Associating ecosystem service losses with indicators of toxicity in habitat equivalency analysis.

Habitat equivalency analysis (HEA) was developed as a tool to scale mitigation or restoration when habitat is contaminated by hazardous substances or has been otherwise harmed by anthropogenic activities. Applying HEA involves balancing reductions in habitat quality against gains from restoration actions, and quantifying changes in habitat quality in terms of ecological services. We propose a framework for developing ecological service definitions and measures that incorporate knowledge about the impacts of chemical contaminants on biota.

Scientific and societal considerations in selecting assessment endpoints for environmental decision making.

It is sometimes argued that, from an ecological point of view, population-, community-, and ecosystem-level endpoints are more relevant than individual-level endpoints for assessing the risks posed by human activities to the sustainability of natural resources. Yet society values amenities provided by natural resources that are not necessarily evaluated or protected by assessment tools that focus on higher levels of biological organization. For example, human-caused stressors can adversely affect recreational opportunities that are valued by society even in the absence of detectable population-level reductions in biota.

Polychlorinated biphenyl source attribution in Green Bay, Wisconsin, USA, using multivariate similarity among congener profiles in sediment samples.

Polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) congener concentrations measured in 1,189 sediment samples from Green Bay (MI/WI, USA), Lake Michigan (MI/WI, USA), and the Fox River (WI, USA) were analyzed statistically to evaluate whether PCB congener profiles in outer Green Bay are more similar to those observed in inner Green Bay or Lake Michigan. Similarities among PCB profiles were assessed with complementary multivariate analysis techniques: Principal component analysis (PCA), cluster analysis, and classification trees. The PCA indicated that profiles in outer Green Bay are distinct from those of inner Green Bay or Lake Michigan but are more similar to those of inner Green Bay.

Determining ecological equivalence in service-to-service scaling of salt marsh restoration.

The amount of ecological restoration required to mitigate or compensate for environmental injury or habitat loss is often based on the goal of achieving ecological equivalence. However, few tools are available for estimating the extent of restoration required to achieve habitat services equivalent to those that were lost. This paper describes habitat equivalency analysis (HEA), a habitat-based "service-to-service" approach for determining the amount of restoration needed to compensate for natural resource losses, and examines issues in its application in the case of salt marsh restoration.