Catchment zoning to enhance co‐benefits and minimize trade‐offs between ecosystem services and freshwater biodiversity conservation

Abstract

Integrating ecosystem services (ESs) in landscape planning can help to identify conservation opportunities by finding co‐benefits between biodiversity conservation and the maintenance of regulating and cultural ecosystem services. The adequate integration of ESs needs careful consideration of potential trade‐offs, however, especially between provisioning services and biodiversity conservation (e.g. the potentially negative consequences of agricultural water extraction within areas important for the maintenance of biodiversity). These trade‐offs have been overlooked in systematic spatial planning to date, especially in freshwater systems. marxan with zones was used to identify priority areas for the conservation of freshwater biodiversity (139 species of freshwater fish, turtles, and waterbirds) and the provision of freshwater ESs in the Daly River, northern Australia. Four different surrogates for ESs were mapped, including those potentially incompatible with conservation goals (i.e. groundwater provision for agriculture and recreational fisheries) and those that are more compatible with conservation (i.e. flood regulation by riparian forests; provision of perennial water). The spatial allocation of multiple management zones was prioritized: (i) three conservation zones, aiming to represent freshwater biodiversity and compatible ESs to enhance co‐benefits; and (ii) two production zones, where access to provisioning ESs could be granted. The representation of ESs obtained when using the multi‐zoning approach was compared with that achieved with a single management zone approach. The comparison was performed across different representation targets. Different results were found with low and high targets for ESs. With low targets (<25% of all ESs), the multi‐zoning approach achieved up to 53% more co‐benefits than the single‐zone approach. With high targets (>25% of all ESs), the trade‐offs avoided were more evident, with up to 56% less representation of incompatible ESs within conservation zones. Multi‐zone planning could help decision makers respond better to the increasingly complex catchment management context, caused by an increasing demand for provisioning services and a diminishing availability of resources, as well as manage and plan for challenges in other realms facing similar problems.

Principal threats to the conservation of freshwater habitats in the continental biogeographical region of Central Europe

“…Environmental changes occurring at the global scale, such as nitrogen deposition, shifts in precipitation and runoff patterns and climate change (e.g., Creed et al 2018;Abell et al 2019), are superimposed upon all of these threat categories. Consideration of these processes results in more effective conservation of freshwater biodiversity (Hermoso et al 2018;Abell et al 2019).…”

Freshwater conservation planning informed and validated by public participation: The Ebro catchment, Spain, as a case study

“…Although the provision of ecosystem services did not emerge as an important conservation criterion in this study, it could also be included within the systematic conservation framework presented here (Adame, Hermoso, Perhans, Lovelock, & Herrera‐Silveira, ; Hermoso, Cattarino, Linke, & Kennard, ). Given the strong links between freshwater biodiversity, ecosystem functioning, and service provisioning (Datry et al, ; Dodds et al, ; Haines‐Young & Potschin, ; Mace, Norris, & Fitter, ), and the importance of freshwater ecosystem services for human welfare (Aylward et al, ; Costanza et al, ), the conservation planning of ecosystem services should be addressed by future studies.…”

Principal Threats to the Conservation of Running Water Habitats in the Continental Biogeographical Region of Central Europe

“…x xx x Naiman & Decamps 1997;Beltran et al, 2011;Leyssen et al, 2014;Toporowska et al, 2018;Hermoso et al, 2018; Reduce fertilizers used x x xx x Ostrofsky 1978;Naiman & Decamps 1997;Beltran et al, 2011;Toporowska et al, 2018; Maintain low concentrations of nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus) and calcium, low electrolytic conductivity, keep high transparency and low colour that allow the existence and development of vegetation lobelia, Chara spp. ; manage unpaved roads x…”