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Future directions for collaborations to improve aquatic ecosystem management
Citation:
Heberling, Matthew AND B. Rashleigh. Future directions for collaborations to improve aquatic ecosystem management. 2022 Joint Aquatic Sciences Meeting (JASM), Grand Rapids, MI, May 14 - 20, 2022.
Impact/Purpose:
This presentation is part of a special session at JASM 2022 titled, Collaborations between ecologists and economists to improve aquatic ecosystem management. Estimating water quality benefits typically requires translating measures of water quality change to endpoints the public understands. Developing collaborations between biophysical scientists and economists can improve the link between water quality measures and water quality benefits. The purpose of the session will be to explain how the limitations in collaborations affects aquatic ecosystem management. Our presentation will end the session by summarizing future research directions.
Description:
The call for collaborations between natural scientists and economists has existed for a long time as a way to improve the assessment of federal, state, tribe, and local decisions necessary to achieve water quality goals. However, the wide range of economic benefits associated with improving water quality, from use values like recreation and safe drinking water to nonuse values like cultural and endangered species, makes benefits estimation difficult.¿ A key component of the collaborations is the link between how natural scientists measure change and how those measures can be translated into something that the public perceives and understands. Given the importance of these linkages, we also must consider how relatively new water quality issues such as harmful algal blooms, chemicals of emerging concern, or even multiple stressors affect the natural science measurements and the identification of public perceptions and behavior. This presentation will summarize future research directions based on the talks in this session and the efforts within EPA and other federal agencies, including consideration of how variability in natural systems is translated into economic valuation, valuation for culturally important species and resources, and improved endpoints for coastal systems. Collaboration on these directions will lead to concrete steps for improving the connection between the natural sciences and economics. Disclaimer: The views expressed in this abstract are those of the author[s] and do not necessarily represent the views or policies of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
