Author(s)

D. Pithart, K. Křováková, J. Žaloudík, T. Dostál, J Valentová, P. Valenta, J. Weyskrabová & J. Dušek

Abstract

The river Lužnice floodplain in south Bohemia with a preserved floodplain ecosystem and hydrological regime has been investigated for selected ecosystem services (ES): flood mitigation, biodiversity refuge, carbon sequestration, and production of commodities. Two contrasting scenarios at 5 km long studying floodplain segment were compared: near-nature state as it is (Scenario A) and virtually transformed floodplain (Scenario B). For the flood mitigation service, we used an output from hydraulic analysis of modelled flood events (model FAST 2D) showing the effective retention volume 2.3 mil m3 for A and 0.83 m3 for B. For monetary evaluation, we used the method of replacement cost of this retention volume. For biodiversity refuge, the value of biotopes (real for A and arbitrary for B) and their contribution to the floodplain area were analysed according to the Hessen method. Carbon sequestration was measured by eddy-covariance method. All ES for both scenarios were converted to monetary value and scenarios A and B were compared. The contribution of particular ES to the total ecosystem value showed the importance of flood mitigation and biodiversity refugium compared to other services. Overall floodplain value was estimated as 17 213 EUR ha.-1.yr-1 for state as it is (A) and 6 254 EUR ha.-1.yr-1 for transformed floodplain (B), i.e. virtual floodplain transformation decreased its value to 36%. Keywords: floodplain, ecosystem services, monetary evaluation flood mitigation, carbon sequestration, biodiversity.

Keywords

floodplain, ecosystem services, monetary evaluation flood mitigation, carbon sequestration, biodiversity