TY - JOUR
T1 - Piloting urban ecosystem accounting for the United States
AU - Heris, Mehdi
AU - Bagstad, Kenneth J.
AU - Rhodes, Charles
AU - Troy, Austin
AU - Middel, Ariane
AU - Hopkins, Krissy G.
AU - Matuszak, John
N1 - Funding Information:
We acknowledge the support of the NASA Biodiversity and Ecological Forecasting Program (grant no. 80NSSC18K0341) for Heris’ time. Support for Bagstad’s time was provided by the U.S. Geological Survey’s Land Change Science Program. This work was conducted as a part of the “Accounting for U.S. Ecosystem Services at National and Subnational Scales” working group supported by the National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center under funding received from the National Science Foundation (grant no. DBI-1052875) and the U.S. Geological Survey John Wesley Powell Center for Analysis and Synthesis (grant no. GX16EW00ECSV00). The use of any trade, firm, or product names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.
Funding Information:
We acknowledge the support of the NASA Biodiversity and Ecological Forecasting Program (grant no. 80NSSC18K0341) for Heris? time. Support for Bagstad's time was provided by the U.S. Geological Survey's Land Change Science Program. This work was conducted as a part of the ?Accounting for U.S. Ecosystem Services at National and Subnational Scales? working group supported by the National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center under funding received from the National Science Foundation (grant no. DBI-1052875) and the U.S. Geological Survey John Wesley Powell Center for Analysis and Synthesis (grant no. GX16EW00ECSV00). The use of any trade, firm, or product names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020
PY - 2021/4
Y1 - 2021/4
N2 - In this study, we develop urban ecosystem accounts in the U.S., using the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting Experimental Ecosystem Accounting (SEEA EEA) framework. Most ecosystem accounts focus on regional and national scales, which are appropriate for many ecosystem services. However, ecosystems provide substantial services in cities, improving quality of life and contributing to resiliency for substantial parts of the population. Our models estimate energy savings for indoor cooling resulting from heat mitigated by trees and rainfall intercepted by trees. Both models cover major cities in the contiguous U.S. and report the results through physical supply and use tables for multiple accounting periods (2011 and 2016). Using conservative assumptions, urban trees provide substantial heat mitigation (4,098 and 4,229 GWh, valued at $523 and $539 million in 2011 and 2016, respectively) and rainfall interception (2,422 and 2,627 million m3, valued at $434 and $425 million for 2011 and 2016, respectively). Interannual differences largely reflect variations in weather patterns. Our work shows how Earth observation data can support urban ecosystem accounting. We provide model code within a public repository to facilitate model runs elsewhere, enabling the SEEA EEA and Earth observation user communities to reuse our models and provide feedback for improvement.
AB - In this study, we develop urban ecosystem accounts in the U.S., using the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting Experimental Ecosystem Accounting (SEEA EEA) framework. Most ecosystem accounts focus on regional and national scales, which are appropriate for many ecosystem services. However, ecosystems provide substantial services in cities, improving quality of life and contributing to resiliency for substantial parts of the population. Our models estimate energy savings for indoor cooling resulting from heat mitigated by trees and rainfall intercepted by trees. Both models cover major cities in the contiguous U.S. and report the results through physical supply and use tables for multiple accounting periods (2011 and 2016). Using conservative assumptions, urban trees provide substantial heat mitigation (4,098 and 4,229 GWh, valued at $523 and $539 million in 2011 and 2016, respectively) and rainfall interception (2,422 and 2,627 million m3, valued at $434 and $425 million for 2011 and 2016, respectively). Interannual differences largely reflect variations in weather patterns. Our work shows how Earth observation data can support urban ecosystem accounting. We provide model code within a public repository to facilitate model runs elsewhere, enabling the SEEA EEA and Earth observation user communities to reuse our models and provide feedback for improvement.
KW - Experimental ecosystem accounting
KW - Rainfall interception
KW - System of environmental-economic accounting
KW - Urban ecosystem services
KW - Urban heat mitigation
KW - Urban trees
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U2 - 10.1016/j.ecoser.2020.101226
DO - 10.1016/j.ecoser.2020.101226
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85100107119
SN - 2212-0416
VL - 48
JO - Ecosystem Services
JF - Ecosystem Services
M1 - 101226
ER -