@misc{4c343008-3c47-4601-aaf8-a24fcd162fd2,
  abstract     = {{Across Europe, freshwater ecosystems were simultaneously shaped by climate variability, land-use intensification, and accelerating socio-economic pressures, yet their combined effects on surface water quality and freshwater ecosystem service (FES) potential remained poorly understood at large spatial scales. While individual stressors were often examined in isolation, their interaction across heterogeneous watersheds produced complex and spatially differentiated outcomes that challenged effective river basin management. The objective of this study was to disentangle the coupled environmental and socio-economic controls shaping surface water quality and freshwater ecosystem service potential, and to define watershed types according to the dominant stressors governing their provision. We analyzed more than 1,000 watersheds of the Danube River Basin by integrating multiple categories of spatial data representing landscape structure, hydroclimatic conditions, and human pressures, together with indicators of water quality and ecosystem condition. We applied principal component analysis followed by K-means clustering to identify dominant gradients and co-variability within this heterogeneous dataset. The results revealed strong, interpretable gradients associated with hydroclimatic regimes, land-use intensity, and topographic context, highlighting their central role in structuring water quality patterns and FES potential. Based on these gradients, three distinct watershed types emerged: hydroclimatically driven systems dominated by climatic constraints; land-use–dominated basins shaped primarily by agricultural and urban pressures; and complex socio-ecological landscapes where human activity, topography, and climate interacted to produce hybrid stressor regimes. These typologies clarified where water quality degradation and reduced ecosystem service potential were predominantly linked to human pressures rather than natural hydroclimatic constraints. The results suggested that the approach was transferable to other regions and spatial scales, with potential for comparison against hydrological and ecosystem service modelling results. Moreover, the frame work appeared suitable for delineating intervention target zones and supporting decision-makers in prioritizing measures aimed at improving water quality and enhancing freshwater ecosystem service potential.}},
  author       = {{Decsi, Bence and Kozma, Zsolt and Prado Velasco, Pablo Edmundo}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{05}},
  title        = {{Decoding Water Quality Across the Danube River Basin : Evidence from stressor-based watershed typologies and ecosystem service potential assessments}},
  year         = {{2026}},
}