Journal
BIOSCIENCE
Volume 62, Issue 10, Pages 900-909Publisher
OXFORD UNIV PRESS
DOI: 10.1525/bio.2012.62.10.10
Keywords
ecosystem services; ecosystem management; oyster reef habitat; valuation
Categories
Funding
- US Environmental Protection Agency Office of Research and Development [X3-83390301-0]
- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Community-Based Restoration Program [NA07NMF4630136]
- National Science Foundation [OCE-12-03859]
- Directorate For Geosciences
- Division Of Ocean Sciences [1338372] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
- Division Of Ocean Sciences
- Directorate For Geosciences [1203859, 0961929, 0961853] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
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Valuation of ecosystem services can provide evidence of the importance of sustaining and enhancing those resources and the ecosystems that provide them. Long appreciated only as a commercial source of oysters, oyster reefs are now acknowledged for the other services they provide, such as enhancing water quality and stabilizing shorelines. We develop a framework to assess the value of these services. We conservatively estimate that the economic value of oyster reef services, excluding oyster harvesting, is between $5500 and $99,000 per hectare per year and that reefs recover their median restoration costs in 2-14 years. In contrast, when oyster reefs are subjected to destructive oyster harvesting, they do not recover the costs of restoration. Shoreline stabilization is the most valuable potential service, although this value varies greatly by reef location. Quantifying the economic values of ecosystem services provides guidance about when oyster reef restoration is a good use of funds.
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