On the effects of scale for ecosystem services mapping.

ABSTRACT: Ecosystems provide life-sustaining services upon which human civilization depends, but their degradation largely continues unabated. Spatially explicit information on ecosystem services (ES) provision is required to better guide decision making, particularly for mountain systems, which are characterized by vertical gradients and isolation with high topographic complexity, making them particularly sensitive to global change. But while spatially explicit ES quantification and valuation allows the identification of areas of abundant or limited supply of and demand for ES, the accuracy and usefulness of the information varies considerably depending on the scale and methods used. Using four case studies from mountainous regions in Europe and the U.S., we quantify information gains and losses wh

SUBMITTER: Gret-Regamey A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4280228 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature