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Optimizing land use for the delivery of catchment ecosystem services
Author(s) -
Doody Donnacha G,
Withers Paul JA,
Dils Rachael M,
McDowell Richard W,
Smith Val,
McElarney Yvonne R,
Dunbar Mike,
Daly Donal
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
frontiers in ecology and the environment
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.918
H-Index - 164
eISSN - 1540-9309
pISSN - 1540-9295
DOI - 10.1002/fee.1296
Subject(s) - drainage basin , environmental science , prioritization , ecosystem services , land use , environmental resource management , catchment hydrology , agriculture , ecosystem , water resource management , land use, land use change and forestry , ecosystem health , business , ecology , geography , process management , cartography , biology
Despite widespread implementation of best management practices, sustainable farming is neither practical nor possible in certain locations, where protecting water quality and promoting agricultural production are likely to be incompatible. Some strategic prioritization of land‐use options and acceptance of continually degraded waterbodies may be required to ensure optimization of multiple ecosystem services in catchments (also known as watersheds or drainage basins). We examine approaches to prioritization and propose catchment buffering capacity as a concept to manage the pressure–impact relationship between land use and aquatic ecosystems. Catchment buffering capacity can be considered as a continuum of biogeochemical, hydrological, and ecological catchment properties that define this relationship. Here, we outline a conceptual framework to assist prioritization: (1) establish a water‐quality target, (2) quantify the gap in compliance to achieve the desired target, (3) assess catchment sensitivity to change, and (4) determine the adaptive capacity of catchment communities to reach the target.