The need for integrated spatial assessments in ecosystemservice mapping

Publications on the modelling and mapping of ecosystem services (ESs)have increased exponentially in recent years. In this literature, a call for integratedenvironmental assessment is increasingly made, even if, in the ES context, the conceptof integration remains fuzzy and can refer to different elements. First, this review paperattempts to clarify to which elements the word‘integration’is attributable in the ESliterature. Integrated assessment can refer to the consideration of pluralistic values, theattention paid to several ESs and ecosystems, the accounting for multiple spatial andtemporal scales, the implication of different stakeholders or the combination of tech-niques stemming from different disciplines. Second, this paper provides a review of thelatest advances in the literature on mapping ESs, from the ecological to the economicperspective, in order to illustrate what can be done and what progress remains to bemade to perform integrated and spatially explicit assessments of ESs. Third, this paperreviews examples of studies performing integrated assessments using the differentmeanings integration can take. Finally, it concludes by presenting the remainingchallenges that research onthis topic faces to perform fully integrated spatialassessments.