Ecosystem Services: Regulating Services

Ecosystem services are the benefits that people obtain from ecosystems, including those benefits that people perceive and those that they do not perceive.
These services are classified into three groups:
1. Provisioning or production (such as food, water, energy),
2. Regulating (such as climate control, water purification, pollination),
3. Cultural (education, aesthetics).

In this enter we talk about the regulating services in the area of study.
The regulation services have 3 zones with the highest valuation: the Bolintxu area, the area around Mendikosolo and the southern end of the area. These would be the areas of interest to protect from the point of view of the regulation services.
However, there are large areas, coinciding with the forest masses, where conditions could be found to improve the values of these services, especially in the maintenance of habitats and pollination. These would be the areas to be enhanced in the event of an intervention designed to deal with the consequences of climate change.
The habitat maintenance service reaches its highest values in the final part of the Bolintxu basin and in the wooded area at the northern boundary of the study area.
Regarding pollination service, it is observed that no places with maximum values have been mapped, although there are places with high values.
The areas of the water cycle regulation service are those that allow the accumulation of water. Some headwaters of micro-basins are also considered to be of high value for this ecosystem service, especially those facing north.
A high percentage of the surface area of the study area is considered to be of high value for carbon storage service. However, this assessment should be qualified, since plantations have short productive cycles and the destination of the felling can lead to a real reduction in the carbon stored.