PARENT SESSION
Poster Session 7: Grasslands
Tuesday, August 9, 5:00 PM - 6:30 PM, Exhibit Hall 220 A-E, Level 2, Palais des congrès de Montréal
A framework for assessing the vulnerability of agro-pastoral ecosystems to land use change in Europe.
Quétier, Fabien*,1, de Chazal, Jacqueline2, Lavorel, Sandra1, van Doorn, Anne3, 1 Laboratoire d'Ecologie Alpine, CNRS & Université Joseph Fourier, Grenoble, France2 Département de Géographie, Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgique3 Derpartment of biophysical and landscape planning, University of Evora, Evora, Portugal
ABSTRACT- The vulnerability of semi-natural ecosystems is assessed through projected changes in the combination of ecosystem services they provide to a diverse set of stakeholders. We propose a framework for vulnerability assessment that links ecosystem services identified and valued by stakeholders with an ecological characterization of prospective land use change in European agro-pastoral landscapes. The framework uses five matrices that provide a transparent and flexible means of quantifying, evaluating, and linking biophysical and social information. Ecosystem services are linked to a range of biophysical elements that stakeholders describe as important contributors to the delivery of the ecosystem service. These are then linked to underlying ecological attributes: ecosystem structure and processes as studied and modeled by ecologists. Ecological change resulting from projected land use change is modeled using simple, widely applicable, plant traits. The same traits are used to make projections on ecosystem attributes that can be related to services identified by stakeholders. The framework can accommodate a wide range of relevant traits and ecosystem attributes including quantitative evaluations of ecosystem functions. Components of land use practices that contribute directly to ecosystem services are also accommodated in the proposed framework. The framework accommodates a full range of stakeholders and ecosystem services, where both can be classified and weighted as appropriate. Multiple, differing values can be placed on the same ecosystem service by different stakeholders just as different combinations of stakeholders can be investigated to accommodate changes in human preferences in the future. We illustrate the framework using findings from upland grassland ecosystems in the French Alps (Villar d Arene) and human made savanna (dehesa) ecosystems in the Portuguese Alentejo region (Mertola). Preliminary results show that an extensification scenario leads to negative changes in Mertola whereas stakeholders in Lautaret are neutral to its consequences. A parallel intensification scenario has positive results in both sites. This makes Mertola more vulnerable than Lautaret, for this given set of scenarios.
Key words: societal vulnerability to environmental change, ecosystem services, land use change, scenario based modelling