Nelson et al. 2009. Modeling multiple ecosystem services, biodiversity conservation, commodity production, and tradeoffs at landscape scales. Front Ecol Environ, 7(1): 4-11.

This paper presents work at the cutting edge of modeling both levels and values of ecosystem services. It demonstrates how the modeling tool, Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs (InVEST) can quantify ecosystem services in a spatially explicit matter and analyze tradeoffs between them in order to make natural resource decisions more effective, efficient and defensible. It applies the InVEST modeling tool to stakeholder-defined scenarios of land-use/land-cover change in the Willamette Basin, Oregon. It goes on to show how this modeling can be used to evaluate various policy levers that can both support the sustained provision of ecosystem services and alleviate tradeoffs between them.

Nelson et al 2009.pdf — PDF document, 766Kb