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Abstract Invasive species significantly impact biodiversity and ecosystem services, yet understanding these effects at large spatial scales remains a challenge. Our study addresses this gap by assessing the current and potential future risks posed by 94 invasive species to seven key ecosystem services in Europe. We demonstrate widespread potential impacts, particularly on outdoor recreation, habitat maintenance, crop provisioning, and soil and nitrogen retention. Exposure to invasive species was higher in areas with lower provision of ecosystem services, particularly for regulating and cultural services. Exposure was also high in areas where ecosystem contributions to crop provision and nitrogen retention were at their highest. Notably, regions vital for ecosystem services currently have low invasion suitability, but face an average 77% increase in potential invasion area. Here we show that, while high-value ecosystem service areas at the highest risk represent a small fraction of Europe (0-13%), they are disproportionally important for service conservation. Our study underscores the importance of monitoring and protecting these hotspots to align management strategies with international biodiversity targets, considering both invasion vulnerability and ecosystem service sustainability.
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This content will become publicly available on March 1, 2026
Not Always an Amenity: Green Stormwater Infrastructure Provides Highly Variable Ecosystem Services in Both Regulatory and Voluntary Contexts
Green stormwater infrastructure (GSI) is advocated for its potential to provide multiple ecosystem services, including stormwater runoff mitigation, wildlife habitat, and aesthetic value. However, the provision of these ecosystem services depends on both facility design and maintenance, which may vary based on whether GSI was installed to fulfill regulatory construction permit requirements or implemented voluntarily as part of urban greening initiatives. We evaluated 76 GSI facilities distributed across Baltimore, MD, USA, comprising 48 voluntary and 28 regulatory facilities. Each facility was scored on indicators related to the provision of stormwater, habitat, and aesthetic ecosystem services. Ecosystem service scores were highly variable, reflecting a wide range of quality and condition, but we found no significant differences between scores for regulatory and voluntary GSI. However, voluntary GSI scores tended to be higher in areas with greater socioeconomic status, while regulatory facilities showed an inverse relationship. Our findings indicate that GSI facilities can degrade quickly, and that official maintenance requirements for regulatory facilities do not guarantee upkeep. Regulatory requirements did have better outcomes in areas with lower socioeconomic status, though. Degraded GSI facilities may do more harm than good, becoming both unsightly and ineffective at providing intended stormwater or habitat benefits.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2022036
- PAR ID:
- 10621585
- Publisher / Repository:
- MDPI
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Sustainability
- Volume:
- 17
- Issue:
- 6
- ISSN:
- 2071-1050
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 2648
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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Much of the green stormwater infrastructure (GSI) in Baltimore, Maryland, USA, has been installed voluntarily by nonprofits and community groups, yet no comprehensive record of these installations previously existed. We worked with nonprofit stakeholders and Baltimore’s Department of Public Works to compile such a record, using both information provided by these agencies and publicly available data sources such as annual reports and newspaper articles. This dataset includes all voluntary green stormwater infrastructure projects that we were able to identify by the end of 2019, with the first known installation completed in 2001. The dataset includes two data tables, one with project-level information, and one with the locations of individual GSI facilities included in each project.more » « less
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Abstract The Intergovernmental Science–Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services has called for assessments explicitly accounting for interregional flows of ecosystem services (ESs) across geographic scales. An important type of interregional ES flow is generated by the long‐distance movements of migratory species. Many migratory species provide important benefits to people, and due to migration dynamics, ESs provided in one location may be affected by habitat conservation, or lack thereof, in other locations. The state of the science on interregional flows of ESs from migratory species, however, is nascent and lacks structure needed to consistently characterize flows. We developed a 4‐tiered system for categorizing assessments and the conclusions they can support based on 4 levels of ecological and socioeconomic information, ranging from incomplete to high, and how they are combined. The 4 tiers of assessment are based on differing levels of detail in the estimation of system‐level ecological and socioeconomic information on a species and the services it provides: telecoupled ESs, qualitative flows, quantitative static flows, and quantitative dynamic flows. Recent assessment studies largely fall within the first tier, which does not quantify flows. Socioeconomic and ecological information are needed to achieve each tier. Our framework can be used to identify and classify a range of methods, with varying time and data requirements, that can be used to maximize the information content and relevance of ES assessments for migratory species based on available resources.more » « less
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