Special Issue "Landscape Monitoring, Ecosystem Services and Sustainable Development"

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2021.

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Uta Schirpke
E-Mail Website1 Website2
Guest Editor
1. Institute for Alpine Environment, Eurac Research, Bozen/Bolzano, Italy
2. Department of Ecology, University of Innsbruck, Innrain 52, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria
Interests: ecosystem services; landscape ecology and spatial modelling
Special Issues and Collections in MDPI journals
Dr. Erich Tasser
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institute for Alpine Environment, Eurac Research, Bozen/Bolzano, Italy
Interests: systems and landscape ecology, landscape modelling, scenario techniques, sustainable development in mountain areas

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Landscapes can provide a wide range of ecosystem services, depending on the variety and state of ecosystems. To meet the increasing demand for food, energy, and living space, more and more natural or seminatural ecosystems are converted to human-dominated landscapes, which often leads to overexploitation and degradation of ecosystems and a decline in ecosystem services that can be provided by such landscapes. To incite and evaluate a sustainable use of the environment and its natural resources, it is indispensable to assess and monitor landscape dynamics and its effects on the provision of ecosystem services in space and time. Although research in ecosystem services is advancing rapidly, the linkages to sustainable landscape dynamics are less explored.

This Special Issue therefore invites studies advancing concepts and applications addressing the interactions between landscape dynamics and ecosystem services to indicate sustainable, nature-based solutions (NBS) inclusive the development of green infrastructure (GI). In particular, we welcome contributions that focus on past and future impacts of land-use/cover changes on ecosystem services, identification of underlying mechanisms, as well as best-practice applications to implement monitoring systems for a sustainable use of natural resources. We also would like to indicate the most relevant open research questions and future perspectives in the context of sustainable landscape dynamics and maintenance of multiple ecosystem services.

Dr. Uta Schirpke
Dr. Erich Tasser
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All papers will be peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • land use/cover change
  • ecosystem service assessment
  • scenario development
  • monitoring
  • sustainability

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

Article
Trends in Ecosystem Services across Europe Due to Land-Use/Cover Changes
Sustainability 2021, 13(13), 7095; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13137095 - 24 Jun 2021
Viewed by 849
Abstract
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 [...] Read more.
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. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Landscape Monitoring, Ecosystem Services and Sustainable Development)
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Article
Good Pastures, Good Meadows: Mountain Farmers’ Assessment, Perceptions on Ecosystem Services, and Proposals for Biodiversity Management
Sustainability 2021, 13(10), 5609; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13105609 - 18 May 2021
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 695
Abstract
An ongoing decrease in habitat and species diversity is occurring in many areas across Europe, including in grasslands in mountain areas, calling for adapted biodiversity management and measures. In this context, we carried out 79 interviews with grassland farmers in five alpine mountain [...] Read more.
An ongoing decrease in habitat and species diversity is occurring in many areas across Europe, including in grasslands in mountain areas, calling for adapted biodiversity management and measures. In this context, we carried out 79 interviews with grassland farmers in five alpine mountain regions in Germany, France, Austria, Italy, and Switzerland. We analyzed farmers’ perceptions about the functions and services of their grasslands, how they qualify “good” grasslands, which grassland management practices have changed over the last 10 years, and proposals to increase species diversity on the farm. They related them primarily to cultural ecosystem services, secondly to provisioning services, and thirdly to regulating and supporting services. Good pastures or meadows were mostly related to composition, quality of forage and productivity, structural criteria, and certain characteristics of soils and topography. The measures for increasing biodiversity that were most frequently proposed were upgrading of forest edges, planting hedges or fruit trees, less or late grassland cutting, reduction or omission of fertilization, and more general extensification of farm productions. Factors hindering the implementation of these measures were mainly increased workload, insufficient time, and a lack of financial means or support to cover additional costs for biodiversity management. These factors have to be taken specifically into account for future policies for enhanced biodiversity management of grasslands, also beyond mountainous areas. Overall, we found that farmers have good but varying knowledge about biodiversity management of their grasslands, but also different perspectives on how to improve it. Here, local initiatives that bring together farmers and flora or fauna specialists to exchange knowledge could be designed and used in participatory pilot schemes to enhance the implementation of improved biodiversity management. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Landscape Monitoring, Ecosystem Services and Sustainable Development)
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