Ecosystem Services最新文献

The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment report was a milestone that placed the concepts of Ecosystem Services (ES) and Disservices (EDS) on the research and policy agenda. Since then, several gaps in these frameworks have limited their effectivity, including a conceptual ambiguity and the questioning of aspects reflected in the co-production, provision, and maintenance of ES/EDS, making it difficult to generate greater interaction and understanding of scientific work. We jointly address ES/EDS from a conceptual approach, providing an analysis of the definitions and typologies available in the literature between 2000 and 2024 that included the terms “ecosystem services” AND “ecosystem disservices.” We analyzed 297 studies based on 15 evaluation criteria. Our findings underscore the importance of delimiting the ecological processes that give rise to ES/EDS and the social phenomena that influence how they are perceived and appropriated. Both concepts were recognized as multifaceted, with diverse meanings that in some cases hinder the clarity with which different messages are communicated. These concepts hold the potential for bringing a more pluralistic view of the human-nature relationship into decision-making. We warn of the risks associated with minimizing the need for academic consensus in the identification of ES/EDS, especially as it may lead to risky management practices that affect ecosystems.

The Ecozoic is defined as an era characterized by the mutual flourishing of humans and the rest of Nature. The field of Ecosystem Services should be dedicated to achieving this goal. However, ecosystem services (ES) are commonly defined as Nature’s benefits to people, an anthropocentric concept. Many schemes proposed to assess and value ES are market oriented, thus focused on the satisfaction of subjective individual preferences, an egocentric approach. Yet modern science accepts that all complex species, including humans, are an inseparable part of Nature, incapable of surviving without the ecosystem services Nature generates. Nature is the whole, the economy is the part; we must internalize the economy into nature, not vice versa. This article builds on evolutionary theory, anthropology and ecological economics to explain the necessity of an ecocentric approach to ecosystem services embodied in economic institutions prioritizing Nature. We must create new economic institutions focused on the health of the whole system to complement existing institutions focused on the individual (e.g. markets) and on society (e.g. the public sector and other collective institutions), with the recognition that system health also depends on the health of system components. We therefore propose redefining ecosystem services as Nature’s benefits to the biotic community of which humans are a part. The relationship of humanity to nature should be the same as that of a cell to the human body: prioritize the health of whole and take only the minimum necessary for secure sufficiency.

Increased pressure on land resources to provide multiple benefits calls for landscape strategies that optimize the supply of multiple ecosystem services (ES). Previous research into the drivers of landscape multifunctionality have focused on land use composition changes, but the spatial configuration of different land use types also drives ES supply. While the impact of landscape configuration on individual ES is well understood, the net outcome of these influences when considering many ES is not. Here we present the net-balance spatial interactions hypothesis, which posits that the strength and direction of local and surrounding landscape influences on the local supply of an individual ES will drive its optimal landscape configuration. Accordingly, the net balance of these influences across multiple prioritized ES will determine the optimal configuration for landscape multifunctionality. Further, ES that share the same optimal configuration strategy form a bundle that can be managed together. Using data from German grasslands we demonstrate that the net-balance spatial interactions hypothesis is applicable to land-use planning scenarios that aim to maximize multiple ES. It allows general rules to be applied when local, detailed ES data is not available, and can help identify the best option to minimize trade-offs in the face of multiple competing land-use objectives.

While quantified environmental benefits from biosecurity protection programmes are available, they remain scarce, patchy, and context-specific. This contributes to the oversight of non-market economic values such as recreation and conservation in practical decision-making. To better understand this situation, we conducted a systematic review focused on studies that estimated non-market values. Our systematic literature review identified and described the body of knowledge on non-market values of current and future biosecurity protection initiatives worldwide. We identified 75 studies completed between 2000 and 2020 that examined biosecurity protection values across different ecosystems, including forests, freshwater, and marine environments. The results indicated that the three main quantified ecosystem service values were biodiversity conservation and enhancement, recreation, and bundled forest ecosystem services. Among the economic valuation methods, the survey-based stated preference method called choice experiment was the most widely used. This method provides a detailed approach to estimating multiple environmental values derived from biosecurity protection. We identified some significant advancements within the subfield of biosecurity protection, particularly in the valuation methods employed. These advancements include the integration of multiple approaches, such as combining economic valuation with spatial and psychological methods. We envision that our findings will inform the design of future NMV research. This, in turn, will better equip decision-makers to develop more effective, collaborative, and inclusive policies addressing biosecurity issues. These policies will account for the multiple values associated with biosecurity programmes.

The mesopelagic or ocean twilight zone (OTZ) in the ocean contains huge numbers of fish in a relatively pristine environment and may therefore attract interest as a commercial fishery. In this study we evaluate in economic terms, the likely trade-offs between the different services provided by the mesopelagic layer in the Bay of Biscay and the societal benefits of its commercial exploitation. Benefits arise mainly from the likely use of this group of species as raw material for producing fishmeal and fish oil. Costs are derived from the loss in climate regulating and cultural, services, but also from the loss in the provisioning service of other commercial species. To do so we compare the current non-exploited status with a situation in where mesopelagic fishes are harvested at levels capable of producing the Maximum Sustainable Yield. Results suggest that if mesopelagic fishes are harvested, a mean value of 1.2 million Euro loss in a year will be created in the Bay of Biscay, although in a range between 42 million Euro loss and 48 Euro million benefits. This uncertainty comes, mainly, from the limited existing knowledge of the mesopelagic fishes’ biomass but also from the uncertainty on the biomass of the rest of the species of the studied ecosystem. The large range indicates that a better understanding of the mesopelagic ecosystem is needed, however, results also show that ecosystem services under no exploitation provided by the OTZ could be more valuable than the fishmeal and fish oil that potentially could be obtained from the fishes harvested in this sea layer.

Auroral ecosystem services (ES) is a subject that has not yet been formally addressed in the expansive ecosystem services literature. This study conducts a systematic literature review using the Search, Appraisal, Synthesis and Analysis (SALSA) method to investigate the vast multi-century auroral literature for synthesis with the ES concept and identifies the main ES provisioned by the auroral phenomenon. A total of 2,900 publications concerning the aurora were sourced from three scientific databases (ScienceDirect, Scopus and Google Scholar), 1,054 articles were advanced to the synthesis and analysis stage, and 525 of the most illustrative examples were retained for the purposes of this review. Based on the categorization in accordance with Version 5.1 of the Common International Classification for Ecosystem Services typology, a total of 14 auroral ES are identified: provisioning (4), regulation and maintenance (1) and cultural (9). In addition, 9 ecosystem disservices (EDS) are also identified and classified: provisioning (4), regulation and maintenance (3) and cultural (2). The aurora is found to function in geophysical, biophysical and socio-ecological systems in a variety of ways. A novel extension of the ES concept is introduced as “exosystem services” (EXS), accounting for the aurora as an overlap between flows into ecosystems from the space environment, mirroring the geosystem services (GS) concept and its flows into ecosystems from the subsurface environment. Auroral ES in management and decision-making is discussed, and multiple opportunities for additional research are explored.

Biodiversity conservation is critical for sustaining ecosystem services (ES) and preventing ecological degradation. In ecologically fragile environments, agroforestry (AF) plays a crucial role. This study aims to provide a comprehensive overview of biodiversity and ES in AF systems (AF-BES) to enhance the service capacity in karst desertification areas through protection and management strategies. We conducted a systematic review to elucidate how biodiversity within AF contributes to ES. The results demonstrate that AF shows diversity and stability at the taxonomic level, aggregation and internal adaptability at the functional level, and comprehensive, persistent, and environmentally complementary service characteristics. Regarding the relationship between biodiversity and ES, taxonomic diversity is the most commonly used substitute indicator of biodiversity, and functional indicators are rarely considered. Furthermore, the relationship between cultural services and biodiversity has not yet been established, although most empirical evidence shows a linear correlation. Future research should focus on functional diversity, immaterial services, and integrated quantification methods. This work advances our understanding of AF-BES and informs global biodiversity protection efforts, providing a foundation for restoring similar fragile ecosystems.

Ecosystem services support human society at both local and global scale. The globalization of supply chains led to proliferating ecosystem markets around the world. Biocapacity – the provision of biomass-based resources like food, fibers and the CO₂ removal from atmosphere – of land-based ecosystems is particularly involved due to the nature of the services it provides. Since large scale-land acquisitions (LSLAs) commonly involve ecosystems or land located in the Global South and investors in the Global North, they may lead to the displacement of the benefits deriving from such ecosystems and their biocapacity. Previous studies investigated the LSLAs’ consequences in terms of ecological degradation. However, more research is needed for measuring the associated inequalities in order to track the global drivers of such degradation. This study aims to fill this knowledge gap by measuring net gains and losses of ecosystem service value linked with LSLAs by superseding the common approach and considering the involved countries’ biocapacity. The key novelty consists in backtracking the off-market value chain, which is an aspect so far unexplored among LSLAs studies. By focusing on the biocapacity economic value, we reveal that the growing trend in LSLAs is coupled with loss of benefits for the countries ceding land. The analysis captures the effect of the 2008 crisis which triggered more transactions, as well as the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic, which exacerbated the already existing loss. Our analysis reveals that for every hectare of cropland acquired through international land markets in 2021, 15,000 US $ were lost, while for forest the loss amounted to 5000 US $ per hectare. Finally, we reveal that developing countries’ presence is growing among the expanding pool of investors, mostly acquiring from other developing countries.