Data release for Quantifying ecosystem service flows at multiple scales across the range of a long-distance migratory species
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Resource Abstract:
Migratory species provide ecosystem goods and services throughout their annual cycles, often over long distances. Designing
effective conservation solutions for migratory species requires knowledge of both species ecology and the socioeconomic context
of their migrations. We present a framework built around the concept that migratory species act as carriers, delivering benefit
flows to people throughout their annual cycle that are supported by the network of ecosystems upon which the species depend.
We apply this framework to the monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) migration of eastern North America by calculating their
spatial subsidies. Spatial subsidies are the net ecosystem service flows throughout a species range and a quantitative measure
of the spatial mismatch between the locations where people receive most benefits and the locations of habitats that most support
the species. Results indicate cultural benefits provided by monarchs in the U.S. and Canada are subsidized by migration and
overwintering habitat in Mexico. At a finer scale, throughout the monarch range, habitat in rural landscapes subsidizes urban
residents. Understanding the spatial distribution of benefits derived from and ecological support provided to monarchs and
other migratory species offers a promising means of understanding the costs and benefits associated with conservation across
jurisdictional borders.
Citation
Title Data release for Quantifying ecosystem service flows at multiple scales across the range of a long-distance migratory species
other Citation Details
Cinergi keyword enhanced.File generated at Wed Dec 05 04:15:25 UTC 2018
purpose:
The monarch population decline and correspondingly elevated risk of losing the eastern monarch migration (Semmens et al. 2016)
have galvanized support for conservation across North America, with the Presidents of Mexico and the U.S. and the Prime Minister
of Canada agreeing in 2014 to devise a plan for saving the continent s monarch butterfly migration (Baker and Malkin 2014).
Understanding where conservation efforts are needed from an ecological perspective has been the traditional focus of migratory
species conservation efforts. However, the multi-national conservation effort for monarchs also raises important questions
about who will benefit most from conservation investment, who will be negatively impacted (e.g., the opportunity cost of habitat
protection), and how to balance the costs and benefits of conservation across a species migratory range. The spatial subsidy
approach represents the first quantitative means of addressing these questions within the context of migratory species conservation.
We use the monarch case study to explore how subsidies (net ES flows) can vary in relation to the spatial configuration of
social and ecological boundaries. The shapefile provided can be used to reproduce subsidy calculations or to conduct any further
analysis using the input data outlined in the report.