Usługi ekosystemów leśnych jako przedmiot badań Zintegrowanego Monitoringu Środowiska Przyrodniczego

The study presents the methodological and applicative scope of mapping and assessment of forests ecosystem services within the Integrated Environmental Monitoring Programme (IEMP). The IEMP operates within the State Environmental Monitoring Programme performed under the coordination of the Chief Inspectorate for Environmental Protection. The program targeting at the ecosystem services is implemented in 11 IEMP research catchments, which are located taking into account a diversity of the landscape−ecological zones and physical−geographic regions across the country. The research, being conducted since 2015, includes: typology of ecosystems based on land use and land cover data, assessment of the potential of ecosystems to provide services using the bonitation matrix, and identification of ecosystem services indicators on the basis of the IEMP measurement programme. The results indicate that the differentiation of ecosystems mosaic between research catchments leads to a specific mixture of ecosystem services for each catchment. Regional variation of the ways and intensity of the ecosystems use by society determines the different importance of individual services. It can be concluded that the IEMP provides helpful data for recognizing the structure and value of forests ecosystem services in Poland. The vast scope of the IEMP measurement programme and diverse character of research catchments give the opportunity to investigate a broad spectrum of regulating ecosystem services. Further efforts should focus on strengthening the interpretation of the measured parameters in the context of benefits for human, and determining conditions for extrapolation of obtained values to other areas.