Applications and guidance for decision making in the framework of MAES Mapping and assessment of forest ecosystems and their services

Mapping and assessment of forest ecosystems and their services – Applications and guidance for decision making in the framework of MAES The aim of this report is to illustrate by means of a series of case studies the implementation of mapping and assessment of forest ecosystem services in different contexts and geographical levels. Methodological aspects, data issues, approaches, limitations, gaps and further steps for improvement are analysed for providing good practices and decision making guidance. The EU initiative on Mapping and Assessment of Ecosystems and their Services (MAES), with the support of all Member States, contributes to improve the knowledge on ecosystem services. MAES is one of the building-block initiatives supporting the EU Biodiversity Strategy to 2020. Contributing authors José I. Barredo1, Annemarie Bastrup-Birk2, Anne Teller3, Miren Onaindia4, Beatriz Fernández de Manuel4, Iosu Madariaga4, Gloria Rodríguez-Loinaz4, Pedro Pinho5,6, Alice Nunes6, Alzira Ramos5, Melanie Batista6, Sara Mimo6, Claudia Cordovil6, Cristina Branquinho6, Adrienne Grêt-Regamey7, Peter Bebi8, Sibyl Hanna Brunner7, Bettina Weibel7, Leena Kopperoinen9, Pekka Itkonen10, Arto Viinikka11, Gherardo Chirici12, Francesca Bottalico12, Lucia Pesola13, Matteo Vizzarri14, Vittorio Garfì14, Leonardo Antonello12, Anna Barbati15, Piermaria Corona16, Sebastiano Cullotta17, Vincenzo Giannico13, Raffaele Lafortezza13, Fabio Lombardi14, Marco Marchetti14, Susanna Nocentini12, Francesco Riccioli12, Davide Travaglini12, Lorenzo Sallustio14, Inês Rosário6, Marius von Essen18, Kimberly A. Nicholas18, Cristina Máguas6, Rui Rebelo6, Margarida Santos-Reis6, Fernando Santos-Martín19, Pedro Zorrilla-Miras19,20, Carlos Montes19, Javier Benayas19, Berta Martín-López19,21, Tord Snäll22, Håkan Berglund22, Jan Bengtsson23, Jon Moen24, Lorenzo Busetto25, Jesús San-Miguel-Ayanz1, Martin Thurner26,27, Christian Beer26, Maurizio Santoro28, Nuno Carvalhais27,29, Thomas Wutzler27, Dmitry Schepaschenko30, Anatoly Shvidenko30, Elisabeth Kompter27, Bernhard Ahrens27, Shaun R. Levick27, Christiane Schmullius31 1 European Commission – Joint Research Centre, Forest Resources and Climate Unit, Ispra, Italy 2 European Environmental Agency, Forests and Environment, Copenhagen, Denmark 3 European Commission – DG Environment, Brussels, Belgium 4 Department of Plant Biology and Ecology, University of the Basque Country, Bizkaia, Spain 5 Centre for Natural Resources and the Environment, Universidade de Lisboa (CERENA-IST-UL), Portugal 6 Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa (cE3c-FCUL), Portugal 7 Planning of Landscape and Urban Systems, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Zurich, Switzerland 8 WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF, Mountain Ecosystems, Davos, Switzerland 9 Finnish Environment Institute SYKE, Environmental Policy Centre, Helsinki, Finland 10 Helsinki City Rescue Department, Central Rescue Station, Helsinki, Finland 11 Finnish Environment Institute SYKE, Environmental Policy Centre, Helsinki, Finland 12 Dipartimento di Gestione dei Sistemi Agrari, Alimentari e Forestali, University of Florence, Italy 13 Dipartimento di Scienze Agro-Ambientali e Territoriali, University of Bari, Bari, Italy 14 Dipartimento di Bioscienze e Territorio, University of Molise, Pesche, Italy 15 Dipartimento per l’Innovazione nei Sistemi Biologici, Agroalimentari e Forestali, University of Tuscia, Viterbo, Italy 16 Consiglio per la ricerca in agricoltura e l'analisi dell'economia agraria, Forestry Research Centre (CRA SEL), Arezzo, Italy 17 Dipartimento di Scienze Agrarie e Forestali, University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy 18 Lund University Centre for Sustainability Studies (LUCSUS), Lund University, Lund, Sweden 19 Social-Ecological Systems Laboratory, Department of Ecology, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain 20 School of Geosciences, University of Edingurgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom 21 Faculty of Sustainability, Leuphana University of Lüneburg, Lüneburg, Germany 22 Swedish Species Information Centre, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden 23 Department of Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden 24 Department of Ecology and Environmental Science, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden 25 Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Istituto per il Rilevamento Eletromagnetico dell’Ambiente, Milano, Italy 26 Department of Environmental Science and Analytical Chemistry (ACES) and the Bolin Centre for Climate Research, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden 27 Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry (MPI-BGC), Jena, Germany 28 Gamma Remote Sensing, Gümligen, Switzerland 29 Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia (FCT), Caparica, Portugal 30 International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), Laxenburg, Austria 31 Friedrich-Schiller-University (FSU), Institute of Geography, Earth Observation, Jena, Germany