Location, Configuration, Distribution: the Role of Landscape Pattern and Diversity in Ecosystem Services

Biodiversity is defined in the Convention of Biological Diversity (CBD) as "diversity within species, between species and of ecosystems". Since the role of landscape is understudied in comparison with biodiversity measures based on species diversity (de Groot et al. 2010), in this study we explicitly examine the contribution of diversity of habitats and ecosystems and their location within the landscape to ecosystem service delivery, rather than diversity at the genetic, species or trait level. In particular, this project explores two issues relating to pattern in the landscape.

1. Diversity of habitats and ecosystem service provision.
Much focus on ecosystem service upscaling relies on relationships between quantified services and specific land use classes or habitat types (e.g. Haines-Young & Potschin 2007), using habitats as a proxy for the unit of service delivery (Maskell et al. 2010). However, most UK landscapes comprise mosaics at varying scales of a range of habitat types, particularly for agricultural landscapes which cover 75% of the UK (NEA, 2011). The diversity of habitats, also termed landscape complexity, itself can alter ecosystem services. Landscape complexity can compensate for reduced species richness in delivery of services in agricultural landscapes (Tscharntke et al. 2005), while the options for sustainable management to have an effect are greatest in landscapes of intermediate complexity. In this project we will evaluate how landscape complexity, as measured by diversity of habitats within it governs ecosystem service provision.

2. Spatial pattern in the landscape.
Spatial arrangement affects the flow through the landscape of potential service supply to the users or beneficiaries (Villa et al. 2011). It also alters flows of material or processes in the landscape related to ecosystem functions. For example, the magnitude and timing of water movement have a spatial component vertically, via infiltration rates, and horizontal flows overland, in streams and in groundwater, all of which govern flood regulation (Vigerstol & Aukema 2011). Configuration of landscape features has three elements, the overall area of each feature, the physical distribution of features and their location within the landscape. In this project we will explore how the configuration of landscape components contributes to delivery of multiple ecosystem services.

The overall aim of this project is to test the role of diversity of habitats and ecosystems, and their spatial configuration, at the landscape scale in the delivery of multiple ecosystem services.
We ask the following questions, each of which forms a project objective, delivered by a task:
1) How does diversity of ecosystems or habitats at the landscape scale affect delivery of ecosystem services?
2) Does the spatial configuration, including size, pattern and location of habitats in the landscape affect delivery of ecosystem services?

We will test three of new generation ecosystem service models which operate at the landscape scale and support temporal and spatial process modelling routines: ARIES (Bagstad et al. 2011), INVEST (Nelson et al. 2008) and LUCI (Jackson et al. In press). The three models treat organisation of the landscape in fundamentally different ways, and operate at different scales. Past comparisons of two of the models (InVEST and ARIES) have focused on water services (Vigerstol & Aukema 2011) whereas here we include a new model (LUCI), and use them as tools to test hypotheses about how landscape structure influences the delivery of multiple ecosystem services, with an emphasis on exploring trade-offs and interaction between services.

We will exploit the data-rich Conwy catchment in N Wales established as one of the three Mancronutrient Cycles catchments where intensive biophysical data is being collected crossing domains and ecosystem processes which underpin selected biodiversity and regulating ecosystem services.

The Science Community in the UK and internationally will benefit from linkage between the biogeochemical, hydrological and biological measurements underway in the Conwy catchment through the £3.2M Turf-2-Surf NERC Macronutrient Cycles (MC) Programme. This will be achieved by model applications being rigorously tested and explored using a broad range of biophysical data, and also will demonstrate the need for integrated, inter-disciplinary approaches to ecosystem services research. Involvement of the PIs in both the MC and BESS communities would provide a bridge between these two highly visible and active communities within the natural environment community both within the UK and internationally. The PIs are involved in various projects crossing UK, S America and N America which will ensure the findings are well communicated. The benefit is illustrated by the supporting letter from Prof Paul Whitehead, Director of NERC's Macronutrient Cycles Programme.

UK Government Departments are responsible for developing policy informed by an ecosystem approach as an underpinning framework as proposed in the following national documents: the Natural Environment White Paper (England); the Land Use Strategy (Scotland) and 'A Living Wales' (Wales). Within Wales, this has led to an over-arching strategy for an integrated land and water management approach to protect Natural Capital and enhance delivery of ecosystem services through the new Glastir land management payment scheme. A unique, integrated approach to monitoring and evaluation of the Glastir scheme (£4.85M for strart-up over 2 years led by B Emmett) has just been commissioned by Welsh Government. This programme uniquely links monitoring and modelling across cultural, regulating, provisioning and supporting services at a national scale, combining monitoring with modelling with fast feedback to policy. The LUCI model is currently the model of choice in this project to integrate across the different services and provide feedback on where future payments should be made to farmers based on model forecasts and monitoring data. Comparison with the other two models will provide valuable information and guidance for planning and selection of models in future projects with government departments across all three nations. Support for this benefit is provided by the letter from Welsh Government.

Land managers and government agencies are responsible for land and water management programmes to meet a range of national and international requirements and commitments. New decision support tools to operationalise spatial planning within an ecosystem services framework is an imperative. The proposed project will deliver an exemplar case study to aid choice and development of tools by land and water managers. As Countryside Survey for Wales notes in their letter of support "Given the current focus on managing our environment as a whole and examining the state of the natural environment and the benefits it gives to society in terms of ecosystem services, we can envisage the use of ecosystem service modeling tools becoming more widespread in the near future. Information on their applicability and consistency would be useful in determining the value of the outputs from such models"

The TSB Knowledge Transfer Environmental Sustainability Network will benefit due to the better understanding of Ecosystem Services and their evaluation and incorporation into decision making tools and processes. This understanding is of primary interest to their many stakeholders. More than half of their 8,000 members are from business, with the rest split between universities, government and regulatory agencies, so they are well placed to understand and connect across these key groups. As outlined in their letter of support, members will be interested in the comparison between outcomes produced by the three different tools as they seek to determine which will be most useful in supporting decision making processes.