PMID- 30221018
OWN - NLM
STAT- PubMed-not-MEDLINE
LR  - 20230928
IS  - 2150-8925 (Print)
IS  - 2150-8925 (Electronic)
VI  - 8
IP  - 5
DP  - 2017 May 2
TI  - A framework to quantify the strength of ecological links between an environmental 
      stressor and final ecosystem services.
PG  - e01806
LID - 10.1002/ecs2.1806 [doi]
AB  - Anthropogenic stressors such as climate change, increased fire frequency, and 
      pollution drive shifts in ecosystem function and resilience. Scientists generally 
      rely on biological indicators of these stressors to signal that ecosystem 
      conditions have been altered. However, these biological indicators are not always 
      capable of being directly related to ecosystem components that provide benefits 
      to humans and/or can be used to evaluate the cost-benefit of a change in health 
      of the component (ecosystem services). Therefore, we developed the STEPS 
      (STressor - Ecological Production function - final ecosystem Services) Framework 
      to link changes in a biological indicator of a stressor to final ecosystem 
      services. The STEPS framework produces "chains" of ecological components that 
      explore the breadth of impacts resulting from the change of a stressor. Chains 
      are comprised of the biological indicator, the ecological production function 
      (EPF; which uses ecological components to link the biological indicator to a 
      final ecosystem service), and the user group who directly uses, appreciates, or 
      values the component. The framework uses a qualitative score (High, Medium, Low) 
      to describe the Strength of Science (SOS) for the relationship between each 
      component in the EPF. We tested the STEPS Framework within a workshop setting 
      using the exceedance of critical loads of air pollution as a model stressor and 
      the Final Ecosystem Goods and Services Classification System (FEGS-CS) to 
      describe final ecosystem services. We identified chains for four modes of 
      ecological response to deposition: aquatic acidification, aquatic eutrophication, 
      terrestrial acidification, and terrestrial eutrophication. The workshop 
      participants identified 183 unique EPFs linking a change in a biological 
      indicator to a FEGS; and when accounting for the multiple beneficiaries, we ended 
      with 1104 chains. The SOS scores were effective in identifying chains with the 
      highest confidence ranking as well as those where more research is needed. The 
      STEPS framework could be adapted to any system in which a stressor is modifying a 
      biological component. The results of the analysis can be used by the social 
      science community to apply valuation measures to multiple or selected chains, 
      providing a comprehensive analysis of the effects of anthropogenic stressors on 
      measures of human well-being.
FAU - Bell, Michael D
AU  - Bell MD
AD  - Air Resources Division, National Park Service, Lakewood, Colorado 80225, USA.
FAU - Phelan, Jennifer
AU  - Phelan J
AD  - RTI International, 3040 Cornwallis Rd., Research Triangle Park, North Carolina 
      27709, USA.
FAU - Blett, Tamara F
AU  - Blett TF
AD  - Air Resources Division, National Park Service, Lakewood, Colorado 80225, USA.
FAU - Landers, Dixon
AU  - Landers D
AD  - US Environmental Protection Agency, National Health and Environmental Effects 
      Research Laboratory, Western Ecology Division, Corvallis, Oregon 97333, USA.
FAU - Nahlik, Amanda M
AU  - Nahlik AM
AD  - Kenyon College, Department of Biology, Ohio 43022, USA.
FAU - Van Houtven, George
AU  - Van Houtven G
AD  - RTI International, 3040 Cornwallis Rd., Research Triangle Park, North Carolina 
      27709, USA.
FAU - Davis, Christine
AU  - Davis C
AD  - US Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Air and Radiation, Office of Air 
      Quality Planning and Standards, 109 TW Alexander Dr., Research Triangle Park, NC, 
      27709, USA.
FAU - Clark, Christopher M
AU  - Clark CM
AD  - US Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development, National 
      Center for Environmental Assessment, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Washington, DC 
      20004, USA.
FAU - Hewitt, Julie
AU  - Hewitt J
AD  - US Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Water, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, 
      Washington, DC 20004, USA.
LA  - eng
GR  - EPA999999/Intramural EPA/United States
PT  - Journal Article
PL  - United States
TA  - Ecosphere
JT  - Ecosphere (Washington, D.C)
JID - 101596096
PMC - PMC6134850
MID - NIHMS1504297
OTO - NOTNLM
OT  - Acidic Deposition
OT  - Air Quality
OT  - Critical Loads
OT  - Ecological Production Function (EPF)
OT  - Eutrophication
OT  - Nitrogen & Sulfur Deposition
OT  - Science Policy
EDAT- 2017/05/02 00:00
MHDA- 2017/05/02 00:01
PMCR- 2018/09/12
CRDT- 2018/09/18 06:00
PHST- 2018/09/18 06:00 [entrez]
PHST- 2017/05/02 00:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2017/05/02 00:01 [medline]
PHST- 2018/09/12 00:00 [pmc-release]
AID - 10.1002/ecs2.1806 [doi]
PST - ppublish
SO  - Ecosphere. 2017 May 2;8(5):e01806. doi: 10.1002/ecs2.1806.