Total ecosystem services values (TEV) in southwest Florida: The ECOSERVE method

Ecosystem services are the multitude of resources and processes that are supplied by natural ecosystems. This includes a wide range of natural processes that help sustain and fulfill human life, such as: purifying air and water, detoxifying and decomposing wastes in water, pollinating natural vegetation, cycling and moving nutrients, protecting coastal shores from erosion by waves, moderating weather extremes and their impacts, and providing aesthetic beauty and intellectual stimulation that lift the human spirit. A total ecosystem services quantification using the ECOSERVE mapping methodology was developed by the Southwest Florida Regional Planning Council in partnership with the Charlotte Harbor National Estuary Program (CHNEP) and the Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation in the project "Estimating and Forecasting Ecosystem Services within Pine Island Sound, Sanibel Island, Captiva Island, North Captiva Island, Cayo Costa Island, Useppa Island, Other Islands of the Sound, and the Nearshore Gulf of Mexico" (Beever and Walker 2013), linking the derived ecosystem function measurements with a geo-spatially positioned ecosystem services database, derived from wetland functional analyses that are utilized to forecast, evaluate and report trends in wetlands ecosystem services.