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National Atlas of Ecosystem Services
Citation:
NEALE, A. C., M. JACKSON, AND R. D. LOPEZ. National Atlas of Ecosystem Services. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, EPA/600/C-10/005.
Impact/Purpose:
The overall goal of the Atlas is to employ and develop the best available science to map indicators of ecosystem services production, demand, and drivers for the nation. The categories of ecosystem services to be included in the Atlas are: • Clean water for drinking • Clean water for recreation and aquatic habitat • Adequate water supply • Food, fuel and fiber • Recreation, cultural and aesthetic amenities • Climate regulation • Protection from hazardous weather • Habitat and the maintenance of biodiversity • Clean air The Atlas will present the data summarized by 12 digit hydrologic unit codes (HUCs) of which there are about 83,000 in the US. HUCs provide a convenient reporting unit that reflects drainage patterns and allows users to navigate and explore throughout an entire watershed. The application also will allow the user to simultaneously view multiple ecosystem services with the use of graphing tools. The Atlas will include more detailed information for at least 150 communities across the nation. Within the communities, a suite of metrics, such as availability of green space and heat stress caused by the built environment, will be explored and related to vulnerable sectors of the community’s residents.
Description:
The nation’s ecosystems provide a vast array of services to humans from clean and abundant water to recreational opportunities. The benefits of nature or “ecosystem services” are often taken for granted and not considered in environmental decision-making. In some cases, decisions about one ecosystem service are made in isolation without consideration of impacts on other critical services. EPA’s Ecosystem Services Research Program (ESRP) is seeking to effectively measure and communicate the type, quality, and magnitude of services that humans receive from ecosystems so that their true value is considered in decisionmaking. An effective tool for visualizing and analyzing multiple ecosystem services is through the use of maps and graphs.
URLs/Downloads:
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NEALE-LOPEZ 10-091 FINAL REPORT ATLAS ECOSYSTEM SERVICES-NEALE.PDF (PDF, NA pp, 557 KB, about PDF)