Stoyan Nedkov

Quantifying and mapping ecosystem services

Since the publication of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment’s outcomes in 2005 (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment 2005), there has been rapid growth in the science and policy of valuing ecosystem services and biodiversity for natural resource management decision making. Most prominent at the global scale is The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (2010), and at the national scale is the United Kingdom National Ecosystem Assessment (Bateman et al. 2011). New initiatives, such as the World Bank’s Global Partnership for Wealth Accounting and Valuation of Ecosystem Services1 and the Global Environment Facility (GEF)-funded Project for Ecosystem Services2 aim to get ecosystem service values into mainstream national accounting. Other recent global developments such as the Intergovernmental science-policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services3 and the Convention on Biological Diversity’s Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011–20204 aim to recognise, protect and enhance the values provided to society by biodiversity and ecosystem services. The biodiversity strategy of the European Union (EU) to 20205 demands improving the knowledge of ecosystem services and commissions its member states to map and assess the state of ecosystems and their services in their national territories by 2014. The integration of ecosystem service values into accounting and reporting systems at EU and national levels is expected be completed by 2020. All such efforts to better value ecosystem services demand robust quantification and mapping methods. Furthermore, the commodification of ecosystem service production, such as payments for ecosystem services, biodiversity and wetland banking, carbon offsets and trading and conservation auctions, depends on robust measurement of the stocks and flow of services to provide surety to participants in these markets. At a broader level of sustainability policy, there needs to be better understanding of where and what services are provided by a given piece of land, landscape, region, state, continent and globally, so that the level of provision of services can be monitored and managed. There also needs to be better understanding of conditions and threats to the natural capital that supplies ecosystem services so that finite resources can be targeted to where the enhancement of services is needed most. Maps are a very powerful tool to process complex data and information from ecosystem service quantification on different spatial and temporal scales and thereby support resource and environmental management as well as landscape planning. This special issue on ‘Quantifying and mapping ecosystem services’ contains a collection of papers that present the state of the art in ecosystem service quantification and mapping methodologies. The collection of papers in this special issue covers a broad spectrum of ecosystem service quantification and mapping, from the theoretical (Bastian et al. 2012) and review (Martinez-Harms and Balvanera 2012) style, to those of a more applied nature (Ericksen et al. 2012; Klug et al. 2012). Several papers focus on the single ecosystem service of water quality (Bastian et al. 2012; Klug et al. 2012; La Notte et al. 2012; Lautenbach et al. 2012) or habitat (La Notte 2012; Rolf et al. 2012), while other papers focus on the supply of multiple (or bundles of) ecosystem services (Ericksen et al. 2012; Guerry et al. 2012; Petz and van Oudenhoven 2012; Schulp et al. 2012; Vihervaara et al. 2012). The major characteristics of the papers that appear in this special issue are summarised in Table 1. The scale, resolution, input data sources and case study locations presented in these special issue papers are many and varied, from the local to the global and the fine-grained to the coarse-grained (Table 1). However, of most interest to readers are the major findings of the papers in this collection and how they contribute to the state of the art for quantifying and mapping ecosystem services. For example, using biophysical models (La Notte et al. 2012) or detailed species (Rolf et al. 2012) or biodiversity data (Vihervaara et al. 2012) to supplement land-cover/landuse data-based assessments will more accurately quantify ecosystem services than if using land-cover/land-use data alone. The selection of relevant ecosystem services and respective indicators is also important and careful selection will arguably result in more relevant and accurate maps for valuation (La Notte 2012) and decision making (Petz and van Oudenhoven 2012). A number of papers offer some insights into cases where lack of data makes quantifying and mapping ecosystem services more difficult. For example, Lautenbach et al. (2012) suggest a hierarchical approach across multiple scales could be used where high-resolution data are fragmented, while Ericksen et al. (2012) demonstrate that simple and relatively coarse land-use data are still very useful for mapping bundles of ecosystem services to aid decision making in developing countries that are traditionally data poor. Furthermore, Klug et al. (2012) demonstrate the potential of open source methods for collecting data and modelling ecosystem services that are complex in space and time.

Quantification and Mapping of Flood Regulating Ecosystem Services in Different Watersheds – Case Studies in Bulgaria and Arizona, USA

There is great need for accurate and practical methods to assess the conditions of ecosystems, and the possible results of their interaction with social systems. The generation and interpretation of quantitative data for ecosystem service analysis is still not well established. Ecosystem service analyses demand an interdisciplinary approach that integrates knowledge with a high variety, and manifold verifications, of models and data. Maps seem to be the most preferable tool for the visualisation of results, being a comprehensive and intuitive tool for communication between decision makers and the general public. The following chapter presents an application and the verification of an approach for the quantification of flood regulating ecosystem services by using results from the watershed hydrological model KINEROS and the AGWA tool (Nedkov and Burkhard 2012). It is applied in six watersheds - three in Bulgaria and three in Arizona, USA, in order to check its reliability in case studies with differing geographic characteristics. The model results are used to define the capacities of the land cover classes in the different watersheds and to prepare flood regulating supply capacity maps. Capacities for flood regulation differ within the case studies and their land cover classes. Forests still show generally high capacities in both Bulgaria and Arizona, while grasslands and pastures in Bulgaria show higher capacities for flood regulation than in Arizona. The maps can provide valuable information for sustainable environmental management.

Mapping Carbon Storage Using Land Cover/Land Use Data in the Area of Beklemeto, Central Balkan

This chapter presents the results of land cover and carbon storage mapping in a study area located in the Central Balkan Mountains. WorldView-2 satellite images and ortophoto maps were used to define the land cover in the area. CORINE land cover classification at the fourth level was applied for the mapping. The carbon stock was determined using InVEST model, and results were validated with in situ data from eight experimental sites in different land use classes.

Quantifying, Modelling and Mapping Ecosystem Services in Watersheds

Quantifying, modelling and mapping ecosystem services is an important step to the application of ecosystem services in practice and decision making. Watersheds are functional entities that provide an appropriate spatial scale for water flow analysis and integrate all the processes that occur within their boundaries. Multiple ecosystem functions occur within watersheds, providing water-related ecosystem services such as freshwater provision, groundwater recharge, water purification and flood regulation. A matrix approach was applied, linking different land cover types within watersheds to different ecosystem functions and services. Supply capacities of different land cover types and respective changes over time were assessed. By applying the watershed-based hydrologic model KINEROS and the GIS based AGWA tool, water retention functions of different land cover classes in the Bulgarian case study areas Malki Iskar, Vidima and Yantra were assessed. Based on the modelling results, flood regulating ecosystem service supply capacities were quantified and mapped in the three watersheds. A digital elevation model, land cover information and accessibility data were used to compile maps of demands for flood regulating ecosystem services. Supply-demand budgets were calculated and mapped for the study areas using the flood regulation supply and demand maps. The results quantify and illustrate complex ecosystem function–service–benefit relations in watersheds. Comparable procedures and calculation algorithms can be applied for other ecosystem functions and services relevant on the watershed scale. The approach is transferable to other regions and can provide important information for integrated watershed management.

Cross-European landscape analyses: illustrative examples using existing spatial data

Thirty-nine landscape metrics related to (1) conditions of terrestrial habitat, water quality, and ecosystem productivity, (2) potential pressures on or stresses to environmental resources, and (3) changes in conditions, were generated

Applications of GIS-Based Hydrological Models in Mountain Areas in Bulgaria for Ecosystem Services Assessment: Issues and Advantages

The application of hydrological models for the assessment of ecosystem services provides multiple opportunities for their quantitative analysis. Furthermore, Geographic Information System (GIS)-based models provide the possibility for spatially explicit analyses of model outputs and their representation in maps. A broadly applied and freely available hydrological model is the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT). The tool for its application in ArcGIS is ArcSWAT. The application of the model in mountain areas in Bulgaria can provide better understanding of the supply of ecosystem services and especially the water-related services, considering the large landscape diversity and climate differences within mountain watersheds. Still, data characteristics and limitations in Bulgaria can be restrictive for the quality of the model outputs.

Landscape Structure and Ecosystem Services of Etropole Municipality

The chapter represents an approach to investigate the landscape structure at municipality level and the possibilities of using it for the valuation of the ecosystem services. Landscape differentiation of the area was investigated using GIS-based model. The most important ecosystem services of the Etropole municipality are provided by the forest landscapes. Only 27% of their total value belongs to the provisioning service, which is the most used at present. The importance of their regulation services, especially the regulation of the flood-risk will increase in the future because of the climate change. The valuation of ecosystem services is considered as an important and useful activity for the achievement of sustainable development. It gives the opportunity to involve some resources and services, which are usually ignored in the process of regional planning. Further progress of the valuation and assessment methods will improve their preciseness and reliability.

Environmental quality and landscape-hazard assessment in the Yantra River Basin, Bulgaria

The objective of the present work is to analyze the role of landscape for environmental security in the Yantra River Basin, exploring its relationships with river-water quality and flood hazard. The relationship between landscape and river-water quality is analyzed on the basis of landscape indicators and assessment tools like Automated Geospatial Watershed Assessment (AGWA) and Analytical Tools Interface for Landscape Assessment (ATtILA). The relationship between landscape and flood hazard is explored using set of flood- hazard indicators and the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT). The results from ATtILA implementation show that the main sources of nitrogen loading are the agricultural landscapes and the urban areas in the river basin. The SWAT simulation is done for three scenarios in which land cover (forest lands) changes are related to flood hazard. For the most unfavorable scenario, decrea- sing forest lands, a significant increase of the river discharge is predicted. The degree of environmental security depends strongly on the specific spatial patterns of landscape change in the river basin.

Flood Hazard in Bulgaria: Case Study of Etropolska Stara Planina

Climate change in Europe is often manifested in the increasing frequency of extreme weather phenomena like storms, intensive rains, and floods. For the period 2000–2009, the highest number of severe floods in Southeastern Europe was registered in Romania (30), Greece (14), and Bulgaria (11). The EM-DAT database (CRED 2012) includes 13 major floods in Bulgaria for 1900–2011. Eleven of them occurred between 2000 and 2009, 1.2 cases per year, a significant increase compared to the average number of 0.1 cases for the past 111 years, mainly due to the extremely wet year 2005. A typical mountain area strongly affected by extreme weather is the upper Malki Iskar River basin on the northern slopes of the Etropolska Stara Planina. The chapter analyses the influence of intense rainfalls (on the examples of events between 1995–2005 and in 2007) on peak river flows and flood hazard, the role of topography in the spatial distribution of rainfall in the basin, and the passage rate of flood waves; identifies critical areas and settlements; and recommends risk mitigation measures. The kinematic runoff and erosion model (KINEROS) was used to simulate the influence of rainfall of different intensity and quantity on peak flow during storm events. The findings allow us to assess flood hazard in the river basin for possible future climate and land use/cover changes and propose management measures directed at reducing flood risk.

Key issues for advancing of Paleoenvironmental Reconstructions in Bulgarian High Mountains

The environment of the high mountains is very sensitive to any kind of impact; therefore they are appropriate case study areas for an investigation of the impact of global changes. The Pleistocene glaciations are the main landform and environment formation factor of the high mountains in Bulgaria. The paleoenvironmental reconstructions in these mountains would be very useful to solve issues related to contemporary impact on these complexes. Rila (2925 m) and Pirin (2914 m) are the highest Bulgarian Mountains which have been glaciated during the Pleistocene. The paleoglacial relief forms and lake sediments in these mountains contain valuable information for the paleoenvironment. Although, there are particular achievements in the investigations so far, there are still unresolved scientific issues. The paper makes a review on the state of the art of the investigation of high mountain landscapes in Bulgaria and outlines four main objectives facing the researchers studying the development of these landscapes during late Pleistocene and Holocene.