Browsing by Subject "ecosystem services"

Now showing 1 - 11 of 11
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    Air quality human health impact assessment: modeling and applications for environmental policy
    (2020-05) Thakrar, Sumil
    Exposure to fine particulate matter air pollution (PM2.5) is the largest environmental risk factor for death in the United States and globally. Reducing these deaths is facilitated by better understanding how specific emissions sources affect PM2.5 concentrations, but traditional methods for doing so are computationally demanding and resource intensive. In this presentation, I describe my dissertation research into air quality-related human health impacts through the development and use of reduced complexity models (RCMs) that rapidly estimate changes in PM2.5 concentrations and associated deaths. For my first chapter, I use an RCM (InMAP) to estimate the potential air quality-related human health impacts of growing switchgrass, an important bioenergy feedstock. I find that life cycle air quality-related health impacts of switchgrass production vary greatly by location and fertilizer type, and are driven primarily by ammonia emissions from fertilizer application. For my second chapter, I use InMAP and two other RCMs to estimate the air quality impacts of all domestic, human-caused emissions in the United States to identify promising targets for reducing air quality-related deaths. I find that half of the deaths are attributable to 5 human activities, all in different sectors. Promising policy decisions for reducing the deaths include targets of historical focus, such as coal-powered electricity generation, and emerging targets, such as agricultural emissions and residential solvent use. For my third chapter, I describe the development of an open source RCM (Global InMAP) for use on a global spatial domain. I generate global chemical and meteorological inputs to parametrize Global InMAP, configure its computational grid, and run InMAP on a global emissions inventory to demonstrate its use. Overall, its performance against ground observations is comparable to current global models, but at greatly reduced computational intensity. Global InMAP can be used to further inform policy decisions for reducing air quality-related deaths worldwide.
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    A Changing Climate on Minnesota’s North Shore: Identifying Values, Concerns, & Actions for the Protection & Restoration of Water
    (2019-12) Rutledge, Annamarie
    Community resilience along Minnesota’s North Shore depends upon freshwater ecosystems and the services they provide. Climate change threatens many ecosystem benefits and there is uncertainty regarding how water resources will be affected by a changing climate. By conducting a community design charrette on the North Shore, we identified values, concerns, and actions for water resources through three activities: a pre-survey, Q sort, and collage exercise. The collage exercise brought in human-inspired ideas such as fragility and the North Shore as an identify, a home, and place of work. Based on the results of the Q sort, the study group resonated with the biospheric typology the most, followed by altruistic. The Q sort also generated three narratives that assist in understanding opinion clusters: protection realist, cultural preservationist, and provisioning utilitarian. Consensus statements from the Q sort included natural systems and processes to be sustained and habitat for native fish and wildlife to survive. Out of four water program funding areas, safe drinking water and healthy fish and wildlife populations were identified as top priorities. These findings provide insight into the perspectives of North Shore stakeholders and can be used to inform action and investments in water resources and build productive, collaborative relationships.
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    Data Supporting 'When things don’t add up: quantifying impacts of multiple stressors from individual metabolism to ecosystem processing'
    (2018-01-11) Galic, Nika; Sullivan, Lauren L; Grimm, Volker; Forbes, Valery E; ngalic@umn.edu; Galic, Nika
    These data were produced with an individual-based model of amphipod populations exposed to combinations of hypothetical stressors. Stressors targeted feeding, reproduction, maintenance and growth processes in individual amphipods. We measured body sizes and cumulative reproduction in each individual in the simulation, population abundance and biomass and, finally, amount of unprocessed leaf litter which was consumed by the amphipods. Files contain 20 year time series of those endpoints in different stressor combinations; each combinations was replicated 50 times.
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    From Risk to Resilience: Exploring the potential of ecosystem-based adaptation to deliver social and ecological co-benefits
    (2021-05) Christianson, Anne
    For those most vulnerable to climate change risks, comprehensive climate adaptation interventions that improve well-being are urgently needed. The likely failure of nations to achieve less than 1.5° warming above pre-industrial levels necessitates significant adaptation initiatives. However, these interventions often focus on costly built infrastructure rather than approaching adaptation from a social-ecological systems perspective that takes into account – and takes advantage of – the feedbacks between nature and society. Ecosystem-based adaptation uses ecosystem services to help human communities adapt to climate change, with potential co-benefits including increased well-being and reduced inequality, and increased biodiversity richness. Yet greater understanding is still needed regarding project efficacy. I examine ecosystem-based adaptation at multiple scales; exploring challenges to programming at the institutional level, and using a case study of project implementation in the Mt. Elgon region of Uganda to explore potential gender equity and biodiversity conservation co-benefits. The institutional-level results indicate that ecosystem-based adaptation programming is subject to the same challenges omnipresent in the broader conservation and development fields – including siloed programming, constrained funding, and scale mismatches. In terms project co-benefits, programs often recognize the necessity of incorporating women into decision-making processes, however there is also a need to address the social and structural causes of gendered vulnerabilities on the local level in order to increase community resilience. Lastly, by using the ecosystem services framework to examine project outcomes relating to wildlife, I conclude that ecosystem-based adaptation programs have the potential to deliver conservation co-benefits, but project interventions must account for ecosystem disservices relating to wildlife. These case study results show that while ecosystem-based adaptation co-benefits are possible to achieve, they are not guaranteed. Taken together, this research underscores the need to take a social-ecological system-level approach to program implementation and evaluation, address interconnected social issues at the core of individual-level climate vulnerability, and include local needs, voices, and knowledge in ecosystem-based adaptation project interventions.
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    Lack of functional redundancy in the relationship between microbial diversity and ecosystem functioning
    (Wiley, 2016) Delgado‐Baquerizo, Manuel; Giaramida, Luca; Reich, Peter B; Khachane, Amit N; Hamonts, Kelly; Edwards, Christine; Lawton, Linda A; Singh, Brajesh K
    Biodiversity is declining world-wide with detrimental effects on ecosystems. However, we lack a quantitative understanding of the shape of the relationship between microbial biodiversity and ecosystem function (BEF). This limits our understanding of how microbial diversity depletion can impact key functions for human well-being, including pollutant detoxification. Three independent microcosm experiments were conducted to evaluate the direction (i.e. positive, negative or null) and the shape of the relationships between bacterial diversity and both broad (i.e. microbial respiration) and specialized (i.e. toxin degradation) functions in five Australian and two UK freshwater ecosystems using next-generation sequencing platforms. Reduced bacterial diversity, even after accounting for biomass, caused a decrease in broad (i.e. cumulative microbial respiration) and specialized (biodegradation of two important toxins) functions in all cases. Unlike the positive but decelerating BEF relationship observed most frequently in plants and animals, most evaluated functional measurements were related to bacterial diversity in a non-redundant fashion (e.g. exponentially and/or linearly). Synthesis. Our results suggest that there is a lack of functional redundancy in the relationship between bacterial diversity and ecosystem functioning; thus, the consequences of declining microbial diversity on ecosystem functioning and human welfare have likely been considerably underestimated.
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    Measuring what matters: Assessing the full suite of benefits of OHF investments
    (2021-01-08) Noe, Ryan; Locke, Christina; Host, George; Gorzo, Jessica; Johnson, Lucinda; Lonsdorf, Eric; Grinde, Alexis; Joyce, Michael; Bednar, Josh; Dumke, Josh; Keeler, Bonnie
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    Solar Development of Farmland in Minnesota: Mapping scenarios based on ten metrics at the nexus of solar and agriculture
    (2020-05-18) Ingulsrud, Alex
    The growing use of farmland for solar is an emerging energy policy issue. Solar has opportunity costs to farming, but pollinator friendly solar provides valuable ecosystem services for cleaning up the land use footprint of farming. Policymakers in Minnesota have addressed the issue of site design with pollinator friendly standards. Site location, however, remains an open question, both in the literature and policy sphere. Policymakers should work with utilities to plan the next generation of transmission infrastructure in where land has greater expected net social benefits of solar. To try find where, I have gathered a GIS dataset of farmland in Minnesota and used ten variables, or metrics, to construct and map scenarios of hypothetical solar development by 2030. Scenarios approximate where solar may be developed, if only one factor mattered.
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    Toward Efficient Land-Use Decisions: Impact of Economic Incentives on Ecosystem Services
    (2015-12) Jung, Suhyun
    In this dissertation, I investigate the impact of economic incentives to provide ecosystem services, and discuss potential policies and research methods to increase the net value of ecosystem services. The first two chapters evaluate the impact of economic incentives on deforestation rates and resulting tradeoffs between agricultural production and carbon sequestration in the Brazilian Amazon. I found that the opening of a port facility in Santarém in the Brazilian Amazon resulted in an immediate increase in the deforestation rate, 5.48% increase in 2003, and 11.70% in 2004. The value of carbon released was over $100 million, which exceeds the value of agricultural production within the deforested area. Deforestation rates decreased starting in 2005 with the beginning of the Responsible Soy Project, a joint collaboration between agricultural multinational, Cargill, and an environmental NGO, The Nature Conservancy (TNC). It is less clear whether the decline in the deforestation rate in 2005 and thereafter was due to the project or a reversion to more normal rates of deforestation after the initial burst of land clearing with the port opening. These results emphasize the importance of timing. To be effective, environmental conservation projects should be in place prior to economic development activities that encourage deforestation. The third chapter discusses the importance of including agricultural production cost to calculate economic rent and constructs a globally consistent agricultural production cost data set. Omitting production cost results in overestimates of value from agricultural production and a failure to correctly identify areas with negative profit. Using the correct measure of economic rent is important in making land-use decisions and arriving at efficient land-use patterns. In summary, this dissertation shows that we can use land more efficiently and maximize net value of ecosystem services if we plan in advance and consider the correct value of multiple ecosystem services.
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    Valuing state investments in clean water: An analysis of Minnesota’s Clean Water Fund through the lens of ecosystem services, equity, and climate change
    (2024-06) Keeler, Bonnie; Boiko, Olena; Hohensee, Taylor; Nichols, Rachel; Niehoff, Erin
    This report aims to support strategic planning through the duration of the Clean Water Land and Legacy amendment. Our goal is to provide insights to the Council and legislature to help inform remaining years of the fund, prioritize future allocations, and suggest recommendations for more efficient and equitable management. To address these gaps, we aligned our research with the following three objectives: 1. Estimating ecosystem service benefits of clean water investments, 2. Reviewing integration of climate and equity consideration in watershed planning, and 3. Evaluating potential costs of achieving multiple water quality goals through the expiration of the Clean Water Fund. Work under each objective included review of primary and secondary literatures, spatial data analysis and modeling, review and analysis of watershed plans, and assessment and synthesis of agency and academic data and reports to distill key insights and recommendations relevant for clean water planning and management.
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    What is the Value of Knowing the Value of Water?
    (2019-08) Handmaker, Orli
    This qualitative value of information study seeks to understand why decades worth of information on the economic and social values of clean water has yet to be incorporated into mainstream decision-making. I conducted interviews across private, non-profit, and state government organizations throughout Minnesota to understand how these institutions consider water value information and to discern the factors that determine its utility, relevance, and influence in diverse decision-contexts. I found that all sectors acknowledge the value of clean water, but that awareness of clean water value does not always lead to actions. Challenges with the accessibility, relevance, and credibility of water value information minimize its utility in decision-making; improved collaboration and communication between researchers and decision-makers will help address these barriers. My findings illuminate the shortcomings of economic valuation and highlight how future research can be more influential.
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    Yards as Critical Urban Green Spaces: Understanding Residential Yardscape Uses and Preferences Through an Interdisciplinary Lens
    (2020-06) Barnes, Michael
    Residential yards herein referred to as yardscapes are individually owned and maintained micro landscapes. More abstractly, though, yardscapes are amalgamations where individual, social, and ecological forces coalesce to form complex socio-ecological systems. In the United States alone, yardscapes cover an area the size of the state of Georgia and are the single largest irrigated crop (Milesi et al., 2005). Yardscapes are an obsession for many, an annoyance for some, and actively harmful for others, depending upon one’s perspective (Robbins, 2007). These ubiquitous pieces of the urban ecological landscape have received a considerable amount of attention in the past across three main areas, sociological, psychological, and ecological. From a sociological perspective, the form our yardscapes take is largely determined by current and historical normative influences of what a yardscape should look like (Nassauer, 1995; Nassauer et al., 2009). Norms influence yardscapes through injunctive norms (what ought to be), which describes the general form and function that yardscapes should take (Larson & Brumand, 2014), which generally encourages the preservation of the status quo i.e., yards dominated by large areas of turfgrass. Yardscapes also are influenced by descriptive norms (what is), which influences maintenance regimes and associated behaviors (e.g., fertilizing) to keep a yardscape looking as intended (Fielding et al., 2016; Martini et al., 2015). Yardscapes and associated norms are also reinforced by policies and ordinances that help to maintain the status quo across aesthetics, maintenance, vegetation, and uses (Larson & Brumand, 2014; Sisser et al., 2016). Norms, therefore, are a significant factor when trying to understand yardscapes for both a) the types of yardscapes we observe and b) the subsequent behaviors performed to maintain them. Individual differences, both demographically and psychologically, are also significant drivers of yardscape type choices and behaviors. Sociodemographic factors (i.e., including income, age, and years of residence) have predicted both yardscape type preferences, for example, older and wealthier individuals preferring lush oasis style yards in Phoenix, Arizona (Larson et al., 2017; van den Berg & van Winsum-Westra, 2010) alongside specific yard maintenance behaviors such as individuals with children and pets fertilizing less frequently (Kurz & Baudains, 2012). In addition to sociodemographic factors, environmental attitudes, specifically those focused on stewardship and preservation, have been found to promote pro-environmental behaviors in yardscapes. Individuals with higher preservation and stewardship orientations were more likely to install rain barrels and plant native species (Gao et al., 2016; Knuth et al., 2018). There is also evidence that an individual’s personal need for structure (PNS) can influence the type of yardscape one prefers. Individuals high in PNS have been found to prefer highly manicured and regimented yards (van den Berg & van Winsum-Westra, 2010). Sociodemographic and psychological factors influence individuals along the same two lines as norms driving broad yard typology preferences and specific behaviors. Ecosystem services (ES) and disservices (ED) have risen to become a prominent framework to understand the benefits of landscape-level socio-ecological systems. Although traditionally applied to rural and exurban landscapes, recent work focuses on applying the ES framework, including ED in urban areas (Ruckelshaus et al., 2015; von Döhren & Haase, 2015). ES in urban areas encompass the three main ES sections of cultural services (CES), provisioning services (PES), and regulation and maintenance services (RES) (Haines-Young & Potschin, 2018). Although several studies have investigated homeowner uses and features of their yards (Dahmus & Nelson, 2014a, among others), few have specifically analyzed ES in yardscapes (see Larson et al., 2016). From this body of work, ES in yardscapes could include a variety of services, for example, CES in the form of recreational opportunities (Dahmus & Nelson, 2014b; Dou et al., 2017), PES from edible gardens (Kamiyama et al., 2016), and CES in the form of carbon sequestration from vegetation (Monteiro, 2017). ES then have been applied in moderate success to urban landscapes, and initial evidence suggests their applicability in yardscapes. Despite the growth of research focused on yardscapes over the past decade, most scholarship still approaches these complex landscapes from a singular empirical or methodological perspective. This lack of interdisciplinarity has led to the current body of work being disjointed with some perspectives overrepresented in the literature (e.g., biophysical attributes, social norms). This dissertation takes an interdisciplinary approach to investigate yardscapes. It brings to bear theories and methods from sociology, psychology, and ecology to understand these complex amalgamations of historical and current societal norms, individual differences, and floral and faunal communities from a holistic socio-ecological systems perspective. The work attempts to confirm, fill in gaps, and propose future work in this area relative to the current body of literature.