Water regulation ecosystem service facing cities growth. Evaluation of the effects of an urbanization scenario in an intermediate city, Argentina

Abstract

This work aims to evaluate the water regulation ecosystem service in a peri-urban sector of Bahía Blanca, an intermediate city of Argentina. Variations in the level of provision are analyzed within the framework of an urbanization scenario. For this purpose, we used the tool ‘Retention of excess precipitation by vegetation cover’, included in the ECOSER protocol, which is based on the Curve Number method.Future urbanization in Bahía Blanca peri-urban area would decrease the level of provision of the water regulation ecosystem service between 0.5 and 2.5%. The best response in rainfall retention was observed for the shrubland land cover. Likewise, the provision level of the ecosystem service decreases regarding the Antecedent Runoff Conditions and the amount of rainfall. This study contributes to generating knowledge to understand the dynamics of a particularly important ecosystem service in cities, given its direct relationship with stormwater management.