- One of the challenges of using the ecosystem service (ES) framework in the context of planning and decision support is the question of how to map these services in an appropriate way. For water quality-related ESs, this implies a movement from the display of classical water quality indicators towards the mapping of the service itself. We explore the potential of mapping such water quality-related ESs based on three case studies focusing on different aspects of these services: (1) a European case study on pesticides, (2) a multi-scale German case study on nitrogen retention and (3) a more local case study on nitrogen retention in the Elbe floodplain (Loedderitzer Forst). All these studies show a high spatial variation of the results that can be depicted in maps of ES supply. This allows an identification of areas in which nitrogen retention is highest or which areas face the highest ecological risk due to pesticides. The multi-scale case study shows how the level of detail of the results varies with model resolution a hierarchical approach to environmental and river basin management seems useful, because it allows the planners to determine scale-specific environmental problems and implement specific measures for the different planning levels.
