A synoptic survey of ecosystem services from headwater catchments in the United States

Brian H. Hill, Randall K. Kolka, Frank H. McCormick and Matthew A. Starry

Ecosystem Services, 2014, vol. 7, issue C, 106-115

Abstract: Ecosystem production functions for water supply, climate regulation, and water purification were estimated for 568 headwater streams and their catchments. Results are reported for nine USA ecoregions. Headwater streams represented 74–80% of total catchment stream length. Water supply per unit catchment area was highest in the Northern Appalachian Mountains ecoregion and lowest in the Northern Plains. C, N, and P sequestered in trees were highest in Northern and Southern Appalachian and Western Mountain catchments, but C, N, and P sequestered in soils were highest in the Upper Midwest ecoregion. Catchment denitrification was highest in the Western Mountains. In-stream denitrification was highest in the Temperate Plains. Ecological production functions paired with published economic values for theses services revealed the importance of mountain catchments for water supply, climate regulation, and water purification per unit catchment area. The larger catchment sizes of the plains ecoregions resulted in their higher economic value compared to the other ecoregions. The combined potential economic value across headwater catchments was INT $14,000ha−1yr−1, or INT $30 millionyr−1 per catchment. The economic importance of headwater catchments is even greater considering that our study catchments statistically represent more than 2 million headwater catchments in the continental United States.

Keywords: C sequestration; Climate regulation; Denitrification; Headwater catchments; Water purification; Water supply (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212041613001010
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ecoser:v:7:y:2014:i:c:p:106-115

DOI: 10.1016/j.ecoser.2013.12.004

Access Statistics for this article

Ecosystem Services is currently edited by Leon C Braat

More articles in Ecosystem Services from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().