The ecosystem service cascade: Further developing the metaphor. Integrating societal processes to accommodate social processes and planning, and the case of bioenergy

Spangenberg, Joachim H.; Haaren, Christina von; Settele, Josef

doi:10.1016/j.ecolecon.2014.04.025

Cited by 183 publications

(131 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…There are also approaches that start with the exchange value, use value or benefits related to ecosystem services examining, for example beneficiaries and their valuation of nature (Spangenberg et al, 2014). In this context, participatory approaches are recommended, for example to incorporate local knowledge and stakeholder preferences in ecosystem service assessments (Brown et al, 2012;Fagerholm et al, 2012).…”

Section: Participatory Assessmentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The ecosystem service concept considers not only ecological structures and processes, but also human benefits and values, and thus is a tool to analyse social-ecological systems (Müller et al, 2010b;Spangenberg et al, 2014). Both the ecosystem service supply and demand are considered (Burkhard et al, 2012b.…”

Section: Key Issues • Is It Feasible and Useful To Consider Structurementioning

confidence: 99%

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Does the Ecosystem Service Concept Reach its Limits in Urban Environments?

Beichler

Bastian²,

Haase

et al. 2017

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There is a rapidly growing body of literature on the theory about the ecosystem service concept and the practical assessment of ecosystem services in different contexts ranging from natural to urban environments. Yet, where does the concept reach its limits? This paper critically reflects the application of the ecosystem service concept in urban environments illustrating the handling of urban structures (incl. built-up areas) and the risk that the normative principle of the concept could be missed. It is shown that in theory urban structures refer to a variety of ecosystem concepts. As a starting point for ecosystem service assessments, these could be classified into natural, managed, constructed and overbuilt systems. Since ecosystem service concepts do not directly refer to a specific ecosystem definition, but to biophysical structures and processes, all of these classes could be included. However, the dependency on context and scale makes a differentiation in practical ecosystem services assessment challenging. We conclude that the ecosystem service concept does not reach its limits in urban environments, but urban environments represent an extreme case characterized by multifunctionality and a high degree of modification that enables to uncover research challenges applying in any environment. There is a need for a more transparent reporting of theoretical and methodological assumptions to facilitate the comparability between ecosystem service assessments. Comprehensive approaches that consider multiple ecosystem services and include human input, human modification, the ecosystem status as well as their interactions are required to understand the spatial relations between ecosystem services delivered by different ecosystems.

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Section: Participatory Assessmentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Key Issues • Is It Feasible and Useful To Consider Structurementioning

confidence: 99%

Does the Ecosystem Service Concept Reach its Limits in Urban Environments?

Beichler

Bastian²,

Haase

et al. 2017

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“…These tensions and ambiguities may also refer to the objectives involved (e.g., its anthropocentric bias) or different strategies to define the building blocks of the conceptual framework. The latter become apparent when comparing, for example, the steps and arrows of the Cascade Model in [12] (see Figure 1) with the Stairways Model in [21] (see Figure 2). Similarly, scientists, policy makers, and other stakeholders may impose very different normative values and their respective key components on application of the ES concept: sustainability (ecological, economic, social); justice (distributional, procedural, and recognition); and diversity (biological, cultural/linguistic, and institutional).…”

Section: Ecosystem Services As a Boundary Concept: Potential And Applmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, research on ES assumes, usually implicitly, that ES are provided by ecosystems as natural processes independent from human influences. This assumption, however, ignores the role of human interventions (labour, technology, and capital) in improving the supply of ES (in particular, agricultural goods, but also forest products and cultural or regulating services) by transforming 'natural ecosystems' into human-modified cultural landscapes [21][22][23][24][25]. While one study shows that humans indeed often contribute to the maintenance and enhancement of ecosystems [26], another emphasises "that increased use of manufactured and financial capital might deliver higher quantities of ecosystem services in the short-term but is often associated to several trade-offs in space and time" [27] (p. 271).…”

Section: The Ecosystem Services Concept From a Perspective Of Social mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Thus, to realise its potential as a tool at the interface between science, general society, and policy-making, the boundary work, which is often concealed within the knowledge claims of different disciplines, must be revealed and reflected carefully. More precisely, inter-and transdisciplinary research on ES should avoid oversimplified assumptions about the application of ecosystem valuation, and requires participatory mechanisms to integrate the often very diverse value attributions of stakeholders towards various ecosystem services [21].…”

Section: Ecosystem Services As a Boundary Concept: Potential And Applmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Ecosystem Services as a Boundary Concept: Arguments from Social Ecology

et al. 2017

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Ecosystem services (ES) are defined as the interdependencies between society and nature. Despite several years of conceptual discussions, some challenges of the ES concept are far from being resolved. In particular, the usefulness of the concept for nature protection is questioned, and a strong critique is expressed concerning its contribution towards the neoliberal commodification of nature. This paper argues that these challenges can be addressed by dealing more carefully with ES as a boundary concept between different disciplines and between science and society. ES are neither about nature nor about human wellbeing, but about the mutual dependencies between nature and human wellbeing. These mutual interdependencies, however, create tensions and contradictions that manifest themselves in the boundary negotiations between different scientific disciplines and between science and society. This paper shows that approaches from Social Ecology can address these boundary negotiations and the power relations involved more explicitly. Finally, this implies the urgent need for more inter-and transdisciplinary collaboration in ES research. We conclude (1) that the social-ecological nature of ES must be elaborated more carefully while explicitly focussing on the interdependencies between nature and society; (2) to better implement inter-and transdisciplinary methods into ES research; and (3) that such ES research can-and to some extent already does-substantially enhance international research programmes such as Future Earth.

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Functional measures as potential indicators of down‐the‐drain chemical stress in freshwater ecological risk assessment

Harrison

Pearson

Wheatley

et al. 2022

Integr Envir Assess & Manag

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Conventional ecological risk assessment (ERA) predominately evaluates the impact of individual chemical stressors on a limited range of taxa, which are assumed to act as proxies to predict impacts on freshwater ecosystem function. However, it is recognized that this approach has limited ecological relevance. We reviewed the published literature to identify measures that are potential functional indicators of down-the-drain chemical stress, as an approach to building more ecological relevance into ERA. We found wide variation in the use of the term "ecosystem function," and concluded it is important to distinguish between measures of processes and measures of the capacity for processes (i.e., species' functional traits). Here, we present a classification of potential functional indicators and suggest that including indicators more directly connected with processes will improve the detection of impacts on ecosystem functioning. The rate of leaf litter breakdown, oxygen production, carbon dioxide consumption, and biomass production have great potential to be used as functional indicators. However, the limited supporting evidence means that further study is needed before these measures can be fully implemented and interpreted within an ERA and regulatory context. Sensitivity to chemical stress is likely to vary among functional indicators depending on the stressor and ecosystem context. Therefore, we recommend that ERA incorporates a variety of indicators relevant to each aspect of the function of interest, such as a direct measure of a process (e.g., rate of leaf litter breakdown) and a capacity for a process (e.g., functional composition of macroinvertebrates), alongside structural indicators (e.g., taxonomic diversity of macroinvertebrates). Overall, we believe that the consideration of functional indicators can add value to ERA by providing greater ecological relevance, particularly in relation to indirect effects, functional compensation (Box 1), interactions of multiple stressors, and the importance of ecosystem context.

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The ecosystem service cascade: Further developing the metaphor. Integrating societal processes to accommodate social processes and planning, and the case of bioenergy

Cited by 183 publications

References 40 publications

Does the Ecosystem Service Concept Reach its Limits in Urban Environments?

Does the Ecosystem Service Concept Reach its Limits in Urban Environments?

Ecosystem Services as a Boundary Concept: Arguments from Social Ecology

Functional measures as potential indicators of down‐the‐drain chemical stress in freshwater ecological risk assessment

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