Research Fellowships

Ecosystem Services -- Translating Data to Information

EPA Office of Research and Development

NSF Graduate Research Internship Opportunities for NSF Graduate Research Fellows

Current as of November 2016

Opportunity Title:

Ecosystem Services -- Translating Data to Information

Research Area:

Ecosystems

EPA Lab/Center/Office:

National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory (NHEERL)

Location:

Corvallis, OR

Duration:

6 - 12 months

Brief Summary:

Identification of what biophysical features matter directly to specific ways in which people benefit from ecosystems.

Opportunity Description:

The biophysical features that matter directly to people, “final ecosystem goods and services" or FEGS, are the units that we should use in communication and in social analysis. As such, their identification also specifics the units that we should monitor and model. Other units would be the ones we would manipulate in order to secure desired levels of FEGS. (See Boyd, J., P. Ringold, A. Krupnick, R. J. Johnston, M. A. Weber, and K. Hall. 2016. Ecosystem Services Indicators: Improving the Linkage between Biophysical and Economic Analyses. International Review of Environmental and Resource Economics 8:359-443. Ringold, P. L., J. W. Boyd, D. H. Landers, and M. A. Weber. In Press. A Framework for Identifying Indicators of Ecosystems Contributions to Human Well Being: A Case Study with Streams. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment.)

This internship would take the form of literature reviews and expert consultation. For example, from national stream surveys we have, for each of about 1000 stream sites, a list of fish taxa found as well as their size distribution. How do we translate this into an index of recreational fish abundance that matters to recreational, subsistence or commercial anglers? To do this well, we would want to know how to weight fish of different sizes and taxa. Another example would be to look at the cost of treating chemicals found in municipal water intakes. This would let us assign weights to those chemicals to create an index of water quality of direct relevance to a municipal water intake. Our interest is not only in assistance with aquatic ecosystems and the ways in which people benefit from those systems, but in all ecosystems and all the ways in which people benefit from them.

Opportunities for Professional Development:

The intern taking this position will have the opportunity to work with a team of natural and social scientists on the cutting edge of linking changes in ecosystems to changes in human well-being.

Point of Contact or Mentor:

Paul Ringold (ringold.paul@epa.gov)

For more information about EPA Research Fellowship opportunities, visit: /research-fellowships/graduate-research-internship-program-grip-opportunities-epa