1. Uncovering Ecosystem Service Bundles through Social Preferences
- Author
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Marina García-Llorente, Izaskun Casado-Arzuaga, César A. López-Santiago, Erik Gómez-Baggethun, Barbara Willaarts, Elisa Oteros-Rozas, Carlos Montes, David García Del Amo, Fernando Santos-Martín, Irene Iniesta-Arandia, Ignacio Palomo, Berta Martín-López, Igone Palacios-Agundez, José Antonio Torres González, Miren Onaindia, and UAM. Departamento de Ecología
- Subjects
knowledge ,010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences ,BIOCHEMISTRY AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY ,Culture ,Ecosistemas ,010501 environmental sciences ,Social and Behavioral Sciences ,01 natural sciences ,Social preferences ,Ecosystem services ,perceptions ,Sociology ,Global Change Ecology ,Surveys and Questionnaires ,11. Sustainability ,values ,gender ,Environmental planning ,Conservation Science ,biodiversity ,education.field_of_study ,Ecosystem health ,Multidisciplinary ,Ecology ,Environmental resource management ,conservation ,Ecosystem valuation ,AGRICULTURAL AND BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES ,Ecosystem management ,Ecología Urbana ,valuation ,Ecosystem Functioning ,management ,Research Article ,Conservation of Natural Resources ,Science ,Population ,Biology ,Sustainability Science ,Biodiversidad ,Ecosystems ,Sexual and Gender Issues ,Ecological Economics ,Humans ,Ecosystem ,Urban Ecology ,Terrestrial Ecology ,education ,Social Behavior ,0105 earth and related environmental sciences ,Probability ,business.industry ,MEDICINE ,15. Life on land ,13. Climate action ,Spain ,Earth Sciences ,protected areas ,Urban ecosystem ,business ,Environmental Protection ,Environmental Sciences ,Transdisciplinary studies ,Ecological Environments - Abstract
11 p. Ecosystem service assessments have increasingly been used to support environmental management policies, mainly based on biophysical and economic indicators. However, few studies have coped with the social-cultural dimension of ecosystem services, despite being considered a research priority. We examined how ecosystem service bundles and trade-offs emerge from diverging social preferences toward ecosystem services delivered by various types of ecosystems in Spain. We conducted 3,379 direct face-to-face questionnaires in eight different case study sites from 2007 to 2011. Overall, 90.5% of the sampled population recognized the ecosystem's capacity to deliver services. Formal studies, environmental behavior, and gender variables influenced the probability of people recognizing the ecosystem's capacity to provide services. The ecosystem services most frequently perceived by people were regulating services; of those, air purification held the greatest importance. However, statistical analysis showed that socio-cultural factors and the conservation management strategy of ecosystems (i.e., National Park, Natural Park, or a non-protected area) have an effect on social preferences toward ecosystem services. Ecosystem service trade-offs and bundles were identified by analyzing social preferences through multivariate analysis (redundancy analysis and hierarchical cluster analysis). We found a clear trade-off among provisioning services (and recreational hunting) versus regulating services and almost all cultural services. We identified three ecosystem service bundles associated with the conservation management strategy and the rural-urban gradient. We conclude that socio-cultural preferences toward ecosystem services can serve as a tool to identify relevant services for people, the factors underlying these social preferences, and emerging ecosystem service bundles and trade-offs. Funding for the Andalusian case studies came from the Department of Innovation, Science, and Enterprise of Andalusian Government (project P08-RNM-03945) and the Ministry of the Environment and Rural and Marine Affairs of Spain (project 018/2009). The study of the Conquense Drove Road was funded by the Ministry of the Environment and Rural and Marine Affairs of Spain (project #079/RN08/02.1). The Bilbao Metropolitan Greenbelt study was funded by the Department of Education, University and Research of the Basque Government through the doctoral grant received by I. Casado-Arzuaga (BFI09.231), and the Environment Department of the Regional Government of Bizkaia through the project "Millennium Ecosystem Assessment in Bizkaia.'' This paper was further supported by the Biodiversity Foundation through the Spanish Millennium Ecosystem Assessment project (http://www.ecomilenio.es/). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
- Published
- 2012