Skip to main content
Log in

Landscape multifunctionality: a powerful concept to identify effects of environmental change

  • Rapid Communication
  • Published:
Regional Environmental Change Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The interdisciplinary concept of landscape multifunctionality provides a suitable platform to combine or disentangle effects of multiple environmental stressors acting on the landscape. The concept allows mapping of trade-offs, synergies, and priority conflicts between individual landscape functions, thus providing easily accessible, hands-on means to communicate findings of environmental research to decision makers and society. This rapid communication provides an overview of current developments and potential future research avenues in landscape multifunctionality.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

References

  • Ackermann-Liebrich U, Schindler C, Frei P et al (2009) Sensitisation to ambrosia in Switzerland: a public health threat in waiting. Swiss Med Wkly 139:70–75

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Albert CH, Thuiller W, Lavorel S et al (2008) Land-use change and subalpine tree dynamics: colonization of Larix decidua in French subalpine grasslands. J Appl Ecol 45:659–669

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Araujo MB, Cabeza M, Thuiller W et al (2004) Would climate change drive species out of reserves? An assessment of existing reserve-selection methods. Glob Chang Biol 10:1618–1626

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bätzig W (1996) Landwirtschaft im Alpenraum unverzichtbar, aber zukunftslos? Eine alpenweite Bilanz der aktuellen Probleme und der möglichen Lösungen. In: Bätzig W (ed) Landwirtschaft im Alpenraum—unverzichtbar, aber zukunftslos? Europäische Akademie Bozen, Fachbereich Alpine Umwelt, Blackwell, pp 9–11

  • Beniston M (2007) Linking extreme climate events and economic impacts: examples from the Swiss Alps. Energy Policy 35:5384–5392

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beniston M, Garcia-Herrera R (2008) Climate change and health. In: Thomson MC et al (eds) Seasonal forecasts, climatic change and human health—health and climate. Springer, Berlin, pp 131–133

    Google Scholar 

  • Bohren C, Delabays N, Rometsch S (2008) Invasive plants: agricultural aspects. Agrarforschung 15:314–319

    Google Scholar 

  • Bolliger J, Kienast F (2010) Landscape functions in a changing environment. Landscape Online

  • Bolliger J, Kienast F, Soliva R et al (2007) Spatial sensitivity of species habitat patterns to scenarios of land-use change (Switzerland). Landscape Ecol 22:773–789

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bolliger J, Hagedorn F, Leifeld J et al (2008) Potential carbon-pool changes under various scenarios of land-use change in a mountainous region (Switzerland). Ecosystems 11:895–907

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bonnard C, Tacher L, Beniston M (2008) Prediction of landslide movements caused by climate change: modelling the behaviour of a mean elevation large slide in the Alps and assessing its uncertainties. Crc Press-Taylor and Francis Group, Boca Raton

    Google Scholar 

  • Bradley BA (2010) Assessing ecosystem threats from global and regional change: hierarchical modeling of risk to sagebrush ecosystems from climate change, land use and invasive species in Nevada, USA. Ecography 33:198–208

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brandt J, Vejre H (2004) Multifunctional landscapes: theory, values and history. WIT Press, Southampton

    Google Scholar 

  • Buijs AE, Pedroli B, Luginbühl Y (2006) From hiking through farmland to farming in a leisure landscape: changing social perception of the European landscape. Landsc Ecol 21:375–389

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Costanza R, D’Arge R, de Groot R et al (1997) The value of the world’s ecosystem services and natural capital. Nature 387:253–260

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • de Groot R (2006) Function-analysis and valuation as a tool to assess land use conflicts in planning for sustainable, multi-functional landscapes. Landsc Urban Plan 75:175–186

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • de Groot RS, Wilson M, Boumans R (2002) A typology for the description, classification and valuation of ecosystem functions, goods and services. Ecol Econ 41:393–408

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • De la Fuente de Val G, Atauri JA, de Lucio JV (2006) Relationship between landscape visual attributes and spatial pattern indices: a test study in Mediterranean-climate landscapes. Landsc Urban Plan 77:393–407

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dullinger S, Dirnböck T, Grabherr G (2003) Patterns of shrub invasion into high mountain grasslands of the Northern calcareous Alps, Austria. Arct Antarct Alp Res 35:434–441

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Egoh B, Reyers B, Rouget M et al (2008) Mapping ecosystem services for planning and management. Agric Ecosyst Environ 127:135–140

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eigenbrod F, Armsworth PR, Anderson BJ et al (2010) The impact of data quality on the spatial congruence of ecosystem services. J Appl Ecol 47:377–385

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gehring K (2006) Landscape needs and notions. Preferences, expectations, leisure motivation, and the concept of landscape from a cross-cultural perspective. Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL, Zurich

    Google Scholar 

  • Gimona A, van der Horst D (2007) Mapping hotspots of multiple landscape functions: a case study on farmland afforestation in Scotland. Landsc Ecol 22:1255–1264

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Haines-Young R, Potschin M (2009) The links between biodiversity, ecosystem services and human well-being. In: Raffaelli D, Frid C (eds) Ecosystem ecology: a new synthesis. BES Ecological Reviews Series, CUP

  • Hasselmann F, Csaplovics E, Falconer I et al (2010) Technological driving forces of LUCC: conceptualization, quantification, and the example of urban power distribution networks. Land Use Policy 27:628–637

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hein L, van Koppen K, de Groot RS et al (2006) Spatial scales, stakeholders and the valuation of ecosystem services. Ecol Econ 57:209–228

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Helming K, Wiggering H (2003) Sustainable development of multifunctional landscapes. Springer, Berlin

    Google Scholar 

  • Hersperger AM, Burgi M (2009) Going beyond landscape change description: quantifying the importance of driving forces of landscape change in a Central Europe case study. Land Use Policy 26:640–648

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Houet T, Verburg PH, Loveland TR (2010) Monitoring and modelling landscape dynamics. Landscape Ecol 25:163–167

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hunziker M (1995) The spontaneous reafforstation in abandoned agricultural lands: perception and aesthetical assessement by locals and tourists. Landsc Urban Plan 31:399–410

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hunziker M, Kienast F (1999) Potential impacts of changing agricultural activities on scenic beauty—a prototypical technique for automated rapid assessment. Landsc Ecol 14:161–176

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • IPCC, 2007: Climate Change 2007: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability. Contribution of Working Group II to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2007, Parry ML et al, Eds., Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

  • Janssens IA, Freibauer A, Ciais P et al (2003) Europe’s terrestrial biosphere absorbs 7 to 12% of European anthropogenic CO2 emissions. Science 300:1538–1542

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kienast F, Wildi O, Brzeziecki B (1998) Potential impacts of climate change on species richness in mountain forests—an ecological risk assessment. Biol Conserv 83:291–305

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kienast F, Bolliger J, Potschin M et al (2009) Assessing landscape functions with broad-scale environmental data: insights gained from a prototype development for Europe. Environ Manage 44:1099–1120

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Laiolo P, Dondero F, Ciliento E et al (2004) Consequences of pastoral abandonment for the structure and diversity of the alpine avifauna. J Appl Ecol 41:294–304

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lopez-Moreno JI, Goyette S, Beniston M (2008) Climate change prediction over complex areas: spatial variability of uncertainties and predictions over the Pyrenees from a set of regional climate models. Int J Climatol 28:1535–1550

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lütolf M, Bolliger J, Kienast F et al (2009) Scenario-based assessment of future land-use change on butterfly species distributions. Biodivers Conserv 18:1329–1347

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • MA (2005) Millennium ecosystem assessment, Business and industry. Synthesis report. Island Press, Washington

    Google Scholar 

  • Maurer S, Weyand A, Fischer M et al (2006) Old cultural traditions, in addition to land use and topography, are shaping plant diversity of grasslands in the Alps. Biol Conserv 130:438–445

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meeus J, Van Der Ploeg JD, Wijermans M (1991) Changing agricultural landscapes in Europe: continuity, deterioration or rupture? IFLA conference, Rotterdam

  • Menzel A (2000) Trends in phenological phases in Europe between 1951 and 1996. Int J Biometeorol 44:76–81

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Metzger MJ, Rounsevell MDA, Acosta-Michlik L et al (2006) The vulnerability of ecosystem services to land use change. Agric Ecosyst Environ 114:69–85

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Metzger MJ, Schroter D, Leemans R et al (2008) A spatially explicit and quantitative vulnerability assessment of ecosystem service change in Europe. Reg Environ Change 8:91–107

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Naidoo R, Balmford A, Costanza R et al (2008) Global mapping of ecosystem services and conservation priorities. PNAS 105:9495–9500

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Nelson E, Mendoza G, Regetz J et al (2009) Modeling multiple ecosystem services, biodiversity conservation, commodity production, and tradeoffs at landscape scales. Front Ecol Environ 70:4–11

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Potschin M, Haines-Young R (2006) ‘Rio +10’, sustainability science and landscape ecology. Landsc Urban Plan 75:162–174

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Scharfy D, Eggenschwiler H, Venterink HO et al (2009) The invasive alien plant species Solidago gigantea alters ecosystem properties across habitats with differing fertility. J Vegetat Sci 20:1072–1085

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Steck C, Bürgi M, Bolliger J et al (2007) Conservation of grasshopper diversity in a changing environment. Biol Conserv 138:360–370

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Swetnam RD, Fisher B, Mbilinyi BP et al (2010) Mapping socio-economic scenarios of land cover change: A GIS method to enable ecosystem service modelling. J Environ Manage 1–12

  • Tasser E, Tappeiner U (2002) Impact of land use changes on mountain vegetation. Appl Vegetat Sci 5:173–184

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thomas CD, Cameron A, Green RE et al (2004) Extinction risk from climate change. Nature 427:145–148

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Thuiller W, Lavorel S, Araujo MB et al (2005) Climate change threats to plant diversity in Europe. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 102:8245–8250

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Verburg PH, Overmars KP (2009) Combining top-down and bottom-up dynamics in land use modeling: exploring the future of abandoned farmlands in Europe with the Dyna-CLUE model. Landsc Ecol 24:1167–1181

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Verburg P, Schulp CJE, Witte N et al (2006) Downscaling of land use change scenarios to assess the dynamics of European landscapes. Agric Ecosyst Environ 114:39–56

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Verburg P, van Berkel D, Willemen L et al (2009) Exploration of the influence of land use and land cover change on landscape functions. In: Breuste J et al (eds) European landscapes in transformation—challenges for landscape ecology and management. University of Salzburg, Salzburg, pp 236–237

  • Verburg PH, van Berkel DB, van Doorn AM et al (2010) Trajectories of land use change in Europe: a model-based exploration of rural futures. Landsc Ecol 25:217–232

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Willemen L, Verburg PH, Hein L et al (2008) Spatial characterization of landscape functions. Landsc Urban Plan 88:34–43

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zebisch M, Wechsung F, Kenneweg H (2004) Landscape response functions for biodiversity—assessing the impact of land-use changes at the county level. Landsc Urban Plan 67:157–172

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Janine Bolliger.

Additional information

J. Bolliger, M. Bättig, J. Gallati, A. Kläy, M. Stauffacher are members of the SAGUF workgroup “Climate change and local action”.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Bolliger, J., Bättig, M., Gallati, J. et al. Landscape multifunctionality: a powerful concept to identify effects of environmental change. Reg Environ Change 11, 203–206 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10113-010-0185-6

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10113-010-0185-6

Keywords

Navigation