Expert-Based Assessment and Mapping of Ecosystem Services Potential in the Nemunas Delta and Curonian Lagoon Region, Lithuania

Abstract

The Curonian Lagoon (SE Baltic Sea) and the coastal wetland system play a vital role in maintaining the overall cultural, economic and ecological health of the region. However, its value is still largely underestimated and there is a lack of integrated ecosystem management based on multiple ecosystem services assessment. In this study, 34 ecosystem services (ES) were identified, assessed and mapped following the Common International Classification of Ecosystem Services (CICES). Using expert opinion, 35 land cover classes were scored for their ES potential, these being 15 CORINE land cover classes (CLC) and 20 Natura 2000 areas of conservation (habitat types, i.e., Sites of Community Importance). The total ES potential was calculated by averaging the opinions of experts, using self-confidence scoring as weights, and the ES relative importance index was derived from a questionnaire. As a result, three maps corresponding to each ES potential category (provisioning, regulation and maintenance and cultural) were calculated and further used for hot- and coldspot analyses. Regulation and maintenance and cultural ES were highly interrelated and had the highest potential in the studied area. Forested areas had the highest total ES potential and contributed significantly to the land cover of the ES hotspots.

Temporal and Spatial Geophysical Data Analysis in the Issues of Natural Hazards and Risk Assessment (in Example of North Ossetia, Russia)

“…In the work of [18], performed for the territory of the Krasnodar Territory, the number of the considered factors was 9 indicators, for landslide hazard assessment number of parameters varies from 5 for Mussoorie Township case study [19] to8 factors in the work of [20] for Indian Himalaya. The weight of each factor is set based on the expert rule approach [21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29]. Or weights may be calculated on the basis of cases study (In [30], statistical procedure consisted in calculating a landslide frequency per class area expressed in percentage, i.e., number of landslide pixels.km −2 × 100).…”

“…The formation and interrelationship of erosion hazardous geological processes and their impact on the environment of high mountain areas are shown in Figure 3.The location of the investigated area in the zone of alpine tectonomagmatic activation of the Greater Caucasus determines the complex engineering and geological conditions inherent in the areas of alpine folding, caused by the diversity of the lithological composition of rocks, their intense tectonic disturbance, active neotectonics and seismicity, and the wide development of modern exogenous geological processes (Figure 3) [41,42]. The weight of each factor is set based on the expert rule approach [21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29]. Or weights may be calculated on the basis of cases study (In [30], statistical procedure consisted in calculating a landslide frequency per class area expressed in percentage, i.e., number of landslide pixels.km −2 × 100).…”

Assessment of Ecosystem Services across the Land–Sea Interface in Baltic Case Studies

“…Thus, we assumed a general transferability within the Cfb climate zone. A brief comparison of the Baltic ESP Matrix, with an ES potential matrix developed for the same study area [56], showed similarities, but also major differences between the matrices. Because of its focus on terrestrial systems, different ES definitions, and evaluation scale (0-5 vs. 0-100) used, we did not quantify the variations but only compared results for single ES.…”

“…However, ES assessment across the land-sea interface is needed to support spatial planning, to enable the ES applications for supporting the HD in general, and the deployment of blue-green infrastructure in particular [8]. Only few examples exist in which multiple ES have been spatially assessed across the land-sea interface (e.g., [55,56]). However, these integrated studies were solely based on CLC types, which include merely three marine habitats (i.e., estuaries, lagoons, and sea and ocean).…”

Analysis of Resource Potential of Emergent Aquatic Vegetation in the Curonian Lagoon of the Baltic Sea

“…Thickets of emergent aquatic vegetation also play an important environmental role in the formation of bird and mammal biological diversity as 23 species of birds nest in them [9]. A significant part of the Baltic Sea region's coastal zone is protected [10].…”