Multifunctionality refers to the capacity of an area to supplymultiple ecosystemfunctions or services. Whilemany conceptual andmethodological advances have focused on defining and quantifying multifunctionality, the challenge of dealing with cross-scale dynamics ofmultifunctionality remains open.This study proposes a newway ofmeasuringmultifunctionality across spatial scales, illustrated with a European-wide dataset of 18 ecosystemservices.Our assessment captures not only the diversity of ecosystemservices suppliedwithin eachmunicipality (alpha-multifunctionality), but also the unique contribution of eachmunicipality to the regional ecosystemservice diversity (beta-multifunctionality). This cross-scale analysis helps better understanding the spatial distribution of ecosystemservices,which is required to designmanagement and policies at the right scale.Our analysis shows that alphamultifunctionality follows a latitudinal gradient across Europe and strongly decreases towards the city centers ofmetropolitan areas. By relating alpha- and beta-multifunctionality to land use intensity, we showthat low-intensitymanagement systems support higher ecosystemmultifunctionality across Europe.Municipalities of lowalpha-multifunctionality often contribute significantly to regional multifunctionality, by providing ecosystemservices of a specific value to the region.Ourmethod to measure both alpha- and beta-multifunctionality thus provides a newway to informreconciliation of competing land useswhenmaximizing alpha-multifunctionality is not reasonable.

HÖLTING Lisanne;  JACOBS Sander;  FELIPE-LUCIA Maria;  MAES Joachim;  NORSTRÖM Albert;  PLIENINGER Tobias;  CORD Anna; 

2020-01-08

IOP PUBLISHING LTD

JRC117083

1748-9326 (online),   

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ab5ccb,    https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC117083,   

10.1088/1748-9326/ab5ccb (online),