Assessing, quantifying and valuing the ecosystem services of coastal lagoons

The natural conservation of coastal lagoons is important not only for their ecological importance, but also because of the valuable ecosystem services they provide for human welfare and wellbeing. Coastal lagoons are shallow semi-enclosed systems that support important habitats such as wetlands, mangroves, salt-marshes and seagrass meadows, as well as a rich biodiversity. Coastal lagoons are also complex social-ecological systems with ecosystem services that provide livelihoods, wellbeing and welfare to humans. This study assessed, quantified and valued the ecosystem services of 32 coastal lagoons. The main findings of the study are: (i) the definitions of ecosystem services are still not generally accepted; (ii) the quantification of ecosystem services is made in many different ways, using different units; (iii) the evaluation in monetary terms of some ecosystem service is problematic, often relying on non-monetary evaluation methods; (iv) when ecosystem services are valued in monetary terms, this may represent very different human benefits; and, (v) different aspects of climate change, including increasing temperature, sea-level rise and changes in rainfall patterns threaten the valuable ecosystem services of coastal lagoons.DEVOTES project, from the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme for research, technological development and demonstration [308392]; networks and communities of Eurolag; Future Earth Coasts; SCOR; Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia (FCT) Investigador Programme [IF/00331/2013]; Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia [UID/MAR/04292/2013]; CESAM by FCT/MEC national funds (PIDDAC) [UID/AMB/50017/2013 - POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007638]; FEDER; European Commission, under the 7th Framework Programme through the collaborative research project LAGOONS [283157]; FCT [SFRH/BPD/107823/2015, SFRH/BPD/91494/2012

Pacific Ocean–wide profile of CYP1A1 expression, stable carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios, and organic contaminant burden in sperm whale skin biopsies

This paper is not subject to U.S. copyright. The definitive version was published in Environmental Health Perspectives 119 (2011): 337-343, doi:10.1289/ehp.0901809.Background: Ocean pollution affects marine organisms and ecosystems as well as humans. The International Oceanographic Commission recommends ocean health monitoring programs to investigate the presence of marine contaminants and the health of threatened species and the use of multiple and early-warning biomarker approaches. Objective: We explored the hypothesis that biomarker and contaminant analyses in skin biopsies of the threatened sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus) could reveal geographical trends in exposure on an oceanwide scale. Methods: We analyzed cytochrome P450 1A1 (CYP1A1) expression (by immunohistochemistry), stable nitrogen and carbon isotope ratios (as general indicators of trophic position and latitude, respectively), and contaminant burdens in skin biopsies to explore regional trends in the Pacific Ocean. Results: Biomarker analyses revealed significant regional differences within the Pacific Ocean. CYP1A1 expression was highest in whales from the Galapagos, a United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization World Heritage marine reserve, and was lowest in the sampling sites farthest away from continents. We examined the possible influence of the whales’ sex, diet, or range and other parameters on regional variation in CYP1A1 expression, but data were inconclusive. In general, CYP1A1 expression was not significantly correlated with contaminant burdens in blubber. However, small sample sizes precluded detailed chemical analyses, and power to detect significant associations was limited. Conclusions: Our large-scale monitoring study was successful at identifying regional differences in CYP1A1 expression, providing a baseline for this known biomarker of exposure to aryl hydrocarbon receptor agonists. However, we could not identify factors that explained this variation. Future oceanwide CYP1A1 expression profiles in cetacean skin biopsies are warranted and could reveal whether globally distributed chemicals occur at biochemically relevant concentrations on a global basis, which may provide a measure of ocean integrity.Funding was provided by National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences grant P42-ES-0469, Superfund Basic Research Program grant P42ES007381, NOAA Sea Grant NA86RG0075 R/B-162, and the Ocean Alliance

A historic and multiscale approach to study the ecosystem services of coastal wetlands in Northwest Mexico

My dissertation explores ecosystem services through different time and spatial scales in coastal wetlands of Northwest México. This region of Mexico is currently being subject to radical changes in socioeconomic and environmental issues caused by an increased demand for agricultural and fishing resources. The high demand for natural resources in the region is linked to economic development policies, which promote the exploitation of natural resources. For this reason understanding ecosystem services through different temporal and spatial scales is a necessity for the future welfare of coastal communities and sustainable use of natural resources. Throughout my dissertation I collected interdisciplinary data related to historical ecology, ecology, social sciences and economics to assess the role and importance of coastal ecosystem services. Chapter I focuses on analyzing data from diverse disciplines (e.g. history, archaeology, ecology and current local-ecological knowledge of fishers) to document the history of fisheries exploitation in the Marismas Nacionales, the largest northern mangrove area on the Pacific coast of North America. This approach is necessary in order to understand the current status of fisheries in a region. Here I explored fisheries since Pre-Columbian times to the present. I show the Marismas Nacionales fishery resources and inshore fishing areas have dramatically changed mostly by the excessive fishing effort of the past century. The reduced inshore fishery resources and the increasing fishers population initiated a race to fish and has promoted the use of unsustainable fishing practices among modern fishers. Modern catches show a reduce fish diversity, and lower trophic level fish are today's main catches. Chapter II analyses the current fishery services of seven lagoon-estuarine complexes (LECs) in Northwest Mexico. I show that even though there is a high diversity of species groups found in the LECs fisheries, only a handful have high fishing selectivity and profitability. I also show the area of the LEC is important for fisheries production and that there is a latitudinal gradient for species groups caught in LECs. This information can be used to provide a better understanding of the dynamics of LECs fisheries in Northwest Mexico. Finally, Chapter III analyzes the transnational ecosystem services provided coastal lagoons of Northwest Mexico, as demonstrated by their role for wintering habitat for waterfowl in the Pacific Flyway. This waterfowl are part of a very profitable hunting industry in the United States and Canada. I show that the number of waterfowl harvested in the US is related to the abundance of waterfowl wintering in Mexico. On average, this flow of ecosystem services annually yields US$4.68 million in hunting stamp sales in the western US. Besides I estimated a US$ 3-6 million in consumer surplus produced in addition to governmental stamp sales revenues. My results strongly suggests that waterfowl wintering habitat in western Mexico is economically valuable to US hunters. Because hunters may benefit substantially from these habitats they may be willing to pay for conservation efforts in western Mexico that can result in transnational benefits received in the US. Overall my research provides unique insights on how ecosystem services of coastal wetlands have historically provided subsistence and direct and indirect economic benefits to humans inhabiting nearby and faraway from these ecosystems. Finally my results also emphasize the importance of considering both the social and ecological systems in future management and conservation actions in order to improve the quality and production of ecosystem services provided by coastal wetlands in Northwest Mexic

Tourists perceptions of Caribbean islands facing environmental threats before the COVID-19 health crisis: Holbox Island and Archipelago of Bocas del Toro

Data from the tourists´ surveys were analyzed by summing up the number of responses for each answer category of each survey question. All information was plotted into bar charts. To further explore the differences between the responses of tourists in Holbox and ABT