Analysis of relationships between ecosystem services: A generic classification and review of the literature

The scientific literature contains many studies of trade-offs or synergies between ecosystem services (ES); however, it is challenging to qualify and compare these studies. To address this issue, we developed a structured generic methodological classification (typology) of studies that focuses on relationships between ES. The method focuses on characteristics of the spatial and temporal analyses performed and whether drivers of relationships between ES were considered. We used the typology to characterize 103 peer-reviewed articles from 1998 to 2017 identified from a search of the ISI Web of Science. Our results show that most of the studies (74%) focused on quantifying and analyzing ES relationships using a snapshot approach. Spatio-temporal analysis of ES relationships (6% of the studies) remains a major scientific challenge in research. While most studies analyzed drivers of relationships, they focused mainly on coarse indicators of land use and cover (change) and climate change (e.g. temperature and precipitation), and 70% of the studies analyzed relationships between 3 and 6 ES. This review highlights two key research issues: (i) going beyond analysis of coarse drivers by using indicators of land use and (ii) developing spatio-temporal analysis of ES relationships based on field methods to follow-up ES indicators over time or simulation models.