Discussing Changes in Historical Human–Environmental Dynamics Through Ecosystem Services Interactions and Future Scenarios in a Rural-Mining Region of Central Appalachians

The aim of this dissertation was to investigate how recent processes of land-change induced by humans contributed to the shaping and alteration of the current landscape in a headwater system of Central Appalachians in West Virginia (US), to understand the interactions and tradeoffs among ecosystems services and address potential solutions for targeting more sustainable human-environment interactions in a region that is deeply grounded on extractive economies. The multitiered objective was addressed through different research phases in order to unfold and disentangle a series of complex problems that the study area presents. Three main phases were used; they corresponded to distinct chapters within this study. The first paper analyzed land-cover transitions, from 1976 to 2016, using Multi-Level Intensity Analysis and Difference Components methods. Two land cover classifications were derived explicitly for this study using remote sensing methods and obtained with segmentation analysis and machine learning algorithms from historical high-resolution aerial images (1-2 meters) and ancillary data. Results allowed the author to distinguish between surface mining areas produced before and after the enactment of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA, 1977), discuss differences among distinct socio-technical phases, and differentiate the main drivers and outcomes of landscape change processes in the area. The historical information and knowledge gained in the first step were used to inform the second chapter, whose objective was to analyze the interactions among ecosystem services and derive their bundles. Ecosystem services models were obtained using InVEST, and a custom model was explicitly defined to link water quality changes to freshwater ecosystem services. The results identified significant losses of carbon sequestration, habitat quality, and freshwater ecosystem services in areas subjected to Mountaintop Removal mining. The findings spatially located different ecosystem services bundles characterized by distinct human-environment relationships and complex anthropogenic drivers not limited to coal mining processes. The study identified the appropriate spatial scale for targeting specific management actions and implementing conservation, as well as development-restoration strategies, in areas characterized by similar social-ecological processes and deeply altered ecosystems. In the third essay, the identification of ecosystem services bundles allowed the author to delineate two distinct social-ecological systems characterized by surface coal extraction and reclamation processes produced during different historical phases. These areas were discussed as separate case studies within a time interval of seventy years, from the recent past (1976) to future scenarios (2045). The scenarios were based on a backcasting approach integrated by ecosystem services models and the analysis of functional changes within the two social-ecological units analyzed. The results highlighted differences in the flow of ecosystem services due to the intensity of mining and the different and incremental reclamation approaches used in the scenarios. The comparison of threats and opportunities within each scenario, identified, in the discussion section, a range of plausible hypotheses and solutions the stakeholders and communities of the region should face if they want to rehabilitate the social and ecological conditions to promote a more sustainable approach for the future of these places