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Report, 2016

Multifunctional Golf Courses

Hedblom, Marcus; Wissman, Jörgen; Ahrné, Karin; Poeplau, Christopher; Hedblom, Marcus; Marstorp, Håkan; Ignatieva, Maria; Kätterer, Thomas

Abstract

Multifunctionality of ecosystems and the relations between biodiversity and multiple ecosystem services have recently received increased scientific and practical interest. For management of ecosystem services, which is presently high on the political agenda (e.g. MAES 2013 at the EU level, IBPES at the global level, the Swedish government and EPA nationally), the importance of understanding "the ecological, economic and social aspects of the multiplicity of ecosystem services, identify trade-offs and synergies occurring between services ..." and "... developing standardized methods and criteria for the measurements, mapping and monitoring of biodiversity and ecosystem services ..." (MAES 2013) has been highlighted. A few investigations of multiple ecosystem services and biodiversity in terrestrial ecosystems are reported in the litterature, but no comprehensive studies have been conducted so far in urban grassland ecosystems, despite the possible importance and impact of lawn and turfgrass management on ecosystem services like recreation, biodiversity and carbon sequestration for climate mitigation. The need for knowledge about how to plan, create and manage urban grasslands, such as golf courses, using a multifunctional approach promoting several ecosystem services, has been acknowledged, and the potential for designing golf courses to serve multiple functions has been pointed out by researchers as well as the golf associations (Colding & Folke 2009, Strandberg et al. 2012). It is well known that different management intensities of semi-natural grasslands may affect biodiversity in different ways (Wissman et al. 2008) but the surrounding landscape may also influence on the way that species are utilising habitats promoted by different management (Colding & Folke 2009, Bergman et al. 2004). It has also been suggested that grasslands with different management have different C sequestration potential and carbon balances, especially when management intensity is included (Townsend-Small & Czimczik 2010a and b). Appropriate management could be an important factor for mitigating climate change by increasing the carbon sink capacity of green areas (Lal & Augustin 2012), but still little is known of how this should be accomplished. At present, a number of studies have examined the impact of golf courses on the biodiversity of, for example, birds, amphibians, plants and insects or the carbon cycle (Colding & Folke 2009, Bartlett & James 2011). These studies show that golf courses may be a resource for biodiversity as provider of a range of grassland and lawn habitats (e.g. Tanner & Gange 2005) and that the intensity of management and tree cover may influence the total greenhouse gas emission (Bartlett & James 2011). However, little is known about how these ecosystem services relate to each other and how they relate to other ecosystem services such as social and recreational values in golf courses and urban lawns. In this project we aimed to understand how management of different areas in golf courses affects multifunctionality when it comes to carbon sequestration and biodiversity. Both carbon sequestration and biodiversity are political goals and can hence be considered as cultural services (Mace et al. 2012; UK NEA 2011), but many components of biodiversity are also underpinning multiple ecosystem services (e.g. Mace et al 2012; Gamfeldt et al. 2013).

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Publisher: Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet