Systematic review examines spatial data and modeling approaches in ecosystem service assessments, suggesting direct quantitative metrics improve model reliability.
Key Points
To review spatial ecosystem service assessments, focusing on the socioecological drivers, spatial datasets representing them, and methodological approaches used for spatial modeling.
Synthesized spatial assessment literature evaluating ecosystem service supply and human demand.
Analyzed the integration of spatial and aspatial data, commonly used inputs like land-cover datasets, and GIS modeling strategies.
Land-cover data processed within a GIS serves as the primary input for modeling, though assessments increasingly integrate mechanistic relationships between drivers and services.
Abiotic ecosystem variables rely effectively on established spatial datasets, but reliance on simplifying assumptions to link conceptual models to existing data introduces assessment weaknesses.
Incorporating quantitative spatial data that directly captures ecosystem properties improves mechanistic model parameterization and assessment confidence.