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Updated: May 10, 2026
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Watershed Planning within a Quantitative Scenario Analysis Framework
Published on: July 24, 2016
Spatial interactions among ecosystem services in an urbanizing agricultural watershed
Jiangxiao Qiu1, Monica G Turner
1Department of Zoology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706, USA.
Summary
High supply of multiple ecosystem services rarely overlapped spatially. Tradeoffs between crop production and water quality existed, but "win-win" areas also occurred, highlighting the need for landscape-scale management.
Area of Science:
- Ecosystem services assessment
- Spatial analysis
- Land use change impacts
Background:
- Understanding the spatial distribution of multiple ecosystem services is crucial for effective land management.
- Ecosystem services provide essential benefits to humans, but their supply can be influenced by land use and urbanization.
- Synergies and tradeoffs among ecosystem services present complex challenges for conservation and resource management.
Purpose of the Study:
- To map and analyze the spatial patterns of 10 ecosystem services in an urbanizing agricultural watershed.
- To identify areas of high and low supply for individual ecosystem services and assess their spatial concordance.
- To locate and understand the drivers of tradeoffs and synergies among ecosystem services, particularly crop production and water quality.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of 10 ecosystem services supply for the year 2006.
- Spatial mapping of ecosystem service hotspots and coldspots.
- Identification of landscape areas exhibiting tradeoffs and synergies between ecosystem services.
Main Results:
- Areas supplying six or more ecosystem services at high levels (top 20th percentile) occupied only 3.3% of the landscape.
- Most ecosystem service relationships were synergistic, with notable tradeoffs between crop production and water quality.
- Ecosystem services related to water quality and quantity formed three distinct groups, complicating integrated management.
Conclusions:
- Different landscape areas supply distinct sets of ecosystem services, with limited spatial overlap.
- Tradeoffs between crop production and water quality are not universal and can be mitigated in specific locations.
- Effective management of multiple ecosystem services requires a large-scale, spatially explicit approach due to their varied distributions.
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