STACCATO is a BiodivERsA funded EU project which will focus on the analysis and evaluation of Ecosystem Services (ESS), both in isolation and in concert, and their sensitivity to land use patterns in agriculturally dominated landscapes

The starting point of STACCATO is based on the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MEA). For the purposes of its scope, the project has identified a subset of ecosystem functions and services which are particularly relevant for the land use systems concerned:

• Provisioning Services (PS): Primary production, Crop production, Nutrient status.
• Regulating Services (RS): Species interactions, Biocontrol of Crop pests, Crop Pollination.
• Cultural Services (CS): Aesthetics/Beauty, Recreation, Cultural Identity.

To analyse and evaluate the development of this set of ESS, STACCATO will interlink them with the most relevant pressures impacting upon them and with the changes of these pressures over time:

• Land use intensity.
• Biodiversity loss.
• Climate change.
• The inputs and outputs of the socio-economic system in which they are embedded.

STACCATO research will be largely based on input from and exchange with the relevant stakeholders and under different land use and climate change scenarios and their effects on environmental threats in the future. The results are to be implemented again in close collaboration with relevant stakeholder groups.