MAES_GR: A Web-Based, Spatially Enabled Field Survey Platform for the MAES Implementation in Greece

This study presents a standardized approach to collecting, registering, and reporting field-survey data for baseline MAES (Mapping and Assessment of Ecosystems and their Services) information in Greece. This is accomplished through a web-based platform (MAES_GR) exclusively developed under the relevant, nation-wide LIFE-IP 4 NATURA project. Based on the European Commission’s guidance for ecosystem condition (EC) and ecosystem services (ES) MAES studies, we conceptualized and structured an online platform to support EC and ES assessments, integrating all relevant fields of information needed for registering EC and ES parameters. A novel algorithm calculating EC was also developed and it is available as an integral part of the platform. The use of the MAES_GR platform was evaluated during nationwide field surveys efforts, increasing time efficiency and reducing costs. Field recording of EC and ES pinpoint spatial priorities for ecosystem restoration, conservation and sustainable development. This work highlights that MAES implementation can be favored by the use of technology tools such as mobile survey platforms, developed according to scientific needs and policy guidelines. Such tools, apart from the data inventory phase, can be used for data analysis, synthesis and extraction, providing timely, standardized information suitable for reporting at the local, regional, national and European Union scale.

[1]  A. Ginsburg.  System of Environmental-Economic Accounting 2012 – Experimental Ecosystem Accounting Revision First Global Consultation on : Chapter 3 : Spatial units for Ecosystem Accounting Chapter 4 : Accounting for Ecosystem Extent Chapter 5 : Accounting for Ecosystem Condition , 2020 .

[2]  Petteri Vihervaara,et al.  Methodological interlinkages for mapping ecosystem services – from data to analysis and decision-support , 2019, One Ecosystem.

[3]  C. Kull,et al.  What makes ecology `political'?: rethinking `scale' in political ecology , 2009 .

[4]  Geoffrey O. Arunga,et al.  A comparison of smartphones to paper-based questionnaires for routine influenza sentinel surveillance, Kenya, 2011–2012 , 2014, BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making.

[5]  Jan Staes,et al.  EBI: An index for delivery of ecosystem service bundles , 2014 .

[6]  Louise Willemen,et al.  Editorial: Best practices for mapping ecosystem services , 2015 .

[7]  D. Geneletti,et al.  Ecosystem services in urban plans: What is there, and what is still needed for better decisions , 2018 .

[8]  Ioannis P. Kokkoris,et al.  The need for the implementation of an Ecosystem Services assessment in Greece: drafting the national agenda , 2017 .

[9]  M. Graça,et al.  The paradox of expert judgment in rivers ecological monitoring. , 2016, Journal of environmental management.

[10]  M. Nowak,et al.  Mobile GIS applications for environmental field surveys: A state of the art , 2020 .

[11]  B. Burkhard,et al.  The Promise of the Ecosystem Services Concept for Planning and Decision-Making , 2013 .

[12]  Carlos Montes,et al.  Deliberative mapping of ecosystem services within and around Doñana National Park (SW Spain) in relation to land use change , 2014, Regional Environmental Change.

[13]  Ioannis P. Kokkoris,et al.  National Set of MAES Indicators in Greece: Ecosystem Services and Management Implications , 2020, Forests.

[14]  R. O'Neill,et al.  The value of the world's ecosystem services and natural capital , 1997, Nature.

[15]  Philip Roche,et al.  Can biodiversity monitoring schemes provide indicators for ecosystem services , 2013 .

[16]  K. Grunewald,et al.  Assessment of ecosystem services at the national level in Germany—Illustration of the concept and the development of indicators by way of the example wood provision , 2016 .

[17]  Ioannis P. Kokkoris,et al.  National scale ecosystem condition assessment with emphasis on forest types in Greece , 2018, One Ecosystem.

[18]  Giorgos Mallinis,et al.  National Scale Land Cover Classification for Ecosystem Services Mapping and Assessment, Using Multitemporal Copernicus EO Data and Google Earth Engine , 2020, Remote. Sens..

[19]  Athanasios S. Kallimanis,et al.  A bottom–up approach for the conservation status assessment of structure and functions of habitat types , 2018, Rendiconti Lincei. Scienze Fisiche e Naturali.

[20]  Benedikt Ley,et al.  Analysis of erroneous data entries in paper based and electronic data collection , 2019, BMC Research Notes.

[21]  Thibaud Decaens,et al.  From Field Data to Ecosystem Services Maps: Using Regressions for the Case of Deforested Areas Within the Amazon , 2018, Ecosystems.