SCALEFORES: Scaling Rules For Ecosystem Service Mapping

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Summary

This project aims to develop and test novel modelling frameworks to explore the drivers of ecosystem services at different spatial scales in order to predict and map their delivery.

Research objectives

Our role on the project is to:

Co-develop and apply the modelling frameworks
Work with the National Forest Inventory (NFI) team to deliver detailed information on the function and service delivery of UK forest ecosystems
Extract landscape composition and structure variables measured at different scales

Results so far

We are currently extracting and compiling data with the NFI and exploring modelling approaches with Southampton University.

Status

SCALEFORES is a 5-year project (July 2016 to July 2021).

Contact

Dr. Chloe Bellamy

Funders and partners

This project is funded by an ERC Starting Grant to Felix Eigenbrod at Southampton University. Forest Research and the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology are subcontracted to work on this project in collaboration with Felix’s research team.

Latest updates

The SCALEFORES project team have developed and published an analytical framework that identifies both why and where management actions are most effective for enhancing natural capital across large geographic areas (Spake et al., 2019, free read access link below). We illustrate the framework’s generality by applying it to two examples for Britain: pond water quality and invasion of forests by rhododendron.

We are now applying the framework to the NFI data to better understand various other aspects of woodlands and the benefits they provide.

What's of interest

ResearchGate SCALEFORES project page

Land Use and Ecosystem Services

Dr Felix Eigenbrod, University of Southampton

Redefining Landscape Structure for Ecosystem Services

An analytical framework for spatially targeted management of natural capital

Spake, R., Bellamy, C., Graham, L.J., Watts, K., Wilson, T., Norton, L.R., Wood, C.M., Schmucki, R., Bullock, J.M. and Eigenbrod, F., 2019. An analytical framework for spatially targeted management of natural capital. Nature Sustainability, 2(2), p.90-97. Free read access: https://rdcu.be/bmc3V

Themes

Climate change, Ecosystem services, Forest hydrology, Forest management, Land reclamation, Measuring, modelling and forecasting, Pests and diseases, Socio economic research

Research Status

current

Research Groups

Land use and ecosystem services (LUES)

Contacts

Chloe Bellamy

Spatial Scientist

Rebecca Spake

Spatial scientist