Minimizing impacts of land use change on ecosystem services using multi-criteria heuristic analysis

Abstract

Development of natural landscapes to support human activities impacts the capacity of the landscape to provide ecosystem services. Typically, several ecosystem services are impacted at a single development site and various footprint scenarios are possible, thus a multi-criteria analysis is needed. Restoration potential should also be considered for the area surrounding the permanent impact site. The primary objective of this research was to develop a heuristic approach to analyze multiple criteria (e.g. impacts to various ecosystem services) in a spatial configuration with many potential development sites. The approach was to: (1) quantify the magnitude of terrestrial ecosystem service (biodiversity, carbon sequestration, nutrient and sediment retention, and pollination) impacts associated with a suite of land use change scenarios using the InVEST model; (2) normalize results across categories of ecosystem services to allow cross-service comparison; (3) apply the multi-criteria heuristic algorithm to select sites with the least impact to ecosystem services, including a spatial criterion (separation between sites). As a case study, the multi-criteria impact minimization algorithm was applied to InVEST output to select 25 potential development sites out of 204 possible locations (selected by other criteria) within a 24,000 ha property. This study advanced a generally applicable spatial multi-criteria approach for 1) considering many land use footprint scenarios, 2) balancing impact decisions across a suite of ecosystem services, and 3) determining the restoration potential of ecosystem services after impacts.

The Integration of Ecosystem Services in Planning: An Evaluation of the Nutrient Retention Model Using InVEST Software

“…The LIFE SAM4CP uses InVEST as the most common and diffuse software to map and assess the biophysical values of the different ES [32,33], nonetheless, the outputs of InVEST were subsequently analyzed in a GIS environment to evaluate the spatial distribution and the quantity of biophysical maps [34][35][36].…”

“…http://www.naturalcapitalproject.org/invest/) [28] is one the primary open access products of the Natural Capital Project, and even if it appears as an easy-to-use software (with on-line training guides) its utilization implies expert knowledge and a collection of numerous amounts of input data (both statistical, with .csv files, and associated geometries with relative raster cell values, rather than vector polygons in .shp format). The LIFE SAM4CP uses InVEST as the most common and diffuse software to map and assess the biophysical values of the different ES [32,33], nonetheless, the outputs of InVEST were subsequently analyzed in a GIS environment to evaluate the spatial distribution and the quantity of biophysical maps [34][35][36].…”

Lessons learned: Are engineered nanomaterials toxic to terrestrial plants?

“…Thus, there is a strong possibility for ENMs transformation prior to their interaction with plants. There are some critical reviews which have briefly discussed the stability, toxicity, fate, and transformation of ENMs in terrestrial ecosystems (Klaine et al, 2008;Peralta-Videa et al, 2011;Gardea-Torresdey et al, 2014;Keller et al, 2015).…”

Ecosystem Services Assessment Using InVEST as a Tool to Support Decision Making Process: Critical Issues and Opportunities

“…This approach can also serve to evaluate the potential recovery of ES after land transformation. The model can support decision making for more sustainable development and is useful for making decisions for selecting lower impact sites [30]. This can significantly contributes to bridge the gap between theories and practices of sustainable town planning using ES indicators as proxies of Soil Quality.…”