How dis-services illuminate divergence between “nature’s contribution to people” and “ecosystem services” – an assessment of Empetrum nigrum

Encroachment of a native invasive species – Empetrum nigrum (crowberry) – has impacted Arctic ecosystems and the indigenous Sámi people. To understand comprehensively the impacts of this native invader, we adopted three concepts, ecosystem services (ES), ecosystem disservices (EDS) and nature’s contributions to people (NCP), to identify and classify systematically crowberry’s beneficial and detrimental impacts on the Arctic ecosystem. Through a systematic literature review of 116 articles, we show that, amongst 12 positive and negative impacts of E. nigrum , the species only provide detriments to humans indirectly . Specifically, the detriments are the negative impacts on the local ecosystems and biodiversity, which indirectly affect locals’ way of life. We identify one additional beneficial impact of crowberry – carbon fixation – which was not included in previous review studies. The analysis reveals that the CICES framework, despite its detailed categorisation capabilities, lacks specific differentiation for certain services (e.g. food vs. medicinal) and neglects ecosystem disservices. We propose integrating EDS into the MAES/CICES and IPBES frameworks, classified in a manner parallel to its existing ES categories, for a more holistic assessment. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the NCP concept, contrary to IPBES claims, does not consistently offer a more inclusive lens for assessing multifaceted impacts, due to the lack of elements equivalent to disservices. Consequently, we suggest improving the neutrality of NCP subcategories and adopting an endogenous perspective in assessing nature's contributions. Ultimately, the choice of concept may depend on specific research objectives.