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Ecological Research Program
Research Programs
Mission
To provide the information needed by decision makers to assess the benefits of ecosystem goods and services to human well-being for inclusion in management alternatives.
Contact
Rick Linthurst (linthurst.rick@epa.gov)
National Program Director
Ecological Research Program
919-541-4909, or
Science Overview
Among the many benefits we receive from nature are clean air and water, flood protection, fertile soil for crop production, and pollination. These ecosystem services are important to our health and our well being, yet they are limited and often taken for granted as being free.
The Ecological Research Program (ERP) in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Research and Development (ORD) is studying ecosystem services to gain a better understanding of how to enhance, protect, and restore the services of nature. Scientists are providing the methods, models and tools needed by policy decision-makers to make clear how our choices affect the type, quality, and magnitude of the services we receive from ecosystems.
Through partnerships with economists, social scientists, and others, the research will provide the monetary, cultural, and health implications to better represent the full value of ecosystem services, if altered. The Ecological Research Program will support EPA's efforts to incorporate gains and losses of ecosystems and their services in its environmental management decisions.
ERP has identified three research focuses to understand ecosystem services at multiple scales and complexity:
- Research on a national scale pollutant (nitrogen)
- Research on a specific ecosystem type (wetlands)
- Ecosystem services research in selected communities
All three approaches offer unique research and valuation challenges.
Nitrogen Research
Nitrogen research will improve understanding of how nitrogen, a regulated pollutant, affects the collection of services derived from ecosystems in both positive and negative ways. For example, excess nitrogen from fertilizers, septic tanks, animal feedlots, automobiles, power plants, and runoff from pavement causes changes in ecosystem services. The research can assist national air and water policy makers in evaluating the most cost effective means of improving human health and protecting ecosystems.
Wetlands Research
Wetlands are protected under a “no net loss” regulation. The primary objective in this research area is to document the range and quantity of wetland services and determine how their position on the landscape alters the provision of ecosystem services. This information can be used to protect and manage wetlands under alternative use options.
Community-Based Research
Four locations in the United States have been identified for study to develop decision tools for regional and local managers to examine the effect of alternative management strategies on the collection of ecosystem services. The concept is to provide information local decision makers need to decide how to use their environment while maintaining the services most highly valued by the community. The research projects are planned for Tampa Bay in Florida, the Upper Midwest, the Willamette River Basin in Oregon, and portions of the North and South Carolina coast lines. The research will provide critical information about the interrelationship of ecosystems and the impacts of different existing or proposed uses on the services they provide. The scientific discoveries will be useful as other communities and regions deal with similar issues of managing nature's finite ecosystem services.