The need to quantify ecosystem services provided by birds

Journal ArticleWhat are birds worth-what is their actual dollar value to human society? To most of us in the ornithological community, birds are invaluable. But in these times we need more specific rationales to convince policy makers and business leaders to include bird conservation in land-use and development decisions. Over the past two decades, awareness of our dependence on a variety of ecosystem services (natural ecological processes that benefit human society) and of their importance and prevalence has progressed toward the goal of making conservation a mainstream value (Ehrlich and Kennedy 2005, Perrings et al. 2010, Rands et al. 2010, Sodhi and Ehrlich 2010). Building strategies for the protection of ecosystem services into conservation and land-use planning is essentially the promotion of human survival, although many policy makers misinterpret conservation efforts as luxury. Several previous reviews have identified ecosystem services that benefit human society (Costanza et al. 1997, Daily 1997, Pimentel et al. 1997, Sekercioglu 2010). The challenge, however, is to calculate the value of ecosystem services in meaningful and relevant ways that can be used to justify the protection of ecosystem services in land-use recommendations and policy decisions (Daily etal. 2000, 2009). As the case studies below illustrate, recent work on the ecosystem services provided by birds has made good progress toward this goal, but much remains to be done. Our objectives here are to describe the ecosystem services provided by birds, THE NEED TO QUANTIFY ECOSYSTEM SERVICES PROVIDED BY BIRDS highlight recent steps toward quantifying those services, and, finally, suggest directions for future research. Overall, we emphasize that global efforts to conserve bird populations and sustain avian biodiversity also preserve the diverse ecosystem services provided by birds, thus contributing to human well-being

Winter diet of Long-eared Owls at Lost Mound

ID: 9041; IWPF Grant #05-028W issued November 30, 2005INHS Technical Report prepared for Illinois Department of Natural Resource

Upland Bird Communities of Lost Mound Unit of the Upper Mississippi River National Fish and Wildlife Refuge and adjacent areas of the former Savanna Army Depot

ID: 8915; issued July 24, 2001INHS Technical Report prepared for Ed Britton, US Fish and Wildlife Service, Upper Mississippi River Fish and Wildlife Refug

Site fidelity and return rates of Grasshopper Sparrows in Northwest Illinois. Progress Report for the 2004 field season

ID: 9013; issued February 1, 2005INHS Technical Report prepared for Ed Britton and Alan Anderson, US Fish and Wildlife Service. Upper Mississippi River Fish and Wildlife Refuge, Savanna Distric

Breeding Bird Survey of Snakeden Hollow State Fish and Wildlife Area, Knox County, Illinois

ID: 8849; issued July 27, 1999INHS Technical Report prepared for Anne Mankowski, Division of Natural Heritag

Grassland bird surveys at Badget Army Ammunition Plant

ID: 8942; issued October 10, 2002INHS Technical Report prepared for Robert Speaker Natural Resources Specialist Badger Army Ammunition Plan

Breeding birds of the Thomson Grasslands, Carroll and Whiteside Counties, Illinois

INHS Technical Report Prepared for U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; Illinois Department of Natural Resource

Site fidelity and return rates of Grasshopper Sparrows at three sand prairies in Northwest Illinois

issued April 18, 2003Report issued on: April 18 2003INHS Technical Report prepared for Ed Anderson, Natural Heritage Biologis

Seasonal Events at Lost Mound

The Lost Mound Corps of Discovery (LMCD) is an INHS-sponsored program designed to enlist volunteers to document species, seasonal events, and natural changes at specific points of the Lost Mound area. Here we provide some basic information on seasonal events at Lost Mound as a starting point for more detailed efforts.INHS Technical Report Prepared for INH