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AimsUrban soils are the basis of many ecosystem services in cities. Here, we examine formerly residential vacant lot soils in Cleveland, Ohio and Detroit, Michigan, USA for their potential to provide multiple ecosystem services. We examine two key contrasts: 1) differences betwee...

Protection of ecosystem services is increasingly emphasized as a risk-assessment goal, but there are wide gaps between current ecological risk-assessment endpoints and potential effects on services provided by ecosystems. The authors present a framework that links common ecotoxic...

The product is a white paper defining a methodology for the preliminary scoping of future changes in ecosystem services, with an Illustration from the Future Midwestern Landscapes Study. The scoping method develops a hierarchy of relevant societal values, identifies the ecosyste...

Scientists, policymakers, community planners and others have discussed ecosystem services for decades, however, society is still in the early stages of developing methodologies to quantify and value the services provided by ecosystems. For example, the U.S. Environmental Protect...

Human health and well-being are and will be affected by climate change, both directly through changes in extreme weather events and indirectly through weather induced changes in societal systems and their supporting ecosystems. The goal of this study was to develop and apply a b...

Land and resource use decisions are typically made by individuals, towns, counties, tribes, states and sometimes multiple states (regions) to increase economic viability of an area with little attention to the long term effects on human health and the environment. Individuals an...

EPA&rsquo;s EnviroAtlas provides a wealth of U.S. Geospatial data and easy-to-use tools to help scientists, natural resource managers, health professionals and the public better understand the relationships between ecosystem services, environmental stressors and human health.Here...

While an individual ES assessment tool is developed for a given set of purposes, having access to information about a suite of potential ES tools can be insightful. There is a range of approaches for connecting ES to a given environmental decision-making context/process. In order...

Forty years ago the United States Environmental Protection Agency (U.S.EPA) was formed to “protect human health and the environment”. In those days the environment was being severely, and obviously, degraded by any number of pollution inputs, and it was clear that a healthy envi...

The focus of ecological risk assessment (ERA) is on assessment endpoints, explicit expressions of environmental values to be protected. Traditionally, the ecological entities identified in assessment endpoints have been components of ecosystems deemed by risk assessors to be impo...

The ecosystem services concept provides a comprehensive framework for considering ecosystems in decision making, for valuing the services they provide, and for ensuring that society can maintain a healthy and resilient natural environment now and for future generations. A global ...

The concept of ecosystem services recognizes the services, and benefits, provided to people by ecosystems. River systems provide many services to people, including freshwater provisioning, carbon storage, fisheries, recreation, transportation, and biodiversity. Here, we review th...

Ecosystem services (ES) or the &ldquo;benefits from nature&rdquo; is an important ecological and human health concept with significant relevance for EPA&rsquo;s work.&nbsp; This presentation will provide an overview of ORD&rsquo;s ES work, provide examples of how ES can add value...

U.S. EPA’s Office of Research and Development has made ecosystem services the new strategic focus for its Ecological Research Program (ERP). Understanding that the protection and enhancement of ecosystem services can help maintain and improve human health, economic vitality, and...

Human alteration of the nitrogen (N) cycle has produced benefits for health and well-being, but excess N has altered many ecosystems and degraded air and water quality. US regulations mandate protection of the environment in terms that directly connect to ecosystem services. Here...

This webinar is part of the lead-up to the Ecological Risk Assessment Forum (ERAF)&rsquo;s workshop to continue exploring how ecosystem goods and services tools can be incorporated into ecological risk assessments. This workshop is funded by ORD&rsquo;s Superfund Technology Liais...

Natural capital accounting is a method of assessing the contribution of ecosystems to the economy, making the links between natural and economic systems more clear. While the System of Environmental-Economic Accounts&rsquo; Central Framework (developed by the U.N. and other inter...

Northeastern lakes provide valuable ecosystem services that benefit residents and visitors and are increasingly important for provisioning of recreational opportunities and amenities. Concurrently, however, population growth threatens lakes by, for instance, increasing nutrient ...

Ecosystems provide multiple services associated with the provision of nature-based goods and services. Many of these ecosystem services have been linked to a range of positive health outcomes through buffering of pollutants, mitigation of natural hazards, and promotion of healthy...

In the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy in 2012, recovery and rebuilding efforts focused on resilience and diversified infrastructure that included consideration of the benefits that healthy ecosystems provide. County governments on Long Island identified a need for tools to map coa...

: Six future alternatives were analyzed for the Mud Lake remediation and restoration project in the St. Louis River Area of Concern. We modelled ecosystem services for each future to identify specific trade-offs for the different alternatives. For example, Alt 4 provided the grea...

Social and economic drivers have resulted in population loss and altered demographics in many Great Lakes basin cities. This change has created a landscape mosaic that includes extensive coverage in blighted parcels, which &ndash; through proper demolition and site finishing &nda...

Healthy and resilient watersheds are essential to human well-being and environmental health. Coastal watersheds and communities are experiencing the combined effects of increasing threats from development and climate change. Communities need to address these threats and make deci...

Brown shrimp are commercially important shellfish that support one of the largest fisheries in the southeastern United States, contributing to a shrimp harvest revenue that can exceed $100 million per year. Therefore, understanding how climate-driven changes in habitat availabil...

Abstract for presentation at ecosystem conference in December 2008.