Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Connecting Landscapes To People: Assessing The Distribution Of Ecosystem Service Flows Using The Span Approach, Gary Wayne Johnson

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

The Service Path Attribution Network (SPAN) framework provides a novel, user-centric, connectivity-based approach to ecosystem service assessment and valuation (ESAV). Ecosystem services are delivered to users through the simulated flow of some service medium (i.e., matter, energy, or information) from the ecosystems in which it originates (sources) to the people or assets which it affects (users). Along the way, the service medium may be absorbed by intervening landscape features (sinks) or captured by rival users.

Crucially, the service medium is not itself an ecosystem service or benefit but rather an agnostic transport mechanism which establishes connectivity between sources, sinks, rival …