Terrestrial ecosystem services in river basins: An overview and an assessment framework

Abstract

The concept of ecosystem services is a promising approach to assess ecosystems also in river basins, particularly in view of their multifunctional use and sustainable development. The chapter mainly focuses on terrestrial ecosystems. Starting from the defi nition and classifi cation of these ecosystems, relevant provisioning, regulating and socio-cultural services are listed, together with short descriptions, examples, their relations to water, and with suitable indicators. The EPPS assessment framework (Ecosystem Properties, Potentials and Services) is presented and then illustrated on the example of two very frequently occurring terrestrial ecosystems or land use types: (1) semi-natural grassland, and (2) farmland (with the specifi cation “energy cropping”).