Multiple ecosystem services of a changing Alpine landscape: past, present and future.

ABSTRACT: In mountain regions, ecosystem services provision is strongly linked to land use, topography and climate, where impacts can be expected under global change. For our study site in the Austrian Alps, we examined the relationship between agricultural activities and multiple ecosystem services on landscape scale from past to future. Modelling of future land-use patterns was based on stakeholder workshops considering different socio-economic and climate scenarios. In the past, land-use intensity was reduced resulting in less forage provision but better regulating services. Future scenarios predict contrasting developments; under conditions of global change, farmers shift the focus of their activities towards tourism, but in times of global economic crisis farming becomes more important again. D

SUBMITTER: Schirpke U 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6694010 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature