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The Importance of Scale and the MAUP for Robust Ecosystem Service Evaluations and Landscape Decisions

Author

Listed:
  • Alexis Comber

    (School of Geography, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK)

  • Paul Harris

    (Sustainable Agriculture Sciences, Rothamsted Research, North Wyke, Okehampton EX20 2SB, UK)

Abstract

Spatial data are used in many scientific domains including analyses of Ecosystem Services (ES) and Natural Capital (NC), with results used to inform planning and policy. However, the data spatial scale (or support) has a fundamental impact on analysis outputs and, thus, process understanding and inference. The Modifiable Areal Unit Problem (MAUP) describes the effects of scale on analyses of spatial data and outputs, but it has been ignored in much environmental research, including evaluations of land use with respect to ES and NC. This paper illustrates the MAUP through an ES optimisation problem. The results show that MAUP effects are unpredictable and nonlinear, with discontinuities specific to the spatial properties of the case study. Four key recommendations are as follows: (1) The MAUP should always be tested for in ES evaluations. This is commonly performed in socio-economic analyses. (2) Spatial aggregation scales should be matched to process granularity by identifying the aggregation scale at which processes are considered to be stable (stationary) with respect to variances, covariances, and other moments. (3) Aggregation scales should be evaluated along with the scale of decision making (e.g., agricultural field, farm holding, and catchment). (4) Researchers in ES and related disciplines should up-skill themselves in spatial analysis and core paradigms related to scale to overcome the scale blindness commonly found in much research.

Suggested Citation

  • Alexis Comber & Paul Harris, 2022. "The Importance of Scale and the MAUP for Robust Ecosystem Service Evaluations and Landscape Decisions," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-17, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:11:y:2022:i:3:p:399-:d:766998
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Daisuke Murakami & Morito Tsutsumi, 2015. "Area-to-point parameter estimation with geographically weighted regression," Journal of Geographical Systems, Springer, vol. 17(3), pages 207-225, July.
    2. Adrienne Grêt-Regamey & Bettina Weibel & Kenneth J Bagstad & Marika Ferrari & Davide Geneletti & Hermann Klug & Uta Schirpke & Ulrike Tappeiner, 2014. "On the Effects of Scale for Ecosystem Services Mapping," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(12), pages 1-26, December.
    3. Comber, Alexis & Dickie, Jennifer & Jarvis, Claire & Phillips, Martin & Tansey, Kevin, 2015. "Locating bioenergy facilities using a modified GIS-based location–allocation-algorithm: Considering the spatial distribution of resource supply," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 154(C), pages 309-316.
    4. Juan C Duque & Henry Laniado & Adriano Polo, 2018. "S-maup: Statistical test to measure the sensitivity to the modifiable areal unit problem," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(11), pages 1-25, November.
    5. Kelvyn Jones & David Manley & Ron Johnston & Dewi Owen, 2018. "Modelling residential segregation as unevenness and clustering: A multilevel modelling approach incorporating spatial dependence and tackling the MAUP," Environment and Planning B, , vol. 45(6), pages 1122-1141, November.
    6. Chris Brunsdon & Alexis Comber, 2021. "Opening practice: supporting reproducibility and critical spatial data science," Journal of Geographical Systems, Springer, vol. 23(4), pages 477-496, October.
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    Cited by:

    1. Muyi Huang & Qilong Wang & Qi Yin & Weihua Li & Guozhao Zhang & Qiaojun Ke & Qin Guo, 2023. "Analysis of Ecosystem Service Contribution and Identification of Trade-Off/Synergy Relationship for Ecosystem Regulation in the Dabie Mountains of Western Anhui Province, China," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-22, May.
    2. Turkeltaub, Tuvia & Gongadze, Kate & Lü, Yihe & Huang, Mingbin & Jia, Xiaoxu & Yang, Huiyi & Shao, Ming'an & Binley, Andrew & Harris, Paul & Wu, Lianhai, 2022. "A review of models for simulating the soil-plant interface for different climatic conditions and land uses in the Loess Plateau, China," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 474(C).

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