Title
Using the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) to model ecosystem services: A systematic review
Date Issued
01 April 2016
Access level
metadata only access
Resource Type
review
Author(s)
Srinivasan R.
Pérez-Miñana E.
Willcock S.P.
Quintero M.
International Center for Tropical Agriculture
Publisher(s)
Elsevier B.V.
Abstract
SWAT, a watershed modeling tool has been proposed to help quantify ecosystem services. The concept of ecosystem services incorporates the collective benefits natural systems provide primarily to human beings. It is becoming increasingly important to track the impact that human activities have on the environment in order to determine its resilience and sustainability. The objectives of this paper are to provide an overview of efforts using SWAT to quantify ecosystem services, to determine the model's capability examining various types of services, and to describe the approach used by various researchers. A literature review was conducted to identify studies in which SWAT was explicitly used for quantifying ecosystem services in terms of provisioning, regulating, supporting, and cultural aspects. A total of 44 peer reviewed publications were identified. Most of these used SWAT to quantify provisioning services (34%), regulating services (27%), or a combination of both (25%). While studies using SWAT for evaluating ecosystem services are limited (approximately 1% of SWAT's peered review publications), and usage (vs. potential) of services by beneficiaries is a current model limitation, the available literature sets the stage for the continuous development and potential of SWAT as a methodological framework for quantifying ecosystem services to assist in decision-making.
Start page
625
End page
636
Volume
535
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Ciencias de la Tierra, Ciencias ambientales Oceanografía, Hidrología, Recursos hídricos
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-84963936195
Source
Journal of Hydrology
ISSN of the container
00221694
Sponsor(s)
Natural Environment Research Council NE/J001058/1 NER
Sources of information: Directorio de Producción Científica Scopus