Abstract
Managed ecosystems experience vulnerabilities when ecological resilience declines and key flows of ecosystem services become depleted or lost. Drivers of vulnerability often include local management actions in conjunction with other external, larger-scale factors. To translate these concepts to management applications, we developed a conceptual model of feedbacks linking the provision of ecosystem services, their use by society, and anthropogenic change. From this model we derived a method to integrate existing geodata at relevant scales and in locally meaningful ways to provide decision-support for adaptive management efforts. To demonstrate our approach, we conducted a case study assessment of southeast Alaska, where managers are concerned with sustaining fish and wildlife resources in areas where intensive logging disturbance has occurred. Individual datasets were measured as indicators of one of three criteria: ecological capacity to support fish/wildlife populations (provision); human acquisition of fish/wildlife resources (use); and intensity of logging and related land-use change (disturbance). Relationships among these processes were analyzed using two methods—a watershed approach and a high-resolution raster—to identify where provision, use and disturbance were spatially coupled across the landscape. Our results identified very small focal areas of social-ecological coupling that, based on post-logging dynamics and other converging drivers of change, may indicate vulnerability resulting from depletion of ecosystem services. We envision our approach can be used to narrow down where adaptive management might be most beneficial, allowing practitioners with limited funds to prioritize efforts needed to address uncertainty and mitigate vulnerability in managed ecosystems.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Alaback PB. 1982. Dynamics of understory biomass in Sitka spruce-western hemlock forests of southeast Alaska. Ecology 63(6):1932–48
Alaska Department of Fish, Game (ADFG). 1998. Tongass resource assessment. State of Alaska, Juneau. 54 pp
Alessa LN, Kliskey AA, Brown G. 2007. Social-ecological hotspots mapping: a spatial approach for identifying coupled social-ecological space. Landsc Urban Plan. doi:10.1016/j.landurbplan.2007.09.007
Anderies JM, Rodriguez AA, Janssen MA, Cifdaloz O. 2007. Panaceas, uncertainty and the robust control framework in sustainability science. Proc Nat Acad Sci 104:15194–9
Beier CM, Sink SE, Hennon PE, D’Amore DV, Juday GP. 2008. Twentieth-century warming and the dendroclimatology of declining yellow-cedar forests in southeastern Alaska. Can J For Res 38(6):1319–34
Berkes F, Colding J, Folke C. 2003. Introduction. In: Berkes F, Colding J, Folke C, Eds. Navigating social-ecological systems: building resilience for complexity and change. Cambridge (UK): Cambridge University Press
Beschta RL. 1978. Long-term patterns of sediment production following road construction and logging in the Oregon Coast Range. Water Resour Res 14(6):1011–6
Brinkman TJ, Kofinas GP, Chapin FS, Person DK. 2007. Influence of hunter adaptability on resilience of subsistence hunting systems. J Ecol Anthropol 11:58–63
Brown GW, Krygie JT. 1971. Clear-cut logging and sediment production in the Oregon Coast Range. Water Resour Res 7(5):1189–98
Canadian Forest Service. 2001. Scaling national criteria and indicators to the local level. Ottawa: Canadian Forest Service. pp 1–36
Carpenter SR, Brock WA. 2004. Spatial complexity, resilience and policy diversity: fishing on lake-rich landscapes. Ecol Soc 9(1):8. [online] URL: http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol9/iss1/art8/
Carpenter SR, Gunderson LH. 2001. Coping with collapse: ecological and social dynamics in ecosystem management. BioScience 51(6):451–7
Cassman KG, Wood S, Choo PS, Cooper HD, Devendra C, Dixon J, Gaskell J, Khan S, Lal R, Lipper L, Pretty J, Primavera J, Ramankutty N, Viglizzo E, Wiebe K. 2005. Cultivated systems. In: Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, Ed. Ecosystems and human well-being: current state and trends. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp 745–94
Chamberlin TW. 1982. Influence of forest and rangelands management on anadromous fish habitat in western North America—Part 3: Timber Harvest. GTR-PNW-136. US Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. p 36
Claeson SM, Li JL, Compton JE, Bisson PA. 2006. Response of nutrients, biofilm, and benthic insects to salmon carcass addition. Can J Fish Aquat Sci 63:1230–41
Collados C, Duane TP. 1999. Natural capital and quality of life: a model for evaluating the sustainability of alternative regional development paths. Ecol Econ 30:441–60
Colt S, Dugan D, Fay G. 2006. The regional economy of southeast Alaska—final report. Institute of Social and Economic Research, University of Alaska Anchorage. [online] URL: http://www.iser.uaa.alaska.edu
Cook JA, Dawson NG, MacDonald SO. 2006. Conservation of highly fragmented systems: the north temperate Alexander Archipelago. Biol Conserv 133:1–15
Deal RL, Oliver CD, Bormann BT. 1991. Reconstruction of mixed hemlock-spruce stands in coastal southeast Alaska. Can J For Res 21(5):643–54
DeGange AR. 1996. A conservation assessment for the marbled murrelet in southeast Alaska. PNW-GTR-388. USDA Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station, Portland, OR
de Groot R. 1992. Functions of nature: evaluation of nature in environmental planning, management and decision making. Wolters-Nordhoff, Netherlands
Deutsch L, Folke C, Skanberg K. 2003. The critical natural capital of ecosystem performance as insurance for human well-being. Ecol Econ 44:205–17
Erlich PR, Mooney HA. 1983. Extinction, substitution and ecosystem services. BioScience 33(4):248–54
Flanders LS, Cariello J. 2000. Tongass road condition survey report. Tech. Rep. 00-7. Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Juneau, AK, p 53
Folke C, Hammer M, Jansson AM. 1991. Life-support value of ecosystems: a case study of the Baltic Sea Region. Ecol Econ 3:123–37
Gende SM, Edwards RT, Willson MF, Wipfli MS. 2002. Pacific salmon in aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. BioScience 52:917–28
Gucinski H, Furniss MJ, Ziemer RR, Brookes MH. 2001. Forest roads: a synthesis of scientific information. PNW-GTR-509. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station, p 103
Gunderson LH, Holling CS, Peterson G. 2002. Surprises and sustainability: cycles of renewal in the everglades. In: Gunderson LH, Holling CS, Eds. Panarchy: understanding transformations in human and natural systems. Washington: Island Press. pp 315–32
Hartman J. 2002. Economic impact analysis of the seafood industry in southeast Alaska: iImportance, personal income and employment in 1994. Reg. Info. Rep. 5J02-07. Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Juneau
Hanley TA, Robbins CT, Spalinger DE. 1989. Forest habitats and the nutritional ecology of Sitka black-tailed deer: a research synthesis with implications for forest management. PNW-GTR-230. USDA Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 54 pp
Hanley TA, Smith WP, Gende SM. 2005. Maintaining wildlife habitat in southeastern Alaska: implications of new knowledge for forest management and research. Landsc Urban Plan 72:113–33
Hargis CD, Bissonette JA, Turner DL. 1999. The influence of forest fragmentation and landscape pattern on American martens. J Appl Ecol 36:157–72
Haynes RW, Quigley TM. 2001. Broad-scale consequences of land management: Columbia basin example. Forest Ecol Manage 153:179–88
Helfield JM, Naiman RJ. 2001. Effects of salmon-derived nitrogen on riparian forest growth and implications for stream productivity. Ecology 82:2403–9
Hilderbrand GV, Hanley TA, Robbins CT, Schwartz CC. 1999. Role of brown bears (Ursus arctos) in the flow of marine nitrogen into a terrestrial ecosystem. Oecologia 121:546–50
Holling CS, Gunderson LH, Peterson GD. 2002. Sustainability and panarchies. In: Gunderson LH, Holling CS, Eds. Panarchy: understanding transformations in human and natural systems. Washington, London: Island Press
Kramer MG, Hansen AJ, Taper ML, Kissinger EJ. 2001. Abiotic controls on long-term windthrow disturbance and temperate rain forest dynamics in southeast Alaska. Ecology 82(10):2749–68
Lambin EF, Geist HJ, Lepers E. 2003. Dynamics of land-use and land-cover change in tropical regions. Annu Rev Environ Resour 28:505–41
Lambin EF, Turner BL, Geist HJ, others. 2001. The causes of land-use and land-cover change: moving beyond the myths. Glob Environ Change 11:261–9
Lant CL, Kraft SE, Beaulieu J, Bennett D, Loftus T, Nicklow J. 2005. Using GIS-based ecological-economic modeling to evaluate policies affecting agricultural watersheds. Ecol Econ 55(4):467–84
Light SS, Gunderson LJ, Holling CS. 1995. The everglades: evolution of management in a turbulent ecosystem. In: Gunderson LH, Holling CS, Light SS, Eds. Barriers and bridges to the renewal of ecosystems and institutions. New York: Columbia University Press. pp 103–68
Limburg KE, O’Neill RV, Costanza R, Farber S. 2002. Complex systems and valuation. Ecol Econ 41(3):409–20
Low B, Costanza R, Ostrom E, Wilson J, Simon CP. 1999. Human-ecosystem interactions: a dynamic integrated model. Ecol Econ 31:227–42
Ludwig D, Hilborn R, Walters C. 1993. Uncertainty, resource exploitation and conservation: lessons from history. Science 260:17–36
MEA. 2005. Millennium ecosystem assessment: ecosystems and human well-being: synthesis. Washington: Island Press
Mead BR. 1998. Phytomass in southeast Alaska. PNW-RP-505. U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station, Portland, OR
Meehan WR. 1970. Some effects of shade cover on stream temperature in southeast Alaska. Res. Note PNW-113. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Forest and Range Experiment Station. 9 pp
Miller SM, McCollum DW. 1997. Alaska nonresident visitors: their attitudes towards wildlife and wildlife related trip characteristics and economics. Tech. Rep. 97-08. Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Juneau
Neiland BJ. 1971. The forest-bog complex in Southeast Alaska. Vegetatio 22:1–63
Nie M. 2006. Governing the Tongass: national forest conflict and decision-making. Environ Law 36:385–480
Nowacki GJ, Kramer MG. 1998. The effects of wind disturbance on temperate rain forest structure and dynamics of southeast Alaska. Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-421. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station, Portland OR
Ostrom E. 2007. A diagnostic approach for going beyond panaceas. Proc Nat Acad Sci 104:15181–7
Ostrom E, Janssen MA, Anderies JM. 2007. Going beyond panaceas. Proc Nat Acad Sci 104:15176–8
Rudel TK, Coomes OT, Moran E, Achard F, Angelsen A, Xu J, Lambin E. 2005. Forest transitions: towards a global understanding of land use change. Glob Environ Chg 15:23–31
Singh T, Kalra YP. 1977. Impact of pulpwood clearcutting on stream water quality in west central Alberta. In: Swanson RH, Logan PA, Eds. Alberta watershed research program symposium proceedings 1977. Info Rep. NOR-X-176: 272–84; Canadian Forestry Service
Swanson FJ, Dyrness CT. 1975. Impact of clear-cutting and road construction on soil erosion by landslides in the western Cascade Range, Oregon. Geology 3:393–6
Trosper RL. 2003. Policy transformations in the US forest sector, 1970–2000: implications for sustainable use and resilience. In: Berkes F, Colding J, Folke C, Eds. Navigating social-ecological systems: building resilience for complexity and change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp 328–51
Tyler RW, Gibbons DR, Salo EO. 1973. Effect of logging on small streams in the Thorne Bay area of SE Alaska. Loggers Handbook 33:24–6, 78, 96, 98
Viereck LA, Little EL. 1986. Alaska trees and shrubs. Fairbanks: University of Alaska Press. p 273
Walker B, Holling CS, Carpenter SR, Kinzig A. 2004. Resilience, adaptability, and transformability in social-ecological systems. Ecol Soc 9: [online] URL: http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol9/iss2/art5
Walker BH, Gunderson LH, Kinzig AP, Folke C, Carpenter SR, Schultz L. 2006. A handful of heuristics and some propositions for understanding resilience in social ecological systems. Ecol Soc 11(1): [online] URL: http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol11/iss1/art13/
Willson ME, Gende SM. 2000. Nesting success of forest birds in southeast Alaska and adjacent Canada. Condor 102:314–24
Wipfli MS, Hudson JP, Chaloner DT, Caouette JP. 1999. Influence of salmon spawner densities on stream productivity in southeast Alaska. Can J Fish Aq Sci 56:1600–11
Wood-Smith RD, Buffington JM. 1996. Multivariate geomorphic analysis of forest streams: implications for assessment of land use impacts on channel condition. Earth Surf Proc Land 21:277–393
Acknowledgments
We thank D. Albert of The Nature Conservancy Alaska (Juneau) and S. Signell of the Adirondack Ecological Center (SUNY ESF) for their generous assistance with geospatial data and processing. E. Uloth, T. Hanley, A. Brackley, S. Paustian and several anonymous reviewers provided comments that greatly improved the manuscript. This research was supported by the Resilience and Adaptation Program (IGERT, NSF 0114423) at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, and the Communities and Forest Environments Team and Wood Utilization Center of the USDA Forest Service Pacific Northwest Research Station in Juneau and Sitka, AK.
Author contributions
Conceived of or designed study (CMB, TMP, FSC); Performed research (CMB, TMP); Analyzed data (CMB); Contributed new methods or models (CMB, TMP); Wrote the paper (CMB, TMP, FSC).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Beier, C.M., Patterson, T.M. & Chapin, F.S. Ecosystem Services and Emergent Vulnerability in Managed Ecosystems: A Geospatial Decision-Support Tool. Ecosystems 11, 923–938 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-008-9170-z
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-008-9170-z