Valuation boundaries in monetary ecosystem service assessment: A logic-chain-based reporting framework with a vineyard application

Laura Núñez-Crespo , Victor Javier Colino-Rabanal , Jose Angel Sanchez-Agudo, Raul Hernandez-Marchena, Fernando Carmelo Rodriguez-Lopez 

Monetary ecosystem service (ES) valuations often diverge across studies and locations even when similar valuation approaches are applied. A key reason is that applied valuations frequently rely on opportunistic datasets and proxies, which implicitly determine which biophysical, management, and demand-side drivers are represented in the valuation workflow. Because this “valuation boundary” is rarely disclosed in a structured way, readers and evidence users have limited ability to interpret differences across estimates, assess comparability, or support evidence synthesis and benefit transfer. We propose a logic-chain-based reporting framework that makes valuation boundaries explicit through determinant coverage disclosure. The framework combines an ecosystem-specific reference template that catalogues services and organizes value determinants in service-specific logic chains spanning supply (nature and management) and demand (beneficiaries and socio-economic modifiers), and a reporting overlay that links each monetary estimate to the template by highlighting represented determinants and listing key omissions. The approach is designed to be feasible under real-world data constraints and to complement, rather than replace, standard valuation guidance. We demonstrate the framework for vineyard agroecosystems in Castilla y León (Spain). Using a data-driven valuation set-up based on available regional information, we estimate monetary values (€/ha/year, standardized to 2023) for a subset of provisioning, regulating, and cultural services and report service-specific valuation-boundary profiles alongside each estimate. A small set of vineyard-level observations illustrates how additional local information can narrow reported boundaries and change interpretation of values. The outputs include a reusable vineyard template, monetary results, and boundary profiles that can support screening and stratification in valuation databases and synthesis exercises.