Ecosystem services are the benefits that nature provides to human well-being: clean air and water, protection from natural disasters, fisheries, crop pollination and control of pests and disease, and outdoor places for recreation, solitude, and renewal. Ecosystem services underlie the functioning of our entire economy. They are neither worthless nor priceless, and by integrating the physical sciences, geography, and economics and other social sciences we can better understand how ecosystems provide value to people, and how to protect and enhance that value.
USGS scientists at GECSC use a variety of modeling and mapping approaches to improve our understanding of the value and distribution of ecosystem services. GECSC scientists pioneered the development of the Social Values for Ecosystem Services (SolVES) tool to map locations on the landscape that are valued by respondents to natural resource management surveys. Working with the USGS Powell Center for Synthesis and Analysis, we are estimating the values derived from migratory species to support new conservation funding mechanisms for valued species. We are also applying the Artificial Intelligence for Ecosystem Services (ARIES) tool to map and value ecosystem service flows at sites across the U.S. and globally. In collaboration with partners from a variety of Federal and State land management agencies, we are working to disseminate this information in support of more sustainable resource management and conservation planning.
Ecosystem Services-Related Research Underway at GECSC
- Social Values for Ecosystems Services (SolVES): SolVES is a tool developed by GECSC scientists to quantify and map perceived social values for ecosystem services (particularly cultural ecosystem services), calculated from a combination of spatial and non-spatial responses to public attitude and preferences surveys. We and our colleagues are applying SolVES in diverse locations to quantify and map cultural ecosystem services, develop guidelines for transferring mapped values, and pair cultural ecosystem services with biophysically modeled ecosystem services in support of natural resource management. The SolVES tool, user manual, sample data, tutorial, and publications are all available on the SolVES web site.
- Artificial Intelligence for Ecosystem Services (ARIES): The ARIES modeling framework seeks to advance ecosystem services science in two critical ways. First, ARIES fully accounts for the spatial dynamics of ecosystem services—the spatial mismatch between locations where ecosystem services are provided and where they are used, by quantifying spatial flows of ecosystem services. Second, ARIES is an Artificial Intelligence-equipped semantic modeling system that integrates data and models, enabling ecosystem service assessments to be conducted worldwide while accounting for locally important ecological and socioeconomic factors and using the most locally appropriate data in mapping. An overview of ARIES is available in the PLoS ONE article A Methodology for Adaptable and Robust Ecosystem Services Assessment.
- Spatial Subsidies: Quantifying Linkages between Human and Natural Systems with Migratory Species: Migratory species may provide more ecosystem goods and services to humans in certain parts of their range than others. These areas may or may not coincide with the locations on which the species is most dependent for its continued population viability. This situation can present significant policy challenges, as locations that most support a given species may be subsidizing the provision of services in other locations, often in different political jurisdictions. The ability to quantify these spatial subsidies could be used to develop economic incentives. Targeted payments for ecosystem services (PES) could provide economic incentives for conservation in areas where none presently exist, serving as a foundation for the cooperative, cross-jurisdictional management of migratory species.
- Technical Support to Other Department of the Interior Bureaus: GECSC scientists provide technical support to other agencies looking to incorporate ecosystem services into natural resource planning and decision making. Working with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), we cataloged and tested ecosystem service tools to understand their readiness for bureau-wide use, and are continuing work to incorporate ecosystem services into a BLM master leasing plan. With the National Park Service (NPS), we are similarly testing survey-based methods and biophysical models for ecosystem services for incorporation into the NPS planning process. Our work in mapping ecosystem services in the National Forests can support the ongoing effort by the USDA Forest Service to incorporate ecosystem services into planning, per their 2012 planning rule. Finally GECSC scientists participate in a multi-agency working group to help build a consistent approach to using ecosystem services in federal resource management and planning.
- Linking ridge-to-reef ecosystem services in Hawaii: GECSC scientists are working to model and value the economic benefits provided by Hawaii's coral reefs, connecting changes in land management, rainfall, and ocean conditions under present-day and future scenarios. The work reflects how changes to the land surface impact runoff to coral reefs, affecting diverse values including recreation, coastal storm protection, and fisheries, which will eventually be expanded to provide decision support to diverse settings in the Pacific Islands.
- Integrated Resource Assessment: GECSC scientists are developing and testing a framework to integrate USGS energy and mineral resource assessments with assessments of other biophysical resources to permit consideration of the interplay between management, landscape change, and environmental/economic costs and benefits. This framework endeavors to address the question of how landscape change is likely to impact a suite of resources and how those impacts can be limited via management activities and constraint designations. Many types of landscape change can be accommodated, such as development of an energy/mineral resource, fire, or urban growth.
- Economic accounting for ecosystem services: Natural capital accounting—a tool being used in dozens of countries globally and by the private sector—tracks changes in ecosystem services and directly ties these changes to costs and benefits across different economic sectors. Yet, the compilation of a data, modeling, and valuation infrastructure to support natural capital accounting in the U.S. has not yet occurred. With funding from the USGS Powell Center and National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center, we are developing pilot natural capital accounts for the United States, increasing the delivery of clear and timely information about nature's value to society.
Below are publications associated with this project.
Tools for mapping ecosystem services
Defining ecosystem assets for natural capital accounting
Toward an integrated understanding of perceived biodiversity values and environmental conditions in a national park
Evaluating alternative methods for biophysical and cultural ecosystem services hotspot mapping in natural resource planning
A decision framework for identifying models to estimate forest ecosystem services gains from restoration
Social-value maps for Arapaho, Roosevelt, Medicine Bow, Routt, and White River National Forests, Colorado and Wyoming
Quasi-extinction risk and population targets for the Eastern, migratory population of monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus)
Modeling the effects of urban expansion on natural capital stocks and ecosystem service flows: A case study in the Puget Sound, Washington, USA
Quantifying and valuing ecosystem services: An application of ARIES to the San Pedro River basin, USA
Linking biophysical models and public preferences for ecosystem service assessments: a case study for the Southern Rocky Mountains
Replacement cost valuation of Northern Pintail (Anas acuta) subsistence harvest in Arctic and sub-Arctic North America
Validating a method for transferring social values of ecosystem services between public lands in the Rocky Mountain region
- Overview
Ecosystem services are the benefits that nature provides to human well-being: clean air and water, protection from natural disasters, fisheries, crop pollination and control of pests and disease, and outdoor places for recreation, solitude, and renewal. Ecosystem services underlie the functioning of our entire economy. They are neither worthless nor priceless, and by integrating the physical sciences, geography, and economics and other social sciences we can better understand how ecosystems provide value to people, and how to protect and enhance that value.
USGS scientists at GECSC use a variety of modeling and mapping approaches to improve our understanding of the value and distribution of ecosystem services. GECSC scientists pioneered the development of the Social Values for Ecosystem Services (SolVES) tool to map locations on the landscape that are valued by respondents to natural resource management surveys. Working with the USGS Powell Center for Synthesis and Analysis, we are estimating the values derived from migratory species to support new conservation funding mechanisms for valued species. We are also applying the Artificial Intelligence for Ecosystem Services (ARIES) tool to map and value ecosystem service flows at sites across the U.S. and globally. In collaboration with partners from a variety of Federal and State land management agencies, we are working to disseminate this information in support of more sustainable resource management and conservation planning.
Ecosystem Services-Related Research Underway at GECSC
- Social Values for Ecosystems Services (SolVES): SolVES is a tool developed by GECSC scientists to quantify and map perceived social values for ecosystem services (particularly cultural ecosystem services), calculated from a combination of spatial and non-spatial responses to public attitude and preferences surveys. We and our colleagues are applying SolVES in diverse locations to quantify and map cultural ecosystem services, develop guidelines for transferring mapped values, and pair cultural ecosystem services with biophysically modeled ecosystem services in support of natural resource management. The SolVES tool, user manual, sample data, tutorial, and publications are all available on the SolVES web site.
- Artificial Intelligence for Ecosystem Services (ARIES): The ARIES modeling framework seeks to advance ecosystem services science in two critical ways. First, ARIES fully accounts for the spatial dynamics of ecosystem services—the spatial mismatch between locations where ecosystem services are provided and where they are used, by quantifying spatial flows of ecosystem services. Second, ARIES is an Artificial Intelligence-equipped semantic modeling system that integrates data and models, enabling ecosystem service assessments to be conducted worldwide while accounting for locally important ecological and socioeconomic factors and using the most locally appropriate data in mapping. An overview of ARIES is available in the PLoS ONE article A Methodology for Adaptable and Robust Ecosystem Services Assessment.
- Spatial Subsidies: Quantifying Linkages between Human and Natural Systems with Migratory Species: Migratory species may provide more ecosystem goods and services to humans in certain parts of their range than others. These areas may or may not coincide with the locations on which the species is most dependent for its continued population viability. This situation can present significant policy challenges, as locations that most support a given species may be subsidizing the provision of services in other locations, often in different political jurisdictions. The ability to quantify these spatial subsidies could be used to develop economic incentives. Targeted payments for ecosystem services (PES) could provide economic incentives for conservation in areas where none presently exist, serving as a foundation for the cooperative, cross-jurisdictional management of migratory species.
- Technical Support to Other Department of the Interior Bureaus: GECSC scientists provide technical support to other agencies looking to incorporate ecosystem services into natural resource planning and decision making. Working with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), we cataloged and tested ecosystem service tools to understand their readiness for bureau-wide use, and are continuing work to incorporate ecosystem services into a BLM master leasing plan. With the National Park Service (NPS), we are similarly testing survey-based methods and biophysical models for ecosystem services for incorporation into the NPS planning process. Our work in mapping ecosystem services in the National Forests can support the ongoing effort by the USDA Forest Service to incorporate ecosystem services into planning, per their 2012 planning rule. Finally GECSC scientists participate in a multi-agency working group to help build a consistent approach to using ecosystem services in federal resource management and planning.
- Linking ridge-to-reef ecosystem services in Hawaii: GECSC scientists are working to model and value the economic benefits provided by Hawaii's coral reefs, connecting changes in land management, rainfall, and ocean conditions under present-day and future scenarios. The work reflects how changes to the land surface impact runoff to coral reefs, affecting diverse values including recreation, coastal storm protection, and fisheries, which will eventually be expanded to provide decision support to diverse settings in the Pacific Islands.
- Integrated Resource Assessment: GECSC scientists are developing and testing a framework to integrate USGS energy and mineral resource assessments with assessments of other biophysical resources to permit consideration of the interplay between management, landscape change, and environmental/economic costs and benefits. This framework endeavors to address the question of how landscape change is likely to impact a suite of resources and how those impacts can be limited via management activities and constraint designations. Many types of landscape change can be accommodated, such as development of an energy/mineral resource, fire, or urban growth.
- Economic accounting for ecosystem services: Natural capital accounting—a tool being used in dozens of countries globally and by the private sector—tracks changes in ecosystem services and directly ties these changes to costs and benefits across different economic sectors. Yet, the compilation of a data, modeling, and valuation infrastructure to support natural capital accounting in the U.S. has not yet occurred. With funding from the USGS Powell Center and National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center, we are developing pilot natural capital accounts for the United States, increasing the delivery of clear and timely information about nature's value to society.
- Publications
Below are publications associated with this project.
Filter Total Items: 27Tools for mapping ecosystem services
Mapping tools have evolved impressively in recent decades. From early computerised mapping techniques to current cloud-based mapping approaches, we have witnessed a technological evolution that has facilitated the democratisation of Geographic Information Systems (GIS). These advances have impacted multiple disciplines including ecosystem service (ES) mapping. The information that feeds differentAuthorsIgnacio Palomo, Mihai Adamescu, Kenneth J. Bagstad, Constantin Cazacu, Hermann Klug, Stoyan NedkovDefining ecosystem assets for natural capital accounting
In natural capital accounting, ecosystems are assets that provide ecosystem services to people. Assets can be measured using both physical and monetary units. In the international System of Environmental-Economic Accounting, ecosystem assets are generally valued on the basis of the net present value of the expected flow of ecosystem services. In this paper we argue that several additional conceptuAuthorsLars Hein, Kenneth J. Bagstad, Bram Edens, Carl Obst, Rixt de Jong, Jan Peter LesschenToward an integrated understanding of perceived biodiversity values and environmental conditions in a national park
In spatial planning and management of protected areas, increased priority is being given to research that integrates social and ecological data. However, public viewpoints of the benefits provided by ecosystems are not easily quantified and often implicitly folded into natural resource management decisions. Drawing on a spatially explicit participatory mapping exercise and a Social Values for EcosAuthorsCarena J. van Riper, Gerard T. Kyle, Benson C. Sherrouse, Kenneth J. Bagstad, Stephen G. SuttonEvaluating alternative methods for biophysical and cultural ecosystem services hotspot mapping in natural resource planning
Context Data for biophysically modeled and Public Participatory GIS (PPGIS)-derived cultural ecosystem services have potential to identify natural resource management synergies and conflicts, but have rarely been combined. Ecosystem service hot/coldspots generated using different methods vary in their spatial extent and connectivity, with important implications. Objectives We map biophysically modAuthorsKenneth J. Bagstad, Darius J. Semmens, Zachary H. Ancona, Benson C. SherrouseA decision framework for identifying models to estimate forest ecosystem services gains from restoration
Restoring degraded forests and agricultural lands has become a global conservation priority. A growing number of tools can quantify ecosystem service tradeoffs associated with forest restoration. This evolving “tools landscape” presents a dilemma: more tools are available, but selecting appropriate tools has become more challenging. We present a Restoration Ecosystem Service Tool Selector (RESTS)AuthorsZachary Christin, Kenneth J. Bagstad, Michael VerdoneSocial-value maps for Arapaho, Roosevelt, Medicine Bow, Routt, and White River National Forests, Colorado and Wyoming
Executive SummaryThe continued pressures of population growth on the life-sustaining, economic, and cultural ecosystem services provided by our national forests, particularly those located near rapidly growing urban areas, present ongoing challenges to forest managers. Achieving an effective assessment of these ecosystem services includes a proper accounting of the ecological, economic, and socialAuthorsZachary H. Ancona, Darius J. Semmens, Benson C. SherrouseQuasi-extinction risk and population targets for the Eastern, migratory population of monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus)
The Eastern, migratory population of monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus), an iconic North American insect, has declined by ~80% over the last decade. The monarch’s multi-generational migration between overwintering grounds in central Mexico and the summer breeding grounds in the northern U.S. and southern Canada is celebrated in all three countries and creates shared management responsibilitiesAuthorsBrice X. Semmens, Darius J. Semmens, Wayne E. Thogmartin, Ruscena Wiederholt, Laura Lopez-Hoffman, James E. Diffendorfer, John M. Pleasants, Karen S. Oberhauser, Orley R. TaylorModeling the effects of urban expansion on natural capital stocks and ecosystem service flows: A case study in the Puget Sound, Washington, USA
Urban expansion and its associated landscape modifications are important drivers of changes in ecosystem service (ES). This study examined the effects of two alternative land use-change development scenarios in the Puget Sound region of Washington State on natural capital stocks and ES flows. Land-use change model outputs served as inputs to five ES models developed using the Artificial IntelligenAuthorsBen Zank, Kenneth J. Bagstad, Brian Voigt, Ferdinando VillaQuantifying and valuing ecosystem services: An application of ARIES to the San Pedro River basin, USA
A large body of research exists that identifies and values ecosystem services - the benefits that ecosystems provide to humans (MA, 2005) - and their underlying ecological processes. However, the development of software decision support tools that integrate ecology, economics and geography that can be independently used within the public, private, academic and NGO sectors is a more recent phenomenAuthorsKenneth J. Bagstad, Darius J. Semmens, Ferdinando Villa, Gary JohnsonLinking biophysical models and public preferences for ecosystem service assessments: a case study for the Southern Rocky Mountains
Through extensive research, ecosystem services have been mapped using both survey-based and biophysical approaches, but comparative mapping of public values and those quantified using models has been lacking. In this paper, we mapped hot and cold spots for perceived and modeled ecosystem services by synthesizing results from a social-values mapping study of residents living near the Pike–San IsabeAuthorsKenneth J. Bagstad, James Reed, Darius J. Semmens, Benson C. Sherrouse, Austin TroyReplacement cost valuation of Northern Pintail (Anas acuta) subsistence harvest in Arctic and sub-Arctic North America
Migratory species provide economically beneficial ecosystem services to people throughout their range, yet often, information is lacking about the magnitude and spatial distribution of these benefits at regional scales. We conducted a case study for Northern Pintails (hereafter pintail) in which we quantified regional and sub-regional economic values of subsistence harvest to indigenous communitieAuthorsJoshua H. Goldstein, Wayne E. Thogmartin, Kenneth J. Bagstad, James A. Dubovsky, Brady J. Mattsson, Darius J. Semmens, Laura López-Hoffman, James E. DiffendorferValidating a method for transferring social values of ecosystem services between public lands in the Rocky Mountain region
With growing pressures on ecosystem services, social values attributed to them are increasingly important to land management decisions. Social values, defined here as perceived values the public ascribes to ecosystem services, particularly cultural services, are generally not accounted for through economic markets or considered alongside economic and ecological values in ecosystem service assessmeAuthorsBenson C. Sherrouse, Darius J. Semmens