SYMP 1 - Aquatic Ecosystem Services in a Changing World

Monday, August 7, 2017: 1:30 PM-5:00 PM
Portland Blrm 251, Oregon Convention Center
Organizer:
Marie-Josée Fortin, University of Toronto
Co-organizers:
Pedro R. Peres-Neto, University of Quebec at Montreal; and Stephanie Tomscha, University of British Columbia
Moderator:
Donald A. Jackson, University of Toronto
Aquatic ecosystems are essential for ecosystem services, including the direct ecological, social and economic benefits they provide (e.g. energy, fisheries, drinking water), the regulation they perform (e.g. hydrologic and nutrient regulation, waste processing), and the cultural benefits they deliver (e.g., recreational paddling, swimming, fishing). Managing multiple aquatic ecosystem services and their interactions affected by mounting pressures from land-use and climate change is an urgent challenge, yet synthesis of frameworks for assessing the delivery of aquatic ecosystem services across different spatial and temporal scales is lacking. As aquatic ecosystem services are spatially and temporally dynamic, it is key to account for the uncertainties related to ongoing and future climate and land-use change. Such dynamics among multiple ecosystem services have been largely ignored until recently. Furthermore, aquatic ecosystem services can interact and be affected by terrestrial ecosystems. Hence it is important to integrate knowledge and develop management planning at the interface of terrestrial and aquatic systems (e.g. forest-stream, lake-stream-riparian zones, wetland-land) that may amplify the risk of shortage of aquatic ecosystem services in some regions. Given the synergy among natural fluctuations, natural and man-driven disturbances, and climate change, novel analytical methods are needed to generate early detection of changes in these systems that might impair the delivery of aquatic ecosystem services. The development of conceptual frameworks and analytical tools need to be built upon quantitative indicators of ecosystem health and functions provided by these ecosystems at multiple spatial scales. As each aquatic ecosystem service is subjected to various degree of demands yet have their own spatio-temporal abundance and fluctuation, management at the watershed level could mitigate such local variations enhancing the resilience of aquatic ecosystem services. To better management the interactions and trade-offs among aquatic ecosystem services, it is important to first determine their individual scope and combined interplay. The aim of this symposium is to present (1) the vast range of aquatic ecosystem services and the current state of the science for their quantification, (2) quantitative indicators and analytical tools to integrate the inherent variability of services from multiple scales, and (3) how this integration can be used to build management strategies to ensure ecosystem health.
1:30 PM
 A review of riverine ecosystem service quantification: Research gaps and recommendations
Dalal Hanna, McGill University; Stephanie Tomscha, University of British Columbia; Camille Ouellet Dallaire, McGill University; Elena M. Bennett, McGill University
2:30 PM
 Assessing urban aquatic services in the face of climate-driven extreme events
Nancy Grimm, Arizona State University; Marta Berbés Blásquez, Arizona State University; Chingwen Cheng, Arizona State University; Elizabeth M. Cook, Universidad Austral de Chile; Timon McPhearson, The New School; Lauren E. McPhillips, Arizona State University
3:00 PM
3:10 PM
 Aquatic ecosystem services at multiple scales: A network perspective
Marie-Josée Fortin, University of Toronto; Chris Edge, Toronto and Region Conservation Authority; Donald A. Jackson, University of Toronto; Namrata Shrestha, Toronto and Region Conservation Authority
3:40 PM
 Novel analytical tools to analyse aquatic ecosystem services
Pedro R. Peres-Neto, Concordia University; Nigel Lester, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources
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