A Framework for Assessing Vulnerability of Key Ecological Attributes for Ecosystem Service Provision with a Case Study of Ecosystem Services in Coastal Tidal Marshes

A framework for assessing vulnerability of key ecological attributes of a system: Case study of ecosystems services in coastal wetlands

Impact/Purpose

An EPA-ORD team has developed and demonstrated a general assessment methodology to characterize how major stressors, such as climate stressors or pollution, can affect the production of valued ecosystem services (ES), and how to identify opportunities to improve the resilience of those ES. Ecosystem services are the natural features or processes that people use, enjoy, or appreciate and thereby improve human well-being (e.g., health, economy, fulfillment). A conceptual framework and assessment methodology was developed for identifying the Key Ecological Attributes (KEAs) necessary to produce ES, assessing the vulnerability of KEAs to stressors, and assessing which ecological processes can increase the resilience of KEAs to stressors. The new assessment methodology relies on mining existing information from scientific studies, including journal articles and government agency reports. As a case study application, the team used the method to investigate the vulnerability and resilience of the property protection ES provided by tidal marshes. The team found that several Key Ecological Attributes are vulnerable to storm impacts and sea-level rise, but that other ecological processes can increase the resilience of the KEAs to storms and sea-level rise (such as sediment supply and accretion, plant growth and reproduction, and upland areas where marshes can migrate into). The case study demonstrated how to identify priority end points for condition-assessment monitoring and needs for research to fill critical knowledge gaps. This general assessment methodology is applicable to any ecosystem type, ES, and type of stressor, limited by the availability of published scientific information.

Citation

Folger, C., T. DeWitt, J. Wilson, A. Borde, H. Diefenderfer, G. Rene, AND Matt Harwell. A Framework for Assessing Vulnerability of Key Ecological Attributes for Ecosystem Service Provision with a Case Study of Ecosystem Services in Coastal Tidal Marshes. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, EPA/600/R-24/354, 2025.

• FOLGER-KEA-REPORT_508 COMPLIANT.PDF (PDF)  (NA  pp, 12.7 MB, about PDF)