Mark L. Plummer

Assessing benefit transfer for the valuation of ecosystem services

The valuation of ecosystem services can play an important role in conservation planning and ecosystem-based management. Unfortunately, gathering primary, site-specific data is costly. As a result, a popular alternate method is to conduct a “benefit transfer” (applying economic value estimates from one location to a similar site in another location). Among the potential pitfalls of such an approach, the correspondence (or lack thereof) between the locations is probably the most important for evaluating the probable validity of the benefit transfer. A common type of benefit transfer in ecosystem service valuation applies an estimate of value per hectare to all areas having the same land-cover or habitat type, and is particularly susceptible to errors resulting from lack of correspondence. Enhancing the use of benefit transfers in this and other ecosystem service applications requires paying closer attention to simple guidelines, developed by economists, for improving validity and accuracy.

Modeling benefits from nature: using ecosystem services to inform coastal and marine spatial planning

People around the world are looking to marine ecosystems to provide additional benefits to society. As they consider expanding current uses and investing in new ones, new management approaches are needed that will sustain the delivery of the diverse benefits that people want and need. An ecosystem services framework provides metrics for assessing the quantity, quality, and value of benefits obtained from different portfolios of uses. Such a framework has been developed for assessments on land, and is now being developed for application to marine ecosystems. Here, we present marine Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs (InVEST), a new tool to assess (i.e., map, model, and value) multiple services provided by marine ecosystems. It allows one to estimate changes in a suite of services under different management scenarios and to investigate trade-offs among the scenarios, including implications of drivers like climate. We describe key inputs and outputs of each of the component ecosystem service models and present results from an application to the West Coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. The results demonstrate how marine InVEST can be used to help shape the dialogue and inform decision making in a marine spatial planning context.

The Role of Eelgrass in Marine Community Interactions and Ecosystem Services: Results from Ecosystem-Scale Food Web Models

Eelgrass beds provide valuable refuge, foraging, and spawning habitat for many marine species, including valued species such as Pacific salmon (Oncorhynchus spp.), Pacific herring (Clupea pallasi), and Dungeness crab (Metacarcinus magister). We used dynamic simulations in a food web model of central Puget Sound, Washington, USA developed in the Ecopath with Ecosim software, to examine how the marine community may respond to changes in coverage of native eelgrass (Zostera marina), and how these modeled responses can be assessed using an ecosystem services framework, expressing these services with economic currencies in some cases and biological proxies in others. Increased eelgrass coverage was most associated with increases in commercial and recreational fishing with some small decreases in one non-market activity, bird watching. When we considered ecosystem service categories that are aggregations of individual groups of species, we saw little evidence of strong tradeoffs among marine resources; that is, increasing eelgrass coverage was essentially either positive or neutral for all services we examined, although we did not examine terrestrial activities (for example, land use) that affect eelgrass coverage. Within particular service categories, however, we found cases where the responses to changes in eelgrass of individual groups of species that provide the same type of ecosystem service differed both in the magnitude and in the direction of change. This emphasizes the care that should be taken in combining multiple examples of a particular type of ecosystem service into an aggregate measure of that service.

Catching the right wave: evaluating wave energy resources and potential compatibility with existing marine and coastal uses.

Many hope that ocean waves will be a source for clean, safe, reliable and affordable energy, yet wave energy conversion facilities may affect marine ecosystems through a variety of mechanisms, including competition with other human uses. We developed a decision-support tool to assist siting wave energy facilities, which allows the user to balance the need for profitability of the facilities with the need to minimize conflicts with other ocean uses. Our wave energy model quantifies harvestable wave energy and evaluates the net present value (NPV) of a wave energy facility based on a capital investment analysis. The model has a flexible framework and can be easily applied to wave energy projects at local, regional, and global scales. We applied the model and compatibility analysis on the west coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada to provide information for ongoing marine spatial planning, including potential wave energy projects. In particular, we conducted a spatial overlap analysis with a variety of existing uses and ecological characteristics, and a quantitative compatibility analysis with commercial fisheries data. We found that wave power and harvestable wave energy gradually increase offshore as wave conditions intensify. However, areas with high economic potential for wave energy facilities were closer to cable landing points because of the cost of bringing energy ashore and thus in nearshore areas that support a number of different human uses. We show that the maximum combined economic benefit from wave energy and other uses is likely to be realized if wave energy facilities are sited in areas that maximize wave energy NPV and minimize conflict with existing ocean uses. Our tools will help decision-makers explore alternative locations for wave energy facilities by mapping expected wave energy NPV and helping to identify sites that provide maximal returns yet avoid spatial competition with existing ocean uses.

Conceptualization of Social-Ecological Systems of the California Current: An Examination of Interdisciplinary Science Supporting Ecosystem-Based Management

ABSTRACT Improved understanding and management of social-ecological systems (SES) requires collaboration between biophysical and social scientists; however, issues related to research philosophy and approaches, the nature of data, and language hinder interdisciplinary science. Here, we discuss how we used conceptual models to promote interdisciplinary dialogue in support of integrated ecosystem assessments (IEAs) in the California Current ecosystem. Initial con-ceptualizations of the California Current IEA were based on the Driver-Pressure-State-Impact-Response framework. This initial framing was biophysically centered, with humans primarily incorporated as impacts on the system. We wished to move from a conceptualization that portrayed an antagonistic relationship between humans and nature to one that integrated humans and social systems into the IEA framework. We propose a new conceptualization of the California Current that functions across temporal and spatial scales, captures the diverse relationships that typify SESs, and highlights the need for interdisciplinary science. The development of this conceptualization reveals how our understanding of the place and role of people in the ecosystem changed over the course of the history of the California Current IEA. This conceptual model is adaptive and serves to ensure that interdisciplinarity will now be the standard for the California Current IEA and, perhaps, beyond.

Capturing Energy from the Motion of the Ocean in a Crowded Sea

ABSTRACT Conversion to renewable energy sources is a logical response to the increasing pressure to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Ocean wave energy is the least developed renewable energy source, despite having the highest energy per unit area. While many hurdles remain in developing wave energy, assessing potential conflicts and evaluating tradeoffs with the existing uses is essential. Marine planning encompasses a broad array of activities that take place in and affect large marine ecosystems, making it an ideal tool for evaluating wave energy resource use conflicts. In this study, we used a spatially explicit, open source decision support tool to evaluate wave energy facility development off the U.S. west coast. We then used this output to identify potential conflicts between wave energy facilities and the existing marine uses in the context of marine planning. We found that regions with the highest wave energy potential were distant from major cities and that infrastructure limitations (cable landing sites) restrict integration with the existing power grids. We also identified multiple potential conflicts, including commercial fishing, shipping and transportation, and marine conservation areas. While wave energy generation facilities may be economically viable, we must also incorporate costs associated with conflicts that arise with the existing marine uses.

Impacts of Climate Change on Human uses of the Ocean and Ocean Services

The biophysical impacts of climate change on oceans described in Sections 2 and 3 also affect humans and human systems that interact with the ocean. For example, fishing-dependent communities and the national economy are affected by climate-related impacts on populations of marine resources and understanding climate impacts to fish and shellfish stocks enables improved assessment of the impacts of those changes on fishing behaviors, industries, infrastructure, and communities. This leads to one of the limitations in our current ability to assess these socio-economic impacts: uncertainty regarding the rate and magnitude of change in biophysical aspects of marine resources attributable to climate change. The direction of these changes may be clear but the rate and extent, as well as synergistic, antagonistic, or cumulative impacts that result, are less clear.

Modeling Marine Ecosystem Services

Humans benefit from marine systems in diverse ways. Advances in assessing these “ecosystem services” have raised awareness of our dependence on them and their threatened status. We discuss the importance of modeling ecosystem services to inform decisions, place these efforts in the context of coupled social–ecological systems, and highlight unique aspects of marine systems. We explore a variety of approaches to mapping, modeling, and valuing marine ecosystem services and provide four examples of approaches. Modeling marine ecosystem services helps society recognize the benefits of oceans and coasts, appropriately value marine natural capital, and make better choices about its use.

Recreational Demand for Shellfish Harvesting Under Environmental Closures

ABSTRACT The Puget Sound estuary provides one of the most valuable shellfish habitats in the Pacific Northwest, USA. Shellfish are important economically, ecologically, and socially to the Puget Sound basin. The State of Washington manages the safety of shellfish harvest areas by assessing water quality on an ongoing basis and instituting advisories and closures based on water quality thresholds. Managers currently have little information to understand the effect of these closures on harvesting effort or economic values. In order to address this important need, we recently conducted a contingent behavior survey of recreational shellfish harvesters that use Puget Sound beaches. The survey elicited the number of annual trips respondents would expect to take under alternative closure scenarios, including a baseline of no closure. We estimate the demand for recreational trips using a count model system, quantifying the economic value lost to harvesters when beaches are closed due to pollution or biotoxins. JEL Codes: Q53, Q26.

A Framework for Exploring the Role of Bioeconomics on Observed Fishing Patterns and Ecosystem Dynamics

ABSTRACT Understanding the patterns of development of fisheries across trophic levels and their effects on ecosystems is essential for sustainable harvests. We develop an age-structured food web model to explore some of the bioeconomic causes and consequences of fishing patterns. We illustrate some of the model behaviors using a food chain ecosystem, parameterized using species found in the northwest Atlantic. We explore the effects of different relationships between profitability (defined as total profit per unit fishing effort) and trophic level of the target species on ecosystem and fishing dynamics. Across the profitability scenarios we explore, different patterns in ecosystem and fishery dynamics emerge, with greater variability and depletion in ecosystem biomass, greater variability and less yield to the fishery, and more variable profit when lower trophic level are more profitable and subject to more intense fishing pressure. For all scenarios we calculate the mean trophic level of the catch (TLC) in each year (where trends in this metric are often assumed to be an indicator of fishing patterns and ecosystem health) and compare it with the mean trophic level of the ecosystem. The relationship between the TLC and trophic level of the ecosystem varies with the way in which the fishery develops, and also with the particular species, suggesting that the TLC may not be the best indicator of ecosystem dynamics.