Disentangling, quantifying and visualising ecosystem services and multifunctionality through a radar plot method
8 affiliations
- 1School of Natural Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney 2113, Australia; Corresponding author.
- 2School of Natural Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney 2113, Australia
- 3Universidade de Vigo, Facultade de Bioloxía, Department Bioloxía Vexetal e Ciencia do Solo, Vigo 36310, Spain
- 4College of Science and Engineering, Flinders University, Bedford Park, South Australia 5042, Australia
- 5Estación Experimental de Zonas Áridas del Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (EEZA-CSIC), Almería, Spain; Department of Invasion Ecology, Institute of Botany, Czech Academy of Sciences, Průhonice, Czech Republic
- 6Centre for Invasion Biology, Department of Botany and Zoology, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch 7599, South Africa
- 7Instituto de Recursos Naturales y Agrobiología de Salamanca (IRNASA-CSIC), Salamanca, Spain
- 8School of Natural Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney 2113, Australia; Centre for Invasion Biology, Department of Botany and Zoology, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch 7599, South Africa
Abstract
Ecosystem services guide conservation policies, land management strategies, and environmental governance. Yet, quantifying ecosystem multifunctionality, the capacity of ecosystems to simultaneously support diverse services, remains methodologically challenging and difficult to communicate beyond academia. This paper introduces a novel approach, the radar plot method, to quantify ecosystem multifunctionality, without being constrained by the availability of biodiversity metrics and with an intuitive yet informative graphical output. The method quantifies multifunctionality from radar-plot areas in polar coordinates, enabling direct ecosystem comparisons and hierarchical assessments of subservices and services. The resulting index combines the mean of services and associated variance, distinguishing overall functioning from functional balance. The performance of the radar plot method is evaluated against four widely used multifunctionality methods: averaging, single threshold, multiple thresholds and effective multifunctionality (Hill numbers), using a conceptual dataset. Reanalysis of previously published data further demonstrate the utility of the radar plot method . Across both tests, the radar plot method produced results consistent with existing methods while providing an intuitive graphical representation directly linked to multifunctionality as well as its component functions and their strengths. The radar plot method combines simplicity with a hierarchical framework that captures multiple levels of ecosystem functioning while retaining statistical power and clear visual interpretation. It therefore provides an accessible way to quantify and disentangle ecosystem multifunctionality while strengthening communication between ecological research and environmental decision-making.
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BibTeX
@article{rodriguezaddesso2026disentangling,
title = {{Disentangling, quantifying and visualising ecosystem services and multifunctionality through a radar plot method}},
author = {Berea Rodríguez-Addesso and Dylan M. Geraghty and Hanlun Liu and Timothy M. Ghaly and Luis González-Rodríguez and Martyna M. Kotowska and Irene Martín-Forés and Ana Novoa and David M. Richardson and Ángel Valverde and Johannes J. Le Roux},
journal = {Ecological Indicators},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1016/j.ecolind.2026.115477},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2026.115477},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Disentangling, quantifying and visualising ecosystem services and multifunctionality through a radar plot method
AU - Berea Rodríguez-Addesso
AU - Dylan M. Geraghty
AU - Hanlun Liu
AU - Timothy M. Ghaly
AU - Luis González-Rodríguez
AU - Martyna M. Kotowska
AU - Irene Martín-Forés
AU - Ana Novoa
AU - David M. Richardson
AU - Ángel Valverde
AU - Johannes J. Le Roux
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/23
JO - Ecological Indicators
DO - 10.1016/j.ecolind.2026.115477
UR - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2026.115477
AB - Ecosystem services guide conservation policies, land management strategies, and environmental governance. Yet, quantifying ecosystem multifunctionality, the capacity of ecosystems to simultaneously support diverse services, remains methodologically challenging and difficult to communicate beyond academia. This paper introduces a novel approach, the radar plot method, to quantify ecosystem multifunctionality, without being constrained by the availability of biodiversity metrics and with an intuitive yet informative graphical output. The method quantifies multifunctionality from radar-plot areas in polar coordinates, enabling direct ecosystem comparisons and hierarchical assessments of subservices and services. The resulting index combines the mean of services and associated variance, distinguishing overall functioning from functional balance. The performance of the radar plot method is evaluated against four widely used multifunctionality methods: averaging, single threshold, multiple thresholds and effective multifunctionality (Hill numbers), using a conceptual dataset. Reanalysis of previously published data further demonstrate the utility of the radar plot method . Across both tests, the radar plot method produced results consistent with existing methods while providing an intuitive graphical representation directly linked to multifunctionality as well as its component functions and their strengths. The radar plot method combines simplicity with a hierarchical framework that captures multiple levels of ecosystem functioning while retaining statistical power and clear visual interpretation. It therefore provides an accessible way to quantify and disentangle ecosystem multifunctionality while strengthening communication between ecological research and environmental decision-making.
SN - 1470-160X
SN - 1872-7034
ER -