Technology Description

Methods for mapping ecosystem service supply, use, and value have been developed and the service-specific models bundled into a single software package: Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs (InVEST). InVEST provides users with information required to better understand the consequences and trade-offs of land-use decisions. The software package contains a set of process-based biophysical and economic models that relate management decisions to the production, delivery, and value of ecosystem services to people. The services currently modeled and available as an ArcGIS toolbox extension include carbon sequestration and storage, timber production, water yield, water purification (for nutrient pollutants), and avoided reservoir sedimentation. InVEST also models terrestrial habitat quality as a proxy for biodiversity, which is not considered an ecosystem service. The project team is in the process of developing a platform to serve InVEST models with Google.org, which will package the models within the Google Earth Engine. A comparison of tier I and tier II model outputs will be conducted at Fort Benning.

InVEST offers several innovative features relative to other tools designed to assist in the land-use decision-making process. While certain software packages consider the production of individual services (e.g., the Century model for carbon sequestration and storage and the Soil and Water Assessment Tool [SWAT] for water quality), few other models consider the suite of services provided by a given piece of land. In comparison to some of these other models (e.g., Multiscale Integrated Models of Ecosystem Services [MIMES] or artificial Intelligence for Ecosystem Services [AIRES]), InVEST requires minimal data and allows the user to identify how the provision and value of services vary under different land-use scenarios.