Trade-Offs Among Ecosystem Services and Disservices on a Florida Ranch

Abstract

On the Ground • We consider the trade-offs among “good” ecosystem services and “bad” ecosystem disservices attributable to past and current ranchland management and how such trade-offs depend on analysis at the scale of the ranch, the region, or the Earth. • We focus on trade-offs in ecosystem services at one working ranch—Buck Island Ranch, location of the MacArthur Agro-ecology Research Center, lying in the headwaters of Florida’s Everglades— and managed for 25 years as a full-scale cow– calf operation by Archbold Biological Station, one of the world’s preeminent ecological research centers. • The synthesis of how this ranch functions as an ecosystem (species, habitats, nutrient dynamics, hydrology, etc.) is set in the context of financial realities and economic viability. • We develop a conceptual model to visualize trade-offs among ecosystem services and disservices, and provide insight into what it takes to be sustainable ecologically and economically.