Ecosystem services in European protected areas: Ambiguity in the views of scientists and managers? Hummel, Christiaan Provenzale, Antonello Meer, Jaap van der Wijnhoven, Sander Nolte, Arno Poursanidis, Dimitris Janss, Guyonne Jurek, Matthias Andresen, Magnus Poulin, Brigitte Kobler, Johannes Beierkuhnlein, Carl Honrado, João Razinkovas, Arturas Stritih, Ana Bargmann, Tessa Ziemba, Alex Bonet, Francisco Javier Adamescu, Mihai Cristian Janssen, Gerard Hummel, Herman Scientists Ecosystems Conservation science Ecosystem functioning Biodiversity Coastal ecosystems Culture Europe Protected Areas are a key component of nature conservation. They can play an important role in counterbalancing the impacts of ecosystem degradation. For an optimal protection of a Protected Area it is essential to account for the variables underlying the major Ecosystem Services an area delivers, and the threats upon them. Here we show that the perception of these important variables differs markedly between scientists and managers of Protected Areas in mountains and transitional waters. Scientists emphasise variables of abiotic and biotic nature, whereas managers highlight socio-economic, cultural and anthropogenic variables. This indicates fundamental differences in perception. To be able to better protect an area it would be advisable to bring the perception of scientists and managers closer together. Intensified and harmonised communication across disciplinary and professional boundaries will be needed to implement and improve Ecosystem Service oriented management strategies in current and future Protected Areas. 2018-02-20T13:49:44Z 2018-02-20T13:49:44Z 2017-11-15 journal article Hummel, C.; et al. Ecosystem services in European protected areas: Ambiguity in the views of scientists and managers?. Plos One, 12(11): e0187143 (2017). [http://hdl.handle.net/10481/49652] 1932-6203 http://hdl.handle.net/10481/49652 10.1371/journal.pone.0187143 eng info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/H2020/641762 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ open access Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 License Public Library of Science