Small stream catchments in a developing city context: The importance of land cover changes on the ecological status of streams and the possibilities for providing ecosystem services

Urban expansion and the transformation of rural areas into suburban areas along with increasing human pressure can cause major changes in the environment. Typical effects of urbanization include degradation of aquatic ecosystems. However, urban expansion is often accompanied by an effort to provide residents with some contact with nature in the city. Natural waterbodies are the elements of the environment predestined to ensure appropriate conditions for recreation and other ecosystem services key to human well-being. In this study, the changes in the forms of development of a submontane stream catchment area (Carpathians, Poland) against the background of the gradual extension of city boundaries were analysed. In addition, the impact of urbanization on the ecological conditions of the urban stream, and therefore the potential ecosystem to provide ecosystem services, was assessed. Although the extension of the city entailed the development of settlements, it was accompanied by the expansion of the municipal sewage infrastructure, thus improving sewage management. The disappearance of arable lands from the stream catchment due to the decline in agricultural activities initiated the spontaneous process of buffer restoration along the stream. All the biotic indices such as Shannon diversity index, Margalef species richness index and BMWP-PL index, based on macroinvertebrate communities increased, and the fish were more numerous in the late stage of city development compared with the early (rural) stage. Surprisingly, the system has rehabilitated well with no revitalisation actions. It is necessary, however, to improve morphological in-stream conditions, and to make further efforts to improve water quality for the system to develop a semi-natural state. Only reaching full ecological potential can lead to an increase in the ecosystem capacity to provide ecosystem services. The studied ecosystem may provide many different services simultaneously, but their availability depends on the protection of the ecosystem's functioning as a whole.