Ecosystem services variables from the UK Environmental Change Network (ECN)

73 ecosystem services variables for 11 Environmental Change Network (ECN) sites throughout the UK mainland. The variables cover provisioning (food, fibre, fuel, genetic resources, biochemical and pharmaceuticals, ornamental), regulating (air quality regulation, climate regulation, water regulation, erosion, human diseases, biological control, pollination, natural hazard, other hazards) and cultural (cultural diversity) service types. The list of variables was agreed at an ECN site manager's workshop as representative of the high level categories defined by the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. The variables were calculated from data from three sources (i) data collected for the ECN to standard ECN protocols, (ii) data obtained by site managers from a variety of other sources for their site and (iii) expert knowledge of site managers. The data were from a single year (usually 2009) or were averages of annual measurements. Established in 1992, the ECN is the UK's long-term environmental monitoring and research programme and makes regular measurements of air, soil, water and a range of animals and plants across a network of sites to determine how and why the natural environment is changing. The ECN is a multi-agency programme sponsored by a consortium of UK government departments and agencies.