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Does competition among ecosystem engineering species result in tradeoffs in the production of ecosystem services?
Citation:
DeWitt, Ted, B. Dumbauld, A. D'Andrea, S. Wyllie-Echeverria, AND N. Lewis. Does competition among ecosystem engineering species result in tradeoffs in the production of ecosystem services? Presented at Joint Aquatic Sciences Meeting, Portland, OR, May 18 - 23, 2014.
Impact/Purpose:
EPA is developing methods to forecast changes in the production or availability of ecosystem services in response to changes in human actions and natural forces. Those forecasts will inform environmental decision making at local to national scales, leading to the sustainable delivery of ecosystem services to dependent communities. In this study, scientists from EPA, federal and state agencies, and academia evaluate a simple method to forecast how the availability of selected ecosystem services from Pacific Northwest estuaries might be altered due to changes in the spatial distribution of “habitat-forming” organisms, formally called “ecosystem engineering species”. Those include seagrasses, oysters, and burrowing shrimps, which frequently compete for space on estuarine tide flats, or whose distributions. The method is under development, but is envisioned to provide an assessment of which ecosystem services are most likely to be affected and which ecosystem engineering species are responsible for the greatest (and least) production of ecosystem services.
Description:
Production of ecosystem services depends on the ecological community structure at a given location. Ecosystem engineering species (EES) can strongly determine community structure, but do they consequently determine the production of ecosystem services? We explore this question in the context of Pacific Northwest estuaries which harbor several EES that compete for space on extensive intertidal flats, including seagrasses, burrowing shrimps, and oysters. Using existing data, we assessed the relative effect that EES have on production of selected ecosystem services (i.e. food production, water purification, climate moderation, recreational wildlife viewing, biodiversity enhancement). We also evaluated how abiotic factors (e.g. salinity, elevation) moderate that production. Using maps of EES distribution within well-studied estuaries, we estimated whether production of ecosystem services would change if competition between EES changed their areal distribution. Results of this analysis reveal which EES most influence production of ecosystem services, and which services are most sensitive to changes in EES distribution. This information can inform estuarine habitat restoration strategies, management of non-native EES, and prioritization of new information needs.