CANCELLED - The impact of urbanization on the provision of ecosystem services and biodiversity conservation within the twin cities metropolitan area in Minnesota, U.S.A

Background/Question/Methods   Regional land-use change driven by rapid urbanization has a significant effect on the provision of ecosystem services and biodiversity conservation. The value of certain ecosystem services, such as crop production, can be readily quantified, while other services (e.g., water quality, carbon sequestration) and the provision of biodiversity have proved more difficult. We apply a spatially-explicit integrated modeling tool (InVEST) to quantify the changes in the provision and value of several ecosystem services and the provision of biodiversity conservation for the seven county Twin Cities metropolitan area located in Minnesota, USA from 1992 to 2001. We also apply this method for a suite of alternative 1992-2001 land-use change scenarios.

Results/Conclusions   Our results illustrate the importance of considering the provision and value of several ecosystem services in regional land-use planning. Opportunities to increase the provision of ecosystem services and biological conservation within cities often coincided, and we indentify specific areas where these benefits can be maximized and consequently conservation funds should be targeted. Our study provides an important and novel decision support tool for the MN Dept of Natural Resources and the Metropolitan Planning Council to evaluate tradeoffs and inform strategic land-use planning.