Browsing by Subject "Ecosystem service"
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Item Open Access An Evaluation of Ranch and Farm Operator Attitudes towards Emerging Ecosystem Service Markets in California and Eastern North Carolina(2011-04-29) Parkhurst, BenThis master’s project adds to the body of research on potential participation in emerging markets for ecosystem services. In particular, it addresses two questions: 1) Are ranch and farm- operators interested in new payments for ecosystem service (PES) programs in California? 2) Are there differences in rancher and farm-operator attitudes between California and North Carolina? To answer these questions, a survey with156 responses was analyzed to examine the similarities and differences in attitudes towards past, current, and future payments for ecosystem service programs in California. The survey examined the potential use of market-based incentives to encourage greater conservation efforts by private landowners. The results of this survey were then compared to the results from a similar survey in North Carolina. The results show that ranch and farm operators are interested in potential payments for ecosystem service programs and that they will be more likely to participate in programs with shorter contract lengths and higher payment levels. Specifically, for every year added to the contracts, $.81/acre should be provided in additional compensation. The conservation organization was the preferred program administrator in California, followed by a private company, a federal agency, and a state agency. In North Carolina, the preferences for contract length and payments were similar, but the preference for program administrator was the exact opposite, with the state agency being the preferred administrator. The best predictors of potential participation in new PES programs in both states were age and total number of programs currently enrolled in. Young ranchers and farmers who are already enrolled in conservation programs are most likely to participate in future programs. These results highlight the importance of understanding the preferences of potential participants before implementing new PES programs. In addition, preferences for PES programs may differ by state, and preferences for administrators may differ depending on local relationships. Lastly, outreach needs to be a significant component of payments for ecosystem service programs so that potential participants know what programs are available and how to enroll in them.Item Open Access Ecosystem Service Analysis of Duke Forest(2022-04-22) Hayashi, Shouta; Horrigan, EamonOur team was tasked with evaluating the quantitative and monetary value of ecosystem services offered by the Duke Forest. Our client, the Duke Forest, manages and actively harvests 7,100 acres of timberlands used for research, education, and recreation by Duke University and the broader community. The overall purpose of assessing these services is to communicate the importance of the Duke Forest and offer implications for resource management. The term “ecosystem service” refers to benefits humans obtain from nature, and it is categorized into four different services; provisioning service; regulating service; supporting service; cultural service. Based on the client’s requests, we analyzed a subset of ecosystem services provided by the Duke Forest – carbon storage and sequestration, which have an important implication for climate change mitigation, and nutrient and sediment retention, which contribute to downstream water quality improvement. For spatial analysis of the focal ecosystem services, we used the InVEST suite of models, developed by the Natural Capital Project at Stanford University. We used the InVEST Carbon Storage & Sequestration model to spatially assess carbon storage and sequestration in the Duke Forest. For the land cover/ land use data input, we used spatial forest class and age data provided by the client. We referred to a USDA study to estimate carbon storage for the different forest types and age classes in the spatial data input and to populate the carbon pool table, another input of the InVEST carbon model. The monetary values of carbon storage and sequestration were estimated with the average carbon credit value for forestry projects from the World Bank, as well as with two domestic markets: the California Cap and Trade (CaT) and Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a regional northeastern US market. For assessment of water quality improvement, we ran the InVEST Nutrient Delivery Ratio (NDR) and Sediment Delivery Ratio (SDR) models to estimate phosphorus, nitrogen, and sediment export across four 10-digit HUC watersheds which Duke Forest occupies. Model calculations are determined by hydrological modelling, as well as biophysical statistics on a variety of land use/land cover classes. SDR results were used to produce a monetary estimation of Duke Forest’s contribution to sediment retention using estimates of Neuse River water treatment facility cost savings from reductions in turbidity. InVEST Carbon modelling estimated a total of 543,000 tons of carbon being stored across all Duke Forest divisions at an average of 80 tons per acre. The highest storage rates were observed in the Oosting Natural Area at 94 tons per acre and the lowest storage rates were seen in the Hillsboro division at 71 tons per acre. Using the value of carbon offset projects from terrestrial forests globally, this total storage is estimated to be worth over $15 million in value. In terms of domestic carbon offset markets across all projects, this value is estimated to be even greater: ranging from $17.3 to 35.8 million. Our future projections of carbon for the next 50 years revealed an estimate of 2,000 tons being stored yearly, equaling about $56,000 in monetary value using the global estimate for forestry offset projects. Results from NDR and SDR indicated Duke Forest’s contribution to downstream water quality protection and improvement. NDR estimated nutrient export rate in the Duke Forest is significantly lower than the watershed average. Average nitrogen export values in the Duke Forest in each of the four watersheds were lower than the average value in the watersheds by 25.7% - 44.7%. Mean phosphorus export values in the Duke Forest were lower than the watersheds by 67.3% - 83.1%. Similarly, SDR estimated sediment export rate in the Duke Forest significantly lower than the watersheds, by 78.8% ~ 98.4%. The monetary value of sediment retention based on turbidity reduction was estimated to be worth $43,000 and $113,000 annually in two different alternative land use scenarios. The greatest annual value was found in the B Everett Jordan Lake – New Hope River basin, where Duke Forest’s sediment buffering was valued at $26,000 and $50,000 in the two scenarios. For communication of significance and key results of this project to a broader audience, we developed a StoryMap on ArcGIS Oline. This StoryMap includes a brief description of the Duke Forest, an introductory explanation of ecosystem services, and key results from our analysis. It uses plain language and visual materials so audiences without a strong background can become interested in and grasp the benefits the Duke Forest provides the larger region. Future work on ecosystem service analysis in Duke Forest should focus on collecting accurate field data to refine the biophysical statistics which drive all the models we ran, rather than using values found in the literature. In addition, assessment of other ecosystem services offered by the Duke Forest would complement the results of this analysis. Final recommendations for the client include conservatively managing older stands with high carbon stocks, tracking opportunities to become involved in carbon offsets, and mitigating erosion during timber harvests.Item Open Access NatuReturn: An Environmental Management Tool(2019-04-11) Pietruszynski, DavidThe explosive growth in data analytics driven by software and computing innovation enables powerful tools for environmental managers who plan, execute, and monitor projects. In the past costly and frequently protracted impact studies were necessary as part of the initial planning for projects. In this study, a prototype tool was developed that assists environmental managers by predicting a project’s return-on-investment and providing a risk assessment using historical and current environmental data early in the planning process. By synthesizing this information, potential projects can be evaluated and compared, giving stakeholders a quantitative ability to set priorities and determine where to allocate limited funds. The goal of this feasibility study was the completion of a GIS-based tool that builds on the existing methods of ecosystem service modeling by adding cost, schedule (time), and risk. By using oyster reef restoration as an example, the complexity of the tool, the difficulty of assembling relevant and accurate data, the database management challenges, the usefulness of the tool in general environmental projects, and the tool’s scalability are examined.Item Open Access The Welfare Effects of Hypoxia in the North Carolina Brown Shrimp Fishery(2008-04-25T18:36:05Z) Nichols, LaurenIt is well known that hypoxia undermines the ecosystem functions of estuarine and marine environments. However, understanding the economic effects of hypoxia is critical to evaluating consequences for marine resources and fisheries. The Neuse River estuary, with increasing levels of anthropogenic nutrient loading from waste water treatment plants and confined animal feeding operations, has historically experienced periods of severe hypoxia. This estuarine ecosystem also provides essential nursery habitat for North Carolina’s most important commercial shrimp species, the brown shrimp (Farfantepenaeus aztecus). Previous research has shown a causal relationship between severe levels of hypoxia and increased mortality and avoidance behavior among fish and crustacean species. Furthermore, moderate levels of hypoxia have been associated with reduced metabolism and growth rates in brown shrimp. This research estimates the economic effect of hypoxia induced habitat degradation on the North Carolina brown shrimp fishery through econometric modeling of supply and demand. Based on this analysis, the demand for NC brown shrimp appears perfectly elastic and determined mostly by the world market, and that the supply is inelastic, determined by environmental factors. Furthermore, a hypothetical 30% reduction in hypoxic days would increase producer surplus by almost $2.5 million annually. This suggests that in this overcapitalized fishery, reductions in hypoxia could be a valuable mechanism to increase rents to fishers, assuming further entry is prohibited. These results also highlight the need for a continued focus on whole ecosystem based management regarding North Carolina fisheries, and greater alignment of land use policy and fishery habitat conservation goals in the Neuse River estuary.Item Open Access Trading Carbon and Water Through Vegetation Shifts(2011) Kim, John H.In this dissertation, I explored the effects of vegetation type on ecosystem services, focusing on services with significant potential to mitigate global environmental challenges: carbon sequestration and groundwater recharge. I analyzed >600 estimates of groundwater recharge to obtain the first global combined analysis of groundwater recharge and vegetation type. Using a regression model, I found that vegetation was the second best predictor of recharge after precipitation. Recharge rates were lowest under forests, intermediate in grasslands, and highest under croplands. The differences between vegetation types were higher in more humid climates and sandy soils but proportionately, the differences between vegetation types were higher in more arid climates and clayey soils. My extensive field estimates of recharge under paired vegetation types in central Argentina and southwestern United States provided a more direct test of the relationships between vegetation and recharge. The field data confirmed the strong influences of vegetation and its interactions with abiotic factors on recharge observed in the synthesis. The results indicate that vegetation shifts have a proportionately larger potential to affect recharge in more arid climates and clayey soils.
At the same study systems, I compared my field estimates of recharge to organic carbon stocks (in biomass, litter and soil) under the different vegetation types to evaluate tradeoffs between carbon sequestration and groundwater recharge as affected by vegetation shifts. To determine net values of vegetation shifts, I combined the changes in carbon and water with reported economic values of the ecosystem services. Based on physiological tradeoffs between photosynthesis and transpiration in plants, I hypothesized that vegetation promoting carbon storage would reduce recharge and vice versa. Changes in water and carbon services were inversely proportional, with rain-fed cultivation increasing groundwater recharge but decreasing carbon storage compared to the grasslands they replaced whereas woody encroachment did the opposite. In contrast, cultivated plots irrigated with ground water decreased both ecosystem services. Higher precipitation and clay content both exacerbated changes in carbon storage with grassland conversions, whereas higher precipitation accentuated, but higher clay content diminished, those in recharge. Regardless of the nature of vegetation shift, most of the net values of grassland conversions were negative, with the shifts representing increasing costs in the following order: woody encroachment, rain-fed cultivation and irrigated cultivation. Values of changes in carbon were greater in magnitude than those of recharge, indicating that establishment of carbon markets may drive land-use changes in grasslands over water markets.
Lastly, I examined the effects of changes in subsurface hydrology resulting from grassland conversion to croplands on soil inorganic carbon stocks in the same U.S. study system. I observed significantly lower inorganic carbon stocks under both rain-fed and irrigated croplands compared to the grasslands they replaced. The losses were visible to past 6 m depth in the soil profile and were uncharacteristically rapid for the carbon pool that is considered to be relatively inert. Based on the negative relationship between the inorganic carbon stocks and recharge rates and higher estimated exports of bicarbonates in recharge under croplands, I concluded that increased recharge with cultivation resulted in dissolution and leaching of grassland soil carbonates. Ecosystem services and their relationships to biotic and abiotic factors quantified here will further our understanding of the tradeoffs and interactions between the two services through vegetation shifts.