Animal migration and spatial subsidies: Establishing a framework for conservation markets

1. Animal migration and spatial subsidies: Establishing a framework for conservation markets Darius Semmens1, Laura López-Hoffman2, and Jay Diffendorfer1 1USGS Rocky Mountain Geographic Science Center, Denver CO 2School of Natural Resources, University of Arizona, Tucson AZ USGS Powell Center Working Group Economics - Ken Bagstad, John Loomis, Josh Goldstein, Jim Boyd Pintails - Wayne Thogmartin, Brady Mattson, Jim Dubovsky Bats – Gary McCraken, Rodrigo Medellin, Paul Cryan, RuscenaWeiderholt Monarchs – Karen Oberhauser, Leslie Ries

2. Outline • Original problem: Assess and value services on a “critical” migratory flyway • Migration support • Migratory services • Spatial subsidies model • Implications • Methods and data needs

3. San Pedro River basin:Flyway value?

4. Original Problem • San Pedro widely considered a “critical” N-S flyway for neotropical migrant bird species • Past research focused on value of San Pedro as a result of local ecotourism, primarily birding • If San Pedro is critical flyway supporting migration to and from N. America, its value should also reflect this role • How do we assign value for services San Pedro supports OUTSIDE of its boundary? What is this called?

5. A new type of Ecosystem Service – Migration Support • Millennium Ecosystem Assessment • Provisioning Services • Regulating Services • Cultural Services • Supporting Services • Soil formation, nutrient cycling, primary production • We argue that sustaining animals during migration is another type of supporting service - migration support.

6. What is migration support? • The degree to which one location supports the provision of ecosystem services in other locations by contributing to the overall viability of migratory populations • Are some areas in fact more important than others for population maintenance? • Quantify limits to current populations • Food, water, or other resources • Land/habitat area • Harvest (deliberate or incidental) • Pollutants

7. Migratory Services • All ecosystem services provided by a migratory species throughout its range. • Pollination • Pest control • Food • Seed dispersal • Cultural, etc. • Motion distinguishes these species from the ecosystems they visit; it necessitates a species-focused approach to the assessment & valuation of their services

8. Spatial Subsidies • Migration support is always a 2-way street; it is both provided and received • The San Pedro supports migratory species and the services they provide in other areas • BUT, the services these species provide in the San Pedro are dependent upon other areas as well • The spatial subsidy at any given location is the net balance between migratory services received and migration support provided. • Measures the degree to which the provision of migratory services in one location is subsidized by ecological conditions and processes in other locations. • In effect, it is the amount a given location owes other locations for supporting migratory species and the services they provide locally.

9. Key Concept • The spatial linkages created by migration mean that any consideration of the ES provided by a migratory species at a single location independently is incomplete • We must quantify benefits and support everywhere before we can understand them anywhere.

10. Model - definitions • Two primary parameters are required to calculate the subsidy. Both have to be estimated throughout the migratory range. • Value of services provided by a species at each location • Direct and indirect • Proportional dependence of a species on each location • Degree to which the location contributes to the maintenance of the population as a whole

11. Model – value of a place • Net annual value at a location, adjusted for external subsidies from migration • Can be summed across species • Ranges need not overlap exactly

12. Implications of Quantified Subsidies • Facilitate cross-jurisdictional cooperative management • Foundation for the establishment of markets • E.g. conservation payments directed towards limiting habitat could incentivize adoption of BMPs • Sustainable & equitable allocation of exploited migratory species • Better estimates of ES value at a location

13. Methods & Data Needs • Accounting for service value by species is a different approach – current focus is endpoints • Need spatial information on species interactions, with humans and ecosystems, to understand and model both direct and indirect benefits • Socioeconomic data to value benefits • Citizen science • Proportional dependence has to be modeled • Multisite demographic models • Metapopulation models • Migratory network model Semmens, D.J., J.E. Diffendorfer, L. Lopez-Hoffman, and C.S. Shapiro, 2011. Accounting for the ecosystem services of migratory species: Quantifying migration support and spatial subsidies. Ecological Economics 70 (12): 2236-2242.

14. USGS Powell Center Working Group • Quantify subsidies • Northern pintail ducks • Mexican free-tailed bats • Monarch butterflies • Explore market implementation strategies • Drivers? • Government & treaties • PES transfers • Combined w/ other ES