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

authored by

Johanna Schumacher, Sabine Lange, Felix Müller, Gerald Schernewski

Abstract

Spatial assessments of ecosystem services (ES) are needed to fulfil EU policy requirements and to support practical applications of the ES concept in policy implementation. So far, ES assessments have largely focused on terrestrial systems. A joint approach for land and sea is especially lacking. To overcome this gap, we present a novel spatial habitat typology and ES classification for an assessment across the land–sea interface. We build upon existing approaches and common spatial definitions, like CORINE land cover (CLC) types, water bodies of the Water Framework Directive (WFD), and habitat types according to the Habitats Directive (HD). We show applications of the resulting ES matrix for an expert-based assessment of ES potentials in three Baltic study sites (Schlei, Greifswald Bay and Curonian Lagoon). A complementary indicator-based approach to assess ES flows is introduced and applied. It enables a quantification of ES potentials and flows and ensures comparability among case study sites. Comparisons between the results for ES potentials and flows show that development capacities exist in particular for provisioning ES for marine habitats. Our approaches are spatially expandable and transferrable and could be applied to support environmental policy implementation. Further, we discuss their practical relevance, current limitations, and future research perspectives.

External Organisation(s)

Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemünde (IOW)
Klaipeda University
Kiel University

Type

Article

Journal

Applied Sciences (Switzerland)

Volume

11

ISSN

2076-3417

Publication date

12.12.2021

Publication status

Published

Peer reviewed

Yes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

General Engineering, Instrumentation, General Materials Science, Fluid Flow and Transfer Processes, Process Chemistry and Technology, Computer Science Applications

Sustainable Development Goals

SDG 14 - Life Below Water, SDG 15 - Life on Land

Electronic version(s)

https://doi.org/10.3390/app112411799 (Access: Open)