Heterogeneity and historic patterns of ecosystem services: Ecological, economic and cultural implications

Background/Question/Methods

Diverse people and cultures view and appreciate ecosystem services (ES) in different ways. Some disproportionately bear the cost or primarily receive the benefits of ES management. Here, we examine historic changes in ES from the perspectives of different relevant constituents (First Nations, other residents, visiting tourists) in coastal British Columbia, Canada. We build our analyses on historical aerial photography, a valuable tool for documenting forest baseline (pre-harvest) conditions in the region. Our methods stretch and broaden conventional approaches to forest ES quantification - specifically as related to mapping and valuation - to address cultural services of importance to First Nations, scenic values as well as non-conventional job creation measures. Our work emphasizes at least two aspects which are often disregarded in such work: the inherent heterogeneity in many ES, as well as the impact of uncertainty in the maps on which many ES assessments are based. We also explore how priority “hotspots” (areas providing multiple services) may differ when viewed from the perspectives of different societal groups.

Results/Conclusions

Our results provide a potentially clearer way to quantify historically under-valued services, and particularly cultural services, which are challenging to quantify. Our results demonstrate less overlap among ES when seen from the perspective of different groups of society. Our results also demonstrate how both quantification and valuation methods may reflect underlying and unquestioned assumptions of various scientific disciplines, resulting in an incomplete understanding of the costs and benefits of our actions. Addressing heterogeneity in both people and ES is critical to truly understanding costs and benefits of ES management, not only historically, but also in subsequent management or restoration decisions.