“Green” Clams: Estimating the Value of Environmental Benefits (Ecosystems Services) Generated by the Hard Clam Aquaculture Industry in Florida

The millions of species on our planet, including humans, interact with one another in many ways. These interactions among and between species are what define ecosystems. Ecosystems, in turn, provide many environmental benefits or “services” that support human life and well-being. Ecosystem services are the transformation of a set of natural resources (for example, plants and animals, air and water) supplied by ecosystems into beneficial goods and functions that humans value. For example, when fungi, worms, and bacteria transform sunlight, carbon, and nitrogen into fertile soil, this transformation is an ecosystem service provided by those organisms. Scientists know that the value of ecosystem services depends on the resource’s location, necessitating location-specific value estimates for use in informing practical decisionmaking; decisions, such as: Should we require developers to plant more trees? Should more land be set aside to protect species that generate ecosystem services? If we do destroy or impair ecosystem service functions, how much will it cost us to replace those services? Since public resources are needed to satisfy a variety of community needs, valid estimates of ecosystem services that may be provided or impaired by public policy decisions are necessary.