Ecosystem Services Assessment and Valuation of Atmospheric Magnesium Deposition

Garth R Groshans,Christopher J Post,Mark A Schlautman,Michael P Cope,Elena A Mikhailova,Lisha Zhang

doi:10.3390/geosciences9080331

Garth R Groshans, Christopher J Post + Show 4 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences9080331

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Journal: Geosciences	Publication Date: Jul 27, 2019
Citations: 5	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: Clemson University

Abstract

Ecosystem services (ES) often rely on biogeochemical cycles, but values associated with abiotic services are often ignored or underestimated. Ecosystem services from atmospheric magnesium (Mg2+) deposition are abiotic flows (wet, dry, and total), which can be considered a source of naturally-occurring fertilizer and liming material, have not been included in economic valuations of ecosystem services. Market-based valuation of these atmospheric ecosystem service flows can partially address this negative externality. This study assessed the value of wet, dry, and total atmospheric magnesium deposition flows in the contiguous United States (USA) within boundary-based administrative accounts (e.g., state, region) based on data from the National Atmospheric Deposition Program (NRSP-3), and the market price of human-derived material (agricultural dolomite, CaMg(CO3)2). The total supporting ecosystem value of atmospheric magnesium deposition flows was $46.7M (i.e., 46.7 million U.S. dollars) ($18.5M wet + $28.2M dry) based on an average 2014 price of $12.90 per U.S. ton of agricultural dolomite (CaMg(CO3)2). The atmosphere is a common-pool resource that plays an important role in the pedosphere, providing important abiotic ES, but its monetary value is often not identified in the market due to a lack of information and/or knowledge of the proper valuation method. This study demonstrates one approach to translate atmospheric magnesium deposition flows entering the soil as an abiotic ES and potential monetary values at various scales. Omission of abiotic services in ES analysis can lead to an incomplete economic valuation.

Highlights

The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment [1] is based on an ecosystem services framework, which is widely used in connection with the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) [2,3]
Ecosystem services often rely on biogeochemical cycles, but the values associated with these ecosystem services are often ignored or underestimated [3,4,5]
This study demonstrates the value of atmospheric magnesium deposition flows entering the soil

Summary

Introduction

Ecosystem services are defined as “the benefits people obtain from ecosystems,” which include provisioning (e.g., food, fiber, etc.), regulating (e.g., climate regulation, etc.), cultural (e.g., recreation, etc.), and supporting (e.g., maintenance of life cycles, etc.) [2,3]. Ecosystem services often rely on biogeochemical cycles, but the values associated with these ecosystem services are often ignored or underestimated [3,4,5]. An example of an ecosystem service provided by biogeochemical cycles is the provision of magnesium, which is a life-supporting nutrient (Table 1). Society relies on natural and human-derived stocks and flows of magnesium, which requires a system-based approach to its ES valuation [6,7]. A “system” is defined as a set of connected processes (“flows”) and quantities of resources (“stocks”) [6,7]

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