For analysis and evaluation of potential of agroecosystem (arable land and grassland) services (provisioning, regulating and cultural) in Slovakia we have created a mapping unit combining these input layers: slope topography, soil texture and landuse in four climatic regions. Evaluated potential of agroecosystem services was categorised into five categories (very low, low, medium, high and very high). Our results show that climate has the most significant impact on agroecosystem services. Warm, dry lowland region has a higher potential of provisioning services, regulation of water regime, filtration of pollutants and control of soil erosion in comparison to moderately warm and cold regions. In moderate cold region, more than 90% of the total area of arable land has low potential of water regime regulation and cleaning potential (immobilization of risk elements). In the moderate warm climatic region, there is a high share of categories of low and moderate potential of provisioning services and low and moderate potential of water regime regulation. Majority of the total area of warm climatic region belongs to the categories of moderate to high potential of provisioning services and high potential of regulation of water regime. In this climatic zone low potential categories of risk elements immobilization are present in more than 65% of the arable land total area. On the other hand, in very warm climatic zone, more than 89% of the total area of arable land belongs to the category with a very high cleaning (buffering) potential. Potential of natural conditions for recreation is higher only in moderate cold and moderate warm climatic zones with a higher proportion of area of grassland agroecosystems and protected areas NATURA 2000. Moreover, the methodology developed in this paper is replicable and could be applied by planners in the case that they are proficient in geographical information systems.
Ecosystem services are inherently defined mutual interaction between ecological and social systems because only those ecosystem processes that contribute to the fulfillment of human needs, are defined as ecosystem services [
Agricultural systems are intensely managed by humans and are more controlled and regulated than majority of the other ecosystems [
While the concept of natural capital and economic services are widely accepted and their potential contribution to better environmental management is also acknowledged [
The aim of this study was to assess and map agroecosystem services on national level and to evaluate agroecosystem services along the climatic gradient in Slovak Republic. The paper aims to describe the use of GIS techniques in creating a uniform spatial unit for agroecosystem services inventory and compare the spatial configuration, synergies and trade-offs of agroecosystem services along the climatic regions.
Slovakia is a land-locked country in Central Europe between latitudes 47˚ - 49˚N and longitudes 15˚ - 21˚E. The average rainfall in lowlands is about 600 millimeters per year, in midlands about 700 millimeters per year and the biggest average rainfall rate belongs to mountain areas―approximately 1500 millimeters per year. The daily average temperatures in winter are around freezing (0˚C or 32˚F), while in summer they are around 13/15˚C (55/59˚F) at night, and 25/27˚C (77/81˚F) during the day. Its terrain is mostly hilly, upland and mountainous in the central, north and north-eastern parts of the country where the permanent grasslands mainly occur [
Agroecosystems, which occupy 49.3% of the Slovak republic, were assessed. To estimate the surplus area of agroecosystems (arable land and permanent grasslands) in each of the climatic regions (
The structure of the assessment is given by one ecosystem type―agricultural ecosystem and 6 ecosystem services delivered from this ecosystem (provisioning services, regulating services―regulation of water regime, regulation of water erosion, cleaning potencial of ecosystem, regulation of climate and cultural services-potencial of outdoor recreation). Ecosystem types are further classified into two ecosystem categories based on the management, arable land and permanent grassland.
To the primary geo-referenced data belongs the Digital database of soil profiles of Geochemical atlas of Slovakia (GchA-2965 localities on agricultural soil). Geochemical atlas database contains data of agrochemical soil properties and risk elements concentration determined from the samples collected during the national project “Geochemical atlas of soils of Slovakia” [
Climatic region | Moderate cool (MC4) | Moderate warm (MW3) | Warm (W2) | Very warm (VW1) |
---|---|---|---|---|
Arable land | 68,436 | 183,632 | 299,712 | 765,804 |
Grassland | 168,790 | 173,456 | 60,363 | 40,231 |
Ecosystem services potential (capacity) has been characterized by Burghard et al. [
Moreover, the assessment and mapping methodology developed in this paper is replicable and could be applied by planners in case they are proficient in geographical information systems at different levels, from regional (district) to national level.
The basis for analysing the potential for the provisioning agroecosystem services was a point value within a range of 0 - 100 that indicate a productive potential based on typological and production classification of agricultural soils of Slovakia [
Potential of regulation of water regime (soil water storage) was obtained from maps and databases [
Regulation of water erosion was derived from maps and databases based on empirical model of the universal soil loss equation―USLE [
Cleaning potential of ecosystem of agricultural land depends on the actual soil contamination and potential of soil sorbents and was calculated as accumulative function:
Cleaning potential = Sorption potential of soil + Potential of total content of inorganic contaminants evaluated according to The Slovak Law 220/2004 Coll. (the method is mentioned detaily in our previous article [
In agroecosystems of agricultural land, soil organic matter represents the largest share of total organic carbon found in the soil. Agroecosystems contribute to climate regulation by sequestration of organic carbon in the soil. Soil organic carbon stock (SOCS) was calculated as a function:
Soil organic carbon stock (depth 0 - 30 cm) in t・ha−1 = 10 × (BD (0 - 10 cm) × SOC (0 - 10 cm) + BD (10 - 20 cm) × SOC (10 - 20 cm) + BD (20 - 30 cm) × SOC (20 - 30 cm)), BD―soil bulk density in g・cm−3 , SOC―soil organic matter content in % [
All agro-ecosystems are considered to be potential providers of such services. Agroecosystems also have the potential for providing cultural ecosystem services, particularly recreational activities linked to natural resources, such as hiking, biking, cross-country skiing. Recreation potential was evaluated through agroecosystem landscape components that have a specific link with summer, winter and year-round recreation. The capacity of ecosystems to provide recreational services depends on particular uniqueness of the site, its accessibility and the surrounding infrastructure. Point value is the sum of points assigned to the altitude (1 - 3 points), inclination (1 - 3 points), drainage and precipitation and temperature (1 - 4 points) and distance to the roads (1 - 4 points). The recreational potential for all these activities was calculated as the sum of potentials for individual recreational activities without added points (Natura 2000). These were added only to the final sum in order to prevent multiple evaluations of additional factors. This method is described in detail in our previous article [
Evaluation of agroecosystem services linked to spatial visualization allows to optimize the management of agroecosystems, thereby to promote synergies between ecosystem functioning and the social dynamics of respective region. Explicit modelling of agroecosystem services is considered to be one of the main requirements for implementation of the concept of these services in institutional decision-making. Krkoška, Lorenzová et al. [
Correlation coefficients | Agroecosystem services | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Provisioning | Regulating services | Cultural | ||||
water | erosion | cleaning | clima | |||
Arable land | −0.77*** | −0.59*** | −0.38** | −0.78*** | 0.74*** | 0.34* |
Grassland | −0.64*** | −0.53*** | −0.36* | −0.66*** | 0.14ns | 0.46*** |
Significance labels: ***p < 0.001, **p < 0.01, *p < 0.05, ns: non significant.
Positive correlation coefficient indicates the positive effect of cold climate zone, while negative coefficient indicates the positive influence of warm climate zone. The warm and dry lowland region has higher production potential, water regime regulation, pollutant filtration, and soil drainage in comparison to slightly warm to cool regions. These results are consistent with the place of occurence of soil, its properties, processes and functions in the concept of agroecosystem services [
The potential of the provisioning service of agricultural land is determined by its location in the landscape with the climatic conditions (temperature and precipitation) and it is a combination of abiotic, biotic, morphological and socio-economic factors (
In Slovakia 27.47% of the area of agricultural ecosystems has very high potential for regulation of water regime (accumulation of water in the soil) (
They are mostly ecosystems of arable land located in Eastern Slovak Lowland, Danubian Upland, South-Slovak Basin and Košice Basin with heavy clay loam and clayey deep soils without skeleton. In Slovakia out of the total area of agricultural land the highest proportion (35.96%) have ecosystems with high potential for regulation of water regime (
to moderately skeletal soils. The greatest influence on water storage potential in both ecosystems has climate, but the impact of soil texture is also significant. Potential of water regime regulation within both types of ecosystems increaces from the cooler to the warmer climate and the highest potential is most represented in areals with warm climate, where deep clay soils developed on clay sediments of former seas and lakes, as well as rivers (alluvial cones, aggradational levee) occur and are situated in the foothill parts of lowlands and in the basins [
Agroecosystems of arable soils have a high to very high potential for regulation of soil erosion, regulation of water erosion (92% out of the total area of arable land). Arable land is located mainly in flat areas where low risk of water erosion occurs (
Cleaning potential of ecosystems in agricultural land depends on the potential for contamination and potential of soil sorbents with high affinity to inorganic pollutants. Out of the total agriculrural land in Slovakia, 41.67% of ecosystems have very high potential for soil cleaning (immobilization of inorganic pollutants). They are mainly ecosystems of arable land with high carbonate content developed on loess, located in the Danube and the Eastern Slovak Lowlands without any anthropogenic and geochemical depositions (
Carbon stored in ecosystems is an important indicator of regulation services potential [
The low potential of climate control for agroecosystems of arable soils is mentioned in Burghard et al. [
Agroecosystems also have the potential for providing cultural ecosystem services, particularly recreational activities linked to natural resources, such as hiking, biking, cross-country skiing. The capacity of ecosystems to provide recreational services depends on particular uniqueness of the site, its accessibility and the surrounding infrastructure. Agroecosystems of arable land are predominantly of very low to low potential of natural conditions for recreation. In Slovakia 53.82% of permanent grassland area has high and very high natural conditions potential for outdoor recreation. On the contrary to ecosystems of arable land, grassland agroecosystems are located close to the protected Natura 2000 sites in areas with steeper sloppiness and at higher altitude. Agroecosystems have predominantly very low to low potential of natural preconditions for recreation (
Trade offs and Synergies between Agroecosystem Services
Ecosystem services are non-lineary linked and changes in one service can impact the others in positive or negative way [
The first axis (
Positively correlated agroecosystem services are assumed to be synergistic, while negative correlations infer trade-offs [
In the case of arable land trade-offs between the potential provisioning services and potential of climate regulation as well as potential of natural conditions for recreation was determined. The synergistic effect is between the provisioning agroecosystem service, regulation of water regime and soil cleaning (immobilization of inorganic pollutants). The similar relationships have been established for permanent grassland. However, in this land use management, there was no trade-offs between the potential provisioning services and potential of climate regulation as well as potential of natural conditions for recreation. The synergistic effect of regulation of water regime and soil state in its work Lescourret et al. [
Arable land | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Provisioning services | Regulating services | Cultural services | ||||||
water | erosion | cleaning | clima | |||||
Provisioning services | - | |||||||
Regulating services | water | 0.69*** | - | |||||
erosion | 0.52*** | 0.54*** | - | |||||
cleaning | 0.63*** | 0.36* | 0.33* | - | ||||
climate | −0.62*** | −0.47*** | −0.20ns | −0.33* | - | |||
Cultural services | −0.41** | −0.29* | −0.31* | −0.46** | 0.12ns | - | ||
Permanent grassland | ||||||||
Provisioning services | Regulating services | Cultural services | ||||||
water | erosion | cleaning | clima | |||||
Provisioning services | - | |||||||
Regulating services | water | 0.75*** | - | |||||
erosion | 0.62*** | 0.51*** | - | |||||
cleaning | 0.49*** | 0.27 | 0.34* | - | ||||
climate | −0.10ns | 0.10ns | 0.13 | 0.19 | - | |||
Cultural services | −0.20 | −0.20 | −0.28 | −0.19 | −0.16 | - | ||
Significance labels: ***p < 0.001, **p < 0.01, *p < 0.05, ns: non significant.
This study applies a first assessment of agroecosystem services in the Slovak Republic and allows us to link the analysis of land use and differences of particular agroecosystem services in climatic regions. Evaluation of agroecosystem services linked to spatial visualization allows to optimize the management of agroecosystems, and thereby to promote synergies between ecosystem functioning and the social dynamics of the region. Provisioning, regulating and cultural ecosystem services of agricultural land are analyzed, modelled and evaluated in spatial grid scheme, which is replicable and could be applied by planners in case that they are proficient in geographical information systems. This proposed mapping system can also be used to assess agro ecosystem services in the regions and districts in the Slovak Republic that provide guidelines and limits for policy development on land management and land use changes at local and regional levels. Applying the agroecosystem service concept can help to show the effects of land use, climatic conditions as well as human interventions by qualitatively and quantitatively analyzing trade-offs between different services and by supporting the development of site-specific, more sustainable land use strategies. According to Burghard et al. 2013 and Krkoška, Lorencova et al. (2016), the mainstreaming of agroecosystem services into national policy and decision making needs to be futher supported by assessments based on local or national data and more accurate modelling approaches.
This study suggests that climate has the most significant impact on agroecosystem services. Warm, dry lowland region has a higher potential of provisioning services, regulation of water regime, filtration of pollutants and control of soil erosion in comparison to moderately warm and cold regions. In moderate cold region, more than 90% of the total arable land area has low potential for regulation water regime and cleaning potential (immobilization of risk elements). In moderate warm climatic region, there is a high share of categories of low and moderate potential of provisioning services and low and moderate potential of regulation of water regime. Majority of the total area of warm climatic region belongs to the categories of moderate to high potential of provisioning services and high potential of regulation of water regime. In this climatic zone categories of low potential of risk elements immobilization is present in more than 65% of the total arable land area. On the other hand, in very warm climatic zone, more than 89% of the total arable land area belongs to the category with very high cleaning potential (immobilization of risk elements). Potential of natural conditions for recreation is higher only in moderate cold and moderate warm climatic zones with higher proportion of grassland area agroecosystems and protected areas NATURA 2000.
Ecosystem services are non-lineary linked and changes in one service can impact the other in positive or negative way. High potential of provisioning service is linked to the high potential of regulation of water regime, pollutants filtration and soil erosion. The opposite trend has the potential provisioning services to potential of natural conditions for recreation. However, increasing of primary and secondary production of agroecosystems must be managed with regard to the sustainability of soil multifunctionality and also the sustainability of potential of agroecosystem to provide ecosystem services in their integrity. Agroecosystems management should always be oriented to the optimization of providing of the current needs within the sustainable use of agroecosystems.
The authors acknowledge the Slovak Research and Development Agency for the financial support via Project No. APVV-0098-12 “Analysis, modelling and evaluation of agroecosystem services” amd Project No. APVV-15-0160 “Elimination of degradation processes in soil by biodiversity restoring”.
The authors declare no conflicts of interest regarding the publication of this paper.
Makovníková, J., Pálka, B., Širá?, M., Houšková, B., Kanianska, R. and Kizeková, M. (2018) Ecosystem Services in Differently Used Agroecosystems along a Climatic Gradient in Slovakia. Open Journal of Ecology, 8, 623-645. https://doi.org/10.4236/oje.2018.812037