Branoff Benjamin L, Cicchetti Giancarlo, Jackson Susan, Pryor Margherita, Sharpe Leah M, Shumchenia Emily, Yee Susan H
Gulf Ecosystem Measurement and Modeling Division, Center for Environmental Measurement and Modeling, US Environmental Protection Agency, Gulf Breeze, FL 32561, USA.
Atlantic Coastal Environmental Sciences Division, Office of Research and Development, United States Environmental Protection Agency, Narragansett, RI 02882, USA.
Ecosyst Serv. 2023 Jun 1;61:1-16. doi: 10.1016/j.ecoser.2023.101530.
Accounting for ecosystem services across expansive and diverse landscapes presents unique challenges to managers tasked with navigating and synthesizing the social-ecological dynamics of varied stakeholder interests and ecological functions. One approach to this challenge is through expert based matrices that provide valuations for specific service-habitat combinations. In this study, we combine a literature review with local expert input to build an ecosystem service capacity matrix for the Massachusetts Bays National Estuary Partnership (MassBays). We then apply this matrix to a custom conglomerate land cover data set and a habitat connectivity analysis to assess the spatial and temporal dynamics in select ecosystem services of coastal habitats across MassBays from 1996 to 2016. In 1996, saltmarsh was the primary provider of coastal ecosystem services, representing roughly 60% of the total service capacity. More specifically, high elevation saltmarsh was top-ranked, followed by tidal flats, seagrass, low elevation saltmarsh and unclassified saltmarsh. This distribution of service provisioning varied considerably among the five regions of MassBays, reflecting the unique habitat mixes and local expert valuations of each. Although saltmarsh dominated the overall production of services, seagrass and tidal flats drove 97% of the service changes that occurred from one year to the next. From 1996 to 2016, MassBays lost 50% of its seagrass cover and gained 20% more tidal flats, resulting in a 5% overall loss in ecosystem services. Again, this varied among the five regions, with Cape Cod losing as much as 12% of a given service while the Upper North Shore gained 4% in services overall. We bootstrapped the analysis to provide a range of probable outcomes. We also mapped the changes in service production for each of the sixty-eight embayments. This analysis will aid local managers in accounting for ecosystem services as they develop management plans for their represented stakeholders.
在广阔多样的景观中核算生态系统服务，给负责应对和综合各种利益相关者的社会生态动态及生态功能的管理者带来了独特挑战。应对这一挑战的一种方法是通过基于专家的矩阵，为特定的服务 - 栖息地组合提供估值。在本研究中，我们将文献综述与当地专家的意见相结合，为马萨诸塞湾国家河口伙伴关系（MassBays）构建了一个生态系统服务能力矩阵。然后，我们将此矩阵应用于一个定制的混合土地覆盖数据集和栖息地连通性分析，以评估1996年至2016年期间MassBays沿海栖息地选定生态系统服务的时空动态。1996年，盐沼是沿海生态系统服务的主要提供者，约占总服务能力的60%。更具体地说，高海拔盐沼排名第一，其次是潮滩、海草、低海拔盐沼和未分类盐沼。服务提供的这种分布在MassBays的五个区域之间有很大差异，反映了每个区域独特的栖息地组合和当地专家的估值。尽管盐沼在服务的总体生产中占主导地位，但海草和潮滩推动了每年发生的97%的服务变化。从1996年到2016年，MassBays的海草覆盖面积减少了50%，潮滩面积增加了20%，导致生态系统服务总体损失了5%。同样，这在五个区域之间也有所不同，科德角特定服务损失高达12%，而上北岸的服务总体增加了4%。我们对分析进行了自助法抽样以提供一系列可能的结果。我们还绘制了68个海湾中每个海湾服务生产的变化情况。该分析将有助于当地管理者在为其代表的利益相关者制定管理计划时核算生态系统服务。
