Consideration Of Ecosystem Services Research Articles

Quantifying flood mitigation services: The economic value of Otter Creek wetlands and floodplains to Middlebury, VT

Functioning ecosystems can buffer communities from many negative impacts of a changing climate. Flooding, in particular, is one of the most damaging natural disasters globally and is projected to increase in many regions. However, estimating the value of “green infrastructure” in mitigating downstream floods remains a challenge. We estimate the economic value of flood mitigation by the Otter Creek floodplains and wetlands to Middlebury, VT, for Tropical Storm Irene and nine other floods. We used first principles to simulate hydrographs for scenarios with and without flood mitigation by upstream wetlands and floodplains. We then mapped flood extents for each scenario and calculated monetary damages to inundated structures. Our analysis indicates damage reductions of 84–95% for Tropical Storm Irene and 54–78% averaged across all 10 events. We estimate that the annual value of flood mitigation services provided to Middlebury, VT, exceeds $126,000 and may be as high as $450,000. Economic impacts of this magnitude stress the importance of floodplain and wetland conservation, warrant the consideration of ecosystem services in land use decisions, and make a compelling case for the role of green infrastructure in building resilience to climate change.

Integrating ecosystem services into crop protection and pest management: Case study with the soil fumigant 1,3-dichloropropene and its use in tomato production in Italy

Ecosystems provide the conditions for producing food, regulating water, and providing wildlife habitats; these, among others, are known as ecosystem services (ESs). Food production is both economically and culturally important to southern European farmers, particularly in Italy where farmers grow flavorsome tomatoes with passion and pride. Growers rely on pesticides for crop protection, the potential environmental impact of which is often questioned by regulators and other stakeholders. The European regulatory system for the approval of pesticides includes a thorough evaluation of risks to the environment and is designed to be protective of ecosystems. The consideration of ESs in environmental decision making is a growing trend, and the present case study provides an example of how ESs evaluation could be used to enhance agricultural practices and regulatory policy for crop protection. By attacking plant roots, nematodes may affect the growth and yield of fruit and vegetable crops, and the income earned by farmers at harvest time. Available solutions include chemical treatments such as 1,3-dichloropropene (1,3-D), physical treatments (solarization), and biological treatments (biofumigation). In order to characterize the risks and benefits associated with the use of 1,3-D in crop protection, ESs and socioeconomic analyses were applied to its use in the control of nematodes in tomato cultivation in southern Italy. The present study confirmed the benefits of 1,3-D to tomato production in Italy, with significant positive effects on production yields and farm income when compared to limited and transient potential impacts on services such as soil function. It was confirmed that 1,3-D allows farm income to be maintained and secures tomato production in these regions for the future. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2016;12:801-810. © 2016 SETAC.

Making ecosystem services part of business as usual in federal governance

On October 7, 2015, the US Office of Management and Budget (OMB), Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), and Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) jointly issued a memorandum (http://1.usa.gov/1RxMT2p) titled Incorporating Ecosystem Services into Federal Decision Making. Although released with little fanfare, this memorandum – issued to all federal agencies – represents an extraordinary, mandatory directive requiring that they develop and institutionalize policies to promote consideration of ecosystem services (ES) in planning, investments, and regulatory activities, including permitting decisions. Its purpose is to integrate into federal decisions an accounting of the trade-offs in ES associated with federal actions, including public benefits often excluded from our market-based economy. Many ecologists will recognize the influence of the 2005 Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA), which included among its core recommendations a call for policy makers to integrate ecological information into natural resource management decisions. In the years since the MA, the science of ES has made considerable progress in building a knowledge base for use by lawmakers and regulators; the literature has grown by nearly 200% in just the past 6 years (Adhikari and Hartemink 2016; Geoderma 262: 101–11) and includes major reviews and syntheses such as the “Nature as Capital” special feature in PNAS in 2015. The new OMB directive on ES validates the field's remarkable advancements and its calls for a greater role in governance. It also affirms ecology's potential to have a positive impact on both the management of natural resources and economic efficiency, by reducing harmful externalities and improving the accuracy of the cost–benefit analyses required for major federal actions. In addition, the memorandum represents an important call to action for the ecological sciences community to help government – and society – further evolve and bring into the mainstream our collective understanding of the interdependencies and interactions between the biosphere and human health and well-being. Substantial knowledge gaps remain in the basic mechanics of how ecosystems actually deliver valuable services, and policy makers – especially those unaccustomed to working with ecological science – will need research relevant to their missions. For example, how might education and public health outcomes be affected if students or Medicaid beneficiaries have greater access to natural park lands? How might accounting for the coastal ES lost due to eutrophication affect decisions made by regulators who oversee water-quality control or fertilizer use? Ecological scientists have a vital role to play in ushering in this new paradigm. First, it is critical for researchers to understand that the memorandum is not simply a call for more static valuation studies of specific geographic locations. To be responsive to the OMB directive, agencies will need well-designed and targeted ecological and ES research that can inform specific policies and help them develop frameworks for day-to-day decision making – to put ES knowledge to work in the federal government's “business as usual” scenarios. For instance, a recent analysis of the storm protection benefits of coastal ecosystems identified several gaps in the technical understanding of how habitats like salt marshes and mangroves attenuate waves and buffer storm surges (Sutton-Grier et al. 2015; Environ Sci Policy 51: 137– 48); this information is acutely relevant to the responsibilities of agencies like the Army Corps of Engineers and the Federal Emergency Management Agency and informed the OSTP report Ecosystem service assessment: federal research needs for coastal green infrastructure, released in August 2015. The OMB's memorandum on ES could facilitate the intake and application of academic ES research like this across the federal government. Earlier this spring, under the process established in the OMB memorandum, agencies submitted preliminary reports to CEQ identifying existing ES programs they have underway and areas where ES practice could be applicable. CEQ and OMB will distill this information into mandatory implementation guidance, expected for preliminary release around December 2016. This document will establish common terminology and best practices for using ES information throughout the federal government, guidance that will also provide academic researchers with a clear “on ramp”, by specifying how to maximize uptake of their research by relevant federal agencies. President Obama's leadership through the OMB directive on ES provides a rare and extremely important opportunity for ecologists to step up and provide their best ideas and research in order to improve federal governance – an outcome long identified as crucial to slow global ecological decline. Let's get to it!

A Comparative Study of Waterfront Use as Ecosystem Services in Saint-Petersburg and Osaka

Based on the concept of ecosystem services, this study aimed to clarify a direction for the use of precious waterfronts remaining in congested large modern cities. Rivers and canals of Saint Petersburg, Russia and Osaka, Japan were selected as the study subjects. The actual status of waterfront use in both cities was examined through qualitative analyses from the viewpoint of ecosystem services. As a result, it was revealed that there were differences between the two cities in their use of waterfronts, and that the creation of waterfronts with high environmental value based on the consideration of ecosystem services has a positive effect on tourism, land price, and health.

Mitigation for one & all: An integrated framework for mitigation of development impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem services

Emerging development policies and lending standards call for consideration of ecosystem services when mitigating impacts from development, yet little guidance exists to inform this process. Here we propose a comprehensive framework for advancing both biodiversity and ecosystem service mitigation. We have clarified a means for choosing representative ecosystem service targets alongside biodiversity targets, identified servicesheds as a useful spatial unit for assessing ecosystem service avoidance, impact, and offset options, and discuss methods for consistent calculation of biodiversity and ecosystem service mitigation ratios. We emphasize the need to move away from area- and habitat-based assessment methods for both biodiversity and ecosystem services towards functional assessments at landscape or seascape scales. Such comprehensive assessments more accurately reflect cumulative impacts and variation in environmental quality, social needs and value preferences. The integrated framework builds on the experience of biodiversity mitigation while addressing the unique opportunities and challenges presented by ecosystem service mitigation. These advances contribute to growing potential for economic development planning and execution that will minimize impacts on nature and maximize human wellbeing.

Integrating ecosystem services into risk management decisions: Case study with Spanish citrus and the insecticide chlorpyrifos

The European regulatory system for the approval of pesticides includes a thorough evaluation of risks to the environment and is designed to be protective of ecosystems. However, a decision to ban an agrochemical could also potentially have a negative impact on the value of ecosystem services, if resulting changes in crop management are damaging to ecosystems or result in negative socio-economic impacts. To support regulatory decision-making, consideration of ecosystem services to identify best environmental management options could be a way forward. There is generally a growing trend for the consideration of ecosystem services in decision making. Ecosystems provide the conditions for growing food, regulate water and provide wildlife habitats; these, amongst others, are known as ecosystem services.The objectives of this case study were to bring a holistic approach to decision making by valuing the environmental, social and economic benefits derived from the use of chlorpyrifos in Valencian citrus production. Spanish growers harvest between 5 and 6milliont of citrus annually, worth an estimated €5 to 7billion in food markets throughout Europe. The approach highlighted the potential for unintended negative consequences of regulatory decisions if the full context is not considered. In this study, rather than a regulatory restriction, the best option was the continued use of chlorpyrifos together with vegetated conservation patches as refuges for non-target insects. The conservation patches offset potential insecticidal impacts to insects whilst maintaining citrus production, farm income and the amenity value of the citrus landscape of Valencia. This was an initial proof-of-concept study and illustrates the importance of a wider perspective; other cases may have different outcomes depending on policies, the pesticide, crop scenarios, farm economics and the region.

Agroforestry systems as a profitable alternative to slash and burn practices in small-scale agriculture of the Brazilian Amazon

Agroforestry systems are widely recognized as an important way to address numerous environmental challenges in tropical areas. They represent a sustainable alternative form of land-use for small-scale agriculture, responding to the economic development needs of communities and offering a number of ecosystem services. This article presents an evaluation of the short- and medium-term profitability of two experimental agroforestry systems where fruit trees are predominant, which were established in 2009 in the Tapajos region of the Brazilian Amazon, state of Para. An analysis of net present value (NPV) confirms that the two experimental systems studied recover their total implementation and operating costs within a 20 years time horizon. These results underlie that prices of inputs are stable and farmers have access to markets, credit, and agricultural knowledge. The two experimental systems are compared to plots under traditional slash-and-burn cultivation, and Bragantino system. The results support changes to public policies in order to facilitate alternatives to slash-and-burn cultivation by supporting access to credit, knowledge of alternative agricultural practices, transportation systems, and industries that transform agricultural products. The consideration of ecosystem services should add a supplementary argument in favour of policies that promote agroforestry systems and thus limit the practice of slash-and-burn subsistence agriculture.

CropSyst model evolution: From field to regional to global scales and from research to decision support systems

Motivated by global and regional challenges in food production and a broader consideration of ecosystem services, there has been a substantial increase in the demand for integrated agricultural systems models and spatially-distributed applications that can be used for regional and global assessments and as decision support tools. This demand marks a shift from earlier emphasis in single-crop point simulations and poses a significant challenge as cropping systems models need to improve and increase their capabilities to address multiple scales in a cohesive scientific manner and using updated computing platforms. In this article we discuss how the cropping systems model CropSyst has evolved to meet these new demands and provide some concepts for the future.

Estimating impacts of population growth and land use policy on ecosystem services: A community-level case study in Virginia, USA

Despite advances in decision-making tools and frameworks, the consideration of ecosystem services in local, regional, and national scale planning remains limited. In this study, we address two broad goals: (1) By using “off the shelf” data and tools, we provide a practical example for how local policy makers can incorporate considerations of ecosystem services in land use planning; and (2) To understand the complex and non-linear relationships between population growth, land use change, land use policy, and ecosystem services. Focusing on Albemarle County and Charlottesville, VA, we assess impacts on a range of ecosystem services using a land consumption ratio that links the land use to population density patterns. Varying levels of population growth were modeled and impacts to ecosystem services quantified given current land use policies. With increasing population growth, ecosystem services that exist within areas targeted for growth are initially compromised. However, once growth pressures reach a threshold, ecosystem services across the region are dramatically degraded. These findings point to the tradeoffs that community-level planners face when ecosystem services are considered in the context of population growth. Our results also highlight the importance of maintaining permanent protection on lands with high natural and cultural value.

Ecosystem services inclusive strategic environmental assessment

A consistent framework to address biodiversity, ecosystem services and their societal values is now established with the MEA (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment) and the TEEB (The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity). These and other studies point to the urgency in considering actions that can revert the process of degradation of biodiversity values and its supporting ecosystems. Safeguarding livelihoods is a common objective in ecosystem approaches as well as in strategic environmental assessment (SEA) effort to promote sustainability. Human activities, as direct and indirect development drivers, are crucial targets for SEA to have a strategic contribution in influencing priorities, by showing strategic reasons for change. Rather than keeping only a control and mitigation role on the assessment of effects and impacts of development on the environment, SEA has the capacity to understand the decisional and development context and to drive development opportunities into pathways that are inclusive of environmental and sustainability priorities. The development opportunities provided by ecosystem services can be explored in SEA through strategic approaches to enhance the value of the benefits and avoid the negative impact of human actions on ecosystem services. SENSU, a research team at IST-Portugal, advocates the strategic-based and collaborative oriented approach in SEA based on Partidario (2007) SEA framework of critical decision factors (CDF). A methodology to allow the consideration of ecosystem services in SEA is being developed and tested. This paper will share research advances on how ecosystem services can be incorporated into SEA as a fundamental component of strategic assessment in support of decision-making.

Linking ecosystem services to agri-environmental schemes through SEA: A case study from Northern Italy

Agri-environment schemes (AES) are major policy tools in Europe to increase the environmental performance of agriculture. However, there is evidence that AES's implementation is not achieving the intended objectives and that current monitoring and evaluation frameworks are not adequate to fully assess their environmental effects. We argue that systematic consideration of ecosystem services would greatly benefit the implementation and assessment of AES, and that SEA represents a suitable platform to do this. We illustrate a case study of an ecosystem service-inclusive SEA applied to a rural development program and related AES in Italy. Results indicated that provision and consumptions of a wide array of ecosystem service are affected by AES and that current data management systems would allow to appraise these effects with acceptable efforts. In some other cases however sample field surveys would be needed. The case also shows the importance of mutual learning and knowledge brokerage between SEA practitioners and program officers. Overall, findings suggest that integrating ecosystem service in the design and assessment of AES would provide policy-makers and stakeholders with more focused information and ultimately improve their effectiveness.

Conceptualizing the role of sediment in sustaining ecosystem services: Sediment-ecosystem regional assessment (SEcoRA)

There is a growing trend to include a consideration of ecosystem services, the benefits that people obtain from ecosystems, within decision frameworks. Not more than a decade ago, sediment management efforts were largely site-specific and held little attention except in terms of managing contaminant inputs and addressing sediments as a nuisance at commercial ports and harbors. Sediments figure extensively in the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment; however, contaminated sediment is not the dominant concern. Rather, the focus is on land and water use and management on the landscape scale, which can profoundly affect soil and sediment quality, quantity and fate. Habitat change and loss, due to changes in sediment inputs, whether reductions (resulting in the loss of beaches, storm protection, nutrient inputs, etc.) or increases (resulting in lake, reservoir and wetland infilling, coral reef smothering, etc.); eutrophication and reductions in nutrient inputs, and disturbance due to development and fishing practices are considered major drivers, with significant consequences for biodiversity and the provision and resilience of ecosystem functions and services. As a mobile connecting medium between various parts of the ecosystem via the hydrocycle, sediments both contaminated and uncontaminated, play both positive and negative roles in the viability and sustainability of social, economic, and ecological objectives. How these roles are interpreted depends upon whether sediment status (defined in terms of sediment quality, quantity, location and transport) is appropriate to the needs of a given endpoint; understanding and managing the dynamic interactions of sediment status on a diverse range of endpoints at the landscape or watershed scale should be the focus of sediment management. This paper seeks to provide a language and conceptual framework upon which sediment-ecosystem regional assessments (SEcoRAs) can be developed in support of that goal.

New ideas for old landscapes: using a social-ecological approach for conservation of traditional rural biotopes - a case study from Finland

Traditional rural biotopes (TRBs) are high nature value farmlands (HNV). There are only 20.000 ha of identifiableTRB left in Finland. Ecosystem services were explored as a way of better understanding the value of TRBs to society. Postal questionnaires were sent out to all farmers in Raasepori Municipality in SW Finland to locate TRBs. Frequency of on-farm tourism, direct sales and services to the public were compared between farms with and without TRBs. Return rate for questionnaires (n=326) was 40%. Farms with TRBs had a higher rate of services and sales to the general public. A third of respondents with TRBs said their TRBs provide non-agricultural goods or services and 1/4 said their TRBs are utilized by people from off-farm. Changes in policy toward more evidence-based approaches, adaptive management and consideration of ecosystem services could improve conservation of TRBs.

A Framework for Ecosystem Services Valuation

In the recent article, “Managing Invasive Aquatic Plants in a Changing System: Strategic Consideration of Ecosystem Services,” Hershner and Havens (2008) reject the need to manage certain aquatic plant invaders. The authors claim that Phragmites australis invasion is acceptable because it provides three ecosystem services: habitat, soil stabilization, and nutrient uptake and retention. We strongly disagree with this conclusion. Without a comprehensive valuation framework, the concept of ecosystem services is of little use to decision makers. The services referenced by Hersher and Havens may be of lesser value than the services lost as a result of P. australis invasion. Using P. australis invasion as an example, we suggest a framework for ecosystem services valuation that incorporates three important considerations: quality of service, weighting of services, and time frame.

Managing Invasive Aquatic Plants in a Changing System: Strategic Consideration of Ecosystem Services

Climate change is projected to increase stress for many coastal plant communities. Along large portions of the North American coast, habitat degradation from anthropogenic changes to the environment already threaten the community structure of tidal marshes and submerged aquatic grass beds. The potential loss of ecological services historically provided by these communities has been a long-standing rationale for aggressive control of invading plants such as Phragmites australis and Hydrilla verticillata. Increasing evidence of ecological services provided by invasive species such as P. australis and H. verticillata suggest that, in the face of increasing stress, it may be prudent to take a more pragmatic approach regarding the effect of these species on coastal ecosystems. The notable resilience of these species to control efforts and their competitive success and comparative vigor in stressed systems and capacity to provide at least some beneficial services combine to suggest some invasive species may have a useful role in managed coastal ecosystems.