محسن شرافتمندراد

Education services may be efficient in guiding future environmental research and in understanding the scientific value of ecosystems for current management. Educational services are rarely involved in decision-makers and policy due to a lack of knowledge on quantifying educational services. This study aimed to fill this gap by offering a novel approach for mapping educational services in various land covers using integrated science values of alive and live components of semiarid land covers in Iran. Based on the expert’s opinion, biodiversity, managerial and structural indicators were ranked for science value and weighted using the structural equation model. Results indicated that diversity of flowering species (p < 0.001) management (p < 0.01) and accessibility (p < 0.05) were the three main factors influencing educational service. Spatial distribution of education services revealed that the highest science value in semiarid land covers was found in both shrubland placed in lowlands and semi-shrub located in highlands included. This study offers the opportunity to include scientific value in decision-making and spatial policy, which can improve the spatial knowledge of the scientific value of environments.