Papers by Vincenzo Cribari
Land, Jul 17, 2021
This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative... more This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY
Abstract The aim of this dissertation was to investigate how recent processes of land-change indu... more Abstract The aim of this dissertation was to investigate how recent processes of land-change induced by humans contributed to the shaping and alteration of the current landscape in a headwater system of Central Appalachians in West Virginia (US), to understand the interactions and tradeoffs among ecosystems services and address potential solutions for targeting more sustainable human-environment interactions in a region that is deeply grounded on extractive economies. The multitiered objective was addressed through different research phases in order to unfold and disentangle a series of complex problems that the study area presents. Three main phases were used; they corresponded to distinct chapters within this study. The first paper analyzed land-cover transitions, from 1976 to 2016, using Multi-Level Intensity Analysis and Difference Components methods. Two land cover classifications were derived explicitly for this study using remote sensing methods and obtained with segmentation analysis and machine learning algorithms from historical high-resolution aerial images (1-2 meters) and ancillary data. Results allowed the author to distinguish between surface mining areas produced before and after the enactment of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA, 1977), discuss differences among distinct socio-technical phases, and differentiate the main drivers and outcomes of landscape change processes in the area. The historical information and knowledge gained in the first step were used to inform the second chapter, whose objective was to analyze the interactions among ecosystem services and derive their bundles. Ecosystem services models were obtained using InVEST, and a custom model was explicitly defined to link water quality changes to freshwater ecosystem services. The results identified significant losses of carbon sequestration, habitat quality, and freshwater ecosystem services in areas subjected to Mountaintop Removal mining. The findings spatially located different ecosystem services bundles characterized by distinct human-environment relationships and complex anthropogenic drivers not limited to coal mining processes. The study identified the appropriate spatial scale for targeting specific management actions and implementing conservation, as well as development-restoration strategies, in areas characterized by similar social-ecological processes and deeply altered ecosystems. In the third essay, the identification of ecosystem services bundles allowed the author to delineate two distinct social-ecological systems characterized by surface coal extraction and reclamation processes produced during different historical phases. These areas were discussed as separate case studies within a time interval of seventy years, from the recent past (1976) to future scenarios (2045). The scenarios were based on a backcasting approach integrated by ecosystem services models and the analysis of functional changes within the two social-ecological units analyzed. The results highlighted differences in the flow of ecosystem services due to the intensity of mining and the different and incremental reclamation approaches used in the scenarios. The comparison of threats and opportunities within each scenario, identified, in the discussion section, a range of plausible hypotheses and solutions the stakeholders and communities of the region should face if they want to rehabilitate the social and ecological conditions to promote a more sustainable approach for the future of these places.
Abstract
The aim of this dissertation was to investigate how recent processes of land-change ind... more Abstract
The aim of this dissertation was to investigate how recent processes of land-change induced by humans contributed to the shaping and alteration of the current landscape in a headwater system of Central Appalachians in West Virginia (US), to understand the interactions and tradeoffs among ecosystems services and address potential solutions for targeting more sustainable human-environment interactions in a region that is deeply grounded on extractive economies. The multitiered objective was addressed through different research phases in order to unfold and disentangle a series of complex problems that the study area presents. Three main phases were used; they corresponded to distinct chapters within this study.
The first paper analyzed land-cover transitions, from 1976 to 2016, using Multi-Level Intensity Analysis and Difference Components methods. Two land cover classifications were derived explicitly for this study using remote sensing methods and obtained with segmentation analysis and machine learning algorithms from historical high-resolution aerial images (1-2 meters) and ancillary data. Results allowed the author to distinguish between surface mining areas produced before and after the enactment of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA, 1977), discuss differences among distinct socio-technical phases, and differentiate the main drivers and outcomes of landscape change processes in the area.
The historical information and knowledge gained in the first step were used to inform the second chapter, whose objective was to analyze the interactions among ecosystem services and derive their bundles. Ecosystem services models were obtained using InVEST, and a custom model was explicitly defined to link water quality changes to freshwater ecosystem services. The results identified significant losses of carbon sequestration, habitat quality, and freshwater ecosystem services in areas subjected to Mountaintop Removal mining. The findings spatially located different ecosystem services bundles characterized by distinct human-environment relationships and complex anthropogenic drivers not limited to coal mining processes. The study identified the appropriate spatial scale for targeting specific management actions and implementing conservation, as well as development-restoration strategies, in areas characterized by similar social-ecological processes and deeply altered ecosystems.
In the third essay, the identification of ecosystem services bundles allowed the author to delineate two distinct social-ecological systems characterized by surface coal extraction and reclamation processes produced during different historical phases. These areas were discussed as separate case studies within a time interval of seventy years, from the recent past (1976) to future scenarios (2045). The scenarios were based on a backcasting approach integrated by ecosystem services models and the analysis of functional changes within the two social-ecological units analyzed. The results highlighted differences in the flow of ecosystem services due to the intensity of mining and the different and incremental reclamation approaches used in the scenarios. The comparison of threats and opportunities within each scenario, identified, in the discussion section, a range of plausible hypotheses and solutions the stakeholders and communities of the region should face if they want to rehabilitate the social and ecological conditions to promote a more sustainable approach for the future of these places.
Land, 2021
This study analyzes land-cover transitions in the headwaters of the Big Coal River in the Central... more This study analyzes land-cover transitions in the headwaters of the Big Coal River in the Central Appalachian Region of the US, from 1976 to 2016, where surface mining was found as the major driver of landscape change. The land-change analysis combined Multi-Level Intensity Analysis for two-time intervals (1976–1996, 1996–2016) with Difference Components, to differentiate suspected misclassification errors from actual changes. Two land cover classifications were obtained with segmentation analysis and machine learning algorithms from historical high-resolution aerial images and ancillary data. Intensity Analysis allowed for the inspection of transitions across five land cover (LC) classes and measure the degree of non-stationarity of land change patterns. Results found surface mining-related classes and their transitions, including the effects of reclamation processes on areas mined before the enactment of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA, 1977). Results include...
City, Territory and Architecture, 2020
This perspective article presents considerations based on an attempt for initiating a landscape c... more This perspective article presents considerations based on an attempt for initiating a landscape characterization in the United States using the Landscape Character Assessment (LCA) method initially developed in Great Britain. Literature on LCA underlines the issue of its transferability and the necessity to address, both theoretically and practically, its adaptation when the method is transplanted to other territories. The authors focus on the development of a theoretical framework for the adaptation of the method to a different cultural, geographical, social, political, and institutional context from the one it was designed for. The region of application are West Virginia southern coalfields where mountaintop removal coal mining coexists with rural landscapes, forested mountains, and scarcely inhabited valleys. The significance of conducting a landscape characterization in such an area is acknowledged as well as the necessity to address five dimensions of the question of transferab...
Ecosystems and People , 2022
This study analyzed the interactions among a set of ecosystem services (ES) and derived ES bundle... more This study analyzed the interactions among a set of ecosystem services (ES) and derived ES bundles in the Headwaters of Coal River West Virginia (WV), in the Central Appalachians, an area historically characterized by surface mining and coal extraction. ES were modeled using the InVEST system, while a custom model was used to link water quality to freshwater ES, deriving information at two different spatial scales based on hydrologic units. High-resolution remote sensing data (1–2 m resolution) were used to incorporate historical information from land-cover (LC) transitions since 1976 to differentiate reclamation processes and characterize the forest class. Consistent ES tradeoffs were confirmed in areas characterized by surface mining processes that reported significant losses of carbon sequestration, habitat quality , and freshwater ES. The interaction of complex anthropogenic processes within the specific landscape led to the definition of different ES bundles, characterized not only by coal mining processes but also by the distribution of settlements and developed areas. The utilization of relatively small hydrologic catchments (1–25 km2), the comparison with a more extensive set of spatial units, and the inclusion of high-resolution data with multiple LC classes that included historical information, allowed the authors to infer knowledge about the interactions between ES changes and their drivers in the study area. The results can be used to implement conservation, as well as development-restoration strategies, by including ES assessments to promote a more sustainable land management approach in the rural-mining region of Central Appalachians and support future alternatives to extractive economies.
Cantieri d’alta quota magazine, 2016
Atti della XV Conferenza Nazionale SIU, 2012
Lo studio propone che l'interpretazione paesaggistica divenga uno strumento per rinnovare gli "ar... more Lo studio propone che l'interpretazione paesaggistica divenga uno strumento per rinnovare gli "archetipi produttivi" a partire da nuove prospettive sociali, tecnico-funzionali ed economico-ambientali, aggiungendo valore alla pianificazione urbanistica e alla gestione sostenibile del territorio. La ricerca incaricata dal Servizio Urbanistica e Tutela del paesaggio della Provincia Autonoma di Trento, è strutturata a partire da un insieme di metodi interpretativi finalizzati alla redazione di alcune linee guida, orientate alla promozione dell'innovazione nell'organizzazione delle strutture spaziali della produzione economica, alla loro efficienza e competitività all'interno del contesto dei settori delle attività economiche artigianali ed industriali. La lettura e interpretazione dei caratteri degli insediamenti produttivi è effettuata sugli ambiti paesaggistici e territoriali del Trentino. Inizialmente sono state definite una serie di matrici di riconoscimento, strutturate secondo modalità processuali atte a far emergere aspetti, specificità e criticità nei differenti contesti. Gli obiettivi per la qualità paesaggistica sono organizzati secondo un abaco di azioni articolate come linee guida finalizzate a ristabilire le qualità paesaggistiche delle aree, distinguendo alla scala delle Comunità di Valle, due ambiti di azione prevalenti: uno relativo alle aree produttive esistenti (riqualificazione e miglioramento), ed uno relativo alle aree produttive programmate (qualità dei nuovi progetti). Vengono definiti alla scala provinciale e di Comunità degli scenari di attuazione delle trasformazioni, individuati attraverso il riconoscimento di particolari ambiti territoriali desunti dalla costruzione della Carta delle Produzioni, la quale definisce in sintesi l'andamento diacronico recente, delle tendenze economiche e delle nuove vocazioni produttive emergenti per le aree artigianali ed industriali del Trentino. Introduzione: descrizione del territorio e del processo Lo studio, per procedere nell'interpretazione tra produzioni e paesaggi ha operato un riconoscimento iniziale attraverso sette matrici, ha indicato delle azioni di riqualificazione paesaggistica rispetto ad uno scenario
Land, 2021
This study analyzes land-cover transitions in the headwaters of the Big Coal River in the Central... more This study analyzes land-cover transitions in the headwaters of the Big Coal River in the Central Appalachian Region of the US, from 1976 to 2016, where surface mining was found as the major driver of landscape change. The land-change analysis combined Multi-Level Intensity Analysis for two-time intervals (1976–1996, 1996–2016) with Difference Components, to differentiate suspected misclassification errors from actual changes. Two land cover classifications were obtained with segmentation analysis and machine learning algorithms from historical high-resolution aerial images and ancillary data. Intensity Analysis allowed for the inspection of transitions across five land cover (LC) classes and measure the degree of non-stationarity of land change patterns. Results found surface mining-related classes and their transitions, including the effects of reclamation processes on areas mined before the enactment of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA, 1977). Results included changes in settlement distribution, low vegetation, water bodies, and forest class transitions. The findings can be applied to infer similar land-change processes in the more extensive Appalachian region where Mountain Top Removal (MTR) operations are widespread. The overall method can be used to address similar problems and inform landscape managers with detailed data to support land use alternatives and conservation in regions that experienced intense changes and are characterized by anthropogenic disturbances and novel ecosystems.
City, Territory and Architecture (CTA), 2020
Abstract This perspective article presents considerations based on an attempt for initiating a l... more Abstract This perspective article presents considerations based on an attempt for initiating a landscape characterization in the United States using the Landscape Character Assessment (LCA) method initially developed in Great Britain. Literature on LCA underlines the issue of its transferability and the necessity to address, both theoretically and practically, its adaptation when the method is transplanted to other territories. The authors focus on the development of a theoretical framework for the adaptation of the method to a different cultural, geographical, social, political, and institutional context from the one it was designed for. The region of application are West Virginia southern coalfields where mountaintop removal coal mining coexists with rural landscapes, forested mountains, and scarcely inhabited valleys. The significance of conducting a landscape characterization in such an area is acknowledged as well as the necessity to address five dimensions of the question of transferability: physical, cultural, disciplinary, political, and social. In the article the authors examine the British and USA character-based approaches to landscape highlighting the main differences. The environmental history of West Virginia southern coalfields is introduced, and the current landscape is described. Finally, the authors discuss how the five dimensions of transferability can be addressed in the USA context stimulating further theoretical developments and practical attempts of landscape characterization.
The territory of Rotaliana-Königsberg, one of the Valley Communities established by the Autonomou... more The territory of Rotaliana-Königsberg, one of the Valley Communities established by the Autonomous province of Trento, has undergone over the past one hundred and fifty years deep transformations, mainly caused by both its position along the Brenner axis and its proximity to the city of Trento. It is, however, interesting to observe that these processes have not been able to alter the agricultural features of this land, also because of the evolution and specialization of agricultural crops that the paper examines.
The paper presents the outcomes of research activities that our group is currently performing in ... more The paper presents the outcomes of research activities that our group is currently performing in Trentino (Italy). Through the description of a series of dichotomies we have identified as typical of the Rotaliana-Königsberg Community (Crk) landscape – i.e. urban expansion vs. re-use of the existing heritage; super-infrastructuring vs. prevalent territorial vocation; intensive farming vs. agriculture and open space multifunctionality; productive landscape vs. collective heritage – we intend to discuss the dynamics that shape mountain landscapes, as they emerge from a contextual re-readings operated in the light of more general extensive metropolization phenomena. In fact, between the valley and the mountains, in the open space among the Crk settlements, it is possible to identify the features of a urban countryside. Such features are of paramount importance to re-interpret the so-called ' expanding-city' , ' which changes due to processes of mutual influence between city and countryside. The defining features of the Crk – which defuse tensions between resilience and sustainability, innovation and identity preservation, and among the different ethnicities of its residents – introduce several aspects of the more general tension between tutelage and development; a reflection on which, from the perspectives of planning and territorial project, allows for experimentations with different forms of mediation/negotiation/relation.
Cribari V., "Ecologie per il progetto contemporaneo: tra aspettative e metodo”, in Sentieri Urbani nr. 19, Pianificazione territoriale e processi ecologici, a cura di V. Cribari, D. Geneletti, p. 42-45, Bi Quattro Editrice, Trento, URL: www.sentieri-urbani.eu, 2016
Nel presente contributo, partendo da una rapida disamina critica di alcune delle accezioni che il... more Nel presente contributo, partendo da una rapida disamina critica di alcune delle accezioni che il termine ecologia ha assunto, contaminando saperi umanistici e scientifici che evidentemente non afferiscono alla sola scienza in quanto tale, si evidenziano taluni dei processi culturali che discutono le valenze di tali accezioni alla luce di prospettive culturali ampie, e che mettono in evidenza, aspettative differenti se non contrapposte. In particolare si vuol fare emergere l'uso dei riferimenti all'ecologia nelle discipline legate al progetto e il modo in cui questo vari all'interno dei diversi ambiti afferenti all'architettura del paesaggio, all'urbanistica e alla pianificazione. Infine, con riferimento all'urbanistica e ad alcuni suoi sviluppi recenti confluiti, in particolare, nell'Ecological Urbanism, si coglie l'occasione per fare alcune considerazioni che, si ritiene, possano essere utili per una più chiara ed efficace applicabilità dell'ecologia nel progetto di territorio e di paesaggio.
Edited by Adele Gerardi 258 ODILE DECQ 260 KENGO KUMA 261 NICOLA PUGNO 262 CARLO RATTI 263 CHIARA... more Edited by Adele Gerardi 258 ODILE DECQ 260 KENGO KUMA 261 NICOLA PUGNO 262 CARLO RATTI 263 CHIARA TONELLI 264
The new neighbourhood of Le Albere in Trento designed by Renzo Piano is an important operation of... more The new neighbourhood of Le Albere in Trento designed by Renzo Piano is an important operation of urban transformation and reconversion. The way it is defined and the possibility it offers to investigate and test future scenarios, placing itself among the potential cases to which we will refer, both in terms of experiences conducted and also expected results, makes it interesting. Trentino is important and central in the dynamic of the Alpine space in the centre of Europe. It is located along one of the historic communication axes of the Alps, the Brenner route. This is the principle exchange corridor, as regards traffic numbers, but above all as regards volume of merchandise. The Alps are one of the macro-areas which has long functioned as a large hinge among Europe's several peoples, cultures, economies and societies, often also with traits that bring them together, but it has also been the scene of great conflicts and wars. In recent years it has achieved recognition in the Alpine Convention and as a common European space. The Alps are the heart of the most important environmental and natural system in Europe, one need only remember the water cycle and the river basins that develop in and leave from this region. It is within their relationships with these places, that the several communities of the Alpine space are trying to construct a new image for Alpine society and for the structuring of what this area offers 1 . So, it is within this dynamic and respecting this context that one must place the urban transformations of Trento and with this the new neighbourhood Le Albere. This new neighbourhood rose on one of the most important and central areas of the city, the object over recent years of lively political and cultural debate. In brief, it has been one of the main themes that have contributed to the choices regarding the recent transformation of the city. The ex-Michelin area, in line with analogous Italian and European experiences where the issue was the fate of large decommissioned industrial areas inside the city, the factory was abandoned and now over the years, it has undergone a process of reconversion and transformation. It is well to remember that for a small reality like that of Trentino, this intervention took on an important dimension both in terms of investment and resources made available, from both investors and the public administration. The area covered by the project is slightly over 10 hectares. It is located in an area very close to the historic centre and consolidated city, between the railway and the river. There are difficulties from the point of view of accessibility deriving in large part from the city's tendency to develop longitudinally along the axis of the Adige and it is wedged among the Alps and crossed by large natural phenomena and man-made infrastructure that run along the valley. Inside this neighbourhood, aside from residential and commercial areas and a large new park covering almost 5 hectares (Trento had 3 earlier parks, but this is now the largest), there will be a new Museum of Science, the Muse, conceived as a centre to spread scientific and didactic knowledge and a new auditorium.
Avvicinarsi oggi allo studio di quelle che generalmente definiamo zone o aree industriali, si rit... more Avvicinarsi oggi allo studio di quelle che generalmente definiamo zone o aree industriali, si ritiene debba implicare adeguate riflessioni e approfondimenti rispetto alle dinamiche territoriali che hanno caratterizzato la loro formazione e tipologia. Alla luce di queste considerazioni si ritiene utile un riallineamento disciplinare del tema, sia rispetto ai quadri territoriali in cui tali attività s’inseriscono, sia rispetto all’organizzazione del loro metabolismo (scambi e flussi materiali ed energetici) che ne ha guidato alcuni recenti sviluppi (eco-industrial parks, individuabili in Italia nell’esperienza delle APEA). All’interno dei diversi approcci individuati nel presente contributo, così come in genere e fino a ora condotti, è possibile rintracciare talune criticità, su cui questa disamina vorrebbe soffermarsi al fine di sollecitare riflessioni per evidenziare limiti e nuove potenzialità.
Books by Vincenzo Cribari
Excerpt from the technical report, 2010
Monograph.RESEARCH. R.E.D.S.2ALPS. Designing a Sustainable Future. - Publisher: LISt Lab, 2015
The project of the Trento-Tione railway has been a useful opportunity to experiment with new appr... more The project of the Trento-Tione railway has been a useful opportunity to experiment with new approaches to infrastructure design. The design of the new railway line is a comprehensive study to review the feasibility of the work and its sustainability in terms of economic, social and environmental opportunities.
Nuovi cicli di vita per architetture e infrastrutture del paesaggio Trentino. (Ariccia: Aracne, 2016): 22-73. (Re-cycle. Experimenting at the Territorial Scale: the North of Trento Stretch of the Adige Valley), 2016
Nell'introdurre, in Viaggio in Italia, il lavoro di ricerca che viene presentato in queste note, ... more Nell'introdurre, in Viaggio in Italia, il lavoro di ricerca che viene presentato in queste note, si è ricondotto il Re-cycle a una chiave di lettura certamente non nuova, quella della riterritorializzazione, ritenendola però adatta a interpretarne la portata alla scala territoriale. Intendendo che a questa scala il porre mano ai "rifiuti" comportava necessariamente il fatto di produrre un disegno complessivo di assetto dei luoghi all'interno del quale, solo, i singoli interventi potevano assumere un senso (Diamantini, 2013). Vale la pena di riprendere quelle riflessioni, che alla luce del lavoro svolto appaiono ancora più pertinenti. Re-cycling, nella dimensione ambientale, vuole dire come è noto trasformare materiali di scarto in nuovi prodotti con evidenti vantaggi economici oltre che ambientali. L'EPA -United States Environmental Protection Agency -attribuisce al re-cycling un ruolo chiave nel processo di contenimento della produzione dei rifiuti, facendolo precedere in ordine di importanza da altre due pratiche, ossia il reducing e il re-using (EPA, 2015).
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Papers by Vincenzo Cribari
The aim of this dissertation was to investigate how recent processes of land-change induced by humans contributed to the shaping and alteration of the current landscape in a headwater system of Central Appalachians in West Virginia (US), to understand the interactions and tradeoffs among ecosystems services and address potential solutions for targeting more sustainable human-environment interactions in a region that is deeply grounded on extractive economies. The multitiered objective was addressed through different research phases in order to unfold and disentangle a series of complex problems that the study area presents. Three main phases were used; they corresponded to distinct chapters within this study.
The first paper analyzed land-cover transitions, from 1976 to 2016, using Multi-Level Intensity Analysis and Difference Components methods. Two land cover classifications were derived explicitly for this study using remote sensing methods and obtained with segmentation analysis and machine learning algorithms from historical high-resolution aerial images (1-2 meters) and ancillary data. Results allowed the author to distinguish between surface mining areas produced before and after the enactment of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA, 1977), discuss differences among distinct socio-technical phases, and differentiate the main drivers and outcomes of landscape change processes in the area.
The historical information and knowledge gained in the first step were used to inform the second chapter, whose objective was to analyze the interactions among ecosystem services and derive their bundles. Ecosystem services models were obtained using InVEST, and a custom model was explicitly defined to link water quality changes to freshwater ecosystem services. The results identified significant losses of carbon sequestration, habitat quality, and freshwater ecosystem services in areas subjected to Mountaintop Removal mining. The findings spatially located different ecosystem services bundles characterized by distinct human-environment relationships and complex anthropogenic drivers not limited to coal mining processes. The study identified the appropriate spatial scale for targeting specific management actions and implementing conservation, as well as development-restoration strategies, in areas characterized by similar social-ecological processes and deeply altered ecosystems.
In the third essay, the identification of ecosystem services bundles allowed the author to delineate two distinct social-ecological systems characterized by surface coal extraction and reclamation processes produced during different historical phases. These areas were discussed as separate case studies within a time interval of seventy years, from the recent past (1976) to future scenarios (2045). The scenarios were based on a backcasting approach integrated by ecosystem services models and the analysis of functional changes within the two social-ecological units analyzed. The results highlighted differences in the flow of ecosystem services due to the intensity of mining and the different and incremental reclamation approaches used in the scenarios. The comparison of threats and opportunities within each scenario, identified, in the discussion section, a range of plausible hypotheses and solutions the stakeholders and communities of the region should face if they want to rehabilitate the social and ecological conditions to promote a more sustainable approach for the future of these places.
Books by Vincenzo Cribari
The aim of this dissertation was to investigate how recent processes of land-change induced by humans contributed to the shaping and alteration of the current landscape in a headwater system of Central Appalachians in West Virginia (US), to understand the interactions and tradeoffs among ecosystems services and address potential solutions for targeting more sustainable human-environment interactions in a region that is deeply grounded on extractive economies. The multitiered objective was addressed through different research phases in order to unfold and disentangle a series of complex problems that the study area presents. Three main phases were used; they corresponded to distinct chapters within this study.
The first paper analyzed land-cover transitions, from 1976 to 2016, using Multi-Level Intensity Analysis and Difference Components methods. Two land cover classifications were derived explicitly for this study using remote sensing methods and obtained with segmentation analysis and machine learning algorithms from historical high-resolution aerial images (1-2 meters) and ancillary data. Results allowed the author to distinguish between surface mining areas produced before and after the enactment of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA, 1977), discuss differences among distinct socio-technical phases, and differentiate the main drivers and outcomes of landscape change processes in the area.
The historical information and knowledge gained in the first step were used to inform the second chapter, whose objective was to analyze the interactions among ecosystem services and derive their bundles. Ecosystem services models were obtained using InVEST, and a custom model was explicitly defined to link water quality changes to freshwater ecosystem services. The results identified significant losses of carbon sequestration, habitat quality, and freshwater ecosystem services in areas subjected to Mountaintop Removal mining. The findings spatially located different ecosystem services bundles characterized by distinct human-environment relationships and complex anthropogenic drivers not limited to coal mining processes. The study identified the appropriate spatial scale for targeting specific management actions and implementing conservation, as well as development-restoration strategies, in areas characterized by similar social-ecological processes and deeply altered ecosystems.
In the third essay, the identification of ecosystem services bundles allowed the author to delineate two distinct social-ecological systems characterized by surface coal extraction and reclamation processes produced during different historical phases. These areas were discussed as separate case studies within a time interval of seventy years, from the recent past (1976) to future scenarios (2045). The scenarios were based on a backcasting approach integrated by ecosystem services models and the analysis of functional changes within the two social-ecological units analyzed. The results highlighted differences in the flow of ecosystem services due to the intensity of mining and the different and incremental reclamation approaches used in the scenarios. The comparison of threats and opportunities within each scenario, identified, in the discussion section, a range of plausible hypotheses and solutions the stakeholders and communities of the region should face if they want to rehabilitate the social and ecological conditions to promote a more sustainable approach for the future of these places.