When, Where, and How Nature Matters for Ecosystem Services: Challenges for the Next Generation of Ecosystem Service Models

Research output: Journal contributionsScientific review articlesResearch

Authors

  • Jesse T. Rieb
  • Rebecca Chaplin-Kramer
  • Gretchen C. Daily
  • Paul R. Armsworth
  • Katrin Böhning-Gaese
  • Aletta Bonn
  • Graeme S. Cumming
  • Felix Eigenbrod
  • Volker Grimm
  • Bethanna M. Jackson
  • Alexandra Marques
  • Subhrendu K. Pattanayak
  • Henrique M. Pereira
  • Garry D. Peterson
  • Taylor H. Ricketts
  • Brian E. Robinson
  • Lisa A. Schulte
  • Ralf Seppelt
  • Monica G. Turner
  • Elena M. Bennett

Many decision-makers are looking to science to clarify how nature supports human well-being. Scientists' responses have typically focused on empirical models of the provision of ecosystem services (ES) and resulting decision-support tools. Although such tools have captured some of the complexities of ES, they can be difficult to adapt to new situations. Globally useful tools that predict the provision of multiple ES under different decision scenarios have proven challenging to develop. Questions from decision-makers and limitations of existing decision-support tools indicate three crucial research frontiers for incorporating cutting-edge ES science into decision-support tools: (1) understanding the complex dynamics of ES in space and time, (2) linking ES provision to human well-being, and (3) determining the potential for technology to substitute for or enhance ES. We explore these frontiers in-depth, explaining why each is important and how existing knowledge at their cutting edges can be incorporated to improve ES decision-making tools.

Original languageEnglish
JournalBioScience
Volume67
Issue number9
Pages (from-to)820-833
Number of pages14
ISSN0006-3568
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 09.2017
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

This article is a joint effort of the working group “sESMOD— Next-Generation Models for Ecosystem Services and Biodiversity” and an outcome of a workshop kindly supported by the Synthesis Centre (sDiv) of the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig (DFG FZT 118). Jesse T. Rieb and Rebecca Chaplin-Kramer contributed equally to this work.

    Research areas

  • decision-making, decision-support tools, ecosystem services, modeling, natural capital
  • Ecosystems Research

DOI