Using cultural ecosystem services to inform restoration priorities in the Laurentian Great Lakes

Using cultural ecosystem services to inform restoration priorities in the Laurentian Great Lakes

Ecological restoration programs often attempt to maintain or enhance ecosystem services (ES), but fine-scale maps of multiple ES are rarely available to support prioritization among potential projects. Here we use agency reports, citizen science, and social media as data sources to quantify the spat...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Frontiers in ecology and the environment Vol. 13; no. 8; pp. 418 - 424
Main Authors: Allan, J David, Smith, Sigrid DP, McIntyre, Peter B, Joseph, Christine A, Dickinson, Caitlin E, Marino, Adrienne L, Biel, Reuben G, Olson, James C, Doran, Patrick J, Rutherford, Edward S, Adkins, Jeffrey E, Adeyemo, Adesola O
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Ecological Society of America 01-10-2015
Subjects:
Beaches
boating
complement
ecological restoration
Ecosystem services
Ecosystems
Environmental conservation
Freshwater ecosystems
Gross domestic product
humans
Lentic systems
Marine ecosystems
prioritization
Provisioning ecosystem services
RESEARCH COMMUNICATIONS
Shorelines
social networks
sport fishing
tourism
North America
Great Lakes
North America, Great Lakes
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Summary:Ecological restoration programs often attempt to maintain or enhance ecosystem services (ES), but fine-scale maps of multiple ES are rarely available to support prioritization among potential projects. Here we use agency reports, citizen science, and social media as data sources to quantify the spatial distribution of five recreational elements of cultural ES (CES) - sport fishing, recreational boating, birding, beach use, and park visitation - across North America's Laurentian Great Lakes, where current restoration investments exceed US$1.5 billion. These recreational CES are widely yet unevenly distributed, and spatial correlations among all except park visitation indicate that many locations support multiple CES benefits. Collectively, these five service metrics correlate with tourism gross domestic product, indicating that local economies benefit from ecosystem conditions that support CES. However, locations of high recreational CES delivery are often severely affected by environmental stressors, suggesting that either ecosystem condition or human enjoyment of these recreational CES is resilient even to substantial levels of stress. Our analyses show that spatial assessments of recreational CES are an informative complement to ecosystem stress assessments for guiding large-scale restoration efforts.
Bibliography:http://dx.doi.org/10.1890/140328
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ISSN:1540-9295
1540-9309
DOI:10.1890/140328