Overview
The ecoSERVICES Group at ASU studies the causes and consequences of change in ecosystem services – the benefits that people derive from the biophysical environment. We analyse biodiversity change in terms of its impacts on the things that people care about. Following the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (2005) these are characterised as provisioning services (foods, fuels, fibers, genetic materials, chemical compounds and the like), cultural services (aesthetic, spiritual, moral, recreational, educational, scientific uses) and regulating services (the role of ecosystems in regulating flows of provisioning and cultural services including, for example, water quality regulation, soil erosion reduction, storm damage protection and so on).
ecoSERVICES ASU hosts the ecoSERVICES project of DIVERSITAS, the international program of biodiversity science. It also operates a number of international research projects on issues relating to biodiversity change, conservation and development, including Advancing Conservation in a Social Context (ACSC) funded by the MacArthur Foundation. The group additionally supports training in biodiversity and ecosystem services both within ASU and more generally. It supports the Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services Training Network (BESTNet), a Research Coordination Network funded by the National Science Foundation, and various other training initiatives.
Members of the Group are engaged in a range of activities to build an international science of biodiversity and ecosystem change aside from DIVERSITAS, including both the development of an International Mechanism for Scientific Expertise on Biodiversity (IMOSEB), and a joint initiative by the ICSU and UNESCO to follow-up the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment.
The Group lies within the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Our research activities are supported by the Global Institute of Sustainability, and our teaching activities contribute to programs in both the School of Life Sciences and the School of Sustainability.
Faculty in the ecoSERVICES GROUP are members of the Human Dimensions Faculty of the School of Life Sciences.