Ecosystem Services

Transforming the way we make decisions about our ecosystem

Research in ecosystem services can help us solve real problems in Nova Scotia and around the world:

• Should we maintain Nova Scotia's dykelands?
• How do we get more wetland habitat on farms?
• What is the value of putting more trees in the urban forests?
• Should we do land-based or ocean-based aquaculture?
  

Ecosystem services research at SRES involves developing methods and gathering data to help communities assess how healthy and vital ecosystems affect human health and well-being. Using an established framework, it allows researchers around the globe to analyze and compare complex systems to better understand what decisions should be taken.

International credibility

Ecosystem services research is a growing field of environmental research and has international credibility. As a graduate student, you can join our team of researchers in cataloguing and synthesizing environmental impacts, making rigorous decisions that are relevant to the people in our communities, and influencing policy makers.

Here are just a few examples of the many ecosystem services research projects you could be involved in:

• uncovering the motivations behind farmers putting in wetlands on their farms
• determining the role that wild pollinators play in blueberry production
  
• discovering the cultural value communities place on their dykelands
  

Find out what our researchers are working on:

	Kate Sherren Dr. Sherren focuses on how residents feel about their landscape, specifically the cultural ecosystem services they experience, and how that affects the way they manage or live in it. Her work with farmers in Australia about paddock trees has impacted scholarly circles, as well as government and farm management.
	Peter Duinker Dr. Duinker concentrates on the adaptation of forests to climate change. He was one of several thousand scientists involved in work by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which, together with Al Gore, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007.
	Peter Tyedmers Dr. Tyedmers is interested in understanding the role that ecosystem services play in supporting human activities and what happens when we replace these services with human-created technologies. His research related to technology substitution for ecosystem services in food systems has challenged many firmly held assumptions.