Data from: Widespread and major losses in multiple ecosystem services as a result of agricultural expansion in the Argentine Chaco

Where agriculture expands into tropical and subtropical
forests, social-ecological impacts are typically strong. However, where
and how frontier development impacts on ecosystem functioning and services
is often unclear, including which services trade off against agricultural
production. This constitutes a major barrier towards planning for more
sustainable outcomes in deforestation frontiers. Here, we assessed
spatiotemporal change in multiple ecosystem services in the Argentine
Chaco, a global deforestation hotspot. We modelled and mapped five
ecosystem functions (i.e., carbon storage in biomass, carbon storage in
soil, erosion control, excess rainfall retention by vegetation, and soil
fertility) which together provide three ecosystem services (i.e.,
agricultural suitability, climate regulation, and flood regulation) for
1985, 2000, and 2013. We then employed this information to identify and
map: (i) main trade-offs between ecosystem services and agricultural
production, and (ii) bundles of changes in ecosystem services through the
use of Self-Organizing Maps. Our results highlight that land-use changes
since 1985 have led to widespread and drastic declines in ecosystem
functions and services across the Argentine Chaco. Mean losses of
ecosystem services ranged between 6% and 10% for flood regulation, climate
regulation and agricultural suitability. The largest losses occurred in
the Dry Chaco sub-region between 2000 and 201 We find two main types of
trade-offs between regulating ecosystem services and agricultural
production. Increases in crop and pasture production occurred along with
large and moderate losses, respectively, in flood regulation and climate
regulation over 20% of the region. Our mapping of bundles identified five
common patterns of change in ecosystem services, delineating areas of
stable or degrading ecosystem service supply. This provides a powerful
template for adaptive spatial planning. Synthesis and applications. Using
the Argentinean Chaco as an example, we demonstrate how combining
fine-scale land-use maps with biophysical models provides deep insights
into the spatiotemporal patterns of changes in ecosystem services, and
their trade-offs with agricultural production. The periodic updating of
maps of trade-offs and bundles of change in ecosystem services provides
key inputs for the adaptive management of highly dynamic and threatened
landscapes, such as those in tropical and subtropical deforestation
frontiers.