Abstract
Humanity relies upon ecosystem services, however, the human modification of ecosystems to increase the supply of food and fiber has resulted in the decline of many other ecosystem services. Now individuals, groups and governments are attempting to correct this problem by including other ecosystem services in policies and management. However, most of these approaches are focused on improving the provision of a single or a small group of ecosystem services, for example carbon sequestration, without consideration of how changes in management can alter the supply of other ecosystem services, such as water quality or pollination. The proposed research proposes to develop dynamic models of the interactions among ecosystem services. These models will be closely linked to three empirical case studies of ecosystem service interactions in human dominated landscapes in Sweden, Canada, and South Africa. The landscapes in these cases are composed on agriculture, human settlements, forests and water, making them representative of much of the landscapes that people live in around the world. Our models will improve environmental decision making in these regions, by increasing the ability of people to anticipate the future consequences of their ecological manipulations, as well as identifying ecological opportunities and traps. In addition, these models will directly contribute to future ecological assessments that continue the work of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment.
Sweden