Investigations on habitat provision and recreation as ecosystem services in urban parks ? two case studies in Linz und Buenos Aires

JÜRGEN BREUSTE, ; JOHANNA SCHNELLINGER,; SALMAN QURESHI; ANA FAGGI

Stadtlandschaft.vielfältige Natur und ungleiche Entwicklung,

CONTUREC, Editors:

Año: 2013; p. 5 - 20

The concept of ecosystem services is widely used to highlight the importance of ecosystem functions for human life. The concept is becoming important for urban ecosystems, too, where ecosystem services are provided at different spatial scales. Habitat provision and recreation are two ecosystem services of high importance in urban areas. Two case studies aiming to analyze two different ecosystem services ? provisioning (habitat service) and cultural (recreation) ? by indicators show in an exemplary fashion the applicability of the ecosystem service approach on small-scale (site) level. Both studies were originally executed by the authors. The two case studies examined places in different cities and countries in order to ascertain the comparability of case study results gained using similar assessment methods. Unlike McDonald (2009), these case studies show that biodiversity and recreation as ecosystem service are provided and measurable not only at regional or landscape scale but also at the local scale. These services are provided by green elements or basic complex ecosystems (green areas). The quantity of provided, and used, services on the level of service providing units can be measured by indicators to compare service providing units in terms of their service degree. Urban parks are used as an example of service providing units. This can be helpful for further decision-making, investments and management for these urban parks. In this paper the indicators of biodiversity and recreation are used to quantify these services. A study in Linz, Austria, determined biodiversity services in urban parks, using breeding birds as indicators. Breeding status was defined by three breeding categories (breeding number). The results confirm birds as good biodiversity indicators and show clearly the differences in biodiversity between all investigated parks. Furthermore, as indicators of the ecosystem service of recreation in the parks of Buenos Aires, Argentina, duration and frequency of stay were used to quantify the service. Distance to the parks and activities were used for further qualification. The indicator based non-monetary evaluation of ecosystem services allows comparison of different service providing units (urban parks)