The explicit use of ecosystem services (ESs) assessments has been called as a way to guide environmental decision making, yet the promise of the ES approach lies behind its potential. A way to consolidate the approach could be to introduce some aspects into the ESs assessments which might have been neglected so far. Such aspects are mainly: (1) a focus on the complex ESs relations (such as synergies and trade-offs) that can impact the supply of multiple SESs (soil ecosystem services), and (2) focus on potential drivers of SESs relations. We applied bivariate and multivariate approaches to SESs indicators derived from a solid pedological knowledge of the Emilia-Romagna study area in NE Italy. We focused on 7 SES: (1) habitat for soil organisms, (2) filtering and buffering capacity, (3) contribution to microclimate regulation, (4) carbon sequestration, (5) food provision potential, (6) water regulation, and (7) water storage capacity. These SESs were estimated through a combination of point observations, and pedotransfer functions (PTF) estimates spatialised over the area of interest with geostatistical simulation techniques. We found that SESs bivariate spatial relations could be categorised mainly in three types of patterns at regional scale, either: (1) synergistic SESs relations dominating at the region level, (2) trade-offs dominating, or (3) both kind of relations more or less equally frequent. Interestingly, in some cases the dominant regional SESs relation switched at a local level, and such switch was driven by soil properties. For the multivariate case (>2 SESs), two main results are highlighted. First, the combination of properties of some soils is so characteristic that they conform a single SESs bundle, as in the case of the rich SOM soils of alluvial origin in the NE of the region with low agricultural productivity, but high value in regulating SESs. Secondly, some SESs such as potential food provision and water regulation are more important than others to determine locations with high multi-services value at a regional level. This suggests that attention must be paid when ascribing high multi-services value locations as this is not independent of SESs relations. Overall, our results highlight the importance of soils in the potential supply of ESs and show that SESs relations are useful in the implementation of the concept in environmental assessments.

中文翻译：

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理清基于土壤的生态系统服务的协同作用、权衡、多功能性和捆绑：支持环境规划的区域规模案例研究（意大利东北部）


生态系统服务 (ES) 评估的明确使用被称为指导环境决策的一种方式，但 ES 方法的前景却隐藏在其潜力背后。巩固该方法的一种方法可能是将迄今为止可能被忽视的某些方面引入 ES 评估中。这些方面主要是：（1）关注可能影响多个SES（土壤生态系统服务）供给的复杂ES关系（例如协同和权衡），以及（2）关注SES关系的潜在驱动因素。我们对 SES 指标应用了双变量和多变量方法，这些方法源自意大利东北部艾米利亚-罗马涅研究区扎实的土壤学知识。我们重点关注 7 个 SES：(1) 土壤生物栖息地，(2) 过滤和缓冲能力，(3) 对小气候调节的贡献，(4) 碳封存，(5) 食物供应潜力，(6) 水调节，以及(7)蓄水能力。这些 SES 是通过结合点观测和利用地质统计模拟技术对感兴趣区域进行空间化的土壤传递函数 (PTF) 估计来估计的。我们发现，SES二元空间关系在区域尺度上主要可分为三种类型：（1）协同SES关系在区域层面占主导地位，（2）权衡占主导地位，或（3）两种关系都占主导地位或多或少同样频繁。有趣的是，在某些情况下，占主导地位的区域社会经济地位关系在地方层面上发生了转变，而这种转变是由土壤特性驱动的。对于多变量情况（>2 SES），突出显示了两个主要结果。 首先，一些土壤的特性组合非常具有特征，以至于它们符合单一的 SES 束，例如该地区东北部冲积土富含 SOM 土壤，该地区农业生产力较低，但在调节 SES 方面具有很高的价值。其次，一些社会经济体系（例如潜在的食品供应和水监管）对于确定区域层面具有高多重服务价值的位置比其他社会经济体系更为重要。这表明在归属高多服务价值位置时必须注意，因为这并不独立于 SES 关系。总体而言，我们的结果强调了土壤在 ES 潜在供应中的重要性，并表明 SES 关系对于实施环境评估中的概念很有用。