Research Product

Critical habitats for fish and wildlife often are small patches in landscapes, e.g., aquatic vegetation beds, reefs, isolated ponds and wetlands, remnant old growth forests, etc. Yet the same animal populations that depend on these patches for reproduction or survival can be extensive, ranging over large regions, even continents. Whereas the ecological production functions that support these populations can be measured only at fine geographic scales and over brief periods of time, the ecosystem services (provisioning, recreational, aesthetic, biodiversity) are delivered over extensive scales of space and time. These scale mismatches are particularly important for quantifying economic values of ecosystem services. Examples can be seen in fish, shellfish, game, and bird populations. We present concepts and case studies linking production functions of critical habitats to commercial and recreational fishery values by combining site-specific research data with spatial analysis and population models. Specific examples include commercial shrimp and crab fisheries of the Gulf of Mexico, and salmon fisheries in the U.S. Pacific Northwest