Details
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 289-300 |
| Number of pages | 12 |
| Journal | AMBIO |
| Volume | 50 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| Publication status | Published - Feb 2021 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Abstract
Conservation efforts are increasingly supported by ecosystem service assessments. These assessments depend on complex multi-disciplinary methods, and rely on a number of assumptions which reduce complexity. If assumptions are ambiguous or inadequate, misconceptions and misinterpretations may arise when interpreting results of assessments. An interdisciplinary understanding of assumptions in ecosystem service science is needed to provide consistent conservation recommendations. Here, we synthesise and elaborate on 12 prevalent types of assumptions in ecosystem service assessments. These comprise conceptual and ethical foundations of the ecosystem service concept, assumptions on data collection, indication, mapping, and modelling, on socio-economic valuation and value aggregation, as well as about using assessment results for decision-making. We recommend future assessments to increase transparency about assumptions, and to test and validate them and their potential consequences on assessment reliability. This will support the taking up of assessment results in conservation science, policy and practice.
Keywords
- Assessment, Decision-making, Ecosystem services, Environmental ethics, Mapping, Valuation
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Social Sciences(all)
- Geography, Planning and Development
- Environmental Science(all)
- Environmental Chemistry
- Environmental Science(all)
- Ecology
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In: AMBIO, Vol. 50, No. 2, 02.2021, p. 289-300.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer review
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Assumptions in ecosystem service assessments
T2 - Increasing transparency for conservation
AU - Schröter, Matthias
AU - Crouzat, Emilie
AU - Hölting, Lisanne
AU - Massenberg, Julian
AU - Rode, Julian
AU - Hanisch, Mario
AU - Kabisch, Nadja
AU - Palliwoda, Julia
AU - Priess, Jörg A.
AU - Seppelt, Ralf
AU - Beckmann, Michael
N1 - Funding information: Open access funding provided by Projekt DEAL. We acknowledge funding from the Helmholtz Association (Research School ESCALATE, VH-KO-613, MB, JM, LH); JP has been supported by BIODIVERSA / UrbanGaia (contract No. 01LC1616A); NK’s work was supported by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF; research project GreenEquityHEALTH, no. 01LN1705A). We would like to thank three anonymous reviewers for their constructive and helpful remarks. We thank Bartosz Bartkowski, Roy P. Remme and Christoph Schröter-Schlaack whose comments on earlier versions have helped to further shape the manuscript. We would like to thank Anna F. Cord and Kurt Jax for their fruitful participation in the workshops.
PY - 2021/2
Y1 - 2021/2
N2 - Conservation efforts are increasingly supported by ecosystem service assessments. These assessments depend on complex multi-disciplinary methods, and rely on a number of assumptions which reduce complexity. If assumptions are ambiguous or inadequate, misconceptions and misinterpretations may arise when interpreting results of assessments. An interdisciplinary understanding of assumptions in ecosystem service science is needed to provide consistent conservation recommendations. Here, we synthesise and elaborate on 12 prevalent types of assumptions in ecosystem service assessments. These comprise conceptual and ethical foundations of the ecosystem service concept, assumptions on data collection, indication, mapping, and modelling, on socio-economic valuation and value aggregation, as well as about using assessment results for decision-making. We recommend future assessments to increase transparency about assumptions, and to test and validate them and their potential consequences on assessment reliability. This will support the taking up of assessment results in conservation science, policy and practice.
AB - Conservation efforts are increasingly supported by ecosystem service assessments. These assessments depend on complex multi-disciplinary methods, and rely on a number of assumptions which reduce complexity. If assumptions are ambiguous or inadequate, misconceptions and misinterpretations may arise when interpreting results of assessments. An interdisciplinary understanding of assumptions in ecosystem service science is needed to provide consistent conservation recommendations. Here, we synthesise and elaborate on 12 prevalent types of assumptions in ecosystem service assessments. These comprise conceptual and ethical foundations of the ecosystem service concept, assumptions on data collection, indication, mapping, and modelling, on socio-economic valuation and value aggregation, as well as about using assessment results for decision-making. We recommend future assessments to increase transparency about assumptions, and to test and validate them and their potential consequences on assessment reliability. This will support the taking up of assessment results in conservation science, policy and practice.
KW - Assessment
KW - Decision-making
KW - Ecosystem services
KW - Environmental ethics
KW - Mapping
KW - Valuation
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85090979779&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s13280-020-01379-9
DO - 10.1007/s13280-020-01379-9
M3 - Article
C2 - 32915448
AN - SCOPUS:85090979779
VL - 50
SP - 289
EP - 300
JO - AMBIO
JF - AMBIO
SN - 0044-7447
IS - 2
ER -