Ecosystem goods and services represent the benefits that humans derive from functioning ecological systems. We hypothesize that neighborhood stability, well-being and environmental quality will co-vary with the delivery of ecosystem goods and services across neighborhood and watershed scales, and that the delivery of ecosystem goods and services will co-vary with Baltimore neighborhood PRIZM clusters.
 
Landscapes are altered by humans to enhance the delivery of ecosystem goods and services-more fresh water, fewer floods, more trees, more food products, fewer pollutants, etc. In Phase II, we seek to better understand how human stressors and landscape transformations affect the delivery of ecosystem services in an urban system. For example, we ask: how do ecosystem goods and services and their underlying ecological support systems respond over time to anthropogenic stressors? Are some goods and services more resilient to stress than others? Is there an 'optimal' spatial and temporal scale for observing, monitoring and managing the delivery of different ecosystem goods and services within the urban landscape?
 
We will improve extant theory, test economic valuation methods, and collect empirical data on the delivery of ecosystem goods and services within BES and the LTER network. To improve theory, we will delineate a typology of goods and services, and identify the complex pathways through which they interact with socio economic drivers. Economic valuation methods, including but not limited to meta-analysis and benefit transfer methodology, will be used to estimate the economic value of ecosystem goods and services. Data collection will also be done at multiple scales in order to incorporate land use/land cover information (i.e. USGS National Land Cover Data) and output from BES models (HERCULES, RHESSys, and GFLM-GHM), to assess the complex, dynamic links between socio-economic values, ecosystem goods and services, and land use change over time.
 
Leveraging and collaborative projects include the Ecovalue Project for the Maryland DNR, (http://ecovalue.uvm.edu/esp), a cross-site (BES, FCE, KBS) project funded by the LTER network, and a funded NCEAS working group to document and analyze the status of ecosystem goods and services across the LTER network.