Provision of Ecosystem Services in Riparian Hemiboreal Forest Fixed-Width Buffers

Abstract

The importance of riparian forest protection is widely acknowledged. However, scientific discussions are still ongoing as to the most suitable and effective protection activities for these forests. The quality of the provision of different ecosystem services in protected riparian forest buffers could provide an insight into the impact of protection regulations. Cultural ecosystem services in riparian forests have an important social-ecological context, especially with the growing interest in recreation activities in forests. The aim of our study was to compare provision of different ecosystem services in riparian forest buffers located both adjacent to (0–50 m) and distant from (51–200 m) the stream. In our study, four small-to-medium-sized rivers in Latvia were used. In total, six different indicators of ecosystem services were estimated, based on data from the National Forest Inventory and the European Soil Data Centre. Bayesian ordinal regression was employed to assess the differences between the two buffer strips. Our results showed that the majority of assessed ecosystem service indicators (Recreation potential of the forest ecosystem, Visual quality of the forest landscape, Potential for the presence of medicinal plants and Potential for the presence of nectar plants) were of higher quality in the adjacent (0–50 m) buffer. Only one indicator (Flora with phytoremediation potential) had significantly higher values in the distant buffer strips (estimate 0.24, CI: [0.11, 0.38]). The observed distribution of quality classes showed that, only for the indicator Potential of medicinal plants, the highest quality class was the most common (>60%), for other indicators dominated average quality class estimations. The obtained results suggested that the current protection status that riparian forest buffers have facilitated maintain the provision of several cultural and regulation & maintenance ecosystem services.

Research on the Resilience Assessment of Rural Landscapes in the Context of Karst Rocky Desertification Control: A Case Study of Fanhua Village in Guizhou Province

“…Cultural resource loss Idle cultural facilities 0 (1), 1-2 (2), 3 (3), 4 (4), more than 5 (5) Damage to traditional buildings 0 (1), 1-2 (2), 3 (3), 4 (4), more than 5 (5) Disaster sensitivity Setting of disaster sensitive area 1-2 (1), 3 (2), no disaster sensitive zones were set (3), 4-5 (4), more than 5 (5) Ecosystems are an important part of rural landscapes that can not only bring good landscape effects, but also regulate climate, alleviate pollution, and purify air [48]. When the rural landscape system in KRDCA suffers from external disturbances, a good ecosystem can effectively act as a buffer to address disasters.…”

Efficient use of timber resources in Mexico: Historical development and current challenges

“…The hypothetical example shown in Figure 2 contains a common structure of uneven-aged forests in northern Mexico, where the genera Pinus and Quercus predominate, followed by the genera Juniperus, Arbutus and occasionally the genus Alnus (Rascón-Solano et al, 2022b). These types of forests offer a solution to climate change by storing carbon, providing ecosystem services and sustainable products (Lo Monaco et al, 2022;Başkent and Kašpar, 2022;Saklaurs et al, 2022). On the other hand, they have the potential to produce soft and hard wood, with which it is possible to supply different markets at the same time.…”

Forest Inventory Data Provide Useful Information for Mapping Ecosystem Services Potential

“…Biophysical indicators have been used to map ESs provided by forested dunes in two coastal areas [32]. There have been attempts at characterizing the benefits derived from riparian forest ecosystems [33,34], also in monetary terms [35]. A regional case study has analyzed societal preferences for forest landscapes among residents of rural and urban areas in the eastern part of Latvia [36].…”