Page 91 - EER-2-2

Explora: Environment

and Resource

ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE
Integrating actual land cover data and landscape

zone map to assess terrestrial ecosystems in
Armenia

1
1
Elena Bukvareva * , Armen Grigoryan , Maxim Dubinin 2 ,
and Eduard Kazakov 2
1 Biodiversity Conservation Center (BCC), Jrvezh, Kotayk region, Armenia
2 NextGIS OÜ, Tallinn, Harju County, Estonia

Abstract

Ecosystem mapping and accounting are essential for biodiversity conservation
and ecosystem services maintenance. In this study, we tested a simple geographic
information system approach by overlaying Armenia’s landscape zones with land
cover data from the Environmental Systems Research Institute and the European
Space Agency. This analysis resulted in maps of 20 combinations of woody
and non-woody land cover classes across 10 landscape zones, which we term
landscape-land cover classes (LLCCs) and use as proxies for natural ecosystems.
The LLCC-based method employed in this study accounts for the landscape and
*Corresponding author:
Elena Bukvareva geographic specificity of terrestrial ecosystems, providing data on the extent
(bukvareva@gmail.com) of LLCCs within ecosystem accounting areas (EAAs), identifying rare LLCCs, and
tracking changes in their extent following updates to land cover data. We found
Citation: Bukvareva E,
Grigoryan A, Dubinin M, Kazakov this approach applicable for assessing the extent and changes of LLCCs whose area
E. Integrating actual land cover exceeds the margin of error in land cover identification. In addition, it provides a
data and landscape zone map to useful framework for developing a prototype of ecosystem accounting in EAAs
assess terrestrial ecosystems in
Armenia. Explora Environ Resour. lacking regularly updated ecosystem maps.
2025;2(2):4996.
doi: 10.36922/eer.4996
Keywords: Ecosystem mapping; Ecosystem extent accounting; Rare ecosystems
Received: September 29, 2024
1st revised: February 2, 2025
2nd revised: February 13, 2025
1. Introduction
Accepted: February 25, 2025
In the context of the global environmental crisis, biodiversity conservation is recognized
Published online: March 11, 2025
as a crucial pre-requisite to ensure the survival and sustainable development of
Copyright: © 2025 Author(s). humanity. All hierarchical levels of biodiversity are important for human well-
1,2
This is an Open-Access article being, including intraspecific genetic diversity, species and functional diversity within
distributed under the terms of the
3-5
Creative Commons Attribution ecosystems, and the diversity of ecosystems within landscapes. The task of preserving
License, permitting distribution, ecosystem diversity is critically important; however, it often receives less public attention
and reproduction in any medium, than the conservation of species and genetic diversity.
provided the original work is
properly cited. In addition to its direct goal of conserving biodiversity, ecosystem diversity is essential
Publisher’s Note: AccScience for the delivery of ecosystem services that support human well-being. The importance
Publishing remains neutral with of species diversity for ecosystem functions and services has been well demonstrated
regard to jurisdictional claims in 3,5
published maps and institutional through numerous experiments and surveys of real-world systems. Although the role
affiliations. of ecosystem and habitat diversity has been less studied, recent research indicates its

Volume 2 Issue 2 (2025) 1 doi: 10.36922/eer.4996