Biophysical and sociocultural factors underlying spatial trade-offs of ecosystem services in semiarid watersheds
Entity
UAM. Departamento de EcologíaPublisher
Resilience AllianceDate
2015-09-01Citation
10.5751/ES-07785-200339
Ecology and Society 20.3 (2015): 39
ISSN
1708-3087 (print)DOI
10.5751/ES-07785-200339Funded by
Funding for the development of this research was provided by a postdoctoral grant from the Spanish National Institute for Agriculture and Food Research and Technology (INIA), which is cofunded by the Social European Fund; the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Commission (FP7, 2007-2013) under the BESAFE project (Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services: Arguments for our Future Environment, Contract No. 282743; http://www.besafe-project. net); and the OpenNESS Project (Operationalisation of Natural capital and Ecosystem Services: From Concepts to Real-World Applications, Contract No. 308428)Project
info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/FP7/282743Editor's Version
http://dx.doi.org/10.5751/ES-07785-200339Subjects
Demand; Freshwater flow; Interaction; Irrigation community; Land-use intensification; Social preference; Social-ecological system; Spatial pattern; Trait-based indicator; Biología y Biomedicina / BiologíaRights
© 2015 by the author(s)Abstract
Biophysical and social systems are linked to form social-ecological systems whose sustainability depends on their capacity to absorb uncertainty and cope with disturbances. In this study, we explored the key biophysical and socio-cultural factors underlying ecosystem service supply in two semiarid watersheds of southern Spain. These included variables associated with the role that freshwater flows and biodiversity play in securing the system’s capacity to sustain essential ecosystem services and their relationship with social demand for services, local water governance, and land-use intensification. Our results reveal the importance of considering the invisible dimensions of water and biodiversity, i.e. green freshwater flows and trait-based indicators, because of their relevance to the supply of ecosystem services. Furthermore, they uncover the importance of traditional irrigation canals, a local water governance system, in maintaining the ecosystems’ capacity to supply services. The study also highlights the complex trade-offs that occur because of the spatial mismatch between ecosystem service supply (upstream) and ecosystem service demand (downstream) in watersheds. Finally, we found that land-use intensification generally resulted in losses of the biophysical factors that underpin the supply of some ecosystem services, increases in social demand for less diversified services, and the abandonment of local governance practices. Attempts to manage social-ecological systems toward sustainability at the local scale should identify the key biophysical and socio-cultural factors that are essential for maintaining ecosystem services and should recognize existing interrelationships between them. Land-use management should also take into account ecosystem service trade-offs and the consequences resulting from land-use intensification
Files in this item
Google Scholar:García-Llorente, M.
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Iniesta-Arandia, Irene
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Willaarts, B.A.
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Harrison, P.A.
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Berry, P.
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Castro, A.J.
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Montes, C.
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Martín-López, B.
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Del Mar Bayo, M.
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