Abstract

PARRA RUIZ DIAZ, Andrea Carolina; VILLALBA MARIN, Lucía Janet  and  AMARILLA RODRIGUEZ, Stella Mary. Provisioning of the ecosystem service “total nitrogen retention” and its variation under changing land use and coverage in the Jejui Guazú river basin, Paraguay. Investig. Agrar. [online]. 2022, vol.24, n.1, pp.31-39. ISSN 2305-0683.  https://doi.org/10.18004/investig.agrar.2022.junio.2401704.

One of the most important direct drivers affecting ecosystem services (ES) and their provision has been land use and land cover (LULC) change. The absence of information on how these factors affect ecosystem services provision can lead to their deterioration or unsustainable use. This research was carried out in the Jejui Guazú river watershed, in the Eastern Region of Paraguay, in order to describe the variation of the ecosystem service of total nitrogen (TN) retention and under forested area reduction, considering the ones without legal protection using the InVEST model and Geographic Information System’s software For this purpose, the land use and land cover of the year 2017 (where eight classes were identified), a digital elevation model, the annual average rainfall for the same year and sub-basin limits were generated. The results highlight the fundamental role of natural areas, both forests and wetlands, for the maintenance of the nutrient retention service. Especially, wetlands which present the highest percentage of TN retention, where watersheds covered by wetlands got 90.94 and 91.10% of retention; and the smallest decrease in its retention capacity with the change in the landscape configuration, decreasing only by 1.53%.

Keywords : ecosystem services; total nitrogen; land use land cover; geographic information system.

        · abstract in Spanish     · text in Spanish     · Spanish ( pdf )