You are here:
THE ECOSYSTEM SERVICES GRADIENT: AN ASSESSMENT APPROACH FOR IDENTIFYING LEVELS OF MEANINGFUL CHANGE
Citation:
Yee, S., G. Cicchetti, Ted DeWitt, M. Harwell, S. Jackson, M. Pryor, Debbie Santavy, L. Sharpe, B. Branoff, R. Rossi, AND E. Shumchenia. THE ECOSYSTEM SERVICES GRADIENT: AN ASSESSMENT APPROACH FOR IDENTIFYING LEVELS OF MEANINGFUL CHANGE. Center for Watershed Protection, Virtual, Virtual, November 16 - 17, 2020.
Impact/Purpose:
This research presents a conceptual approach to complement Biological Condition Gradient implementation and applications by linking biological condition to ecosystem services through the development of an Ecosystem Services Gradient.
Description:
Approaches are needed by resource managers to quantify the levels of ecological condition needed to ensure protection and facilitate restoration of critical ecosystem functions and services associated with desired beneficial uses for coastal communities and visitors. In an effort to advance ecosystem services applications, we propose a descriptive model of ecosystem services production in response to changing environmental condition, the Ecosystem Services Gradient (ESG). The conceptual foundation for an ESG follows that of the Biological Condition Gradient (BCG), developed over a decade ago in response to a need to assess and effectively communicate levels of biological condition in a meaningful framework by leveraging expert knowledge and biomonitoring data to describe biological condition along a gradient from undisturbed to severely altered conditions. The ESG builds upon the conceptual foundation of the BCG approach by linking changes in biological condition to effects on human health and well-being via changes in ecosystem goods and services. The steps to building and using an ESG include: i) identifying the relevant ecosystem services for the specific environmental management problem, ii) identifying metrics and indicators for describing ecosystem services provisioning, iii) using monitoring data and ecosystem service production function models to quantitatively describe levels of ecosystem services production from highest potential production to severely altered production along a gradient of changing environmental condition, and iv) evaluating the potential co-occuring benefits or tradeoffs among ecosystem services under different levels of condition. The ESG provides a logical and consistent means for setting restoration targets, monitoring progress over time in an effective way, and communicating the potential social and economic consequences of environmental management choices. We provide examples from estuarine and coral reef ecosystems of how ESG are being developed to complement the potential socio-economic benefits of aquatic resource protection alongside existing BCGs, and to identify what levels of biological condition are needed to achieve desired goals for communities in coastal watersheds.
