Download or read book Effect of Urbanization and Hurricanes on the Provision of Ecosystem Services in the Lower Suwannee River and Pensacola Bay Watersheds, Florida, USA written by Sonia Elsa Rocio Delphin Perez and published by . This book was released on 2012 with total page 139 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ecosystems can be impacted by different drivers that can alter their functionality. Thus, to understand the magnitude of these impacts to Ecosystem Service (ES) provision, quantification of ES and the drivers is important. This study estimated the effects of urbanization and hurricanes as direct drivers of carbon storage and timber volume, as well as water yield in forest areas in the Lower Suwannee River and Pensacola Bay watersheds, in Florida, USA. A current 2003 to 2060 urbanization scenario using spatial data and modeling, analyzed the effects of urbanization on ES. Results showed statistically significant differences at 95% confidence level between 2003 and 2060 in terms of provision of the three ES analyzed. For the hurricane analysis, this study estimated the potential loss of aboveground carbon storage and timber volume in high and low forest damage risk zones. Five factors were used in a decision tree to determine potential for forest damage due to hurricanes. Results showed that in the Lower Suwannee, 31% of the total aboveground carbon and 15% of the total timber were located in the high forest damage risk (HD) zone while the Pensacola Bay, had 0.5% of the total aboveground carbon and about the 0.7% of the total timber in the HD zone. Knowledge on how different drivers impact ecosystems and their services will provide a better understanding to landowners, policy makers, about the consequences of land use change and natural disturbance on the benefits provided by forests.