Supporting the spatial allocation of management practices to improve ecosystem services – An opportunity map approach for agricultural landscapes
Ecosystem services (ES) − the benefits people obtain from ecosystems − are affected by agricultural management. Often, they are degraded because of practices that solely aim at maximizing yield regardless of their impact on other ES, such as water regulation or habitat provision for biodiversity. Th...
Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Elsevier
2025-03-01
|
| Series: | Ecological Indicators |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1470160X25001414 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1850059872067911680 |
|---|---|
| author | Irina Heiß Friederike Stegmann Matteo Wolf Martin Volk Andrea Kaim |
| author_facet | Irina Heiß Friederike Stegmann Matteo Wolf Martin Volk Andrea Kaim |
| author_sort | Irina Heiß |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Ecosystem services (ES) − the benefits people obtain from ecosystems − are affected by agricultural management. Often, they are degraded because of practices that solely aim at maximizing yield regardless of their impact on other ES, such as water regulation or habitat provision for biodiversity. Therefore, the spatial targeting of suitable agri-environmental schemes (subsidized by the Common Agricultural Policy of the EU) is needed to address degraded ES in specific areas. To study the interrelations and spatial patterns of ES and agricultural management, there is no compromise between time- and data-intense process-based models and rather simple ES maps based on land use types and single proxies. Therefore, we propose an opportunity map approach, which enables both regional overview and field-specific evaluation on where ES can be improved through agricultural management changes. For this purpose, we developed evaluation criteria and scores for site conditions, management data from 2022 and other spatial environmental parameters based on literature research and expert interviews. These evaluation criteria were assigned scores indicating the opportunity to improve the ES “provision of clean water”, “habitat provision”, “carbon sequestration” and “water regulation” (approximated by drought protection) through altered management. Individual criteria were developed for each ES and weights for the ES criteria resulted from expert interviews using the Analytic Hierarchy Process. Except for the management data, all spatial data sets were publicly available. The study region of Northwest Saxony, Germany – an intensively cultivated agricultural area – showed an overall high opportunity to improve ES through management changes. The highest opportunities were identified for the ES “provision of clean water” and “habitat provision”.This novel approach is fast, reproducible and can be transferred to and adapted for other German regions and ES. Therefore, it helps decision-makers to spatially target management suggestions and to support information campaigns or subsidy schemes for management practices with positive impacts on ES. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-a55ea68b5ec64e2f986d318d0cce8551 |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 1470-160X |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-03-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Ecological Indicators |
| spelling | doaj-art-a55ea68b5ec64e2f986d318d0cce85512025-08-20T02:50:45ZengElsevierEcological Indicators1470-160X2025-03-0117211321210.1016/j.ecolind.2025.113212Supporting the spatial allocation of management practices to improve ecosystem services – An opportunity map approach for agricultural landscapesIrina Heiß0Friederike Stegmann1Matteo Wolf2Martin Volk3Andrea Kaim4Corresponding author.; Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, Department of Computational Landscape Ecology, Permoserstrasse 15 04318 Leipzig, GermanyHelmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, Department of Computational Landscape Ecology, Permoserstrasse 15 04318 Leipzig, GermanyHelmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, Department of Computational Landscape Ecology, Permoserstrasse 15 04318 Leipzig, GermanyHelmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, Department of Computational Landscape Ecology, Permoserstrasse 15 04318 Leipzig, GermanyHelmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, Department of Computational Landscape Ecology, Permoserstrasse 15 04318 Leipzig, GermanyEcosystem services (ES) − the benefits people obtain from ecosystems − are affected by agricultural management. Often, they are degraded because of practices that solely aim at maximizing yield regardless of their impact on other ES, such as water regulation or habitat provision for biodiversity. Therefore, the spatial targeting of suitable agri-environmental schemes (subsidized by the Common Agricultural Policy of the EU) is needed to address degraded ES in specific areas. To study the interrelations and spatial patterns of ES and agricultural management, there is no compromise between time- and data-intense process-based models and rather simple ES maps based on land use types and single proxies. Therefore, we propose an opportunity map approach, which enables both regional overview and field-specific evaluation on where ES can be improved through agricultural management changes. For this purpose, we developed evaluation criteria and scores for site conditions, management data from 2022 and other spatial environmental parameters based on literature research and expert interviews. These evaluation criteria were assigned scores indicating the opportunity to improve the ES “provision of clean water”, “habitat provision”, “carbon sequestration” and “water regulation” (approximated by drought protection) through altered management. Individual criteria were developed for each ES and weights for the ES criteria resulted from expert interviews using the Analytic Hierarchy Process. Except for the management data, all spatial data sets were publicly available. The study region of Northwest Saxony, Germany – an intensively cultivated agricultural area – showed an overall high opportunity to improve ES through management changes. The highest opportunities were identified for the ES “provision of clean water” and “habitat provision”.This novel approach is fast, reproducible and can be transferred to and adapted for other German regions and ES. Therefore, it helps decision-makers to spatially target management suggestions and to support information campaigns or subsidy schemes for management practices with positive impacts on ES.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1470160X25001414Agri-environmental and climate schemesEcosystem servicesWater qualityCarbon sequestrationBiodiversityDrought protection |
| spellingShingle | Irina Heiß Friederike Stegmann Matteo Wolf Martin Volk Andrea Kaim Supporting the spatial allocation of management practices to improve ecosystem services – An opportunity map approach for agricultural landscapes Ecological Indicators Agri-environmental and climate schemes Ecosystem services Water quality Carbon sequestration Biodiversity Drought protection |
| title | Supporting the spatial allocation of management practices to improve ecosystem services – An opportunity map approach for agricultural landscapes |
| title_full | Supporting the spatial allocation of management practices to improve ecosystem services – An opportunity map approach for agricultural landscapes |
| title_fullStr | Supporting the spatial allocation of management practices to improve ecosystem services – An opportunity map approach for agricultural landscapes |
| title_full_unstemmed | Supporting the spatial allocation of management practices to improve ecosystem services – An opportunity map approach for agricultural landscapes |
| title_short | Supporting the spatial allocation of management practices to improve ecosystem services – An opportunity map approach for agricultural landscapes |
| title_sort | supporting the spatial allocation of management practices to improve ecosystem services an opportunity map approach for agricultural landscapes |
| topic | Agri-environmental and climate schemes Ecosystem services Water quality Carbon sequestration Biodiversity Drought protection |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1470160X25001414 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT irinaheiß supportingthespatialallocationofmanagementpracticestoimproveecosystemservicesanopportunitymapapproachforagriculturallandscapes AT friederikestegmann supportingthespatialallocationofmanagementpracticestoimproveecosystemservicesanopportunitymapapproachforagriculturallandscapes AT matteowolf supportingthespatialallocationofmanagementpracticestoimproveecosystemservicesanopportunitymapapproachforagriculturallandscapes AT martinvolk supportingthespatialallocationofmanagementpracticestoimproveecosystemservicesanopportunitymapapproachforagriculturallandscapes AT andreakaim supportingthespatialallocationofmanagementpracticestoimproveecosystemservicesanopportunitymapapproachforagriculturallandscapes |