Projecting Changes to Coastal and Estuarine Ecosystem Goods and Services—Models and Tools

Scientists from WED’s Pacific Coastal Ecology Branch in Newport, OR and GED in Gulf Breeze, FL have developed a chapter for the book, “The Theory and Practice of Ecosystem Based Management,” which addresses challenges to implementing ecosystem-based management and integrating the concept of ecosystem goods and services (EGS) into environmental conservation/management. This chapter highlights the importance of forecasting changes to EGS endpoints, presents a suite of models that exemplify this approach at different scales, outlines the domain of models that may offer the most utility to coastal decision-makers, and highlights common difficulties across coastal and estuarine EGS models. The quantity of models and tools that explicitly predict changes to EGS based on alterations to input variables represents only a minor proportion of all models used in coastal and estuarine ecosystems. In an ever-changing environment, this perspective greatly benefits scientists, resource managers, and stakeholders looking to utilize or develop models suited to predict the provision of EGS to coastal communities. This research was conducted under RAP task SHC 2.61.3.

Impact/Purpose

Scientists from WED’s Pacific Coastal Ecology Branch in Newport, OR and GED in Gulf Breeze, FL have developed a chapter for the book, “The Theory and Practice of Ecosystem Based Management,” which addresses challenges to implementing ecosystem-based management and integrating the concept of ecosystem goods and services (EGS) into environmental conservation/management. This chapter highlights the importance of forecasting changes to EGS endpoints, presents a suite of models that exemplify this approach at different scales, outlines the domain of models that may offer the most utility to coastal decision-makers, and highlights common difficulties across coastal and estuarine EGS models. The quantity of models and tools that explicitly predict changes to EGS based on alterations to input variables represents only a minor proportion of all models used in coastal and estuarine ecosystems. In an ever-changing environment, this perspective greatly benefits scientists, resource managers, and stakeholders looking to utilize or develop models suited to predict the provision of EGS to coastal communities. This research was conducted under RAP task SHC 2.61.3.

Citation

Lewis, N., D. Marois, C. Littles, AND R. Fulford. Projecting Changes to Coastal and Estuarine Ecosystem Goods and Services—Models and Tools. Timothy G. O'Higgins, Manuel Lago, Theodore H. DeWitt Ecosystem-Based Management, Ecosystem Services and Aquatic Biodiversity: Theory, Tools and Applications. 235-253, (2020). [DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-45843-0_12]

DOI: Projecting Changes to Coastal and Estuarine Ecosystem Goods and Services—Models and Tools