Assessment of ecosystem functions of green spaces as an important component of their inventory in the context of sustainable development of urban landscapes

Abstract

An important area of research in the context of ensuring the sustainable development of urban ecosystems is the development of theoretical and applied aspects of the possibilities of obtaining information about the ecosystem usefulness of green spaces. The concept of evaluating and paying for eco-services that produce trees and shrubs for the environment and society is characterised by substantial international interest. In this context, it is important to analyse modern tools and techniques that can adequately determine and evaluate the amount of ecosystem services, which was the main goal of the study. In this paper, the possibility of using the i-Tree Eco tools for quantitative and cost determination of the volume of ecosystem services created by park spaces in the green space inventory process is tested. For this purpose, on the example of the prefix part of the Rayivskyy landscape park of the Ternopil region, the measurement of biometric and sanitary indicators of trees during their inventory was conducted, a number of ecosystem services of plants were determined (reduction of pollutants, absorption and sequestration of carbon, oxygen production, and regulation of avoided runoff), the replacement cost of trees was established, the data obtained were analysed, the interpretation of the information received in the form of an interactive electronic map was performed, and the advantages and disadvantages of this process were determined. The study showed that the cost of ecosystem services (in the context of the indicators under study) for the attached part of the Rayivskyy landscape park is 81894 UAH (€3044) per year, and the total replacement cost of the examined plantings is 4486,464 thousand UAH (€166,783). The monetised expression of the ecosystem utility of this plantation creates conditions for improving the understanding of the value of the phytocenosis for urban landscapes. The practical value of the study is the possibility of using its results to improve and increase the information content of the green space inventory process, by obtaining information about ecosystem services of trees in quantitative and cost terms to increase the validity of decisions in the field of nature management