ABSTRACT
Ecosystem management requires a systematic, holistic approach that considers ecological and social outcomes. Effective restoration practices promote a balance of ecological and social goals by addressing ecological integrity, efficiently maximizing benefits while minimizing investment, and encompassing collaborative stakeholder engagement. Socio-ecological assessments can inform adaptive management and be utilized to prioritize restoration activities and monitor restoration effectiveness. In estuarine systems, socio-ecological assessments should evaluate the ability of habitats to support both ecologically and locally important species. The composite measure presented utilizes a combination of ecological and social measures to characterize ecological suitability for individual and multiple Gulf of Mexico estuarine species. The ecological suitability value (ES) for a given spatial unit is based on a suite of biophysical measures of the quality and extent of suitable habitat for each species, the species' trophic importance in a food web context, and the importance of each species in relation to stakeholder values and benefits. ES values for individual spatial units can be aggregated to estimate the distribution of ecological suitability at the estuarine scale. The ES values are calculated using examples for each step in the process. The information provided by ecological suitability characterizations can support restoration prioritization decisions for Gulf of Mexico estuaries and can provide a baseline measure to gauge restoration effectiveness over time to inform cumulative restoration assessments.
ABSTRACT
A combination of ecological and socio-economic outcome indicators is essential for understanding and assessing the effectiveness of the remediation and restoration of degraded ecosystems and revitalizing communities that could benefit from these ecosystem management activities. In this paper, we propose and develop a conceptual approach to characterize ecological suitability that incorporates ecological attributes that support ecosystem structural diversity and functionality, stakeholder values and perceptions, and the benefits derived from ecosystem goods and services. A structured literature review was used to identify existing restoration frameworks and indicators to inform the conceptual foundation for characterizing ecological suitability. The structure of the conceptual approach primarily builds from ecological and social attributes in the International Principles and Standards for the Practice of Ecological Restoration (Gann et al., 2019). We provide a conceptual example of the ecological suitability approach in estuaries. This example is based on habitat suitability and food web characterizations in combination with the provisioning of ecosystem services and desired social benefits to prioritize and evaluate restoration effectiveness. This foundational work sets the stage for developing a composite measure of ecological suitability. The holistic conceptual approach presented complements existing information regarding restoration effectiveness evaluations. Characterizing ecological suitability is a novel way to incorporate ecological and social information and communicate potential restoration outcomes to ecosystem managers and stakeholders.
ABSTRACT
Across the United States, development, gentrification, and water quality degradation have altered our access to the coasts, redistributing the benefits from those spaces. Building on prior coastal and green space access research, we examined different populations' relative travel distances to all public coastal access and to public marine swimming beaches across the state of Rhode Island, by race, ethnicity, and socioeconomics. Next, we assessed relative travel distances to high quality public coastal amenities, i.e., sites with no history of water quality impairment. We used three state-level policy attributes to identify sites with the best water quality: Clean Water Act Section 303(d) impaired waters, shellfishing restrictions, and bacterial beach closure histories. Our analysis revealed statewide disparities in access to Rhode Island's public coastal amenities. With robust socioeconomic and geographic controls, race and ethnicity remained strongly correlated to travel distance. Higher proportions of Black and Latinx populations in census block groups were associated with longer travel distances to public access, in particular to public coastal sites with better water quality and to public swimming beaches. This translates to added costs on each trip for areas with higher Black and Latinx populations.
