 Valuing earthworm contribution to ecosystem services deliveryN.L. Schon and E.J. Dominati Ecosystem Services, 2020, vol. 43, issue C Abstract: The contribution of earthworms to soil quality and the provision of ecosystem services is widely recognised, however, few studies have tried to quantify the value of their contribution. In this study, we use variables measured in a mesocosm study to value the contribution of earthworms to provisioning and regulating services under both sheep grazed and dairy grazed systems using monetary valuation techniques where possible. The contribution of earthworms to ecosystem services were determined using the relative value differences between two earthworm treatments. Earthworms contributed to a number of ecosystem services. The greatest contribution of earthworms in these pastoral systems was through the provision of food quantity (NZD $356–1,001/ha). While we recognise the subjectivity and limitations of economic valuation of ecosystem services, we encourage further studies to bridge the gap between soil ecology, farm system analysis and economics, in order to better understand the relative contributions of soil biodiversity to farm systems. Keywords: Earthworms; Ecosystem services; Economic valuation; Regulating services; Provisioning services (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ecoser:v:43:y:2020:i:c:s2212041620300346 DOI: 10.1016/j.ecoser.2020.101092 Access Statistics for this article Ecosystem Services is currently edited by Leon C Braat More articles in Ecosystem Services from Elsevier |
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