Assessment and Spatial Distribution of Urban Ecosystem Functions Applied in Two Czech Cities

As urban areas expand worldwide, the importance of ecosystem services provided by urban and peri-urban areas (ESs) increases, especially those that mitigate the effects of ongoing climate change. We present a relatively simple method to assess the performance of three ecosystem functions (EFs: evapotranspiration, carbon production, and habitat-and landscape-level biodiversity) in urban and peri-urban areas, indicating their capacity to provide relevant regulative ESs. The method was applied to two Czech foothill cities, Liberec and De?cin, and the results showed that the EFs of both cities were at comparable or even higher levels than the average values for the whole Czech Republic. The peri-urban area showed surprisingly high values for all EFs and habitat connectivity. The urban-rural gradient of EFs also showed higher values for EFs in the peri-urban area than in the adjacent rural (forest and agricultural) landscape. The method can serve as a useful tool to quickly identify valuable urban habitats (strong ESs providers) to support their protection or to identify places with low functional values that should be considered and sorted in urban adaptation strategies to global climate change to support the creation of functional green infrastructure.

Automated summary

As urban areas expand, the importance of ecosystem services (ESs) provided by urban and peri-urban areas increases, particularly in mitigating climate change. This study presents a simple method to assess the performance of three ecosystem functions (EFs: evapotranspiration, carbon production, and habitat-and landscape-level biodiversity) in urban and peri-urban areas, indicating their capacity to provide relevant ESs. The results from two Czech cities showed that both cities had comparable or higher EFs levels than the national average. The method can help identify valuable urban habitats for protection or identify low functional value areas for adaptation strategies to climate change.