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Ecosystems provide multiple services that are necessary to maintain human life. Agroecosystems are very productive suppliers of biomass-related provisioning ecosystem services, e.g. food, fibre, and energy. At the same time, they are highly dependent on good ecosystem condition and regulating ecosystem services such as soil fertility, water supply or soil erosion regulation. Assessments of this interplay of ecosystem condition and services are needed to understand the relationships in highly managed systems. Therefore, the aim of this study is twofold: First, to test the concept and indicators proposed by the European Union Working Group on Mapping and Assessment of Ecosystems and their Services (MAES) for assessing agroecosystem condition at a regional level. Second, to identify the relationships between ecosystem condition and the delivery of ecosystem services. For this purpose, we applied an operational framework for integrated mapping and assessment of ecosystems and their services. We used the proposed indicators to assess the condition of agroecosystems in Northern Germany and regulating ecosystem service control of erosion rates. We used existing data from official databases to calculate the different indicators and created maps of environmental pressures, ecosystem condition and ecosystem service indicators for the Federal State of Lower Saxony. Furthermore, we identified areas within the state where pressures are high, conditions are unfavourable, and more sustainable management practices are needed. Despite the limitations of the indicators and data availability, our results show positive, negative, and no significant correlations between the different pressures and condition indicators, and the control of erosion rates. The idea behind the MAES framework is to indicate the general condition of an ecosystem. However, we observed that not all proposed indicators can explain to what extent ecosystems can provide specific ecosystem services. Further research on other ecosystem services provided by agroecosystems would help to identify synergies and trade-offs. Moreover, the definition of a reference condition, although complicated for anthropogenically highly modified agroecosystems, would provide a benchmark to compare information on the condition of the ecosystems, leading to better land use policy and management decisions.

The younger Quaternary erosion history was reconstructed in a catchment close to the Chalcolithic giant settlement Maidanetske, central Ukraine based on dated sediment sequences. Four trenches and a long percussion drill-core were analyzed in a valley grading from a Loess covered plateau towards the Talianky River. The sediments were dated via a combination of radiocarbon dating, optical stimulated luminescence (OSL) and embedded artefacts. A suspicious non-coincidence between phases of soil erosion and the settlement history at the site over long periods of the Holocene is noticeable and suggests a climatically driven erosion at the site. The detected phases of erosion during the past >20,000 years coincide with global (cal 27.6 +/- 1.3 kyrs BP, 12.0 +/- 0.4 kyrs BP), northern hemispheric (cal 8.5 ± 0.3 kyrs BP), Mediterranean (cal 3.93 ± 0.1 kyrs BP) as well as western to central European (2,700 to 2,000 cal BP) climate anomalies. For these anomalies, characterized by colder than usual conditions in western and central Europe and dry conditions in the eastern Mediterranean and the research area, a common trigger process seems possible. Increased occurrences of heavy precipitation events, probably during phases of a weakened vegetation cover, could explain the observed record. A comparison of the Ukrainian record with other European erosion records raises the question again about the contribution of climate variability on Holocene erosion processes. Whereas climatic influence might be easier detectable in Eastern Europe, with a comparatively late onset of intensive agricultural land use, in southern, central and western Europe the impact of climate variability might be masked to a part according to the long history of intensive agricultural land use. The composition of the sediments implies changes of the slope-channel connectivity during the deposition history. Whereas the periglacial to early Holocene sediments were derived from the whole catchment area, since the mid-Holocene a tendency to lower slope storage of colluvial material and valley incision is noticeable.

The younger Quaternary erosion history was reconstructed in a catchment close to the Chalcolithic giant settlement Maidanetske, central Ukraine based on dated sediment sequences. Four trenches and a long percussion drill-core were analyzed in a valley grading from a Loess covered plateau towards the Talianky River. The sediments were dated via a combination of radiocarbon dating, optical stimulated luminescence (OSL) and embedded artefacts. A suspicious non-coincidence between phases of soil erosion and the settlement history at the site over long periods of the Holocene is noticeable and suggests a climatically driven erosion at the site. The detected phases of erosion during the past >20,000 years coincide with global (cal 27.6 +/- 1.3 kyrs BP, 12.0 +/- 0.4 kyrs BP), northern hemispheric (cal 8.5 ± 0.3 kyrs BP), Mediterranean (cal 3.93 ± 0.1 kyrs BP) as well as western to central European (2,700 to 2,000 cal BP) climate anomalies. For these anomalies, characterized by colder than usual conditions in western and central Europe and dry conditions in the eastern Mediterranean and the research area, a common trigger process seems possible. Increased occurrences of heavy precipitation events, probably during phases of a weakened vegetation cover, could explain the observed record. A comparison of the Ukrainian record with other European erosion records raises the question again about the contribution of climate variability on Holocene erosion processes. Whereas climatic influence might be easier detectable in Eastern Europe, with a comparatively late onset of intensive agricultural land use, in southern, central and western Europe the impact of climate variability might be masked to a part according to the long history of intensive agricultural land use. The composition of the sediments implies changes of the slope-channel connectivity during the deposition history. Whereas the periglacial to early Holocene sediments were derived from the whole catchment area, since the mid-Holocene a tendency to lower slope storage of colluvial material and valley incision is noticeable.