Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://doi.org/10.48548/pubdata-1542
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Resource typeJournal Article
Title(s)Ensuring the Long-Term Provision of Heathland Ecosystem Services—The Importance of a Functional Perspective in Management Decision Frameworks
DOI10.48548/pubdata-1542
Handle20.500.14123/1618
CreatorWalmsley, David Christopher  0000-0002-0268-3365
Delory, Benjamin  0000-0002-1190-8060
Alonso, Isabel  0000-0002-9048-6870
Temperton, Vicky  0000-0003-0543-4521
Härdtle, Werner  0000-0002-5599-5792
AbstractThe ecosystem services framework can be used as a way of balancing economic, ecological and societal drivers in land management decision-making processes. As heathland management is typically linked directly to services, the aim of this study was to quantify trade-offs related to the effects of five common heathland management measures (grazing, mowing, burning, choppering, and sod-cutting) using quantitative data from empirical studies within a northwestern heathland in Germany. Besides important services (groundwater recharge and quality, carbon stocks and appreciation by the general public) we included ecosystem functions (balances of nitrogen, phosphorus and major cations) and the net cost of management implementation as trade-off components. We found that all management practices have advantages and disadvantages leading to unavoidable trade-offs. The effect of a management practice on the trade-off components was often closely related to the amount of biomass and/or soil removed during a management cycle (Rannual). Choppering and sod-cutting (large Rannual by involving soil removal) were very good at maintaining a low N system whilst concurrently increasing groundwater recharge, albeit at the cost of all other components considered. If the aim is to preserve heathlands and their associated ecosystem services in the long-term this trade-off is inevitable, as currently only these high-intensity measures are capable of removing enough nitrogen from the system to prevent the transition to non-heather dominated habitat types. Our study, therefore, shows that in order to maintain structural integrity and thereby the service potential a habitat provides, management decision frameworks may need to prioritize ecosystem functioning over ecosystem services. Burning and mowing (low Rannual) were best at retaining phosphorus, cations and carbon and had the lowest costs. Grazing (intermediate Rannual) provided the highest relative benefit in terms of groundwater quality and appreciation. Together these results can help identify management combinations in both space and time, which will be more beneficial for functions and services than management practices considered in isolation. Furthermore, our study assists in recognizing key areas of action for the development of novel management practices and can help raise awareness of the diversity of rare species and potential benefits to people that protected cultural landscapes provide.
LanguageEnglish
KeywordsHeath; Heathland; Ecosystem; Services; Nutrient Balances; Conservation Management
Year of publication in PubData2024
Publishing typeParallel publication
Publication versionPublished version
Date issued2021-12-20
Creation contextResearch
Faculty / departmentFakultät Nachhaltigkeit
NotesThis publication was funded by the Open Access Publication Fund of Leuphana University Lüneburg.
Date of Availability2024-11-22T14:14:56Z
Archiving Facility Medien- und Informationszentrum (Leuphana Universität Lüneburg  02w2y2t16)
Published byMedien- und Informationszentrum, Leuphana Universität Lüneburg
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