Coastal ecosystem services in the Temperate Northern Pacific: An emphasis on beneficiaries

Understanding the portfolio of beneficiaries relying on coastal ecosystem goods and services (EGS) in a given area can facilitate better land-use planning. Within the scientific community, identifying end-users at the onset of EGS studies means that results are more relevant to decision-makers and communities. We used the Final Ecosystem Goods and Services Classification System (FEGS-CS) in a comprehensive review of beneficiary groups represented in existing coastal EGS literature. We focused on peer-reviewed journal articles published prior to 2018 that linked coastal landscape features with human beneficiaries. Of just under 450 articles that were identified worldwide, less than 50 were based in ecoregions of the Temperate North Pacific. These articles contributed 186 lines of evidence linking EGS to specific coastal users within ecoregions of the Temperate North Pacific. The Cortezian and Yellow Sea Ecoregions had the greatest amount of literature evidence for coastal beneficiaries. Conversely, there were no studies identified linking beneficiaries to coastal features in seven of the 17 ecoregions of this realm. The majority of literature evidence addressed indirect EGS (e.g., climate regulation, biodiversity value, etc.), even when specific beneficiaries were also considered. Additionally, zero-inflated linear models and post-hoc comparisons revealed industry, recreational, and subsistence users with significantly more literature evidence than other beneficiary groups. Overall, results provide a snapshot of prominent users of coastal EGS within the Temperate North Pacific, while shedding light on the disparity in knowledge among ecoregions and opportunities for future work.

Impact/Purpose

Management of coastal lands and land-use planning can benefit from a clear understanding of how people use or appreciate the goods and services produced by coastal ecosystems. This presentation demonstrates one method for identifying the uses and users (aka, beneficiaries) of the final ecosystem goods and services produced by estuarine and coastal ecosystems. The approach was to mine the scientific literature to identify observed linkages between coastal habitats and how people used them. This presentation focuses on data from the temperate North Pacific, a geographic area of particular interest to the audience at the PICES North Pacific Marine Science Organization annual meeting. The study revealed that the beneficiary groups most frequently identified as using coastal ecosystem services in that region were industry, recreational, and subsistence users. The study also revealed the need for more data on how people are using coastal habitats in this region in order to better inform coastal land-use management decisions.

Citation

Littles, C., C. Jackson, Ted DeWitt, AND M. Harwell. Coastal ecosystem services in the Temperate Northern Pacific: An emphasis on beneficiaries. To be presented at PICES North Pacific Marine Science Organization annual meeting, VictoriaCBC, October 16 - 27, 2019.