This book aims to identify, present and discuss key driving forces and pressures on ecosystem services. Ecosystem services are the contributions that ecosystems provide to human well-being. The scope of this atlas is on identifying solutions and lessons to be applied across science, policy and practice. The atlas will address different components of ecosystem services, assess risks and vulnerabilities, and outline governance and management opportunities. The atlas will therefore attract a wide audience, both from policy and practice and from different scientific disciplines. The emphasis will be on ecosystems in Europe, as the available data on service provision is best developed for this region and recognizes the strengths of the contributing authors. Ecosystems of regions outside Europe will be covered where possible.

This book provides the first comprehensive assessment of ecosystem services (ES) for the territory of the Slovak Republic. Although the ES approach is widely used for the evaluation of the benefits of natural capital and biodiversity for people, this book has a unique character. It provides an assessment of 18 individual ES, which are divided into three main groups - provisioning, regulatory/supporting and cultural ES. For each of ES, a brief theoretical and methodological overview is given, followed by spatial assessment based on own original methodology and dataset of 40 map layers. Besides, an evaluation of main ES groups and overall ES assessment is realized. This book emphasizes the key role of nature protection areas, large areas of forest ecosystems and mountain and sub-mountain areas, for the preservation of the various functions of the healthy landscape and ecosystems. The complexity of the book guarantees its usefulness - not only as the knowledge base for the territory of Slovakia but also as the methodological tool for worldwide researchers.

The idea that nature provides services to people is one of the most powerful concepts to have emerged over the last two decades. It is shaping our understanding of the role that biodiverse ecosystems play in the environment and their benefits for humankind. As a result, there is a growing interest in operational and methodological issues surrounding ecosystem services amongst environmental managers, and many institutions are now developing teaching programmes to equip the next generation with the skills needed to apply the concepts more effectively. This handbook provides a comprehensive reference text on ecosystem services, integrating natural and social science (including economics). Collectively the chapters, written by the world's leading authorities, demonstrate the importance of biodiversity for people, policy and practice. They also show how the value of ecosystems to society can be expressed in monetary and non-monetary terms, so that the environment can be better taken into account in decision making. The significance of the ecosystem service paradigm is that it helps us redefine and better communicate the relationships between people and nature. It is shown how these are essential to resolving challenges such as sustainable development and poverty reduction, and the creation of a green economy in developing and developed world contexts.

This book focuses on the vegetation history of the cultural landscape in southwestern Slovakia, which was established and adopted by mankind and has since constantly evolved in response to ongoing changes (in environmental conditions, biodiversity, land use, etc.). The book analyses four dominant ecosystems typical for the cultural landscape and affected by humans: woodlands, wetlands, grasslands and agricultural land. Each ecosystem is discussed in separate chapters. The chapters include (a) basic information, general aspects, development processes, trends and interpretations, (b) a published or non-published case study based on the author’s own research, and (c) an extensive bibliography. A set of maps on the vegetation history and indices of geographical names and plants names serve to round out the coverage. The work provides an essential point of departure for describing the typical regional characteristics of the cultural landscape, with an eye to its future preservatio n.

This book presents definitions, key concepts and projects in landscape research and related areas, such as landscape science and landscape ecology, addressing and characterising the international role, status, challenges, future and tools of landscape research in the globalised world of the 21st century. The book brings together views on landscapes from leading international teams and emerging authors from different scientific disciplines and regions of the globe. It describes approaches for achieving sustainability and for handling the multifunctionality of landscapes and includes international case studies demonstrating the great potential of landscape research to provide partial sustainable solutions while developing cultural landscapes and protecting semi-natural landscapes. It is intended for scientists from various disciplines as well as informed readers dealing with landscape policies, planning, evolvement, management, stewardship and conservation.

The Atlas of Global Conservation is a premier resource for everyone concerned about the natural world. Top scientists at The Nature Conservancy have joined forces to create this guide to the state of the planet today. With over 80 full-color maps and other graphics contextualized with clear, informative discussion, this book offers an unprecedented view of trends across the world's terrestrial, marine, and freshwater environments. Interspersed throughout, essays by noted international authorities point the way forward in confronting some of our greatest conservation challenges.--Publisher information.

A balanced review of differing approaches based on remote sensing tools and methods to assess and monitor biodiversity, carbon and water cycles, and the energy balance of terrestrial ecosystem. Earth Observation of Ecosystem Services highlights the advantages Earth observation technologies offer for quantifying and monitoring multiple ecosystem fun

Human wellbeing is dependent upon and benefit from ecosystem services which are delivered by well-functioning ecosystems. Ecosystem services can be mapped and assessed consistently within an ecosystem service framework. This project aims to explore the use and usefulness of the ecosystem service framework in freshwater management, particularly water management according to the Water Framework Directive (WFD). There are several examples of how ecosystem services have been used in WFD related studies in all the Nordic countries. Most of them involve listing, describing and categorizing freshwater ecosystem services, while there are few comprehensive Cost Benefit Analyses and analyses of disproportionate costs that apply this framework. More knowledge about ecosystem services and the value of ecosystem services for freshwater systems is needed.