Synthesis of Ecosystem Service Values Based on Biophysical, Ecological, and Socio-Economic Perspectives.

Climate regulation, carbon sequestration, and nutrient cycling ecosystem services are critical to quantify the quality and functioning of ecosystems using biophysical and ecological approaches. But those do not necessarily match the values and beliefs people hold about these ecosystem services. Research gaps exist to integrate biophysical, ecological, and socio-economic perspectives across ecosystem domains covering the atmosphere, biosphere, pedosphere, hydrosphere, and anthroposphere. This study presents a framework to bundle and harmonize ‘biophysical and ecological’ and ‘human perceived benefits’. Our specific objective was to synthesize interactions between ecosystem services under different scenarios. We employed a Bayesian Belief Network (BBN) model that included important system variables and beliefs derived from empirical observations, statistical and quantitative assessments, socio-economic survey results, literature, and expert knowledge. Four distinct scenarios were considered: Grow with Awareness (GA), Gain Economic value (GE), Go toward the Protection (GP), and Business as Usual (BU). A parameter sensitivity analysis revealed the sensitivity of variables towards the selected ecosystem services. The scores of the BBN assessing ecosystem services ranked as following: GA (62.74) > BU (48.73) ~GP (48.51) > GE (-59.08). Scenarios represent imagined possible future outcomes that are highly influenced by the perception and valuation of people, public awareness, decision making, and politics. Focusing on awareness enhancement rather than economic growth allows more room for improving the environment and benefits people derive from them. The synthesis of different realms and perspectives made this BBN ecosystem service study more holistic when compared to more one-sided environment investigations.