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Erich Tasser
Institute for Alpine Environment, Eurac Research, 39100 Bozen/Bolzano, Italy

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Journal article
Published: 24 June 2021 in Sustainability
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The growing pressure on society due to global change requires better integration of ecosystem services (ES) into decision-making. Despite a growing number of ES assessments, Europe-wide information on recent changes of multiple ES is still rare. This study aimed at analysing changes in ES values between 2000 and 2018 across Europe based on land use/land cover (LULC) distribution. We mapped 19 ES for 52 ecoregions and identified six major groups of ecoregions with similar LULC distribution and trends. Our results indicated that provisioning ES mainly increased in the forest-dominated region (G2), decreasing in the near-natural grassland region (G1), the region with agricultural mixed systems (G3), and the intensively-used steppic region (G6). Regulating ES slightly decreased in G1 and G6, but increased in G2 and the wetland-dominated region (G5). Cultural ES had generally low negative trends for most ecoregions. In addition, our results revealed ecoregions with differing trends in ES that could be related to specific socioeconomic developments. Our findings provide spatial and quantitative information that can be used for policy development at European national and regional levels—as well as for monitoring of ES.

ACS Style

Uta Schirpke; Erich Tasser. Trends in Ecosystem Services across Europe Due to Land-Use/Cover Changes. Sustainability 2021, 13, 7095 .

AMA Style

Uta Schirpke, Erich Tasser. Trends in Ecosystem Services across Europe Due to Land-Use/Cover Changes. Sustainability. 2021; 13 (13):7095.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Uta Schirpke; Erich Tasser. 2021. "Trends in Ecosystem Services across Europe Due to Land-Use/Cover Changes." Sustainability 13, no. 13: 7095.

Journal article
Published: 27 May 2021 in Scientific Reports
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Plant rooting strongly affects most hydrological, biogeochemical and ecological processes in terrestrial ecosystems, as it presents the main pathway for carbon, water and nutrient transfer from soil to the atmosphere and is a key factor in stabilizing the soil layer. Few studies have actually investigated the link between phytosociological and structural vegetation composition and diversity in soil rooting parameters. Our study provides a comprehensive evaluation of plant cover and diversity effects on rooting parameters dependent on different land-use types along a north–south transect in the Eastern Alps. We conducted field studies of root biomass, rooting density and rooting depth for the six main land-use types: intensively and lightly used hay meadows, pastures, arable land, agriculturally unused grasslands and forests. The variation in rooting parameters was explained by different aspects of species and functional richness, species and functional composition, functional traits, abundance of key species and site variables depending on the land-use types. Our results showed that different characteristics of biodiversity explained the variance in root parameters (mass, density and depth) to a high degree (determination coefficient R2 values varied between 0.621 and 0.891). All rooting parameters increased with increasing plant species richness, as well as with a higher diversity of plant functional traits. The inclusion of site parameters significantly increased the explained variance, while we could not find evidence for key species and their abundance to provide additional explanatory power. Allowing the effects to vary depending on land-use types turned out to be a necessity supporting the importance of considering land-use types for rooting. The findings indicate that vegetation composition has a clear relationship with rooting parameters across different habitats in the European Alps. As the effect of plant composition differs with respect to the land-use type, rooting can be monitored by land management to achieve the desired benefits. For example, intensified rooting through extensive management decreases erosion risk and increases carbon uptake.

ACS Style

Erich Tasser; Sonja Gamper; Janette Walde; Nikolaus Obojes; Ulrike Tappeiner. Evidence for the importance of land use, site characteristics and vegetation composition for rooting in European Alps. Scientific Reports 2021, 11, 1 -15.

AMA Style

Erich Tasser, Sonja Gamper, Janette Walde, Nikolaus Obojes, Ulrike Tappeiner. Evidence for the importance of land use, site characteristics and vegetation composition for rooting in European Alps. Scientific Reports. 2021; 11 (1):1-15.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Erich Tasser; Sonja Gamper; Janette Walde; Nikolaus Obojes; Ulrike Tappeiner. 2021. "Evidence for the importance of land use, site characteristics and vegetation composition for rooting in European Alps." Scientific Reports 11, no. 1: 1-15.

Research article
Published: 12 March 2021 in People and Nature
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Cultural Ecosystem Services (CESs), such as aesthetic and recreational enjoyment, as well as sense of place and cultural heritage, play an outstanding role in the contribution of landscapes to human well‐being. Scientists, however, still often struggle to understand how landscape characteristics contribute to deliver these intangible benefits, largely because it is hard to navigate how people value nature, and because there is a lack in methods that accommodate both comprehensive and time‐efficient evaluations. Recent advances in technology and the proliferation of new data sources, such as social media data, open promising alternatives to traditional, resource‐intensive methods, facilitating the understanding of the multiple relationships between people and nature. Here, we examine a user‐friendly artificial intelligence (AI)‐based approach for inferring visual‐sensory landscape values from Flickr data, combining computer vision with text mining. We show it is possible to automatically relate photographers' preferences in capturing landscape elements to a set of CESs (aesthetic value, outdoor recreation, cultural heritage, symbolic species) with reasonable accuracy, using the semantic content provided by approximately 640,000 artificially generated tags of photographs taken in the UNESCO world heritage site ‘The Dolomites’ (Italy). We used the geographic information in the data to demonstrate that these preferences can be further linked to different natural and human variables and be used to spatially predict CES patterns. Over 90% of photograph tags could be linked to four CES categories with reasonable confidence (accuracy ration ∼ 80%). The Dolomites are highly appreciated for its aesthetic value (66% of images classified to that category) and vast cultural heritage (13%), followed by its outdoor recreation opportunities (11%) and symbolic species (10%). CES benefiting hotspots were found in areas with high tourism development and close to residential areas, and could largely be explained by a combination of environmental (e.g. landscape composition) and infrastructural (e.g. accessibility) variables. We conclude that online available AI technology and social media data can effectively be used to support rapid, flexible and transferrable CES assessments. Our work can provide a reference for innovative adaptive management approaches that can harness emerging technologies to gain insights into human–nature relationships and to sustainably manage our environment. A free Plain Language Summary can be found within the Supporting Information of this article.

ACS Style

Lukas Egarter Vigl; Thomas Marsoner; Valentina Giombini; Caroline Pecher; Heidi Simion; Egon Stemle; Erich Tasser; Daniel Depellegrin. Harnessing artificial intelligence technology and social media data to support Cultural Ecosystem Service assessments. People and Nature 2021, 3, 673 -685.

AMA Style

Lukas Egarter Vigl, Thomas Marsoner, Valentina Giombini, Caroline Pecher, Heidi Simion, Egon Stemle, Erich Tasser, Daniel Depellegrin. Harnessing artificial intelligence technology and social media data to support Cultural Ecosystem Service assessments. People and Nature. 2021; 3 (3):673-685.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Lukas Egarter Vigl; Thomas Marsoner; Valentina Giombini; Caroline Pecher; Heidi Simion; Egon Stemle; Erich Tasser; Daniel Depellegrin. 2021. "Harnessing artificial intelligence technology and social media data to support Cultural Ecosystem Service assessments." People and Nature 3, no. 3: 673-685.

Preprint content
Published: 03 March 2021
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River ecosystems are diverse and dynamic habitats which are strongly influenced by direct and indirect consequences of human interventions. Several initiatives have been started all over Europe to fulfill the European guidelines for the protection of the local water bodies, but a standardized procedure fulfilling all relevant aspects and parameters of the Water Framework Directive (WFD) does not exists. To evaluate water quality, the WFD predefines biotic and abiotic parameters, such as morphology, hydrology, water chemistry as well as biological quality components, including fish fauna. In this context, we propose a new methodological approach based on salmonid fish populations to assess river quality. Our approach is based on European standardization of the Austrian and Italian methods and it has been tested in the context of an international fish project in 81 stream sections in the European Alps, having homogeneous morphological characteristics. The assessment procedure is composed of a set of 11 indicators, which were selected to evaluate longitudinal and lateral morphological and hydrological conditions: stream passability, reproduction sites, riverine dynamic, shoreline, shoreline vegetation, structure, substrate and degree of hydrological disturbance, a descent speed indicator as well as discharge conditions of hydropeaking. The indicators were then combined to 3 indices, namely: morphology index (IM), hydrology index (IH) and hydromorphology index (IHM), to create a holistic picture of the total stream conditions. The indicator and index definition, the compilation and practical testing of the data entry form in the field, as well as the calculation of the values, were carried out jointly by a team of experts. The combination of that created a new hydromorphology index (IHM) for Alpine streams. The application of the proposed method was shown in 31 river streams in South Tyrol (Italy) and Tyrol (Austria) covering a wide range of different anthropogenic changes and pressure degree, which enabled the trial of the methodology and the refinement of the indicators and indices. The outcomes of our study lead to interesting insights regarding applicability, strengths and weaknesses of the proposed approach.

ACS Style

Katja Schmölz; Agnes Felber; Wolfgang Mark; Melanie Thaler; Josef Wieser; Simone Persiano; Giacomo Bertoldi; Erich Tasser. A methodical approach to analyze the effect of river morphology and hydrology on fish fauna in the inner-Alpine space. 2021, 1 .

AMA Style

Katja Schmölz, Agnes Felber, Wolfgang Mark, Melanie Thaler, Josef Wieser, Simone Persiano, Giacomo Bertoldi, Erich Tasser. A methodical approach to analyze the effect of river morphology and hydrology on fish fauna in the inner-Alpine space. . 2021; ():1.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Katja Schmölz; Agnes Felber; Wolfgang Mark; Melanie Thaler; Josef Wieser; Simone Persiano; Giacomo Bertoldi; Erich Tasser. 2021. "A methodical approach to analyze the effect of river morphology and hydrology on fish fauna in the inner-Alpine space." , no. : 1.

Journal article
Published: 31 December 2020 in Sustainability
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Earthworm activities affect the provision of many ecosystem services. Land use can strongly influence earthworm communities and, hence related soil functions. We assessed earthworm biomass, abundance, and species composition on grasslands, apple orchards, and vineyards in the context of an existing sustainability assessment tool in South Tyrol, Italy. A stratified sampling campaign revealed significant differences in earthworm distribution. We found 21 to 700 individuals m−2 in grasslands and surprisingly abundant earthworm communities in apple orchards (14 to 382 individuals m−2). Results for vineyards were ambiguous with no or very low abundance in 47% of the vineyards and a maximum of 396 individuals m−2. Mesohumic endogeic species were the most abundant functional group observed (75% of the biomass in grasslands, 50% in apple orchards and vineyards). Aporrectodea caliginosa was the most abundant endogeic species, Lumbricus rubellus the dominant polyhumic endogeic species in all land-use types. We estimated a total of 34,900 t of earthworm biomass on agricultural areas in South Tyrol corresponding to a total value of EUR 872 million. Although soil quality is a complex concept that cannot be captured with a single indicator, earthworms are suitable and feasible indicators for sustainable soil use at the landscape scale.

ACS Style

Johannes Rüdisser; Erich Tasser; Thomas Peham; Erwin Meyer; Ulrike Tappeiner. Hidden Engineers and Service Providers: Earthworms in Agricultural Land-Use Types of South Tyrol, Italy. Sustainability 2020, 13, 312 .

AMA Style

Johannes Rüdisser, Erich Tasser, Thomas Peham, Erwin Meyer, Ulrike Tappeiner. Hidden Engineers and Service Providers: Earthworms in Agricultural Land-Use Types of South Tyrol, Italy. Sustainability. 2020; 13 (1):312.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Johannes Rüdisser; Erich Tasser; Thomas Peham; Erwin Meyer; Ulrike Tappeiner. 2020. "Hidden Engineers and Service Providers: Earthworms in Agricultural Land-Use Types of South Tyrol, Italy." Sustainability 13, no. 1: 312.

Journal article
Published: 11 November 2020 in Environmental Research
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Greenness may protect from or contribute to allergy risk by influencing air pollution and human-microbe interactions. However, existing research on the issue is heterogeneous and produced conflicting results. Less in known about the effects of greyness. This study investigated the association between different characteristics of residential and school environment and allergic symptoms in schoolchildren. The present cross-sectional survey was undertaken in 2004/2005 among 1251 schoolchildren (8–12 years old) in several alpine valleys in Austria and Italy. Children's mothers completed a questionnaire that asked about allergic symptoms (International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood questionnaire), sociodemographic information, lifestyle, perinatal data, and housing conditions. We constructed four aggregate outcome variables: current asthma symptoms, ever asthma symptoms, ever allergic rhinitis (AR) symptoms, and ever eczema symptoms. We employed well-known greenness and greyness exposure indicators (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index, tree canopy cover, agricultural cover, imperviousness cover, and industrial cover), as well as an alternative naturalness index (Distance to Nature, D2N). Adjusted logistic regressions were used to explore associations between each exposure-outcome pair. Air pollution (NO2), traffic noise and time spent outdoors were tested as potential mediators in causal mediation analysis. Decrease in naturalness in a 500-m buffer around the home was associated with higher prevalence of AR symptoms. Associations with asthma symptoms were in the same direction but marginally significant. Residential NDVI and tree cover were marginally associated with lower prevalence of asthma and AR symptoms. Having a domestic garden was associated with lower prevalence of asthma symptoms. School greenness in a 100-m buffer was associated with lower prevalence of AR symptoms. Residential greyness was associated with higher prevalence of AR and asthma symptoms. We observed stronger associations for greenness and greyness in non-movers and in children without a family history of allergies. Mediation by NO2 and time spent outdoors was present in some of the exposure-outcome pairs. Schoolchildren residing in places with lower naturalness and higher greyness may be more likely to have allergic rhinitis and possibly asthma. Considering more comprehensive indicators than greenness and greyness and conducting research in children without a family history of allergic diseases may be key to better understanding who can profit from natural landscapes.

ACS Style

Angel M. Dzhambov; Peter Lercher; Johannes Rüdisser; Matthew H.E.M. Browning; Iana Markevych. Allergic symptoms in association with naturalness, greenness, and greyness: A cross-sectional study in schoolchildren in the Alps. Environmental Research 2020, 198, 110456 .

AMA Style

Angel M. Dzhambov, Peter Lercher, Johannes Rüdisser, Matthew H.E.M. Browning, Iana Markevych. Allergic symptoms in association with naturalness, greenness, and greyness: A cross-sectional study in schoolchildren in the Alps. Environmental Research. 2020; 198 ():110456.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Angel M. Dzhambov; Peter Lercher; Johannes Rüdisser; Matthew H.E.M. Browning; Iana Markevych. 2020. "Allergic symptoms in association with naturalness, greenness, and greyness: A cross-sectional study in schoolchildren in the Alps." Environmental Research 198, no. : 110456.

Journal article
Published: 14 October 2020 in Science of The Total Environment
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The European Alps are known as the ‘water towers of Europe’. However, climatic and socioeconomic changes influence both water supply and demand, increasing the need to manage this limited and valuable resource properly to avoid user conflicts and water scarcity. Two major challenges emerge when assessing water scarcity in the Alps: Firstly, mountainous regions are very heterogeneous regarding water availability and demand over space and time, and therefore water scarcity assessments need to be done at low temporal and spatial scales. Secondly, the tight coupling of the natural and the social sphere necessitate an integrative approach considering dynamics and interactions of the social-ecological system. Hence, we applied the agent-based water supply and demand model Aqua.MORE, which is designed for catchment scale and sub-daily temporal resolution, to a case study site in the Italian Alps. In the model, the water supply, the local water managers and water users are represented by interacting model agents. We estimated the water supply by refining the annual runoff data provided by the InVEST water yield model for within-year variations. Local stakeholders contributed to the development of quantitative and spatially-explicit scenarios for land use and tourism evolution. To evaluate water supply and demand dynamics, we assessed six scenarios for the period of 2015 to 2050: three different socio-economic policy pathways, both alone and in combination with a climate change scenario. In all six scenarios, the water demand:supply (D:S) ratio continuously rises from 2015 to 2050.The highest D:S ratio values are prognosed at the beginning of the irrigation period in May. In all scenarios considering climatic changes, the D:S ratio exceeds 20% for several days, indicating potential water scarcity. The simulation results reinforce the importance of analysing water balances at a high temporal resolution and can support management processes and stakeholder dialogues for sustainable watershed management.

ACS Style

Lisa Huber; Johannes Rüdisser; Claude Meisch; Rike Stotten; Georg Leitinger; Ulrike Tappeiner. Agent-based modelling of water balance in a social-ecological system: A multidisciplinary approach for mountain catchments. Science of The Total Environment 2020, 755, 142962 .

AMA Style

Lisa Huber, Johannes Rüdisser, Claude Meisch, Rike Stotten, Georg Leitinger, Ulrike Tappeiner. Agent-based modelling of water balance in a social-ecological system: A multidisciplinary approach for mountain catchments. Science of The Total Environment. 2020; 755 ():142962.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Lisa Huber; Johannes Rüdisser; Claude Meisch; Rike Stotten; Georg Leitinger; Ulrike Tappeiner. 2020. "Agent-based modelling of water balance in a social-ecological system: A multidisciplinary approach for mountain catchments." Science of The Total Environment 755, no. : 142962.

Research article
Published: 03 July 2020 in Landscape Ecology
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ACS Style

Jacob Dein; Johannes Rüdisser. Landscape influence on biophony in an urban environment in the European Alps. Landscape Ecology 2020, 35, 1875 -1889.

AMA Style

Jacob Dein, Johannes Rüdisser. Landscape influence on biophony in an urban environment in the European Alps. Landscape Ecology. 2020; 35 (8):1875-1889.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Jacob Dein; Johannes Rüdisser. 2020. "Landscape influence on biophony in an urban environment in the European Alps." Landscape Ecology 35, no. 8: 1875-1889.

Journal article
Published: 27 June 2020 in Landscape and Urban Planning
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Wilderness has recently re-emerged as a key landscape quality in the public debate in Europe, experiencing renewed appreciation in terms of tourism and nature conservation. At the same time, wilderness has turned into a critical matter of conflict, calling for a better understanding of the public’s varied views on wilderness and the spatial localisation of areas of potential conflict. In this paper, we explore the plurality of existing public wilderness representations combining qualitative evidence from 21 semi-structured interviews with quantitative data from a large-scale questionnaire survey (n = 858) conducted in the region of South Tyrol in the Central Alps. This is complemented with a GIS-based approach to quantify and map the geographic coverage of the different representations of wilderness. Our study reveals three distinct public wilderness representations, i.e. ‘Area with no human impact’, ‘Remote and large area’, and ‘Area where nature can self-develop’, differing in terms of selection and weighting of wilderness attributes. The translation of wilderness representations into maps shows clear differences in spatial distribution, location, and extent of areas with high wilderness quality across the three representations. We further demonstrate the added value of our approach by comparing the results with a standardised, expert-based approach on wilderness quality mapping, finding that the extent of areas of high wilderness quality significantly varies depending on whether the mapping is based on experts' or public's representation of wilderness. We therefore conclude that recognising public wilderness representations and their plurality is fundamental for identifying areas of potential conflict and sustainably managing wild landscapes.

ACS Style

Brenda Maria Zoderer; Steve Carver; Ulrike Tappeiner; Erich Tasser. Ordering 'wilderness': Variations in public representations of wilderness and their spatial distributions. Landscape and Urban Planning 2020, 202, 103875 .

AMA Style

Brenda Maria Zoderer, Steve Carver, Ulrike Tappeiner, Erich Tasser. Ordering 'wilderness': Variations in public representations of wilderness and their spatial distributions. Landscape and Urban Planning. 2020; 202 ():103875.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Brenda Maria Zoderer; Steve Carver; Ulrike Tappeiner; Erich Tasser. 2020. "Ordering 'wilderness': Variations in public representations of wilderness and their spatial distributions." Landscape and Urban Planning 202, no. : 103875.

Journal article
Published: 09 April 2020 in Applied Geography
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The application of ecosystem services (ES) models that rely on primary biophysical data is considered as most promising to generate accurate maps for decision making. However, to effectively apply these modelling approaches for ES mapping, representative functional spatial units with distinct socio-ecological characteristics are needed, which allow the upscaling of measured variables from the plot level to the landscape scale. In this study, we propose a theoretical framework for delineating functional spatial units based on abiotic and management variables. We apply this framework for an alpine grassland site and identify functional spatial units (here referred as to grassland trajectories) based on abiotic (elevation, slope, aspect) and management variables (fertilised or unfertilised) for three time steps (2015, 1953 and 1861). We test, via discriminant analyses, whether these grassland trajectories reflect variations in plant and soil traits. Our results indicate that the combination of topographical and management variables leads to significantly better classification results compared to land use/land cover (LULC) or topography alone. The best result could be obtained when information of past and present LULC was included, i.e. 51% of grassland trajectories were correctly classified. We finally use these grassland trajectories to map five ES (forage production and forage quality, carbon storage, water quality and soil fertility) based on trait-based models to exemplify the operational suitability of grassland trajectories to upscale plot-level data to the landscape scale. Current ES provision varies greatly for the different grassland trajectories, revealing the combined effects of abiotic and biotic drivers.

ACS Style

Uta Schirpke; Georg Leitinger; Erich Tasser; Johannes Rüdisser; Veronika Fontana; Ulrike Tappeiner. Functional spatial units are fundamental for modelling ecosystem services in mountain regions. Applied Geography 2020, 118, 102200 .

AMA Style

Uta Schirpke, Georg Leitinger, Erich Tasser, Johannes Rüdisser, Veronika Fontana, Ulrike Tappeiner. Functional spatial units are fundamental for modelling ecosystem services in mountain regions. Applied Geography. 2020; 118 ():102200.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Uta Schirpke; Georg Leitinger; Erich Tasser; Johannes Rüdisser; Veronika Fontana; Ulrike Tappeiner. 2020. "Functional spatial units are fundamental for modelling ecosystem services in mountain regions." Applied Geography 118, no. : 102200.

Editorial
Published: 08 April 2020 in Sustainability
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Ecological footprint analyses demonstrate that the world’s more than 7.5 billion people consume multiple planets’ worth of resources. To incite and evaluate societal changes for the sustainable use of the environment and its natural resources, the ecosystem service (ES) concept was developed more than 20 years ago. To ensure the sustainable provision of indispensable ES, the concept has been refined and enhanced, enabling its application across various temporal and spatial scales. However, evidence-based strategies and policies are needed to preserve biodiversity and natural capital in our changing world. This Special Issue comprises studies advancing the frameworks, concepts, and applications related to ES assessment, with a particular focus on social–ecological systems. To broadly apply the ES concept in different social–ecological systems, several key issues emerged: (1) ES-related definitions and procedures should be improved and standardized; (2) the complexity of the interactions in a social–ecological system must be recognized, and knowledge about spatial and temporal dynamics and interactions among multiple ESs must be deepened; and (3) communication about ES, considering cultural and stakeholder differences, must be increased.

ACS Style

Johannes Rüdisser; Georg Leitinger; Uta Schirpke. Application of the Ecosystem Service Concept in Social–Ecological Systems—from Theory to Practice. Sustainability 2020, 12, 2960 .

AMA Style

Johannes Rüdisser, Georg Leitinger, Uta Schirpke. Application of the Ecosystem Service Concept in Social–Ecological Systems—from Theory to Practice. Sustainability. 2020; 12 (7):2960.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Johannes Rüdisser; Georg Leitinger; Uta Schirpke. 2020. "Application of the Ecosystem Service Concept in Social–Ecological Systems—from Theory to Practice." Sustainability 12, no. 7: 2960.

Preprint content
Published: 23 March 2020
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Intensive agricultural management can have significant impacts on soil properties. Such effects and their degree are often related to the history of land use and to the agronomic practices. When legacy soil data are missing, historical land use maps can help to describe how crop management might have changed the concentration of certain elements in soils. In this study, we prove how permanent crop management (vineyards and apple orchards) influenced heavy metal concentration in agricultural soils in South Tyrol, Italy. We selected areas where land-use change was unidirectional going from forests, grasslands and arable lands to apple orchards or vineyards. We hypothesize that the heavy metal accumulation in the soil starts when a parcel is converted to intensive permanent crops. This hypothesis allows us to see if there are any significant differences between parcels with a longer or shorter intensive agriculture history. We used approx. 6000 soil samples analyzed between 2006 and 2016 and coupled them with historical land use maps dating from the 1850s until today. Soils that have been cultivated as apple orchards or vineyards since the 1850s are characterized by higher concentrations of Cu. The oldest vineyards have much higher soil Cu concentrations than apple orchards of the same age with a median content of 342 mg kg–1 and 212 mg kg–1 of Cu respectively. Similar patterns, but with smaller extent can be described also for Zn concentration. Comparing the age of vineyards with today’s concentration we estimate an accumulation rate of 2.4 mg kg–1 year–1 of Cu. We conclude that historical land use maps are extremely helpful in understanding today’s soil characteristics especially with not degradable pollutants such as heavy metals. High concentrations of Cu in vineyards reveal the widespread and abundant use of this metal in viticulture for plant defense programs through time. The accumulation trend proves that further research and monitoring is needed to understand spatial and temporal pattern of Cu and Zn pollution in intensively managed permanent crops and to estimate their impact on taxonomical and functional fungal and bacterial diversity. These aspects are of pivotal role in determining the soil fertility levels of our cultivated soils.

ACS Style

Giulio Genova; Georg Niedrist; Stefano Della Chiesa; Erich Tasser; Luigimaria Borruso; Stefano Cesco; Tanja Mimmo. Effects of land use history on heavy metals concentration in agricultural soils. 2020, 1 .

AMA Style

Giulio Genova, Georg Niedrist, Stefano Della Chiesa, Erich Tasser, Luigimaria Borruso, Stefano Cesco, Tanja Mimmo. Effects of land use history on heavy metals concentration in agricultural soils. . 2020; ():1.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Giulio Genova; Georg Niedrist; Stefano Della Chiesa; Erich Tasser; Luigimaria Borruso; Stefano Cesco; Tanja Mimmo. 2020. "Effects of land use history on heavy metals concentration in agricultural soils." , no. : 1.

Preprint content
Published: 10 March 2020
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Land ecosystems presently sequester around 25% of the carbon dioxide (CO2) that is emitted into the atmosphere by human activity and thus, along with the oceans (absorbing a similar fraction), slow down the increase of atmospheric CO2. Whether land ecosystems will be able to continue to sequester atmospheric CO2 at similar rates in the future or whether carbon cycle-climate feedbacks will cause the land sink to saturate or even turn into a source, is a topic of controversial discussion. While taking up CO2 through the stomata, plants inevitably lose water through transpiration. Terrestrial evapotranspiration (ET) can have a feedback to (local) precipitation and therefore modulate near-surface climate. The terrestrial carbon and water cycles are highly connected and controlled by complex interactions between biological and abiotic drivers. Mountain ecosystems in the European Alps are a hot spot of climate and land-use changes. Over the last century, temperatures have increased in the region with a rate double that of the global average and are expected to rise rapidly. In addition, precipitation changes are highly complex with an increasing and a decreasing trend in the northern and southern Alps, respectively and different seasonal patterns. Socio-economic development in the Alps during the past centuries have caused large-scale changes in land-use and its intensity, which has contributed to the uncertainty about future land-atmosphere interactions. The objective of the CYCLAMEN project is to quantify and project the resilience and vulnerability of carbon and water cycling in North and South Tyrol. We aim at providing information for predicting likely future changes in climate and land-use over the region.

In the study we used a comprehensive and multidisciplinary approach to model biosphere-atmosphere interactions in the Alps. Data from eddy covariance stations spread across the region were chosen to test and calibrate the biosphere model SiB4. The meteorological data from the same stations was used to train a stochastic Weather Generator and simulate weather conditions under climate scenarios RCP8.5 and RCP2.6 until 2100. To account for future land- use/ land- cover (LULC) changes the SPA-LUCC model was used. Both the simulated weather conditions and the expected LULC were fed back to the SiB4 model to calculate ecosystem parameters, including carbon dioxide net ecosystem exchange and evapotranspiration. In parallel, an enhanced thermal remote sensing dataset was produced, specifically adapted for mountainous areas. This dataset will be the main driver for modelling ET with an energy balance model whose output will be cross compared with the one of the biosphere model SiB4.

ACS Style

Florian Kitz; Georg Wohlfahrt; Mathias W Rotach; Erich Tasser; Simon Tscholl; Paulina Bartkowiak; Mariapina Castelli; Claudia Notarnicola; Hetal Dabhi; Thorsten Simon. Cycling of carbon and water in mountain ecosystems under changing climate and land use (CYCLAMEN). 2020, 1 .

AMA Style

Florian Kitz, Georg Wohlfahrt, Mathias W Rotach, Erich Tasser, Simon Tscholl, Paulina Bartkowiak, Mariapina Castelli, Claudia Notarnicola, Hetal Dabhi, Thorsten Simon. Cycling of carbon and water in mountain ecosystems under changing climate and land use (CYCLAMEN). . 2020; ():1.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Florian Kitz; Georg Wohlfahrt; Mathias W Rotach; Erich Tasser; Simon Tscholl; Paulina Bartkowiak; Mariapina Castelli; Claudia Notarnicola; Hetal Dabhi; Thorsten Simon. 2020. "Cycling of carbon and water in mountain ecosystems under changing climate and land use (CYCLAMEN)." , no. : 1.

Journal article
Published: 21 February 2020 in Ecosystem Services
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Policy-makers and practitioners are increasingly interested in information about ecosystem services (ES), but the creation of indicators that are comprehensive and yet interpretable for stakeholders remains a challenge. In this study, we make use of the extensive body of research on ES and available data to quantify the value of land-use types from an ES perspective. Specifically, we estimate the supply of 19 important ES for the main land-use types on the basis of 58 ecosystem and landscape measures (capturing either state, quantity or process) derived from the literature. In addition, we used survey-based evidence of socio-cultural values of ES to integrate society’s demand for ES. Our approach allows for an integrative assessment and comparison of land-use types, considering both the supply and demand of multiple ES, and the production of outputs at three levels of aggregation, relating to (1) individual ES, (2) ES categories, and (3) land-use types. This makes it possible to flexibly adapt outputs according to the needs of stakeholders, while balancing concerns of comprehensiveness and ease of use. We conclude with a discussion of further avenues for future research, calling for a stronger coordination of ES research and the establishment of shared databases on ES.

ACS Style

Erich Tasser; Uta Schirpke; Brenda Maria Zoderer; Ulrike Tappeiner. Towards an integrative assessment of land-use type values from the perspective of ecosystem services. Ecosystem Services 2020, 42, 101082 .

AMA Style

Erich Tasser, Uta Schirpke, Brenda Maria Zoderer, Ulrike Tappeiner. Towards an integrative assessment of land-use type values from the perspective of ecosystem services. Ecosystem Services. 2020; 42 ():101082.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Erich Tasser; Uta Schirpke; Brenda Maria Zoderer; Ulrike Tappeiner. 2020. "Towards an integrative assessment of land-use type values from the perspective of ecosystem services." Ecosystem Services 42, no. : 101082.

Journal article
Published: 01 October 2019 in Ecosystem Services
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Johannes Rüdisser; Uta Schirpke; Ulrike Tappeiner. Symbolic entities in the European Alps: Perception and use of a cultural ecosystem service. Ecosystem Services 2019, 39, 1 .

AMA Style

Johannes Rüdisser, Uta Schirpke, Ulrike Tappeiner. Symbolic entities in the European Alps: Perception and use of a cultural ecosystem service. Ecosystem Services. 2019; 39 ():1.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Johannes Rüdisser; Uta Schirpke; Ulrike Tappeiner. 2019. "Symbolic entities in the European Alps: Perception and use of a cultural ecosystem service." Ecosystem Services 39, no. : 1.

Journal article
Published: 20 August 2019 in Ecological Indicators
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Farmers are important actors for regional development and biodiversity protection. Agri-environment-climate measures (AECM) are therefore a central tool of the European Union to support its biodiversity conservation policy. AECM generally reward farmers for fulfilling predefined management actions or avoiding specific practices. In contrast, result oriented AECM are intended to reward farmers for the outcome of nature friendly management practices. This approach gives more flexibility in management and hence promotes farmers engagement and autonomy. Besides educational activities and agricultural advisory services farmers need user friendly tools to assess biodiversity in order to meet result oriented AECM. Thus, we present a biodiversity assessment scheme for farmland using a set of indicators, which covers different aspects of biodiversity (flower colour index, butterfly abundance, landscape structuring degree, patch diversity index, aggregated biodiversity index) and can be applied at different spatial scales. The assessment scheme is applied on 44 farms in five countries (France, Switzerland, Germany, Italy, and Austria). To evaluate its appropriateness the relationship between the indicators and land-use intensity and plant species richness is investigated. Grasslands with low land-use intensity are more colourful grasslands, have significantly more butterflies and a higher aggregated biodiversity index than moderately and intensively used grasslands. The influence of management intensity on the landscape structuring degree is not significant. All indicators correlate with plant species richness at all spatial scales. The proposed assessment scheme serves as a tool for the detection of differences in biodiversity resulting from land-use practices, and can assist the monitoring of ROMs.

ACS Style

Erich Tasser; Johannes Rüdisser; Michaela Plaikner; Alexander Wezel; Sibylle Stöckli; Audrey Vincent; Heike Nitsch; Monika Dubbert; Valerie Moos; Janette Walde; Daniel Bogner. A simple biodiversity assessment scheme supporting nature-friendly farm management. Ecological Indicators 2019, 107, 105649 .

AMA Style

Erich Tasser, Johannes Rüdisser, Michaela Plaikner, Alexander Wezel, Sibylle Stöckli, Audrey Vincent, Heike Nitsch, Monika Dubbert, Valerie Moos, Janette Walde, Daniel Bogner. A simple biodiversity assessment scheme supporting nature-friendly farm management. Ecological Indicators. 2019; 107 ():105649.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Erich Tasser; Johannes Rüdisser; Michaela Plaikner; Alexander Wezel; Sibylle Stöckli; Audrey Vincent; Heike Nitsch; Monika Dubbert; Valerie Moos; Janette Walde; Daniel Bogner. 2019. "A simple biodiversity assessment scheme supporting nature-friendly farm management." Ecological Indicators 107, no. : 105649.

Journal article
Published: 24 June 2019 in Ecological Indicators
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Significant progress has recently been made in developing effective tools for the quantification and mapping of landscape preferences. However, while much landscape planning and decision-making operates at the regional scale, capturing public’s preferences of specific landscapes at scales beyond the local remains a challenge especially in geographically diverse areas. This paper presents a new method for the mapping of landscape preferences at regional scales by combining elements from landscape and ecosystem service research. This makes two contributions to existing literature: First, it advances existing 'generic feature mapping' approaches for extrapolating people’s perceptions and valuations of locally specific landscapes to regional maps using photographic questionnaires. Second, we approach preferences of landscapes from an ecosystem service perspective, specifically identifying i) both the perceived supply and socio-cultural valuation of ecosystem services, and ii) multiple services across the cultural, regulating, and provisioning category. Overall, we argue that these features make it possible to more accurately represent the multiple aspects of landscape preferences at a regional scale. The proposed method can be applied to regions of different size, varying geographical complexity, and for different beneficiary groups. The method is demonstrated for the mountain region of South Tyrol (Italy), located in the Central Alps.

ACS Style

Brenda Maria Zoderer; Erich Tasser; Steve Carver; Ulrike Tappeiner. An integrated method for the mapping of landscape preferences at the regional scale. Ecological Indicators 2019, 106, 105430 .

AMA Style

Brenda Maria Zoderer, Erich Tasser, Steve Carver, Ulrike Tappeiner. An integrated method for the mapping of landscape preferences at the regional scale. Ecological Indicators. 2019; 106 ():105430.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Brenda Maria Zoderer; Erich Tasser; Steve Carver; Ulrike Tappeiner. 2019. "An integrated method for the mapping of landscape preferences at the regional scale." Ecological Indicators 106, no. : 105430.

Journal article
Published: 16 May 2019 in Ecosystem Services
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Recent developments in Ecosystem Service (ES) research show a growing interest in the concept of ES bundles for informing the effective management of landscapes. While the supply of ES bundles was biophysically assessed, there has been little research about the perception of ES bundles, neither in terms of their supply, nor of their demand. This research investigates how various stakeholders perceive the delivery of ES supply bundles across different landscapes and how this differs from the ES demand bundles they request. A questionnaire survey (n = 858) was carried out on the basis of landscape photographs with local farmers, local inhabitants, and visitors in the region of South Tyrol in the Central Alps. The results show that the different stakeholder groups identify identical ES supply bundles (i.e. experiential service, life maintenance service, agroservice bundle) and associate each with a similar set of landscape types. Stakeholders, however, differ in terms of their expressed demand for ES bundles. These findings suggest that stakeholders experience different (spatial) mismatches between the supply and demand of ES, potentially leading to stakeholder conflicts in landscape management. This study concludes by discussing these potential conflicts across different landscapes and in the context of future land use and management decisions.

ACS Style

Brenda Maria Zoderer; Erich Tasser; Steve Carver; Ulrike Tappeiner. Stakeholder perspectives on ecosystem service supply and ecosystem service demand bundles. Ecosystem Services 2019, 37, 100938 .

AMA Style

Brenda Maria Zoderer, Erich Tasser, Steve Carver, Ulrike Tappeiner. Stakeholder perspectives on ecosystem service supply and ecosystem service demand bundles. Ecosystem Services. 2019; 37 ():100938.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Brenda Maria Zoderer; Erich Tasser; Steve Carver; Ulrike Tappeiner. 2019. "Stakeholder perspectives on ecosystem service supply and ecosystem service demand bundles." Ecosystem Services 37, no. : 100938.

Journal article
Published: 13 April 2019 in Sustainability
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Ecosystem services (ESs) are increasingly included into decision-making to achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Although both concepts consider the interactions between humans and the environment, spatial relationships between ESs and sustainability have been rarely addressed. Therefore, this study aims at analyzing spatial congruencies and mismatches between ESs and sustainability in the greater Alpine region. Using hot spot and overlap analyses, we overlaid maps of supply, demand and flow of eight key ESs with the spatial distribution of sustainability based on 24 indicators. Our results reveal that, in most cases, supply of and demand for ESs are greatly dislocated. These mismatches are reflected also in the spatial distribution of sustainability. In contrast to ES demand hot spots, supply hot spots are generally characterized by high sustainability levels, especially in relation to the environment. However, due to discrepancies in the social and economic dimensions, it cannot be assumed that ES supply hot spots always correspond to high sustainability. Hence, using ES indicators for measuring sustainability provides rather limited insights. We conclude that both concepts should be applied in a complementary way to maximize ecological, social and economic benefits in land management and planning processes.

ACS Style

Uta Schirpke; Lukas Egarter Vigl; Erich Tasser; Ulrike Tappeiner. Analyzing Spatial Congruencies and Mismatches between Supply, Demand and Flow of Ecosystem Services and Sustainable Development. Sustainability 2019, 11, 2227 .

AMA Style

Uta Schirpke, Lukas Egarter Vigl, Erich Tasser, Ulrike Tappeiner. Analyzing Spatial Congruencies and Mismatches between Supply, Demand and Flow of Ecosystem Services and Sustainable Development. Sustainability. 2019; 11 (8):2227.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Uta Schirpke; Lukas Egarter Vigl; Erich Tasser; Ulrike Tappeiner. 2019. "Analyzing Spatial Congruencies and Mismatches between Supply, Demand and Flow of Ecosystem Services and Sustainable Development." Sustainability 11, no. 8: 2227.

Journal article
Published: 30 March 2019 in Landscape and Urban Planning
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The demand for cultural ecosystem services (CES) is increasing, and aesthetic values contribute substantially to attract visitors to mountain regions, enhancing the socio-economic well-being. While most studies focused on the assessment of aesthetic values under current conditions, this study aimed to evaluate the historic development of aesthetic values from the perspective of today by analysing changes in the actual supply of this CES along roads and paths in Sölden in the Ötztal valley (Austria) since the beginning of tourism. We first mapped roads and paths for five time steps over the last 150 years to then estimate aesthetic values along these infrastructures, using a spatially explicit modelling approach. Furthermore, we compared spatial patterns of visitation preferences derived from social media data with predicted aesthetic values. Our results indicate that an increased access to areas of high aesthetic values was related to general increases in the supply of aesthetic values until 1950. Although the accessibility to high-elevation areas continued to increase until 2017, aesthetic values generally decreased due to landscape changes induced by the shift from mainly agricultural to touristic use. The abandonment of alpine pastures occurred mainly above the forest belt, which coincides with high levels of photo density, as most pictures were taken around mountain huts and on mountain peaks. If carefully planned and managed, mountain regions may actively enhance aesthetic experiences and foster the touristic use by providing good infrastructure, but land use policies and landscape management should support agricultural activities to maintain high levels of aesthetic values.

ACS Style

Uta Schirpke; Andreas Altzinger; Georg Leitinger; Erich Tasser. Change from agricultural to touristic use: Effects on the aesthetic value of landscapes over the last 150 years. Landscape and Urban Planning 2019, 187, 23 -35.

AMA Style

Uta Schirpke, Andreas Altzinger, Georg Leitinger, Erich Tasser. Change from agricultural to touristic use: Effects on the aesthetic value of landscapes over the last 150 years. Landscape and Urban Planning. 2019; 187 ():23-35.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Uta Schirpke; Andreas Altzinger; Georg Leitinger; Erich Tasser. 2019. "Change from agricultural to touristic use: Effects on the aesthetic value of landscapes over the last 150 years." Landscape and Urban Planning 187, no. : 23-35.