Ecosystem Services

[NOAA] National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Coastal Services Center. Alternatives for Coastal Development: One Site, Three Scenarios. 2004 May 14. <http://www.csc.noaa.gov/alternatives/>

This website illustrates three different coastal development scenarios: conventional design, conservation design, and new urbanist design. It uses several indicators (water consumption, infrastructure costs, etc.) to compare the economic, environmental, and social differences that result from each approach.

[Daily, GC et al.] 1997. Ecosystem Services: Benefits supplied to human societies by natural ecosystems. Issues in Ecology. Number 2. Ecological Society of America.
<http://www.epa.gov/watertrain/ecosyst.html>

This document focuses on services that natural ecosystems provide for humans such as, seafood, game animals, crops, wood for fuel and building materials, and pharmaceutical products. In addition it looks at the role nature plays in purifying our air and water, climate regulation, soil regeneration, nutrient cycling, and detoxification and decomposition of waste. It is one of the required modules for the US EPA Watershed Academy Certification Program.