Mapping ecosystem services bundles in a heterogeneous mountain region

Abstract

Recent institutional and policy frameworks prescribe the incorporation of ecosystem services (ES) into land use management and planning, favouring co-production of ES assessments by stakeholders, land planners and scientists. Incorporating ES into land management and planning requires models to map and analyze ES. Also, because ES do not vary independently, many operational issues ultimately relate to the mitigation of ES trade-offs, so that multiple ES and their interactions need to be considered. Using a highly accurate LULC database for the Grenoble urban region (French Alps), we mapped twelve ES using a range of models of varied complexity. A specific, fine-grained (less than 1 ha) LULC database at regional scale (4450 km²) added great spatial precision in individual ES models, in spite of limits of the typological resolution for forests and semi-natural areas. We analysed ES bundles within three different socio-ecosystems and associated landscape types (periurban, rural and forest areas). Such type-specific bundles highlighted distinctive ES trade-offs and synergies for each landscape. Advanced approaches combining remote sensing, targeted field data collection and expert knowledge from scientists and stakeholders are expected to provide the significant progress that is now required to support the reduction of trade-offs and enhance synergies between management objectives.