Managing estuaries for ecosystem function

Science for managing ecosystem services: Beyond the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment.

The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) introduced a new framework for analyzing social-ecological systems that has had wide influence in the policy and scientific communities. Studies after the MA are taking up new challenges in the basic science needed to assess, project, and manage flows of ecosystem services and effects on human well-being. Yet, our ability to draw general conclusions rema...

Changes in Community Structure and Ecosystem Function Following Spartina alterniflora Invasion of Pacific Estuaries

One of the most pervasive human impacts to salt marshes around the world is the introduction of nonnative species. Plant introductions to salt marsh systems have resulted in significant changes ranging from species replacement to broad-scale alteration of ecosystem properties. In this chapter, we examine the changes produced by the invasive Atlantic smooth cordgrass Spartina alterniflora in two...

Interdisciplinary research for managing ecosystem services.

L ike all good assessments, the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) provided a state-ofthe-art summary of relevant knowledge, in this case, of the state and trends of the world’s ecosystems. The MA went further by developing a novel framework for analyzing the fundamental relationship between the well-being of human societies and the ecosystem services on which we depend (1). In this issue of ...

Physical ecosystem engineers and the functioning of estuaries and coasts

Role of network analysis in comparative ecosystem ecology of estuaries

Assessments of trophic structure through ecological network analysis (ENA) have been done in a wide variety of estuarine and coastal environments. For example, some have used it to compare trophic structures within ecosystems focusing on temporal conditions (Baird and Ulanowicz 1989; Baird et al. 1998) and among ecosystems focusing on spatial conditions (e.g. Baird and Ulanowicz 1993; Christens...