Ecosystem Services at the Landscape Scale: the Need for Integrative Approaches

During the symposium “Ecosystem Services at the Landscape Scale” from the EU-IALE conference 2009, several
challenges for future research on approaches to use the concept of ecosystem services at the landscape scale were
identified, focussing on the need for integration. Three main research directions were discussed, (i) the definition
of the potentials and limitations of the ecosystem service approach for landscape analysis, (ii) the identification of
suitable methods and tools to apply the ecosystem service approach at the landscape scale and (iii) the demand of
incorporating ecosystem and landscape services in decision making and management. This paper briefly addresses
and discusses some of these topics and puts them into a broader perspective. From this viewpoint it becomes obvious
that many high-quality sectoral studies are carried out, e.g. concentrating on specific services or specific linkages
within the “ecosystem service cascade” which describes the relation between biophysical characteristics of the landscape,
their functions, services, benefits and values for society. In order to provide useful information for decision
makers, ecosystem services studies should be supplemented by investigations of the whole systems of interactions
between ecological processes and societal valuations.