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VALUING AN INTERVENTION: MARSH MIGRATION AND ECOSYSTEM SERVICES
Citation:
Merrill, N. AND R. Martin. VALUING AN INTERVENTION: MARSH MIGRATION AND ECOSYSTEM SERVICES. New England Estuarine Research Society (NEERS) Fall Meeting, New Shorham, RI, October 20 - 22, 2016.
Impact/Purpose:
This work will combine an existing marsh migration tool, SLAAM, field observations on a transitioning marsh, and a dynamic economic valuation framework. With this conceptual model, we plan to evaluate interventions to encourage upland marsh migration as compared to the “do-nothing” scenario.
Description:
There is growing interest in valuing ecosystem services provided by marsh systems. Ecosystem services represent a flow of benefits to society from the existence or functioning of the marsh. Therefore, to “put a value on” the marsh itself, or estimate a value of the natural capital, the dynamics of the marsh through time matter to its current value. For carbon sequestration and nutrient processing, this means understanding the flow of services as the marsh migrates inland due to sea-level rise. This work will combine an existing marsh migration tool, SLAAM, field observations on a transitioning marsh, and a dynamic economic valuation framework. With this conceptual model, we plan to evaluate interventions to encourage upland marsh migration as compared to the “do-nothing” scenario. There are a number of existing mash ecosystem service valuation tools, but most use a static, or possibly simple linear extrapolation of dynamics through time, to come to conclusions on the possible value of an intervention. We see a need to verify and take into account the time-paths for the purposes of ecosystem service valuation and its application to marsh systems.