The international SERVICO2 project, coordinated by the Centre for Advanced Studies of Blanes (CEAB-CSIC), focuses on studying —and highlighting— a little-known but crucial ecosystem service provided by the upper parts of river basins. This concerns the ability of mountain ecosystems to act either as sinks or sources of greenhouse gases (CO₂, CH₄, or N₂O). The project has just launched its own website.
The ecosystems where most rivers originate provide us with numerous essential benefits or “ecosystem services,” such as water supply or climate regulation (through the capture of atmospheric carbon). Naturally, these ecosystems can function either as sponges for greenhouse gases or as emitters, depending on multiple factors — including land use.
SERVICO2 investigates how changes in climate, atmospheric nutrient deposition, and land use are altering the natural capacity of headwater catchments to regulate CO₂ and other greenhouse gases, such as methane (CH₄) and nitrous oxide (N₂O). It aims to understand the extent to which human factors are impacting them, using an interdisciplinary approach. The project brings together an international consortium of hydrologists, biogeochemists, and experts in sensors and modeling, with broad experience in studying soil-water-atmosphere interactions in mountain ecosystems. The ultimate goal is to generate knowledge that can be applied to improve environmental management and guide more effective climate policies.
Fieldwork is being conducted in 13 headwater catchments across Europe, covering a wide gradient of climatic conditions and nitrogen and phosphorus deposition. In each catchment, a monitoring network is established to collect data on carbon fluxes (CO₂, CH₄, etc.), water quality, and weather conditions. Additionally, the project is developing new low-cost sensor technologies — including automatic flux chambers and electronic “noses” — to detect greenhouse gas emissions in both water and soil with high spatial and temporal resolution. In parallel, long-term data series will be analyzed and models will be built to estimate the carbon balance at the catchment scale, combining biogeochemical process models with machine learning techniques to improve predictions. Workshops will also be held in five countries to incorporate local stakeholders’ perceptions into the assessment of aquatic ecosystem services and management decisions in the face of climate change, while promoting the value of the benefits provided by headwater catchments and raising awareness of the need for their conservation and restoration.
Overall, SERVICO2 represents a significant step forward in understanding the role that headwater catchments play in climate regulation, as it integrates, for the first time, the joint study of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems in this context. The project’s outcomes will contribute to improving conservation strategies and the management of ecosystem services in the face of global change.
