Jacobs, S.

Maris, T.

Meire, P.M.

Oosterlee, L.

Open Marine Archive

 - 61 -
EVALUATION OF ECOSYSTEM SERVICES OF A FRESH WATER TIDAL 
RESTORATION PROJECT 
Oosterlee Lotte, Tom Maris, Sander Jacobs and Patrick Meire 
Ecosystem Management Research Group, Department of Biology, University of Antwerp, 
Universiteitsplein 1c, 2610 Belgium 
E-mail: Lotte.Oosterlee@ua.ac.be 
All over the world estuaries are considered to be economically very important ecosystems that 
provide ecosystem services (Costanza et al., 1997) which for their part contribute to human welfare 
(Fischer et al., 2009). To compensate for losses of estuarine habitat and accompanying services, 
costly investments are often needed. However, not all ecosystem services are replaceable causing a 
decrease in human welfare. World-wide restoration projects and nature development of estuarine 
ecosystems take place to restore the delivery of ecosystem services. Disfunctioning of ecosystems 
corresponds with the reduction or standstill of the delivery of several ecosystem services. To 
determine and evaluate these deliveries an evaluation of the ecosystem is a prerequisite. The 
functions or ecosystem services of intertidal restoration areas were already described in literature 
(De Groot et al., 2002; Cox et al., 2006) and even used as conservation goals of the Schelde 
(Adriaensen et al., 2005). However, the quantification of these services was not performed before. 
In this study three ecosystem services of intertidal habitats, i.e. aeration, nitrogen retention and 
silica delivery, were quantified to evaluate these services. Our study site is a former agricultural area 
that was turned into a flood controlled area with a controlled reduced tide (Cox et al., 2006). Since 
four years, fresh water intertidal mudflats and marshes are developing. Due to the controlled in- 
and outflow through a system of sluices, this site is perfect for mass balance studies. During tidal 
campaigns dissolved oxygen, nitrogen and dissolved silica concentrations were measured several 
times a year after which mass balance studies were performed. The results of these mass balance 
studies show that the study area provides in two functions: aeration and nitrogen retention. Also 
silica delivery was observed when estuarine silica concentrations were limiting. 
 
 
References  
Adriaensen F., S. Van Damme, E. Van den Bergh, D. Van Hove, R. Brys, T. Cox, S. Jacobs, P. Konings, 
J. Maes, T. Maris, W. Mertens, L. Nachtergale, E. Struyf, A. Van Braeckel, P. Meire. 2005. 
'Instandhoudingsdoelstellingen Schelde-estuarium', University of Antwerp, Report Ecobe 05-
R82, Antwerp. 252p. + annexes.  Study was carried out in cooperation with the Institute for 
Nature Conservation, Flemish Community (Department Nature), KULeuven (Laboratory Aquatic 
Ecology).  
Costanza R., R. d'Arge, R. de Groot, S. Farber, M. Grasso, B. Hannon, K. Limburg, S. Naeem, R.V. 
O'Neill, J. Paruelo, R.G. Raskin, P. Sutton, M. van den Belt. 1997. The value of the world's 
ecosystem services and natural capital. Nature 387(6230):255. 
Cox T.J.S., T. Maris, P. De Vleeschauwer, T. De Mulder, K. Soetaert and P. Meire. 2006. Flood control 
areas as an opportunity to restore estuarine habitat. Ecological Engineering 28(1):55-63.  
De Groot R., M.A. Wilson and R.M.J. Boumans. 2002. A typology for the classification, description 
and valuation of ecosystem functions, goods and services. Ecological Economics 41:393-408. 
Fischer B., R.K. Turner and P. Norling. 2009. Defining and classifying ecosystem services. Ecological 
Economics 68(3):643-653. 


Evaluation of ecosystem services of a fresh water tidal restoration project

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Open Marine Archive

Open Marine Archive