Mapping bundles of ecosystem services reveals distinct types of multifunctionality within a Swedish landscape

TLDR

Ecosystem services are increasingly used for landscape planning, yet the factors driving synergies and trade‑offs among services remain poorly understood. We quantified 16 ecosystem services across 62 Swedish municipalities by integrating GIS data with publicly available information, calculated service diversity, and applied correlation and k‑means clustering to detect service bundles. The analysis revealed five distinct spatial bundles of ecosystem services linked to regional social and ecological gradients, with human‑dominated and densely populated urban areas exhibiting high multifunctionality and cultural service hotspots.

Abstract

Ecosystem services (ES) is a valuable concept to be used in the planning and management of social–ecological landscapes. However, the understanding of the determinant factors affecting the interaction between services in the form of synergies or trade-offs is still limited. We assessed the production of 16 ES across 62 municipalities in the Norrström drainage basin in Sweden. We combined GIS data with publically available information for quantifying and mapping the distribution of services. Additionally, we calculated the diversity of ES for each municipality and used correlations and k-means clustering analyses to assess the existence of ES bundles. We found five distinct types of bundles of ES spatially agglomerated in the landscape that could be explained by regional social and ecological gradients. Human-dominated landscapes were highly multifunctional in our study area and urban densely populated areas were hotspots of cultural services.