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Mapping Biodiversity Metrics Representing Ecosystem Services at the Landscape Scale in the American Southwest
Citation:
Boykin, K. G., W. G. KEPNER, D. F. BRADFORD, R. K. Guy, M. T. Calkins, K. J. Gergely, AND A. C. NEALE. Mapping Biodiversity Metrics Representing Ecosystem Services at the Landscape Scale in the American Southwest. Presented at American Association of Geographer 2010 Annual Meeting, Washington, DC, April 11 - 18, 2010.
Impact/Purpose:
Presentation materials
Description:
It is widely understood that human condition is intrinsically linked to the quality of the environment and the services it provides. Ecosystem services, i.e., "services provided to humans from natural systems," have become a key issue of this century in resource management, conservation, human well-being, and environmental decision analysis. Mapping and quantifying ecosystem services have become a strategic national interest in integrating ecology with economics to help explain the effects of human policies and the subsequent impacts on both ecosystem function and human welfare. Aspects of biodiversity are valued by humans in many ways, and thus are important to include in any scheme that seeks to identify and quantify the value of ecosystems to humans. Some biodiversity metrics clearly reflect ecosystem services (e.g., abundance and diversity of game species), whereas others reflect indirect and difficult to quantify relationships to services (e.g., relevance of species diversity to ecosystem resilience, cultural value of native species). Wildlife habitat has been modeled at large spatial scales and can be used to map a number of biodiversity metrics. In this study, we use the deductive habitat models for 817 terrestrial vertebrate species developed under the USGS Southwest Regional Gap Analysis Program to map metrics reflecting ecosystem services or biodiversity aspects valued by humans over a large 5-state area (Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, and Colorado). Metrics included species-of-greatest-conservation-need, threatened and endangered species, harvestable species (i.e., upland game, migratory birds, and big game), total species richness, and taxon richness.
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KEPNER 09-120 FINAL SLIDE AAG_KEPNER_BOYKIN_FINAL[1].PDF (PDF, NA pp, 5225 KB, about PDF)KEPNER 09-120 ABSTRACT AAG_2010A.PDF (PDF, NA pp, 13 KB, about PDF)