Abstracts

Presented by Tom O'Halloran - Email: tohallo@clemson.edu

In North America, there is a long history of managing wetlands for waterfowl habitat. The economic values of waterfowl hunting, wildlife viewing, fishing, and crustacean harvest have heretofore sustained conservation and management of these systems. However, climate change, land use change, and in the case of coastal ecosystems, sea level rise, are creating new dimensions to the economics of managing wetlands for waterfowl. Here, we outline a strategy for new research that would integrate regionally-specific ecosystem services in an economic framework that provides a quantitative assessment of the pros and cons of specific management strategies in existing impounded wetlands and new impoundments that may emerge inland with sea-level rise. Potential foci include: habitat provisioning for waterfowl and other wildlife, climate mitigation via carbon and greenhouse gas exchange, water purification and storage and the cultural preservation value of historic landscapes.