Uncovering thematic biases in ecosystem services mapping: Knowledge shortfalls and challenges for use in conservation

The process of mapping ecosystem services is experiencing a significant surge in usage, with exponential growth being observed. However, conservation knowledge shortfalls have yet to be characterized, which can lead to essential gaps in decision-making and public policy. We aim to describe thematic changes in mapped ecosystem services and their use in biodiversity conservation. We performed a scientific literature search on this topic and found 1670 documents published from 2005 to 2021. We defined two periods, among which we compared the type of ecosystem services mapped and the thematic conservation categories mentioned in the documents. Despite the continuing dominance of the United States and China in scientific productivity, Europe and the global South are emerging as major contributors to ecosystem services mapping. Very few ecosystem services have been mapped simultaneously in the scientific literature within a single case study. Climate change, ecological resto-ration, forestry, connectivity, species conservation, risk assessment, and biological invasions are mentioned in less than 8 % of the publications, presenting critical thematic shortfalls in applying ecosystem services mapping in biodiversity conservation. Ecosystem services are not commonly used as surrogates within systematic con-servation planning, nor have they been considered in information resources such as Conservation Evidence. The classical approach to knowledge shortfalls in biodiversity does not directly consider the ecosystem services, thus demonstrating the need to define and quantify new categories of shortfalls in the spatial expression of those services. Finally, we discuss the challenges to applying ecosystem services mapping in decision-making, con-servation planning, and environmental impact studies.

Automated summary

The application of ecosystem services mapping is growing rapidly, but there are still knowledge shortfalls in conservation, leading to gaps in decision-making and public policy. This study describes thematic changes in mapped ecosystem services and highlights the emerging contributions from Europe and the global South.