Stakeholders' expectations on ecosystem services affect the assessment of ecosystem services hotspots and their congruence with biodiversity

Abstract

The congruence of ecosystem services (ESs) and the congruence of ES ‘hotspots’ and ‘hotspots’ of biodiversity are receiving growing interest. The thresholds used in such analyses to assess the ES presence vary widely but their effects have not been questioned. We provide an analysis of the effect of the choice of these thresholds on the overlap among ESs and the distribution of hotspots. Focusing on grasslands from the Central French Alps, we first systematically varied thresholds for three ESs (agronomic, regulation and aesthetic values), then considered triplets of thresholds representing three contrasted stakeholder perspectives on the importance of each of these services. Overlap between ESs depended strongly on thresholds. The extent of ES hotspots and their overlap with biodiversity hotspots varied widely across perspectives. Coldspots never overlapped with areas of interest for biodiversity, whatever be the perspective. Overlap was less informative than the diagnostic test of the capacity of individual ESs to capture each other's distribution. Agronomic value poorly captured other ESs. Biodiversity was well captured by regulation and aesthetic values, but poorly captured by service hotspots. This analysis emphasizes the importance of accounting for varying stakeholders' expectations in ES hotspot assessments.