Regulatory Ecosystem Services and Supporting Ecosystem Functions

This chapter provides the analysis and assessment of ten regulatory and supporting ES: R1, air quality regulation; R2, water quality regulation; R3, erosion and natural hazard regulation; R4, water flow regulation; R5, local climate regulation; R6, global climate regulation/carbon sequestration; R7, biodiversity promotion; R8, life cycle maintenance/pollination; R9, pest and diseases control; and R10, maintenance of soil formation and composition. All ES are described in the unified structure: definition and brief characteristics, methods used for identification and assessment, main types of landscape and ecosystems providing given ES, the importance of ES in terms of nature and landscape protection, and ES assessment for the territory of Slovakia. Spatial assessment is provided as a map of the landscape capacity for given ES provision. For all ES, short conclusions and overview of input data for further assessment of the ES capacity, demand and flow are also given.