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A Unified Approach for Protecting Listed Species and Ecosystem Services in Geographically Isolated Wetlands Using Community-Level Protection Goals
Citation:
Raimondo, Sandy, L. Sharpe, L. Oliver, K. McCaffrey, Tom Purucker, S. Sinnathamby, AND J. Minucci. A Unified Approach for Protecting Listed Species and Ecosystem Services in Geographically Isolated Wetlands Using Community-Level Protection Goals. SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT. Elsevier BV, AMSTERDAM, Netherlands, 663:465-478, (2019). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.01.153
Impact/Purpose:
Geographically Isolated Wetlands (GIWs) are unique geological features that provide habitat for endemic, endangered, and threatened animal and plant species as well as a diversity of ecosystem services (ES). GIWs are threatened by a range of chemical contaminants that vary by geographic region and assessing potential impacts to the fragile communities they embody is a challenge. This study provides an approach to assess chemical risk to GIW communities protective of listed species and ES using a unified approach, as demonstrated in case studies of California vernal pools exposed to the pesticide chlorpyrifos and Carolina Bays exposed to coal ash. We highlight several advantages associated with implementing community-level protections goals and demonstrate a process that is ecologically comprehensive and considers the limited data availability for these habitats. The multi-species protection approach presented here will establish comprehensive threshold values that not only protect individual listed species, but also conserve the ecological integrity that continues to provide ecosystem services for human benefit. Additionally, the approach presented here will reduce the time and resource investment required for assessment of risk to listed species in GIWs and adds an ES perspective to demonstrate the value of GIWs beyond listed species concerns.
Description:
Geographically Isolated Wetlands (GIWs) are unique geological features that provide habitat for endemic, endangered, and threatened animal and plant species and ecosystem services (ES). GIWs are threatened by a range of chemical contaminants that vary by geographic region and assessing potential impacts to the fragile communities they embody is a challenge. We propose an approach that develops community-level protection goals for GIWs that includes both listed species and Service Providing Units (SPUs) that drive ES for ecological risk assessments (ERAs). Community-level protection goals are achieved by developing a protection community and weighing lines of evidence to determine a set of focal species within that community upon which to base the assessment. Lines of evidence included chemical mechanism of action, likely routes of exposure, and taxa susceptibility, as well as relationships among species. We demonstrate the process using case studies of chlorpyrifos in California vernal pools and coal ash effluent in Carolina bays. In the California vernal pool case study, listed species were the primary SPUs for the ES provided by the critical habitat. The weight of evidence demonstrated the honey bee as the focal species for terrestrial environment and the vernal pool fairy shrimp as the focal species for the aquatic environment. The protection community within the Carolina Bay case study was more taxonomically diverse than vernal pools for both listed species and SPUs, with amphibians identified as the focal species for which to target mitigation goals and hazard levels. The approach presented here will reduce the time and resource investment required for assessment of risk to listed species in GIWs and adds an ES perspective to demonstrate the value of GIWs beyond listed species concerns.
URLs/Downloads:
DOI: A Unified Approach for Protecting Listed Species and Ecosystem Services in Geographically Isolated Wetlands Using Community-Level Protection Goals
ORD-027809 AUTHOR MANUSCRIPT.PDF (PDF, NA pp, 1819.567 KB, about PDF)