Cultural ecosystem services (ES) are consistently recognized but not yet adequately defined or integrated within the ES framework. A substantial body of models, methods, and data relevant to cultural services has been developed within the social and behavioral sciences before and outside of the ES approach. A selective review of work in landscape aesthetics, cultural heritage, outdoor recreation, and spiritual significance demonstrates opportunities for operationally defining cultural services in terms of socioecological models, consistent with the larger set of ES. Such models explicitly link ecological structures and functions with cultural values and benefits, facilitating communication between scientists and stakeholders and enabling economic, multicriterion, deliberative evaluation and other methods that can clarify tradeoffs and synergies involving cultural ES. Based on this approach, a common representation is offered that frames cultural services, along with all ES, by the relative contribution of relevant ecological structures and functions and by applicable social evaluation approaches. This perspective provides a foundation for merging ecological and social science epistemologies to define and integrate cultural services better within the broader ES framework.natural capital | scenic beauty | cultural landscapes | tourism | spiritual value
Landscape elements can enhance the ecological and social value of agricultural landscapes. Orchard meadows are traditional landscape elements in Central Europe, but have deteriorated for decades due to their adverse economic effects. We apply an integrated modelling framework to assess the farm profitability of orchard meadows as well as the effectiveness of measures in the Austrian agri-environmental programme to maintain existing and establish new sites. The model results indicate that current market prices for fruits and harvest productivity levels are not sufficient to support the maintenance of existing sites. The model results also indicate that the agri-environmental measures are effective in maintaining orchard meadows, but are insufficient to make all existing sites profitable or support further establishments. Consequently, alternative policy options will aim at increasing harvest efficiencies (e.g. harvest mechanisation co-operatives), at adding value to orchard fruits (e.g. fruit processing options), and at reducing labour costs by improving seasonal labour availability.landscape structure assessment, landscape element analysis, integrated modelling analysis, orchard meadows (streuobstwiesen), Austria, cultural landscapes,
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