ASABE Technical Library - Abstract

Abstract. Increasing concerns about climate change has sparked research and discussion about the long-term, detrimental impacts of human activity on the environment. The benefits that humans obtain from ecosystems, known as ecosystem services, have changed more in the past fifty years than in any other comparable period in history. One of the largest challenges of this century will be to establish a balance between providing for immediate human needs and maintaining the long-term ability of the Earth to provide ecosystem services. The intent of this research was to improve land management and policy decisions by evaluating several urban best management practices (BMPs) as a tool for the provision of three hydrologic ecosystem services. Several different land management scenarios with varying densities of BMP application were simulated using the Stormwater Management Model (SWMM). Freshwater provision, erosion regulation, and flood regulation ecosystem services resulting from these simulations were quantified using indices developed by Logsdon and Chaubey (2013). Results indicate that the application of bioretention cells may improve both freshwater provision and erosion regulation services at a localized scale, and there may be an increase in erosion regulation services at the watershed scale. The outcome of this research will create knowledgeable land management and policy decisions that sustainably maintain hydrologic ecosystem services into the future.