Mapping the supply of ecosystem services (ESs) is essential for communicating the importance of ESs to policy makers and to demonstrate that sustainable development is being applied with due diligence by forest managers. ES mapping facilitates the integration of ES assessments into the decision-making process. To that end, the main objective of this study was to provide a mapping framework for a specific water-related regulating ES – the sediment control service (SCS) – developed for a forest-dominated watershed in western Newfoundland, Canada (640 km²). The mapping framework proposes the development of composite indicators (referred to as an index), based on a proxy variables causal relationship approach, which is less complex to implement than physical models and less subjective than expert opinions. Two composite indicators used to rank sub-watersheds on a relative scale were developed: one using equal weights among proxies and a second using expert opinion to assign weights to proxies. The use of an index for mapping addresses the multidimensional and complex nature of ESs. The proxy variables represent ecosystem function indicators (FI) that are necessary to describe the causal relationship between ecological functions and SCS. The validation of ESs map results is often lacking in the literature. Therefore, we propose comparing the SCS relative scales with a sediment-yield classification that is simulated using the hydrological model SWAT (Soil Water Assessment Tool). To that end, the semi-distributed hydrological SWAT model has been developed. The overall agreement of the classification ranged from 35 to 81% depending upon the timeframe and weighting schemes that were applied, with better results being obtained for periods with more forest management operations and the expert-based weighting scheme. Results of the framework implementation show the potential supply of SCS at a sub-watershed scale and highlight those sub-watersheds most likely to be affected by forest management operations.

绘制生态系统服务（ESs）的供应图对于将ESs的重要性传达给决策者以及证明森林管理者正在尽职尽责地应用可持续发展至关重要。ES映射有助于将ES评估集成到决策过程中。为此，本研究的主要目的是为加拿大纽芬兰西部（640公里²）以森林为主的流域开发的与水有关的特定调节ES（沉积物控制服务（SCS））提供一个测绘框架。）。映射框架基于代理变量因果关系方法提出了综合指标（称为索引）的开发方法，该方法实施起来比物理模型要简单，主观分析也要比专家意见少。开发了两个用于在相对规模上对子集水区进行排名的综合指标：一个使用代理之间的权重相等，另一个使用专家意见为代理分配权重。使用索引进行映射可解决ES的多维性和复杂性。代理变量代表描述生态功能与SCS之间因果关系所必需的生态系统功能指标（FI）。文献中通常缺乏对ESs图结果的验证。因此，我们建议将SCS相对尺度与使用水文模型SWAT（土壤水评估工具）模拟的沉积物-产量分类进行比较。为此，已经开发了半分布式水文特警模型。根据所采用的时间框架和加权方案，分类的总体一致性为35％至81％，对于具有更多森林管理业务和基于专家的加权方案的时期，可以获得更好的结果。框架执行的结果显示了在一个小流域范围内SCS的潜在供应，并突出了那些最有可能受到森林经营活动影响的子流域。根据所采用的时间框架和加权方案，分类的总体一致性为35％至81％，对于具有更多森林管理业务和基于专家的加权方案的时期，可以获得更好的结果。框架执行的结果显示了在一个小流域范围内SCS的潜在供应，并突出了那些最有可能受到森林经营活动影响的子流域。根据所采用的时间框架和加权方案，分类的总体一致性为35％至81％，对于具有更多森林管理业务和基于专家的加权方案的时期，可以获得更好的结果。框架执行的结果显示了在一个小流域范围内SCS的潜在供应，并突出了那些最有可能受到森林经营活动影响的子流域。