Parcel Management and Perceived Ecosystem Services and Disservices in the Exurbs of a Midwestern County in the United States

Amélie Yvonne Davis, Andrew Freund, Sarah Lynn Dumyahn, Ryan Mendoza, Aura Muniz Torres and Michelle Dawn Boone
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Amélie Yvonne Davis: Department of Geography, Miami University, 250 South Patterson Avenue, Oxford, OH 45056, USA
Andrew Freund: Department of Geography, Miami University, 250 South Patterson Avenue, Oxford, OH 45056, USA
Sarah Lynn Dumyahn: Institute for the Environment and Sustainability, Miami University, 250 South Patterson Avenue, Oxford, OH 45056, USA
Ryan Mendoza: Department of Geography, Miami University, 250 South Patterson Avenue, Oxford, OH 45056, USA
Aura Muniz Torres: Department of Biology, Miami University, 212 Pearson Hall, Oxford, OH 45056, USA
Michelle Dawn Boone: Department of Biology, Miami University, 212 Pearson Hall, Oxford, OH 45056, USA

Land, 2021, vol. 10, issue 5, 1-17

Abstract: Exurban development is a prominent land use in the United States of America, particularly in the Midwest, where much of it occurs on farmland and remnant woodlands. While exurbanization may affect ecosystem services, its impact could be modulated by management decisions made by residents. We aimed to uncover how exurban residents in a midwestern county perceived ecosystem services and disservices provided by their property based on 26 semi-structured interviews of landowners on parcels between 1 and 20 acres with a pond in unincorporated areas. We found the ecosystem services people associated most with their land are classified as cultural services (dominated by recreation services), while the most common mentioned disservices were classified as regulating disservices. Many ecosystem services that would be categorized as supporting or regulating services were not mentioned by interviewees, including microclimate stabilization, carbon sequestration, disease regulation, and maintenance of genetic diversity. Residents spent an average of 1.4 h/acre each week managing their properties. However, as parcel size and forest cover increased, the residents reported managing less surface area. Our study suggested that residents cultivate landscape features that directly benefit them and view many of the services that benefit regional biodiversity and ecosystem processes as disservices, which, to rectify, may require coordinated landscape-level management or local policies/incentives.

Keywords: peri-urban; human–environment interaction; urban ecosystems; yard decisions; small ponds; coupled natural–human systems; rural sprawl; exurban; exurbs; exurbia (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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