The need for ecosystem service data, tools, and information on incorporating ecosystem service information in decision making spans a multiplicity of contexts in DOI public land and water management. The DOI Ecosystem Service Research Agenda is intended to catalogue and categorize existing efforts across the DOI; take into consideration other prescriptions in the DOI Ecosystem Service Workplan; utilize existing work to document ecosystem service research needs, and tie into budget processes and context of DOI bureaus and offices. The Data Gap Analysis should inform the Applied Research Agenda. The general areas of research that will be addressed in the Research Agenda include: Translating ecosystem structure, service functions and [...]
Summary
The need for ecosystem service data, tools, and information on incorporating ecosystem service information in decision making spans a multiplicity of contexts in DOI public land and water management. The DOI Ecosystem Service Research Agenda is intended to catalogue and categorize existing efforts across the DOI; take into consideration other prescriptions in the DOI Ecosystem Service Workplan; utilize existing work to document ecosystem service research needs, and tie into budget processes and context of DOI bureaus and offices. The Data Gap Analysis should inform the Applied Research Agenda.
The general areas of research that will be addressed in the Research Agenda include:
Translating ecosystem structure, service functions and processes into outputs through ecological production functions;
Metrics;
Incorporating non-use aspects of ecosystem services such as existence values;
Valuing cultural resources in monetary or non-monetary terms in the ecosystem services context;
Valuing aesthetic characteristics of resources;
Addressing uncertainty in current measures and future outcomes through the use of adaptive management and other processes;
Making tradeoffs among various categories of costs and benefits (such as balancing the benefits of permitting public lands for low-carbon energy projects against impacts to wildlife and recreation);
Testing promising approaches for educating staff; and
Identifying existing market mechanisms that could be applied in valuing ecosystem services.
This effort is being lead cooperatively by the USGS and the DOI Office of Policy Analysis. The Planning process began in fall 2016 and is expected to continue to spring 2017.
