Estimates Of Ecosystem Services Research Articles

Ecological Site Descriptions: Developmental Considerations for Woodlands and Forests

An ecological site description (ESD) conveys important interpretive and management information about the dynamic behavior of a related set of forest overstory and understory biological communities. Ecological sites and their descriptions provide a consistent framework for stratifying and describing soil, vegetation, and abiotic features; delineating units that share similar capabilities to respond to management activities or disturbance processes; and estimating ecosystem services that can be expected from particular soil/vegetation combinations. ESDs are intricately tied to the extent, history, and use of the forests and woodlands that they describe. The fundamental assumption underlying ecological sites is that soils, climate, and geomorphology can be correlated with suffi cient precision to provide a site-specifi c basis for successful ecological predictions and management decisions. A systematic knowledge of how management and disturbance processes interact with abiotic and biotic factors is critical to understanding ecological processes and relationships. A state-and-transition model (STM) within each ESD is a diagram displaying those relationships that applies to a correlated grouping of soil series components mapped as part of the National Cooperative Soil Survey.

Calculating the Ecosystem Service of Water Storage in Isolated Wetlands using LiDAR in North Central Florida, USA

We used remotely-sensed Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data to estimate potential water storage capacity of isolated wetlands in north central Florida. Data were used to calculate the water storage potential of >8500 polygons identified as isolated wetlands. We found that isolated wetlands in this area stored 1619 m3/ha on average, with a median measure of 876 m3/ha. Significant differences in average storage capacity were found depending on wetland type, ranging from 1283 m3/ha in palustrine scrub-shrub wetlands to 2906 m3/ha in palustrine aquatic bed wetlands. Our study tested LiDAR-derived volume measures and volumes calculated using currently available equations in landscapes with differing surficial geology formations (e.g., clayey sand, limestone) and found that accuracy improved when basin morphology, a function of near-surface geology, was included. An exponential equation was developed that accurately correlated isolated wetland area and volume in our study area, but overestimated volume by an average of 45% when tested with a small independent dataset from the same ecoregion. Results from this study can be used in hydrologic modeling at the landscape scale to estimate ecosystem services and may prove useful in determining the significant nexus between isolated wetlands and navigable waters.

Habitat Scale Mapping of Fisheries Ecosystem Service Values in Estuaries

O'Higgins, T. G., S. P. Ferraro, D. D. Dantin, S. J. Jordan, and M. M. Chintala. 2010. Habitat scale mapping of fisheries ecosystem service values in estuaries. Ecology and Society 15(4): 7. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-03585-150407

Mapping ecosystem services: Practical challenges and opportunities in linking GIS and value transfer

In this paper, a decision framework designed for spatially explicit value transfer was used to estimate ecosystem service flow values and to map results for three case studies representing a diversity of spatial scales and locations: 1) Massachusetts; 2) Maury Island, Washington; and 3) three counties in California. In each case, a unique typology of land cover and aquatic resources was developed and relevant economic valuation studies were queried in order to assign estimates of ecosystem service values to each category in the typology. The result was a set of unique standardized ecosystem service value coefficients broken down by land cover class and service type for each case study. GIS analysis was then used to map the spatial distribution of each cover class at each study site. Economic values were summarized and mapped by tributary basin for Massachusetts and California and by property parcel for Maury Island. For Maury Island, changes in ecosystem service value flows were estimated under two alternative development scenarios. Drawing on lessons learned during the implementation of the case studies, the authors present some of the practical challenges that accompany spatially explicit ecosystem service value transfer. They also discuss how variability in the site characteristics and data availability for each project limits the ability to generalize a single comprehensive methodology.