Landscape Functions

Last Updated on Sun, 14 Oct 2018 | Ecological Engineering

Traditionally, the concept of landscape functions has been considered in the landscape planning system of Germany and German speaking countries. According to that concept, landscape has the following functions:

(1) Production (economic) functions (biomass production, water supply, suitability of nonrenewable resources);

(2) Regulatory (ecological) functions (regulation of mate rial and energy fluxes, hydrological and meteorological functions, regulation and regeneration of populations and bio(geo)coenoses, habitat (genetical) function); (3) Social functions (psychological (esthetic and ethical) functions, information functions, human ecological, and recrea tional functions).

This approach is very similar to the concept of eco system services and natural capital, which has recently gained extensive popularity. According to this concept, the typology of landscape functions includes four cate gories: (1) provisioning functions; (2) regulation functions;

(3) habitat functions; and (4) cultural and amenity func tions (see Table 1).

1. Provisioning functions comprise functions that sup ply 'physical services' in terms of resources or space. This category has been divided into two classes: production and carrier functions. Production functions reflect resources produced by natural ecosystems, for example, the harvesting of fish from the ocean, pharmaceutical products from wild plants and animals, or wood from natural forests. Carrier functions reflect the goods and services that are provided through human manipulation

Table 1 Typology of ecosystem/landscape functions, goods, and services
			Biophysical indicators (examples) (i.e.,
	Ecosystem		ecosystem properties providing the	Goods and services
Entry	functions	Short description	goods or service)	(examples)
1	Provisioning	Resources from	Biomass (production and stock)	Freshwater
	Production	unmanipulated	Biochemical properties	Food (e.g., fish, bush meat)
	functions	ecosystems		Raw materials (wood,
				fodder)
	Carrier	Use of space to	Depending on the specific land use	Cultivation (e.g.,
	functions	(enhance) supply	type, different requirements are	agriculture, plantations,
		resources or other	placed on environmental conditions	aquaculture)
		goods and services	(e.g., soil stability and fertility, air and	Energy conversion (e.g.,
			water quality, hydrology, topography,	wind, solar)
			climate, geology)	Mining (ore, fossil fuels)
				Transportation (esp. on
				waterways)
2	Regulation	Direct benefits from	Role of ecosystems in biogeochemical	Climate regulation
	functions	ecosystem	cycles (e.g., CO2/O2 balance,	Maintenance of soil fertility
		processes	hydrological cycle)
			Role of vegetation and biota in removal	Waste treatment (e.g.,
			or breakdown of nutrients and toxic	water purification)
			compounds	Maintenance of air quality
			Physical properties of land cover	Water regulation (e.g.,
				buffering runoff)
				Erosion prevention
				Storm protection and flood
				prevention
			Population control through tropic-	Biological control (of pests
			dynamic relations	and diseases)
				Pollination
3	Habitat	Maintenance of	Presence of rare/endemic species;	Refugium for wildlife
	functions	biodiversity and	species diversity
		evolutionary	Reproduction habitat for migratory	Nursery function (for
		processes	species	commercial species)
4	Cultural and	Nonmaterial benefits	Landscape (or ecosystem) properties	Enjoyment of scenery (e.g.,
	amenity		with esthetic, recreational, historical,	scenic roads)
	functions		spiritual, inspirational, scientific, or	Ecotourism and recreation
			educational value	Heritage value/cultural
				landscapes
				Spiritual or religious sites
				Cultural expressions (use of
				landscapes as motif in
				books, film, painting,
				folklore, advertising)
				Research and education

Adapted from De Groot RS and Hein L (2007) Concept and valuation of landscape functions at different scales. In: Mander U, Wiggering H, and Helming K (eds.) Multifunctional Land Use. Meeting Future Demands for Landscape Goods and Services, pp. 15 36. Berlin: Springer.

of natural productivity (e.g., fish from aquaculture or timber from plantations). In these cases, the function offered by nature is the provision of a suitable substrate or space for human activities, including agriculture, mining, transportation, etc.

2. Regulation functions result from the capacity of ecosystems and landscapes to influence ('regulate') cli mate, hydrological and biochemical cycles, Earth surface processes, and a variety of biological processes. These services often have an important spatial (connectivity)

aspect; for example, the flood control function of an upper watershed forest is only relevant in the flood zone downstream of the forest.

3. Habitat functions comprise the importance of ecosystems and landscapes in maintaining natural pro cesses and biodiversity, including the refugium and nursery functions. The refugium function reflects the value of landscape units in providing habitats to (threatened) fauna and flora, and the nursery function indicates that some landscape units provide a particularly suitable location for reproduction and thereby have a regulating impact on the maintenance of populations elsewhere.

4. Cultural and amenity functions relate to the ben efits people obtain from landscapes through recreation, cognitive development, relaxation, and spiritual reflec tion. This may involve actual visits to the area, indirectly enjoying the area (e.g., through nature movies), or gaining satisfaction from the knowledge that a landscape contains important biodiversity or cultural monuments. The latter may occur without having the intention of ever visiting the area. These services have also been referred to as 'information functions'.

The evaluation of landscapes for planning and manage ment purposes, as well as landscape synthesis and decision making, is based on landscape functions.

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