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Modeling multiple ecosystem services, biodiversity conservation, commodity production, and tradeoffs at landscape scales
Author(s) -
Nelson Erik,
Mendoza Guillermo,
Regetz James,
Polasky Stephen,
Tallis Heather,
Cameron DRichard,
Chan Kai MA,
Daily Gretchen C,
Goldstein Joshua,
Kareiva Peter M,
Lonsdorf Eric,
Naidoo Robin,
Ricketts Taylor H,
Shaw MRebecca
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
frontiers in ecology and the environment
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.918
H-Index - 164
eISSN - 1540-9309
pISSN - 1540-9295
DOI - 10.1890/080023
Subject(s) - ecosystem services , biodiversity , environmental resource management , ecosystem valuation , ecosystem , ecosystem health , ecosystem management , valuation (finance) , business , payment for ecosystem services , environmental science , ecology , finance , biology
Nature provides a wide range of benefits to people. There is increasing consensus about the importance of incorporating these “ecosystem services” into resource management decisions, but quantifying the levels and values of these services has proven difficult. We use a spatially explicit modeling tool, Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs (InVEST), to predict changes in ecosystem services, biodiversity conservation, and commodity production levels. We apply InVEST to stakeholder‐defined scenarios of land‐use/land‐cover change in the Willamette Basin, Oregon. We found that scenarios that received high scores for a variety of ecosystem services also had high scores for biodiversity, suggesting there is little tradeoff between biodiversity conservation and ecosystem services. Scenarios involving more development had higher commodity production values, but lower levels of biodiversity conservation and ecosystem services. However, including payments for carbon sequestration alleviates this tradeoff. Quantifying ecosystem services in a spatially explicit manner, and analyzing tradeoffs between them, can help to make natural resource decisions more effective, efficient, and defensible.