OPERAs is focusing on our understanding of the relationships between ecosystem functioning and the provision of ecosystem services, for quantifying, monitoring and modelling ecosystem services and natural capital.

Innovative approaches have been and continue to be developed to quantify ecosystem services dynamics in response to management decisions made in the context of socio-economic change and European Union regulatory frameworks.

A specific focus is on:

1. the spatial and temporal dimensions
2. lags in service provision, including thresholds, and
3. the ways in which these dimensions can be accounted for in the development of instruments that apply ecosystem services concepts

The relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem services provision is being analysed, as confusion about possible synergies and conflicts between biodiversity conservation and ecosystem services based management often dominate implementation discussions.

OPERAs has developed metrics to assess and communicate uncertainty levels in ecosystem services provision for use in information tools and decision support instruments.