&EPA
www.epa.gov/ord
science in ACTION
BUILDING A SCIENTIFIC FOUNDATION FOR SOUND ENVIRONMENTAL DECISIONS
ECOLOGICAL
RESEARCH PROGRAM
RESEARCH TO VALUE ECOSYSTEM SERVICES
Identifying, Quantifying, and Assessing Nature's Benefits
Ecosystem Services
Clean air and water, flood
protection, fertile soil for crop
production, and pollination are
among the many benefits we
receive from nature.
These important ecosystem
services ensure human health and
our well being, but they are
limited and often taken for granted
as being free.
For more than 30 years, the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency
has studied the impacts of human
activities on the environment.
However, the contributions of
nature's services have not been
fully considered by policy makers
and planners, largely because of
the lack of scientific and
socioeconomic knowledge to do
so. There is growing recognition
globally that the full range of
benefits derived from ecosystem
services needs to be considered if
we are to continue to benefit from
them.
Scientists at EPA are studying
ecosystem services to gain a better
understanding of how to enhance,
protect, and restore the services of
nature. Their discoveries are
providing the information needed
by national, regional, and local
decision makers to make clear
how our choices affect the type,
quality, and magnitude of the
services we receive from
ecosystems.
Ecological Research
Program
The Ecological Research Program
(ERP) in EPA's Office of
Research and Development
(ORD) provides research to
support one of the Agency's
highest needs to protect the
environment and human health.
Researchers in the research
program are identifying, mapping,
and modeling ecosystem services
that affect directly and indirectly
our quality of life, now and in the
future. ERP research is leading to
a decision support system that will
provide critical ecological
information on these services.
Through partnerships with
economists, social scientists, and
others, this research contributes to
our understanding of the
monetary, cultural, and health
implications of using ecosystem
services. It enables us to make
decisions that better represent the
full value of these services, if
altered.
ERP has unique ecological
research capabilities, based on
more than a decade of research on
monitoring, diagnostic/modeling,
and restoration of ecosystems.
This expertise and knowledge is
being applied and refocused to
take on the new ecosystem
services research challenge. The
results of this research will
provide the scientific foundation
for others who shape policy and
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Research and Development
continued on back
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&EPA
www.epa.gov/ord
science in ACTION
BUILDING A SCIENTIFIC FOUNDATION FOR SOUND ENVIRONMENTAL DECISION
ECOLOGICAL RESEARCH PROGRAM
continued from front
management actions that protect
public health and the environment.
ERP research will span a five-year
period starting in 2008, guided by
a research strategy and multi-year
plan. The program's research
supports EPA's efforts to
incorporate the valuing of
ecosystem services into its
environmental management
decisions. This valuation
approach is outlined in EPA's
Ecological Benefits Assessment
Strategic Plan.
What research is being
conducted?
ERP has identified three research
approaches: 1) national scale
pollutant research (nitrogen);
2) specific ecosystem type
research (wetlands); and 3)
ecosystem services research in
selected communities. All three
approaches offer unique research
and valuation challenges.
Nitrogen Research - This
research will improve
understanding of how nitrogen, a
regulated pollutant, affects the
collection of services derived from
an ecosystem in both positive and
negative ways. For example,
excess nitrogen from fertilizer,
septic tanks, animal feedlots,
automobiles, power plants, and
runoff from pavement causes
changes in ecosystem services.
The results of this research will
assist national air and water policy
makers in evaluating the most cost
effective means of improving
human health, and ecosystem
services protection.
Wetlands Research - Wetlands
are protected under our nation's
"no net loss" policies. The
primary objective in this research
area is to document the range and
quantity of wetland services
provided by a wide range of
varying types of wetlands and
determine how their position on
the landscape alters the provision
of ecosystem services. This
information can be used to protect
and manage wetlands under
alternative use options.
Community-Based Research -
Four locations in the United States
have been identified for study to
develop decision tools for regional
and local managers to examine the
effect of alternative management
strategies on the collection of
ecosystem services. This research
will provide local decision makers
with the information they need to
decide how to use their
environment while maintaining
the services most highly valued by
their communities. The research
projects are planned for Tampa
Bay in Florida, the Upper
Midwest, the Willamette River
Basin in Oregon, and portions of
the North and South Carolina
coast lines. The research will
provide critical information about
the interrelationship of ecosystems
and the impacts of different
existing or proposed uses on the
services they provide. The
scientific discoveries made will be
useful as other communities and
regions deal with similar issues of
managing nature's finite
ecosystem services and resources.
REFERENCES:
EPA's Ecological Benefits Assessment
Strategic Plan.
http://vosemite.epa.gov/ee/epa/eermfile.nsf/vw
AN/EE-0485-01 .pdf/$File/EE-0485-01 .pdf
CONTACT
Rick Linthurst, Ph.D., Director, Ecological
Research Program, EPA's Office of Research
and Development. 919-541-4909, or
linthurst.rickiSepa.gov
July 2007
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Research and Development
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