Mapping the supply and demand of the erosion control ecosystem service in the Carpathian Ecoregion
Abstract
The purpose of this paper was to apply the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) and geographical information system (GIS) to the maping of erosion control ecosystem service in the Carpathian Ecoregion. The study area covers more than 200,000 km2, and is subject to environmental change such as land use change and deforestation, which are increasing the vulnerability to various natural and anthropogenic phenomena. The results of the study show that about 90% of the area has low risk of erosion (less than 10.95 tons/ha/year), while 10% has a much higher erosion rate, those values being usually found in medium and high-altitude mountains. This reveals that the Carpathian region has a high supply of erosion control ecosystem service, and the area where the demand of erosion control is unsatisfied is less than 3%.