Mapping the margin: comparing marginal values of tropical forest remnants for pollination services

Area of Science:

• Ecology
• Environmental Economics
• Conservation Science

Background:

• Natural ecosystems provide essential services like water purification and crop pollination.
• Current ecosystem service valuation often uses static, average values, limiting their utility for resource decisions.
• Estimating the economic impacts of specific ecosystem changes is crucial for informed management.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and demonstrate an approach for mapping marginal ecosystem service values across landscapes.
• To assess the economic consequences of deforestation on crop pollination services for coffee farms in Costa Rica.
• To identify key forest parcels with high marginal value that may be overlooked by average-value assessments.

Main Methods:

• Developed a novel approach to map marginal values, representing the benefit or cost of the next unit of ecosystem change.
• Utilized a crop pollination model for Costa Rica, simulating deforestation events.
• Analyzed the spatial variation of marginal losses in pollination services and identified forest parcels lacking substitutes.

Main Results:

• Marginal losses in pollination services due to deforestation ranged from $0 to $700 per hectare across the landscape.
• Financial risks for farmers and benefits of forest restoration exhibited significant spatial variation.
• High marginal values were concentrated in specific forest parcels, often those with limited surrounding forest cover (lack of substitutes).

Conclusions:

• The developed approach effectively maps marginal ecosystem service values, revealing critical areas for conservation.
• Understanding marginal values is essential for targeting conservation and restoration efforts to maximize benefits for people and biodiversity.
• The methodology is broadly applicable to various ecosystem services and can inform cost-benefit analyses for conservation strategies.