What drives cultural ecosystem services in mountain protected areas? An AI-assisted answer using social media

Abstract

High mountain protected areas (PAs) are increasingly recognized not only for their role in conserving biodiversity but also for their contribution to the provision of cultural ecosystem services (CES). Despite their relevance, CES remain underrepresented in conservation planning, particularly due to challenges in quantifying their spatial distribution. This study combines geolocated social media data and ecological niche models (ENMs) to assess the spatial patterns and key drivers of CES supply across eight mountain PAs spanning distinct biogeographical regions in Spain and Portugal. Using deep learning techniques to classify more than 200,000 photographs into ten CES categories, we evaluated model performance under two modeling approaches and identified the most influential environmental and social predictors. Most CES categories exhibited good model performance (Boyce index > 0.5), though variation existed across services and regions. Nature & Landscape and Gastronomy CES showed strong associations with park boundaries and human settlements, respectively, while Religious and Cultural CES were spatially linked to culturally significant landmarks.. Our findings demonstrate the potential of combining social media data with ENMs to map CES distributions and reveal both universal and context-dependent drivers. This approach offers valuable insights for integrating CES into PA management and spatial planning, supporting more holistic and culturally inclusive conservation strategies.