, which further indicated that there are neighborhood similarities between the supply and demand of ESs. (3) The matching types of ESs supply and demand present obvious spatial heterogeneity, which can be divided into four types: High‐High, High‐Low, Low‐High and Low‐Low. Due to rapid urban development in the inner city, the city center is dominated by Low‐High, while the urban‐rural ecotone is characterized by High‐Low due to the higher elevation and water resource advantages in the suburbs. Based on the analysis of the supply, demand and matching of ESs, economic development and sustainable management policies were proposed for different ecological spaces. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
... The ES supply and demand have different matching patterns at different spatial scales; thus, the relationship between ES supply and demand at different scales should be comprehensively analyzed [47]. Most of the existing studies on the spatial analysis of ES supply and demand are based on administrative units [48], ecosystems [49] or land use types [16], and they were conducted on a single scale. However, such large-scale studies are insufficient to fully reflect the internal heterogeneity of ES supply and demand. ...
Assessing the supply and demand of urban green space (UGS) ecosystem services (ESs) can provide relevant insights for urban planning. This study presents an analysis method for the spatial distribution of UGS ES supply and demand at administrative unit and 1-m grid scales and directly compares the matches of ES supply and demand in spatially explicit maps at two scales. Based on the analysis results at administrative unit scale, administrative units with an unbalanced UGS ES supply and demand were divided into three types: (Ⅰ) lack of green space; (Ⅱ) unreasonable green space structure; (Ⅲ) comprehensive, and different optimization schemes were put forward. According to the analysis results at 1-m scale, the regions with an unbalanced ES supply and demand of an administrative unit were divided into the following: (1) severe ES shortage area; (2) moderate ES shortage area; (3) mild ES shortage area, and the severe ES shortage area was taken as the UGS optimization area. We take the UGS within the 5th Ring Road of Beijing as an example and propose suggestions for optimizing the UGS pattern based on the evaluation of the supply and demand of UGS carbon sequestration services and purification services for particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter <2.5 µm (PM2.5). This study provides an easy-to-use evaluation method for the spatial distribution of UGS ES supply and demand and proposes different optimization suggestions for the unbalanced area, thus playing a role in UGS construction activities and green space structure optimization.
... Ecological lands have multiple functions, including providing food, regulating climate, reducing noise, beautifying the environment, and increasing leisure and entertainment spaces, which can affect housing prices by influencing residential well-being (Larondelle and Lauf, 2016). Specifically, the multifunctional services of ecological lands are of significant relevance for resident well-being through their availability, which includes accessibility and visibility (Bertram and Rehdanz, 2015;Siân de Bella et al., 2017;Liebelt et al., 2018;Ala-Hulkko et al., 2019). In addition, when entering into a housing transaction, people consider many housing welfares, such as comfortable living environment, and are not willing to compromise due to the longlasting effects of the housing transaction (Czembrowski, 2016), so housing prices are like an envelope of resident welfare, and those prices will change when the residential welfare changes (Yamagata et al., 2016). ...
This paper attempts to explore the spillover effects of ecological lands, including forest, grassland, wetland, and cultivated land, on housing prices. To this end, we test hypotheses from a spatial multilevel hedonic model in Wuhan, China. We find that forest size and wetland size has a linear positive spillover effect on urban housing prices, and a moderate grassland area and distance from wetland generates positive spillover effect on urban housing prices, while too much or poor grassland area and distance from wetland may not. Also, only cultivated land very proximity to urban residential areas may raise the housing prices, most of the cultivated land in our case may reduce the housing prices. This article contributes to the literature by integrating different ecological lands into the hedonic analysis based on spatial multilevel models and deepens the relationship between the accessibility and visibility of ecological lands and housing prices. This result implies that demand for the forest, grassland, and wetlands can be well reflected in the housing market, while demand for cultivated land is less reflected in the housing market. Our findings urge policymakers to increase the effective supply of ecological lands through urban development planning and maintain the continuous supply of existing ecological lands by implementing market, differential ecological protection mechanisms
... The movement of people has always been a fundamental part of societies and people have become increasingly dependent on transport systems to support a wide variety of activities ranging from tourism and energy needs to final goodsso-called ES (Rodrigue, Comtois, & Slack, 2017). In the ES concept, human welfare is indisputably dependent on the availability of ecosystem services, and spatial accessibility measures the extent to which a land-use transport system enables people or ES goods to reach destinations by means of a particular transport mode(s) (Ala-Hulkko, Kotavaara, Alahuhta, Helle, & Hjort, 2016, Ala-Hulkko, Kotavaara, Alahuhta, & Hjort, 2019Geurs & Ritsema van Eck, 2001). The risk of exposure to ecosystem attributes perceived as unwanted or unpleasant could be mapped in detail at broader scales by using the accessibility approach. ...
Ecosystem services are fundamental to the well-being and health of people. Despite the growing awareness of the positive impacts of ecosystem services on human health, researchers have often ignored many ecosystem functions that are disadvantageous to humans. These negative facets of ecosystems are called ecosystem dis-services. The central focus of this study was to test the applicability of Geographic Information Systems-based spatial accessibility analysis in mapping the potential risk of ecosystem disservice at a national scale. We used tick exposure as an example of a disservice. Worldwide, ticks (genus Ixodes) are the primary vectors of several dangerous diseases which pose threats to people. As the probability of encountering infectious ticks has increased during the last decades, new spatial information on high-risk tick exposure areas are needed. To evaluate exposure risk, we developed a tick probability map based on tick observations and environmental variables in Finland. First, we analyzed what kind of threat ticks pose to populations in residential areas and around free-time residences. Second, we studied if the movement of people (here school children) in the everyday environment increased tick exposure risk. We calculated the shortest school route for all children by using spatial accessibility analysis. Our results showed that taking the movement of people into consideration through the accessibility analysis, we can get a more realistic picture of tick exposure risk. Further, we gained a better overview of the number of children at higher exposure risk. This kind of information is crucial for pre-assessment and identification of public health strategies for control and minimizing tick-borne diseases. In general, the accessibility approach provided a good overview of areas where the greatest tick exposure was present and produced valuable information to support decision-making. The method enabled new insights into the assessment of exposure to ecosystem disservices.
Understanding the relationship between the supply and demand for ecosystem services (ESs) is critical for ecological management and decision-making. However, it is unknown whether demand and supply for ESs vary in terms of time and space. In this study, the InVEST model was used to spatially quantify the supply and demand for ESs in the Taihu Lake Basin (TLB) between 2010 and 2020. We compared the difference in supply and demand for ESs at four spatial scales. We found that: (1) The high deficit areas are mainly located in densely populated towns in the eastern and central regions, while the high surplus areas are mainly located in forested areas in the southwest. From 2010 to 2020, the surplus area shrank while the deficit area expanded. (2) The comprehensive supply-demand ratio of ESs in the TLB decreased from −0.03 to −0.05, especially the contradiction between carbon sequestration service and heat regulation service. (3) The mismatch between supply and demand on a small scale will have an impact on the overall supply and demand, and expanding the scope can also help to alleviate the contradiction between supply and demand on a small scale. Therefore, we recommend that decision-makers and managers incorporate scale analysis into ecosystem management decisions, realize the balance between supply and demand through reasonable ecological protection and ecological restoration and strengthen the analysis of ecosystem service flows and stakeholders.
In the face of rapid urban densification, many cities have seen a decline in the extent of urban green spaces which are also the very landscape that provide a myriad of benefits for human well-being. This results in a mismatch between the ecosystem service supply from the urban natural landscape, and demand from the urban dwellers. While the mapping of ecosystem service supply and demand has been widely conducted for ecosystem service assessments, spatially explicit assessments of supply-demand balances and distributions are rarely explored in the urban context. Using Singapore as a case study, we mapped out the distribution of mismatches in six urban ecosystem services. In addition, we investigated the potential influence that a lived experience of ecosystem service supply-demand mismatch may have on residents’ perception towards the importance of ecosystem services. We found that the level of mismatch is predicted by proportion of unmanaged vegetation and distance to nature reserves. This is likely due to the distribution of unmanaged vegetation around the island state. Except for the noise abatement ecosystem service, we failed to find evidence of correlation between mismatch and Singaporeans’ perceived importance of ecosystem services, except in the case of noise abatement. This could potentially be influenced by the hyper-connectedness of Singapore’s landscape, allowing a locally unmet demand for ecosystem services to be fulfilled in a location with higher supply.
Urban forests can provide temperature regulation service (TRS) by lowering the local temperature and further mitigating the urban heat island effect. Numerous studies have focused on how to better realize or enhance the cooling function of urban forests, but have not considered that from the perspective of supply and demand. Here, we develop a framework to quantify the supply and demand of temperature regulation service provided by urban forests, using remote sensing, meteorological and socio-economic data. Taking Shenzhen city as a case study, we analyzed the spatial distribution of both TRS supply and demand as well as their relationship in Shenzhen. We found: 1) TRS supply varied greatly in space, with areas of high supply generally located in the southeast of Shenzhen, which is mainly covered by forests, and around the boundaries of administrative districts that are distant from the urban centers. 2) TRS demand had even more significant spatial heterogeneity, showing that high-demand areas were primarily distributed in the southwest but occupied a relatively small amount of land in Shenzhen. We then categorized the spatial relationship between TRS supply and demand into four types, and identified the hotspots of highly mismatched supply and demand of TRS. Targeted urban forests planning and management measures were further proposed for each type of region. This study provides spatial tools and insights for urban forests design and planning towards better urban heat mitigation and adaptation.
Landscape alterations and ecosystem services (ES) are crucial elements that affect the socio-ecological development of ecologically fragile regions. This study proposes an integrated assessment framework and method for assessing the supply–demand match and equilibrium of ES combining potential relationships between landscape alterations, ES, and sustainable development at the county and regional scales in the Loess Plateau from 1992 to 2015. Results show that more than 85% of local counties have a supply–demand mismatch in terms of ecosystem services. Supply–demand distributions for provisioning and supporting services were relatively balanced compared to cultural services, which were imbalanced. Although the overall supply–demand relationship is relatively balanced because of the significant influence of ecological restoration, it shows an increasing trend toward imbalance as human–land conflict is prominent in some regions. Sustainable development goals (SDGs) emphasize on specific ES information such as ecosystem conservation, sustainable agriculture, and urban construction. Positive impacts from landscape dynamics can improve the supply capacity of the ES and contribute to regional sustainability. Results of this study can serve as a reference to provide scientific support for the implementation of land use planning and regional ecological management and restoration to achieve SDGs in the Loess Plateau.
Accurately quantifying the spatiotemporal patterns in ecosystem service (ES)¹ supply and demand and their coupling coordination dynamics, as well as identifying the spatial heterogeneity of the influencing factors for coupling coordination degree are necessary for regional sustainable development. This study used the Ulansuhai Basin in Inner Mongolia Province of China as a case to quantify the supply, demand, and supply-demand ratio of ES (meat production, grain production, carbon storage, water yield, nitrogen purification, and phosphorus purification) from 2000 to 2020. The synthesized coefficient of ES supply (ESCI)² and demand (ESDI),³ the match degree of total supply and demand (MD),⁴ and the coupling coordination degree (CD)⁵ were taken as indices to explore the relationship between the ESCI and ESDI and the coordination relationships. A mixed effects model was used to determine the spatial heterogeneity response of CD to different influencing factors. The results showed that the total ES supply in the Ulansuhai Basin always met the demand. The area with the highest ESCI was always observed in the Urad Front Banner, while Linhe district had the highest ESDI. Although incoordination improved from mild to superior from 2000 to 2020 at the basin scale, significant spatial variations were observed at the county scale. In addition, the variation in CD was significantly correlated with population, followed by precipitation, and cropland area. The findings comprehensively explore the match and coordination between ES supply and demand, and the spatial heterogeneity of the effects of the influencing factors on CD. Our study can contribute to the formulation of future policies for regional ecological restoration and sustainable development.
Land use and land cover changes associated with urbanization have had a significant influence on ecosystem services (ESs), but previous studies have insufficiently focused on the relationships between ES supply and demand; these relationships are seldom considered in the science-policy frameworks of land use planning. In this study, a specific supply-demand indicator was constructed to measure ES supply and demand and their disparity across multiple scales in Jiangsu Province from 2000 to 2018. High spatial heterogeneity and mismatches of ES supply and demand were found in water yield, grain production, carbon sequestration, soil conservation, heat regulation, and recreation services. At provincial scale, the supplies of carbon sequestration and heat regulation services were smaller than their demands. At the 1-km 2 grid scale, the ES supply and demand mismatches in urban areas were more serious than those in surrounding areas, especially for carbon sequestration and recreation services. Five ES supply-demand risk zones were identified based on the current status and trends of all ES supply and demand. Southern Jiangsu generally had high risks of ES mismatch, which should be reduced by strategic planning. Constructing the ES supply-demand indicator is a novel practice that assists in evaluating environmental issues and integrating them into further development decisions. This paper suggests that governments should reduce ES mismatches with reference to local conditions (economic development, industrial type, and ecological carrying capacity) and the actual situation of ES supply and demand.
Provisioning ecosystem services play an important role in the development of regional economies. Traditional managements usually intensify the supply of provisioning services, without consideration of other services (e.g. cultural and supporting) and biodiversity. The objective of this chapter was to characterize main provisioning ecosystem services and potential biodiversity in different terrestrial ecosystems (native forests, shrublands and grasslands) of Santa Cruz Province (Southern Patagonia, Argentina) and to identify potential trade-off areas between provisioning ecosystem services and biodiversity conservation values. We found that non-forested areas exhibited higher supply of provisioning ecosystem services and biodiversity values than forested areas, where potential trade-off areas were located in humid steppes and shrublands. Particularly, in Nothofagus forests landscape, provisioning ecosystem services and biodiversity increased with forest cover, where N. antarctica forests type showed more potential trade-off areas than other Nothofagus forests type, while new potential protected areas were located when different forest types were combined (N. antarctica and N. pumilio). These results can be used by decision-makers to improve management and conservation strategies on private lands.
Context: Without clear understanding of the units used for ecosystem service (ES) mapping, ES assessment accuracy and the practical application of ES knowledge will be hampered. Method: We systematically reviewed 106 studies over the past 11 years to explore the type, characteristic pattern and deficiencies of mapping units. Result: We proposed that ES mapping units can be categorized into minimal unit for assessing ESs using corresponding indicators and methods, and aggregated unit for analysis and application based on research objectives, and classified the mapping units into five common types. Of the 12 characterizing variables of ES mapping studies, some have been shown to introduce a difference in the selection of mapping units and to exhibit characteristic patterns. We also found that the accuracy of ES assessments based on minimal units was lacking, and aggregated units were insufficient to establish a link between ES knowledge and practice. Conclusion: Herein, we propose possible solutions such as the use of fine spatial resolution grids and the introduction of additional data beyond land cover as supplements to improve the assessment accuracy. To enhance the availability of the results for practice, aggregated units connected with urban planning units should be established at a spatial level suitable for urban management.
Väitöstilaisuuden Lectio Praecursoria Oulun yliopisto 21.8.2020
Revealing the value of ecosystem services is a prerequisite for economic decision-making to maintain life-support functions, yet how to make the valuating process more universally and extensively applicable remains poorly defined. Herein, we developed a public appraisal method (PAM) to let ecosystem services be appraised by the public directly. Inspired by cultural relic identification, the PAM included four steps: categorize real services, build a virtual market, conduct the public appraisal, and produce a valuation list. Taking the Wuyishan forest ecosystem as a study case, we verified the effectiveness of PAM by comparing it with the traditional comprehensive method (TCM). The total value of ecosystem services assessed by PAM was ¥181.6 billion/year, compared with ¥222.3 billion/year for TCM. A new index, called environmental risk perception (ERP), was introduced. The ERP model was used to analyze the differences in the valuation results, as well as to improve the accuracy of PAM valuation. By building a virtual market for real services, we provide a simple valuation method that can be widely applied for value assessment and importance ranking of multiple ecosystem services.
Effectively conserving ecosystem services in order to maintain human wellbeing is a global need that requires an understanding of where ecosystem services are produced by ecosystems and where people benefit from these services. However, approaches to effectively identify key locations that have the capacity to supply ecosystem services and actually contribute to meeting human demand for those services are lacking at broad spatial scales. We developed new methods that integrate measures of the capacity of ecosystems to provide services with indicators of human demand and ability to access these services. We then identified important areas for three ecosystem services currently central to protected area management in Canada—carbon storage, freshwater, and nature-based recreation—and evaluated how these hotspots align with Canada’s current protected areas and resource development tenures. We find that locations of ecosystem service capacity overlap only weakly (27–36%) with actual service providing areas (incorporating human access and demand). Overlapping hotspots of provision for multiple ecosystem services are also extremely limited across Canada; only 1.2% (∼56 000 km ² ) of the total ecosystem service hotspot area in Canada consists of overlap between all three ecosystem services. Canada’s current protected area network also targets service capacity to a greater degree than provision. Finally, one-half to two-thirds of current ecosystem service hotspots (54–66%) overlap with current and planned resource extraction activities. Our analysis demonstrates how to identify areas where conservation and ecosystem service management actions should be focused to more effectively target ecosystem services to ensure that critical areas for ecosystem services that directly benefit people are conserved. Further development of these methods at national scales to assess ecosystem service capacity and demand and integrate this with conventional biodiversity and conservation planning information will help ensure that both biodiversity and ecosystem services are effectively safeguarded.
Ecosystem services (ES) are benefits that nature provides to humans for their survival and development; these have attracted extensive attention from academic, government, and non-governmental organizations. Based on land use and socioeconomic data, this study selected an urban agglomeration in China, the Pearl River Delta, and considered its urban and rural spatial gradients, landscape gradients, and corresponding urban development planning to determine five transects. The transects’ gradient difference characteristics of ES supply and demand within the region were then analyzed collectively and individually to uncover their effect mechanisms. We found that: (1) The ES supply function in the region has a distinct ring differentiation structure, which is gradually enhanced from the core area to the peripheral area. Shenzhen, Guangzhou, and Foshan have low concentrations of ES supply, while Jiangmen, Zhaoqing, Conghua district of Guangzhou, and Huizhou have high concentrations, forming an ecological barrier in the Pearl River Delta. (2) Among the ES classifications, regulating services is the most important function type, accounting for 50.87% of ES supply. (3) Within a city, from its center to the edge, ES value gradually increases from negative to positive until a new equilibrium state is reached. ES values between cities are more complex, with more areas of rise, fall, and stabilization. (4) Due to these cities having different urban development patterns, ES supply and demand are significantly negatively correlated. Additionally, because of the complex interaction and comprehensive influence of multiple factors, the spatial imbalance of ES supply and demand is relatively prominent.
This article provides an overview and results of the pilot national ecosystem services assessment in Slovakia. It follows the MAES process and past ecosystem services (ES) research in Slovakia and is based on original research methodology using spatial and statistical data. The initial step of national ES assessment resulted in the selection of significant ES for the evaluation process, where 18 ES in three groups were selected (five provisioning, 10 regulatory/maintenance and three cultural ES). An original assessment model provided the theoretical and methodological framework for national ES evaluation. The principal result is an assessment of the national landscape’s capacity for ES provision, based on evaluation of the landscape units and selected properties and indicators at the ecosystem level. These inputs included habitat types and watersheds, administrative units, natural topology, geology, soils, climate, water and biota. The ES capacity models were created and evaluated for each ES, for the main groups and, finally, for overall ES provision. The highest capacity to provide ES in Slovakia comes from natural and semi-natural ecosystems, mainly deciduous, mixed and coniferous forests which cover over 38% of Slovak territory. The water ecosystems and wetlands are also significant, followed by grasslands and permanent crops. The research highlights the crucial importance of the mountainous and sub-mountainous areas in Slovakia and confirms the significant contribution of the natural and semi-natural ecosystems for ensuring ES provision.
Objective measurement of the supply-demand of ecosystem services and sustainable ecosystem management has received increasing attention from the scientific community and the general public. This study explored changes in the supply-demand of ecosystem services and their natural and social driving mechanisms using spatial analysis methodologies as well as the relationship between the supply-demand of ecosystem services and environmental justice in coastal regions in China. In this study, the ecosystem service supply-demand index (ESSDI) was proposed based on the ecosystem services provision index and the land development index. Results indicated that although the imbalance in the supply-demand pattern of ecosystem services was serious, the spatial imbalance in the supply-demand pattern of ecosystem services improved from 2000 to 2015. Notwithstanding that the correlation coefficient between natural factors and ESSDI was higher, the development of the economy and the improvement of the quality of the population also had a substantial effect on ESSDI and the improvement of environmental quality. The spatial imbalance in ESSDI also caused serious environmental injustice as a result of differences in natural background, national policies, development gaps, trade, and industrial shifts. However, the implementation of some ecological compensation projects changed the spatial imbalance in ESSDI and relieved the environmental injustice. This research supports auxiliary decision-making for the sustainable management of regional ecosystems.
Changes in national and global food demand are commonly explained by population growth, dietary shifts, and food waste. Although nutrition sciences demonstrate that biophysical characteristics determine food requirements in individuals, and medical and demographic studies provide evidence for large shifts in height, weight, and age structure worldwide, the aggregated effects for food demand are poorly understood. Here, a type–cohort–time stock model is applied to analyze the combined effect of biophysical and demographic changes in the adult population of 186 countries between 1975–2014. The average global adult in 2014 was 14% heavier, 1.3% taller, 6.2% older, and had a 6.1% higher energy demand than the average adult in 1975. Across countries, individuals’ weight gains ranged between 6–33%, and energy needs increased between 0.9–16%. Noteworthy, some of the highest and lowest increases coexist within Africa and Asia, signaling the disparities between the countries of these regions. Globally, food energy increased by 129% during the studied period. Population growth contributed with 116%; weight and height gains accounted for 15%; meanwhile, the aging phenomenon counteracted the rise in energy needs by −2%. This net additional 13% demand corresponded to the needs of 286 million adults. Since the effect of biodemographic changes are cumulative, we can expect the observed inertia to extend into the future. This work shows that considering the evolving individual biophysical characteristics jointly with sociodemographic changes can contribute to more robust global resource and food security assessments. Commonly used static and homogenous caloric demand values per capita might lead to misrepresentations of actual needs. What previous analyses could have estimated as increased food availability, sufficiency, or surplus waste might actually be energy sequestered by the mass of the human lot. Based on the discovered trends, feeding nine billion people in 2050 will require significantly more total calories than feeding the same people today.
Ecosystem services (ESs) are influenced by use intensity. Arising disparities between supply and demand are often depending on spatial relationships. We propose to classify the spatial relations into six cases with regard to the relocation of resources to the affected groups of people. Based on these six cases, the paper also identifies the human contributions to service supply and transfer. The classification distinguishes between ‘local’ (supply and demand in the same area), ‘proximity’ (close natural transfer), ‘process’ (distant transfer by natural processes), ‘access’ (users can get to the ecosystem), ‘commodity’ (supply contributed and transfer carried out by market players), and ‘global’. For the several cases, specific scientific methods and different policy approaches are applicable. A crucial issue is how to deal with the actors who enable, maintain, and restrict ESs. Thus, considerations about landscape maintenance, conservation support, and private solutions are necessary. The contribution suggests a framework to analyse and improve the relationships concerned by uncovering mismatches between supply and demand. We use selected indicators to compare supply and demand in these relations. Four examples show the capability of the approach to limit the overuse of ecosystems and to maintain the according ESs.
This study addresses and conceptualizes the possible dependence of ecosystem services on prevailing air and/or water flow processes and conditions, and particularly on the trajectories and associated spatial reach of these flows in carrying services from supply to demand areas in the landscape. The present conceptualization considers and accounts for such flow-dependence in terms of potential and actually realized service supply and demand, which may generally differ and must therefore be distinguished due to and accounting for the prevailing conditions of service carrier flows. We here concretize and quantify such flow-dependence for a specific landscape case (the Stockholm region, Sweden) and for two examples of regulating ecosystem services: local climate regulation and storm water regulation. For these service and landscape examples, we identify, quantify and map key areas of potential and realized service supply and demand, based for the former (potential) on prevailing relatively static types of landscape conditions (such as land-cover/use, soil type and demographics), and for the latter (realized) on relevant carrier air and water flows. These first-order quantification examples constitute first steps towards further development of generally needed such flow-dependence assessments for various types of ecosystem services in different landscapes over the world.
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Goldenberg, R., Kalantari, Z., Cvetkovic, V., Mörtberg, U., Deal, B., Destouni, G., 2017. Distinction, quantification and mapping of potential and realized supply-demand of flow-dependent ecosystem services. Science of the Total Environment 593-594: 599-609.
The interest in disentangling the role of borders in international trade is growing even within
virtually borderless areas like the European Union. While there are a variety of research studies
measuring how borders affect trade, there is little insight into the impact of borders on the
potential accessibility to markets. The aim of this paper is twofold. First we provide a coherent
calibration of the impedance parameters affecting trade (border effect based on best official data
available and with a sound estimation of distance and the distance decay parameter with the use
of network-based measurements). The second objective is to ascertain to what extent the market
potential of different countries is hampered by the border effect. The analysis reveals that
calibrating distance decay and considering border effects provides more realistic results. These
results evidence that peripheral areas are more sensitive to the estimation of the distance decay
parameter, whilst the main metropolitan regions are less affected by both distance decay and
border effects. Finally, we present the decomposed market potential in a spillover-like matrix
showing those countries that have a diversified set of contributors to their market potential and
those where the number of contributors is limited
This study explored the utility of the impact response surface (IRS) approach for investigating model ensemble crop yield responses under a large range of changes in climate. IRSs of spring and winter wheat Triticum aestivum yields were constructed from a 26-member ensemble of process-based crop simulation models for sites in Finland, Germany and Spain across a latitudinal transect. The sensitivity of modelled yield to systematic increments of changes in temperature (−2 to +9°C) and precipitation (−50 to +50%) was tested by modifying values of baseline (1981 to 2010) daily weather, with CO2 concentration fixed at 360 ppm. The IRS approach offers an effective method of portraying model behaviour under changing climate as well as advantages for analysing, comparing and presenting results from multi-model ensemble simulations. Though individual model behaviour occasionally departed markedly from the average, ensemble median responses across sites and crop varieties indicated that yields decline with higher temperatures and decreased precipitation and increase with higher precipitation. Across the uncertainty ranges defined for the IRSs, yields were more sensitive to temperature than precipitation changes at the
Finnish site while sensitivities were mixed at the German and Spanish sites. Precipitation effects
diminished under higher temperature changes. While the bivariate and multi-model characteristics
of the analysis impose some limits to interpretation, the IRS approach nonetheless provides additional insights into sensitivities to inter-model and inter-annual variability. Taken together, these sensitivities may help to pinpoint processes such as heat stress, vernalisation or drought effects requiring refinement in future model development.
Ecosystem services mapping and modeling has focused more on supply than demand, until recently. Whereas the potential provision of economic benefits from ecosystems to people is often quantified through ecological production functions, the use of and demand for ecosystem services has received less attention, as have the spatial flows of services from ecosystems to people. However, new modeling approaches that map and quantify service-specific sources (ecosystem capacity to provide a service), sinks (biophysical or anthropogenic features that deplete or alter service flows), users (user locations and level of demand), and spatial flows can provide a more complete understanding of ecosystem services. Through a case study in Puget Sound, Washington State, USA, we quantify and differentiate between the theoretical or in situ provision of services, i.e., ecosystems' capacity to supply services, and their actual provision when accounting for the location of beneficiaries and the spatial connections that mediate service flows between people and ecosystems. Our analysis includes five ecosystem services: carbon sequestration and storage, riverine flood regulation, sediment regulation for reservoirs, open space proximity, and scenic viewsheds. Each ecosystem service is characterized by different beneficiary groups and means of service flow. Using the ARtificial Intelligence for Ecosystem Services (ARIES) methodology we map service supply, demand, and flow, extending on simpler approaches used by past studies to map service provision and use. With the exception of the carbon sequestration service, regions that actually provided services to people, i.e., connected to beneficiaries via flow paths, amounted to 16-66% of those theoretically capable of supplying services, i.e., all ecosystems across the landscape. These results offer a more complete understanding of the spatial dynamics of ecosystem services and their effects, and may provide a sounder basis for economic valuation and policy applications than studies that consider only theoretical service provision and/or use.
What can ecological science contribute to the sustainable management and conservation of the natural systems that underpin human well-being? Bridging the natural, physical and social sciences, this book shows how ecosystem ecology can inform the ecosystem services approach to environmental management. The authors recognise that ecosystems are rich in linkages between biophysical and social elements that generate powerful intrinsic dynamics. Unlike traditional reductionist approaches, the holistic perspective adopted here is able to explain the increasing range of scientific studies that have highlighted unexpected consequences of human activity, such as the lack of recovery of cod populations on the Grand Banks despite nearly two decades of fishery closures, or the degradation of Australia's fertile land through salt intrusion. Written primarily for researchers and graduate students in ecology and environmental management, it provides an accessible discussion of some of the most important aspects of ecosystem ecology and the potential relationships between them.
The high variety of ecosystem service categorisation systems, assessment frameworks, indicators, quantification methods and spatial localisation approaches allows scientists and decision makers to harness experience, data, methods and tools. On the other hand, this variety of concepts and disagreements among scientists hamper an integration of ecosystem services into contemporary environmental management and decision making. In this article, the current state of the art of ecosystem service science regarding spatial localisation, indication and quantification of multiple ecosystem service supply and demand is reviewed and discussed. Concepts and tables for regulating, provisioning and cultural ecosystem service definitions, distinguishing between ecosystem service potential supply (stocks), flows (real supply) and demands as well as related indicators for quantification are provided. Furthermore, spatial concepts of service providing units, benefiting areas, spatial relations, rivalry, spatial and temporal scales are elaborated. Finally, matrices linking CORINE land cover types to ecosystem service potentials, flows, demands and budget estimates are provided. The matrices show that ecosystem service potentials of landscapes differ from flows, especially for provisioning ecosystem services.
This is an ArcGIS Add-in tool (versions 10.1/10.2) that facilitates easy computation of Enhanced Two-Step Floating Catchment Area accessibility scores. It requires an ArcGIS network dataset, and two point feature classes/shapefiles that represent the service supply and demand points. These may have a service capacity and demand capacity identified within their attribute tables, and the points must have their corresponding network dataset locations pre-computed using the ArcGIS toolbox. Several forms of distance-decay parameters may be selected. The add-in also computes some additional accessibility scores including distance to nearest facility and number of facilities present within the FCA threshold distance/time that is specified. This tool is provided "as-is" without the offer of technical support and currently there is not an instruction manual (although hopefully the interface is reasonably intuitive). It has been programmed using ArcObjects/Visual Studio/VisualBasic.NET by Dr Mitchel Langford and Dr Richard Fry. Additional tool installation and usage guidance is available for download.
Spatial disconnections between locations where ecosystem services are produced and where they are used are common. To date most ecosystem service assessments have relied on static indicators of provision and often do not incorporate relations with the corresponding beneficiaries or benefiting areas. Most studies implicitly assume spatial and temporal connections between ecosystem service provision and beneficiaries, while the actual connections, i.e., ecosystem service flows, are poorly understood. In this paper, we present a generic framework to analyze the spatial connections between the ecosystem service provisioning and benefiting areas. We introduce an indicator that shows the proportion of benefiting areas supported by spatial ecosystem service flows from provisioning areas. We illustrate the application of the framework and indicator by using global maps of provisioning and benefitting areas for pollination services. We also illustrate our framework and indicator using water provision and climate regulation services, as they portray important differences in spatiotemporal scale and process of service flow. We also describe the possible application of the framework for other services and other scales of assessment. We highlight how, depending on the ecosystem service being studied, the spatial service flows between provisioning and benefiting areas can limit service delivery, thereby reducing the local value of ecosystem service supply.
Planetary stability must be integrated with United Nations targets to
fight poverty and secure human well-being, argue David Griggs and
colleagues.
Food waste in the global food supply chain is reviewed in relation to the prospects for feeding a population of nine billion by 2050. Different definitions of food waste with respect to the complexities of food supply chains (FSCs)are discussed. An international literature review found a dearth of data on food waste and estimates varied widely; those for post-harvest losses of grain in developing countries might be overestimated. As much of the post-harvest loss data for developing countries was collected over 30 years ago, current global losses cannot be quantified. A significant gap exists in the understanding of the food waste implications of the rapid development of 'BRIC' economies. The limited data suggest that losses are much higher at the immediate post-harvest stages in developing countries and higher for perishable foods across industrialized and developing economies alike. For affluent economies, post-consumer food waste accounts for the greatest overall losses. To supplement the fragmentary picture and to gain a forward view, interviews were conducted with international FSC experts. The analyses highlighted the scale of the problem, the scope for improved system efficiencies and the challenges of affecting behavioural change to reduce post-consumer waste in affluent populations.
A key challenge of ecosystem management is determining how to manage multiple ecosystem services across landscapes. Enhancing important provisioning ecosystem services, such as food and timber, often leads to tradeoffs between regulating and cultural ecosystem services, such as nutrient cycling, flood protection, and tourism. We developed a framework for analyzing the provision of multiple ecosystem services across landscapes and present an empirical demonstration of ecosystem service bundles, sets of services that appear together repeatedly. Ecosystem service bundles were identified by analyzing the spatial patterns of 12 ecosystem services in a mixed-use landscape consisting of 137 municipalities in Quebec, Canada. We identified six types of ecosystem service bundles and were able to link these bundles to areas on the landscape characterized by distinct social-ecological dynamics. Our results show landscape-scale tradeoffs between provisioning and almost all regulating and cultural ecosystem services, and they show that a greater diversity of ecosystem services is positively correlated with the provision of regulating ecosystem services. Ecosystem service-bundle analysis can identify areas on a landscape where ecosystem management has produced exceptionally desirable or undesirable sets of ecosystem services.
This paper presents an enhancement of the two-step floating catchment area (2SFCA) method for measuring spatial accessibility, addressing the problem of uniform access within the catchment by applying weights to different travel time zones to account for distance decay. The enhancement is proved to be another special case of the gravity model. When applying this enhanced 2SFCA (E2SFCA) to measure the spatial access to primary care physicians in a study area in northern Illinois, we find that it reveals spatial accessibility pattern that is more consistent with intuition and delineates more spatially explicit health professional shortage areas. It is easy to implement in GIS and straightforward to interpret.
The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) introduced a new framework for analyzing social-ecological systems that has had wide influence in the policy and scientific communities. Studies after the MA are taking up new challenges in the basic science needed to assess, project, and manage flows of ecosystem services and effects on human well-being. Yet, our ability to draw general conclusions remains limited by focus on discipline-bound sectors of the full social-ecological system. At the same time, some polices and practices intended to improve ecosystem services and human well-being are based on untested assumptions and sparse information. The people who are affected and those who provide resources are increasingly asking for evidence that interventions improve ecosystem services and human well-being. New research is needed that considers the full ensemble of processes and feedbacks, for a range of biophysical and social systems, to better understand and manage the dynamics of the relationship between humans and the ecosystems on which they rely. Such research will expand the capacity to address fundamental questions about complex social-ecological systems while evaluating assumptions of policies and practices intended to advance human well-being through improved ecosystem services.
This article synthesizes two GIS-based accessibility measures into one framework, and applies the methods to examining spatial accessibility to primary health care in the Chicago ten-county region. The floating catchment area (FCA) method defines the service area of physicians by a threshold travel time while accounting for the availability of physicians by their surrounded demands. The gravity-based method considers a nearby physician more accessible than a remote one and discounts a physician's availability by a gravity-based potential. The former is a special case of the latter. Based on the 2000 Census and primary care physician data, this research assesses the variation of spatial accessibility to primary care in the Chicago region, and analyzes the sensitivity of results by experimenting with ranges of threshold travel times in the FCA method and travel friction coefficients in the gravity model. The methods may be used to help the US Department of Health and Human Services and state health departments improve designation of Health Professional Shortage Areas.
Dispersal is one of the key mechanisms affecting the distribution of individuals, populations and communities in nature. Despite advances in the study of single species, it has been notoriously difficult to account for dispersal in multispecies metacommunities, where it potentially has strong effects on community structure beyond those of local environmental conditions. Dispersal should thus be directly integrated in both basic and applied research by using proxies. Here, we review the use of proxies in the current metacommunity research, suggest new proxies and discuss how proxies could be used in community modelling, particularly in freshwater systems. We suggest that while traditional proxies may still be useful, proxies formerly utilized in transport geography may provide useful novel insights into the structuring of biological communities in freshwater systems. We also suggest that understanding the utility of such proxies for dispersal in metacommunities is highly important for many applied fields, such as freshwater bioassessment, conservation planning and recolonization research in the context of restoration ecology. This is because these research fields have often ignored spatial dynamics, and focused mostly on local environmental conditions and changes therein. Yet, the conclusions of these applied studies may change considerably if dispersal is taken into account.
Two-step floating catchment area (2SFCA) techniques are popular for measuring potential geographical accessibility to health care services. This paper proposes methodological enhancements to increase the sophistication of the 2SFCA methodology by incorporating both public and private transport modes using dedicated network datasets. The proposed model yields separate accessibility scores for each modal group at each demand point to better reflect the differential accessibility levels experienced by each cohort. An empirical study of primary health care facilities in South Wales, UK, is used to illustrate the approach. Outcomes suggest the bus-riding cohort of each census tract experience much lower accessibility levels than those estimated by an undifferentiated (car-only) model. Car drivers' accessibility may also be misrepresented in an undifferentiated model because they potentially profit from the lower demand placed upon service provision points by bus riders. The ability to specify independent catchment sizes for each cohort in the multi-modal model allows aspects of preparedness to travel to be investigated.
Research on ecosystem services mapping and valuing has increased significantly in recent years. However, compared to provisioning and regulating services, cultural ecosystem services have not yet been fully integrated into operational frameworks. One reason for this is that transdisciplinarity is required to address the issue, since by definition cultural services (encompassing physical, intellectual, spiritual interactions with biota) need to be analysed from multiple perspectives (i.e. ecological, social, behavioural). A second reason is the lack of data for large-scale assessments, as detailed surveys are a main source of information. Among cultural ecosystem services, assessment of outdoor recreation can be based on a large pool of literature developed mostly in social and medical science, and landscape and ecology studies. This paper presents a methodology to include recreation in the conceptual framework for EU wide ecosystem assessments (Maes et al., 2013), which couples existing approaches for recreation management at country level with behavioural data derived from surveys and population distribution data. The proposed framework is based on three components: the ecosystem function (recreation potential), the adaptation of the Recreation Opportunity Spectrum framework to characterise the ecosystem service and the distribution of potential demand in the EU. Results show that 38% of the EU is characterised by a high outdoor recreation potential, which is easily accessible, and that such areas can host about 35.4% of potential demand for close-to-home trips (<8 km). This proportion increases to 37.6% for long distance travelling (<80 km). The analysis framework can be applied to quantify the availability of outdoor recreation potential as an ecosystem service to EU citizens, to describe through country profiles differences in ecosystem service provision at regional level, and can be used as an input to land use planning processes.
Despite recent interest, ecosystem services are not yet fully incorporated into private and public decisions about natural resource management. Cultural ecosystem services (CES) are among the most challenging of services to include because they comprise complex ecological and social properties and processes that make them difficult to measure, map or monetize. Like others, CES are vulnerable to landscape changes and unsustainable use. To date, the sustainability of services has not been adequately addressed and few studies have considered measures of service capacity and demand simultaneously. To facilitate sustainability assessments and management of CES, our study objectives were to (1) develop a spatially explicit framework for mapping the capacity of ecosystems to provide freshwater recreational fishing, an important cultural service, (2) map societal demand for freshwater recreational fishing based on license data and identify areas of potential overuse, and (3) demonstrate how maps of relative capacity and relative demand could be interfaced to estimate sustainability of a CES. We mapped freshwater recreational fishing capacity at the 12-digit hydrologic unit-scale in North Carolina and Virginia using a multi-indicator service framework incorporating biophysical and social landscape metrics and mapped demand based on fishing license data. Mapping of capacity revealed a gradual decrease in capacity eastward from the mountains to the coastal plain and that fishing demand was greatest in urban areas. When comparing standardized relative measures of capacity and demand for freshwater recreational fishing, we found that ranks of capacity exceeded ranks of demand in most hydrologic units, except in 17% of North Carolina and 5% of Virginia. Our GIS-based approach to view freshwater recreational fishing through an ecosystem service lens will enable scientists and managers to examine (1) biophysical and social factors that foster or diminish cultural ecosystem services delivery, (2) demand for cultural ecosystem services relative to their capacity, and (3) ecological pressures like potential overuse that affect service sustainability. Ultimately, we expect such analyses to inform decision-making for freshwater recreational fisheries and other cultural ecosystem services.
Recent ecosystem services research has highlighted the importance of spatial connectivity between ecosystems and their beneficiaries. Despite this need, a systematic approach to ecosystem service flow quantification has not yet emerged. In this article, we present such an approach, which we formalize as a class of agent-based models termed “Service Path Attribution Networks” (SPANs). These models, developed as part of the Artificial Intelligence for Ecosystem Services (ARIES) project, expand on ecosystem services classification terminology introduced by other authors. Conceptual elements needed to support flow modeling include a service's rivalness, its flow routing type (e.g., through hydrologic or transportation networks, lines of sight, or other approaches), and whether the benefit is supplied by an ecosystem's provision of a beneficial flow to people or by absorption of a detrimental flow before it reaches them. We describe our implementation of the SPAN framework for five ecosystem services and discuss how to generalize the approach to additional services. SPAN model outputs include maps of ecosystem service provision, use, depletion, and flows under theoretical, possible, actual, inaccessible, and blocked conditions. We highlight how these different ecosystem service flow maps could be used to support various types of decision making for conservation and resource management planning.
The ecosystem services approach is an established framework for the balanced evaluation of ecological, economic and social landscape resources. It promotes functional synergies (win–win situations) as well as trade-offs among various benefits resulting from ecosystem processes. Spatial aspects of heterogeneity and configuration play a major role in maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem services and hence in human wellbeing. Cultural artifacts also contribute to landscape functionality. Because of the underlying areal aspects, an additional term, landscape service has been proposed and is increasingly used (Termorshuizen and Opdam, 2009). We take a particular interest in spatial aspects of this framework and the optimization of trade-offs between landscape services.
Quantifying spatial accessibility in relation to the provision of rural health services has proven difficult. This article critically appraises the two-step floating catchment area (2SFCA) method, a recent solution for measuring primary care service accessibility across rural areas of Victoria, Australia. The 2SFCA method is demonstrated to have two fundamental shortcomings – specifically the use of only one catchment size for all populations, and secondly the assumption that proximity is undifferentiated within a catchment (especially problematic when the catchment is large). Despite its advantages over simple population-to-provider ratios, the 2SFCA method needs to be used with caution.
Among the main effects of human activities on the environment are land use and resulting land cover changes. Such changes impact the capacity of ecosystems to provide goods and services to the human society. This supply of multiple goods and services by nature should match the demands of the society, if self-sustaining human–environmental systems and a sustainable utilization of natural capital are to be achieved. To describe respective states and dynamics, appropriate indicators and data for their quantification, including quantitative and qualitative assessments, are needed. By linking land cover information from, e.g. remote sensing, land survey and GIS with data from monitoring, statistics, modeling or interviews, ecosystem service supply and demand can be assessed and transferred to different spatial and temporal scales. The results reveal patterns of human activities over time and space as well as the capacities of different ecosystems to provide ecosystem services under changing land use. Also the locations of respective demands for these services can be determined. As maps are powerful tools, they hold high potentials for visualization of complex phenomena. We present an easy-to-apply concept based on a matrix linking spatially explicit biophysical landscape units to ecological integrity, ecosystem service supply and demand. An exemplary application for energy supply and demand in a central German case study region and respective maps for the years 1990 and 2007 are presented. Based on these data, the concept for an appropriate quantification and related spatial visualization of ecosystem service supply and demand is elaborated and discussed.
Floods exert significant pressure on human societies. Assessments of an ecosystem's capacity to regulate and to prevent floods relative to human demands for flood regulating ecosystem services can provide important information for environmental management. In this study, the capacities of different ecosystems to regulate floods were assessed through investigations of water retention functions of the vegetation and soil cover. The use of the catchment based hydrologic model KINEROS and the GIS AGWA tool provided data about peak rivers’ flows and the capability of different land cover types to “capture” and regulate some parts of the water. Based on spatial land cover units originating from CORINE and further data sets, these regulating ecosystem services were quantified and mapped. Resulting maps show the ecosystems’ flood regulating service capacities in the case study area of the Malki Iskar river basin above the town of Etropole in the northern part of Bulgaria. There, the number of severe flood events causing significant damages in the settlements and infrastructure has been increasing during the last few years. Maps of demands for flood regulating ecosystem services in the study region were compiled based on a digital elevation model, land use information and accessibility data. Finally, the flood regulating ecosystem service supply and demand data were merged in order to produce a map showing regional supply-demand balances. The resulting map of flood regulation supply capacities shows that the Etropole municipality's area has relatively high capacities for flood regulation. Areas of high and very high relevant capacities cover about 34% of the study area. The flood regulation ecosystem service demand map shows that areas of low or no relevant demands far exceed the areas of high and very high demands, which comprise only 0.6% of the municipality's area. According to the flood regulation supply-demand balance map, areas of high relevant demands are located in places of low relevant supply capacities. The results show that the combination of data from different sources with hydrological modeling provides a suitable data base for the assessment of complex function–service–benefit relations.
Accessibility is a concept of continuing relevance in transportation research. A number of different measures of accessibility, defined as the potential to reach spatially dispersed opportunities, have been proposed in the literature, and used to address various substantive planning and policy questions. Our objective in this paper is to conduct a review of various commonly used measures of accessibility, with a particular view to clarifying their normative (i.e. prescriptive), as well as positive (i.e. descriptive) aspects. This is a distinction that has seldom been made in the literature and that helps to better understand the meaning of alternative ways to implement the concept of accessibility. Our discussion of the positive and normative aspects of accessibility measurements is illustrated using the city of Montreal, Canada, as a case study. The example highlights the differences in the measured levels of accessibility depending on implementation. Comparison of the two by means of a relative indicator of accessibility helps to identify the gap between desired (as normative defined) and actual (as revealed) accessibility levels.
