Projects

Telecoupling &
Spatial Subsidies

Environmental scientists have traditionally focused their attention on a study site, a bounded place-based system. However, accelerating globalization has made interactions between distant places increasingly common and powerful.

sample small-world network visualization
Case-study Species
mexican freetsail bats

Pest-suppression Services by Mexican Free-tailed Bats

Migrating bats provide free pest suppression services to farms in the southwestern United States and the Mexico borderlands, worth on average $12.4 million/year. Yet, human impacts are causing dramatic declines in the population of these bats.

The Dollar Value of a Butterfly

The migration of the monarch butterfly is often described as one of the most spectacular natural phenomena in the world. The 3000-mile migration route crosses three international borders, extending from overwintering areas in southern Mexico to summer breeding in the United States and as far north as southern Canada.

Calculating Ecosystem Services from Northern Pintail Ducks

Ecosystem services are the benefits that ecosystems provide to humans, without any apparent cost to us. Defining these services in economic terms, allows us to make critical decisions for managing the wild landscapes that provide the services.