Ecosystem services provided by agricultural areas

Preface

Main acronyms used

Introduction

Context and scope of the question asked to Inra

Organisation of work conducted by Inra

1. A framework for assessing ecosystem services from agricultural ecosystems

The ecosystem services concept as applied to the functioning of agricultural ecosystems

Identifying and assessing ecosystem services from agricultural ecosystems

2. Input ecosystem services: regulating services that support agricultural production

Input ecosystem services and agricultural production

Regulation of soil physicochemical characteristics

Biological regulation

3. The production of agricultural goods: plant and animal products

Relative weight of input ecosystem services in the production of plant products

Quantifying the percentage of livestock production relying on locally produced plant resources

4. Ecosystem services provided by agricultural ecosystems to society

Regulation of environmental conditions

Contribution to the recreational potential of the landscape

5. The economic assessment of ecosystem services: Cautions and challenges

Available methods

The economic assessment of input ecosystem services’ contribution to agricultural production

The economic assessment of an ecosystem service provided to society: the example of global climate regulation

Economic assessments are challenging due to lack of matching between biophysical and economic indicators

6. Towards the management of ecosystem services supply

From the analysis of individual services to a multi-services approach

Ecosystem services, biodiversity conservation and environmental impacts

7. Conclusions and perspectives

A framework for assessing the services provided by anthropised ecosystems 144

Input ecosystem services provided to the farmer

Ecosystem services provided by agricultural ecosystems to society as a whole

From biophysical assessments to economic assessments of ecosystem services

Towards the management of ecosystem services supply

8. Perspectives for future research and other developments

Develop more precise sources of data

Move from absolute to relative levels of ecosystem services supply

Move from the potential level to the effective level of ecosystem services supplied by ecosystems

Explore other types of cropping systems

Further work to be done on the status and role of livestock in the supply of ecosystem services

Consider the resilience of ecosystem services to future change

Appendix 1. Composition of the working group

Appendix 2. Correspondence between the CICES v4.3 typology and the list of ecosystem services examined in EFESE-AE

Appendix 3. Summary of biophysical assessment methods (indicators) used in EFESE-AE to quantify ecosystem services