Elasticity in ecosystem services: exploring the variable relationship between ecosystems and human well-being
Elasticity in ecosystem services: exploring the variable relationship between ecosystems and human well-being
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DOI：
10.5751/es-08173-210211
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发表时间：
2016-01-01
影响因子：
4.1
通讯作者：
McClanahan, Tim R.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Daw, Tim M.;Hicks, Christina C.;McClanahan, Tim R.
尽管生态系统服务越来越被认为是人们从大自然中获得的好处，但我们仍然对它们如何真正增强人类多维福祉以及生态系统变化如何影响福祉知之甚少。我们提出了“生态系统服务弹性”（ES弹性）的概念，描述了人类福祉对生态系统变化的敏感性。 ES 弹性是复杂的社会和生态动态的结果，并且依赖于环境、个体变量，并且可能表现出非线性动态，例如阈值和滞后。我们提出了一个概念框架，通过流量、商品、价值和份额解开生态系统存量的因果关系链，为不同人群的福祉做出贡献。该框架建立在之前的概念之上，但将不同人的多维福祉作为最终要素。这种最终分类的方法强调不同的人如何获得利益以及利益如何满足他们的需求或愿望。将此框架应用于东非单个沿海生态系统服务的案例研究，说明了可能影响 ES 弹性的广泛社会和生态因素。例如，食物网和栖息地动态影响不同渔业生态系统服务对生态变化的敏感性。与此同时，高度的文化重要性或缺乏替代品会增强生态系统的弹性，而阻止获取的社会机制会降低弹性。绘制出链条如何相互关联的图解说明了不同类型的价值和不同人的福祉如何相互关联以及与共同的生态存量如何关联。我们建议，检查各个生态系统服务链可以提出旨在减轻贫困和可持续生态系统的潜在干预措施，同时绘制出链之间的相互联系可以帮助确定可能的生态系统服务权衡以及赢家和输家。我们讨论了应用这样一个框架的概念和实际挑战，并总结了它作为构建生态系统服务和人类福祉跨学科分析的启发式的实用性。
Although ecosystem services are increasingly recognized as benefits people obtain from nature, we still have a poor understanding of how they actually enhance multidimensional human well-being, and how well-being is affected by ecosystem change. We develop a concept of "ecosystem service elasticity" (ES elasticity) that describes the sensitivity of human well-being to changes in ecosystems. ES Elasticity is a result of complex social and ecological dynamics and is context dependent, individually variable, and likely to demonstrate nonlinear dynamics such as thresholds and hysteresis. We present a conceptual framework that unpacks the chain of causality from ecosystem stocks through flows, goods, value, and shares to contribute to the well-being of different people. This framework builds on previous conceptualizations, but places multidimensional well-being of different people as the final element. This ultimately disaggregated approach emphasizes how different people access benefits and how benefits match their needs or aspirations.Applying this framework to case studies of individual coastal ecosystem services in East Africa illustrates a wide range of social and ecological factors that can affect ES elasticity. For example, food web and habitat dynamics affect the sensitivity of different fisheries ecosystem services to ecological change. Meanwhile high cultural significance, or lack of alternatives enhance ES elasticity, while social mechanisms that prevent access can reduce elasticity.Mapping out how chains are interlinked illustrates how different types of value and the well-being of different people are linked to each other and to common ecological stocks. We suggest that examining chains for individual ecosystem services can suggest potential interventions aimed at poverty alleviation and sustainable ecosystems while mapping out of interlinkages between chains can help to identify possible ecosystem service trade-offs and winners and losers. We discuss conceptual and practical challenges of applying such a framework and conclude on its utility as a heuristic for structuring interdisciplinary analysis of ecosystem services and human well-being.