Benefits and costs of ecological restoration: Rapid assessment of changing ecosystem service values at a U.K. wetland

Restoration of degraded land is recognized by the international community as an important way of enhancing both biodiversity and ecosystem services, but more information is needed about its costs and benefits. In Cambridgeshire, U.K., a long-term initiative to convert drained, intensively farmed arable land to a wetland habitat mosaic is driven by a desire both to prevent biodiversity loss from the nationally important Wicken Fen National Nature Reserve (Wicken Fen NNR) and to increase the provision of ecosystem services. We evaluated the changes in ecosystem service delivery resulting from this land conversion, using a new Toolkit for Ecosystem Service Site-based Assessment (TESSA) to estimate biophysical and monetary values of ecosystem services provided by the restored wetland mosaic compared with the former arable land. Overall results suggest that restoration is associated with a net gain to society as a whole of $199 ha⁻¹y⁻¹, for a one-off investment in restoration of $2320 ha⁻¹. Restoration has led to an estimated loss of arable production of $2040 ha⁻¹y⁻¹, but estimated gains of $671 ha⁻¹y⁻¹ in nature-based recreation, $120 ha⁻¹y⁻¹ from grazing, $48 ha⁻¹y⁻¹ from flood protection, and a reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions worth an estimated $72 ha⁻¹y⁻¹. Management costs have also declined by an estimated $1325 ha⁻¹y⁻¹. Despite uncertainties associated with all measured values and the conservative assumptions used, we conclude that there was a substantial gain to society as a whole from this land-use conversion. The beneficiaries also changed from local arable farmers under arable production to graziers, countryside users from towns and villages, and the global community, under restoration. We emphasize that the values reported here are not necessarily transferable to other sites.     

Implications of land cover change on ecosystems services and people’s dependency: A case study from the Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve,Nepal

Protected areas, a corestone of biodiversity conservation, provide a vast array of ecosystem services to support livelihoods of people. However, protected areas, especially freshwater, are under threat with overexploitation of resources changing the land covers and degrading their capacity to supply services. Information on land cover changes and its implications on ecosystems, its services and people, especially in developing countries at a local scale, is largely absent. This study, therefore, seeks to understand people's dependency on ecosystem services and implications of land cover change on ecosystem services and people, with a case study in the Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve of Nepal. Using both qualitative and quantitative methods, our findings show high dependency of the locals on a vast array of ecosystem services provided by the reserve. More than half of the sampled households were found to directly derive income from ecosystem services of the reserve. However, land cover changes especially declines in forest (16%), swamps/marshes (4%), rivers (14%) and other ecosystems over a period of 34-years impacted the provision of ecosystem services and people’s dependency notably. The services from forests declined by about 94%, swamps services by 36% and services from river by 57% which were reported to be the high service suppliers. People's dependency, as perceived by the locals, was reduced by 67% over the last ten years. The study highlighting the supply, demand and implications on ecosystem services and people helped to better understand the complex interaction between humans and ecosystems. These results can be used to develop holistic approaches to restore, conserve and manage the ecosystems, and its services by balancing equal supply and demand of ecosystem services required for a self-sustaining human-environment system. It can also contribute to development of important environmental policies and programs in the area.     

中国自然保护地体系分类研究

建设自然保护地体系是为子孙后代保留生物多样性资源与自然遗产最有效的途径。自1956年我国建立第一个自然保护区以来,已建设形成覆盖森林、草地、湿地、海洋、荒漠各类生态系统,珍稀濒危动植物物种和种质资源,自然遗迹和自然景观,以及水源保护等各类自然保护地。但由于缺乏自然保护地体系的顶层设计,各类保护地面临功能区分不清晰、空间重叠、管理成效不高等问题。建设以国家公园为主体的自然保护地体系的部署,为理顺我国保护地体系,明确各类保护地的功能定位提供了难得的机会。在分析我国现有自然保护地类型,并参考国际自然保护地体系分类经验的基础上,探讨了我国保护地体系分类,建议将我国自然保护地分为5大类,第I类为自然保护区,第Ⅱ类为国家公园,第Ⅲ类为自然公园,第Ⅳ类为物种与种质资源保护区,第Ⅴ类为生态功能保护区,并分析了各类自然保护地的功能定位和管理目标,以期为自然保护地体系规划建设提供参考。完善我国自然保护地体系分类,根据各类保护地的特点,创新保护地建设政策与机制,加大政府对自然保护地建设力度的同时,发挥全社会力量建设自然保护地,我国自然保护地建设将大有可为。     

Impacts of species-led conservation on ecosystem services of wetlands: understanding co-benefits and tradeoffs

Biodiversity conservation organisations have recently begun to consider a wider ecosystem services context for their activities. While the literature suggests the potential of ‘win–win’ situations where biodiversity conservation and the delivery of ecosystem services overlap, empirical evidence is wanting. Here we explore the role that species-led management for the benefit of biodiversity in cultural landscapes can play in the delivery of wider ecosystem services. We use UK lowland wetlands as a case study and show how successful delivery of species-led conservation through management interventions relies on practices that can affect greenhouse gas fluxes, water quality and regulation, and cultural benefits. In these wetlands, livestock grazing has potentially large effects on water and greenhouse gas related services, but there is little scope to alter management without compromising species objectives. Likewise, there is little potential to alter reedbed management without compromising conservation objectives. There is some potential to alter woodland and scrub management, but this would likely have limited influence due to the relatively small area over which such management is practiced. The management of water levels potentially has large effects on provision of several services and there does appear to be some scope to align this objective with biodiversity objectives. A comprehensive understanding of the net costs and benefits to society of these interventions will require fine-grained research integrating ecological, economic and social science research. However, a less analytic understanding of the potential costs and benefits can highlight ways by which land management principally to achieve biodiversity conservation objectives might be modified to enhance delivery of other ecosystem services.     

Ecosystem service benefits of contrasting conservation strategies in a human-dominated region

The hope among policy-makers and scientists alike is that conservation strategies designed to protect biodiversity also provide direct benefits to people by protecting other vital ecosystem services. The few studies that have examined the delivery of ecosystem services by existing conservation efforts have concentrated on large, ‘wilderness’-style biodiversity reserves. However, such reserves are not realistic options for densely populated regions. Here, we provide the first analyses that compare representation of biodiversity and three other ecosystem services across several contrasting conservation strategies in a human-dominated landscape (England). We show that small protected areas and protected landscapes (restrictive zoning) deliver high carbon storage and biodiversity, while existing incentive payment (agri-environment) schemes target areas that offer little advantage over other parts of England in terms of biodiversity, carbon storage and agricultural production. A fourth ecosystem service—recreation—is under-represented by all three strategies. Our findings are encouraging as they illustrate that restrictive zoning can play a major role in protecting natural capital assets in densely populated regions. However, trade-offs exist even among the four ecosystem services we considered, suggesting that a portfolio of conservation and sustainability investments will be needed to deliver both biodiversity and the other ecosystem services demanded by society.     

How Much Does it Cost to Expand a Protected Area System? Some Critical Determining Factors and Ranges of Costs for Queensland

Many governments have recently gone on record promising large-scale expansions of protected areas to meet global commitments such as the Convention on Biological Diversity. As systems of protected areas are expanded to be more comprehensive, they are more likely to be implemented if planners have realistic budget estimates so that appropriate funding can be requested. Estimating financial budgets a priori must acknowledge the inherent uncertainties and assumptions associated with key parameters, so planners should recognize these uncertainties by estimating ranges of potential costs. We explore the challenge of budgeting a priori for protected area expansion in the face of uncertainty, specifically considering the future expansion of protected areas in Queensland, Australia. The government has committed to adding ～12 million ha to the reserve system, bringing the total area protected to 20 million ha by 2020. We used Marxan to estimate the costs of potential reserve designs with data on actual land value, market value, transaction costs, and land tenure. With scenarios, we explored three sources of budget variability: size of biodiversity objectives; subdivision of properties; and legal acquisition routes varying with tenure. Depending on the assumptions made, our budget estimates ranged from $214 million to $2.9 billion. Estimates were most sensitive to assumptions made about legal acquisition routes for leasehold land. Unexpected costs (costs encountered by planners when real-world costs deviate from assumed costs) responded non-linearly to inability to subdivide and percentage purchase of private land. A financially conservative approach--one that safeguards against large cost increases while allowing for potential financial windfalls--would involve less optimistic assumptions about acquisition and subdivision to allow Marxan to avoid expensive properties where possible while meeting conservation objectives. We demonstrate how a rigorous analysis can inform discussions about the expansion of systems of protected areas, including the identification of factors that influence budget variability.     

集成生态系统服务与生物多样性的系统保护规划

生物多样性和生态系统服务的保护与可持续管理是当今世界面临的重大挑战之一,但如何判识与优化集成生态系统服务与生物多样性保护对象的保护优先区网络,相关研究还很有限。针对“三江并流”区,选取珍稀濒危与特有动植物物种和自然植被类型作为生物多样性保护对象,以调节服务(碳存储、固碳和土壤保持)、文化服务(自然游憩)和供给服务(水源供给)为生态系统服务保护对象。应用系统保护规划方法,首先判识出单一生物多样性和生态系统服务保护优先区;然后,分析这些保护优先区间的相关关系,并选择与生物多样性正相关的生态系统服务类型,判识集成生态系统服务与生物多样性的保护优先区;最后,评估了集成生态系统服务与生物多样性保护优先区在六类已建保护地中的保护状况。结果表明：(1)“三江并流”区多情景规划得到的生物多样性与生态系统服务保护优先区之间均呈正相关关系;(2)与分别针对生态系统服务和生物多样性的规划情景相比,集成生态系统服务与生物多样性保护优先区能够同时对两类保护对象提供最高的保护覆盖率;(3)集成生态系统服务和生物多样性保护优先区占研究区总面积的48.9%,其已建保护地覆盖率为32.5%,说明现有保护地体系仍存在保护...     

Representation of Ecosystem Services by Terrestrial Protected Areas: Chile as a Case Study

Protected areas are increasingly considered to play a key role in the global maintenance of ecosystem processes and the ecosystem services they provide. It is thus vital to assess the extent to which existing protected area systems represent those services. Here, for the first time, we document the effectiveness of the current Chilean protected area system and its planned extensions in representing both ecosystem services (plant productivity, carbon storage and agricultural production) and biodiversity. Additionally, we evaluate the effectiveness of protected areas based on their respective management objectives. Our results show that existing protected areas in Chile do not contain an unusually high proportion of carbon storage (14.9%), agricultural production (0.2%) or biodiversity (11.8%), and also represent a low level of plant productivity (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index of 0.38). Proposed additional priority sites enhance the representation of ecosystem services and biodiversity, but not sufficiently to attain levels of representation higher than would be expected for their area of coverage. Moreover, when the species groups were assessed separately, amphibians was the only one well represented. Suggested priority sites for biodiversity conservation, without formal protection yet, was the only protected area category that over-represents carbon storage, agricultural production and biodiversity. The low representation of ecosystem services and species’ distribution ranges by the current protected area system is because these protected areas are heavily biased toward southern Chile, and contain large extents of ice and bare rock. The designation and management of proposed priority sites needs to be addressed in order to increase the representation of ecosystem services within the Chilean protected area system.     

Ecosystem services altered by human changes in the nitrogen cycle: a new perspective for US decision making

Human alteration of the nitrogen (N) cycle has produced benefits for health and well-being, but excess N has altered many ecosystems and degraded air and water quality. US regulations mandate protection of the environment in terms that directly connect to ecosystem services. Here, we review the science quantifying effects of N on key ecosystem services, and compare the costs of N-related impacts or mitigation using the metric of cost per unit of N. Damage costs to the provision of clean air, reflected by impaired human respiratory health, are well characterized and fairly high (e.g. costs of ozone and particulate damages of $28 per kg NO(x)-N). Damage to services associated with productivity, biodiversity, recreation and clean water are less certain and although generally lower, these costs are quite variable (<$2.2-56 per kg N). In the current Chesapeake Bay restoration effort, for example, the collection of available damage costs clearly exceeds the projected abatement costs to reduce N loads to the Bay ($8-15 per kg N). Explicit consideration and accounting of effects on multiple ecosystem services provides decision-makers an integrated view of N sources, damages and abatement costs to address the significant challenges associated with reducing N pollution.     

Habitat Fragmentation Intensifies Trade-Offs between Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services in a Heathland Ecosystem in Southern England

While habitat fragmentation represents a major threat to global biodiversity, its impacts on provision of ecosystem services are largely unknown. We analysed biodiversity value and provision of multiple ecosystem services in 110 fragments of lowland heathland ecosystems in southern England, in which vegetation dynamics have been monitored for over 30 years. Decreasing fragment size was found to be associated with a decrease in biodiversity and recreational values, but an increase in relative carbon storage, aesthetic value and timber value. The trade-off between either biodiversity or recreational values with the other ecosystem services therefore became more pronounced as heathland size decreased. This was attributed to a higher rate of woody succession in smaller heathland fragments over the past three decades, and contrasting values of different successional vegetation types for biodiversity and provision of ecosystem services. These results suggest that habitat fragmentation can reduce the potential for developing “win win” solutions that contribute to biodiversity conservation while also supporting socio-economic development. Approaches to multi-purpose management of fragmented landscapes should therefore consider the potential trade-offs in ecosystem services and biodiversity associated with fragmentation, in order to make an effective contribution to sustainable development.     

Ecosystem Services in Conservation Planning: Targeted Benefits vs. Co-Benefits or Costs?

There is growing support for characterizing ecosystem services in order to link conservation and human well-being. However, few studies have explicitly included ecosystem services within systematic conservation planning, and those that have follow two fundamentally different approaches: ecosystem services as intrinsically-important targeted benefits vs. substitutable co-benefits. We present a first comparison of these two approaches in a case study in the Central Interior of British Columbia. We calculated and mapped economic values for carbon storage, timber production, and recreational angling using a geographical information system (GIS). These 'marginal' values represent the difference in service-provision between conservation and managed forestry as land uses. We compared two approaches to including ecosystem services in the site-selection software Marxan: as Targeted Benefits, and as Co-Benefits/Costs (in Marxan's cost function); we also compared these approaches with a Hybrid approach (carbon and angling as targeted benefits, timber as an opportunity cost). For this analysis, the Co-Benefit/Cost approach yielded a less costly reserve network than the Hybrid approach (1.6% cheaper). Including timber harvest as an opportunity cost in the cost function resulted in a reserve network that achieved targets equivalently, but at 15% lower total cost. We found counter-intuitive results for conservation: conservation-compatible services (carbon, angling) were positively correlated with each other and biodiversity, whereas the conservation-incompatible service (timber) was negatively correlated with all other networks. Our findings suggest that including ecosystem services within a conservation plan may be most cost-effective when they are represented as substitutable co-benefits/costs, rather than as targeted benefits. By explicitly valuing the costs and benefits associated with services, we may be able to achieve meaningful biodiversity conservation at lower cost and with greater co-benefits.     

Mapping the economic costs and benefits of conservation

Resources for biodiversity conservation are severely limited, requiring strategic investment. Understanding both the economic benefits and costs of conserving ecosystems will help to allocate scarce dollars most efficiently. However, although cost-benefit analyses are common in many areas of policy, they are not typically used in conservation planning. We conducted a spatial evaluation of the costs and benefits of conservation for a landscape in the Atlantic forests of Paraguay. We considered five ecosystem services (i.e., sustainable bushmeat harvest, sustainable timber harvest, bioprospecting for pharmaceutical products, existence value, and carbon storage in aboveground biomass) and compared them to estimates of the opportunity costs of conservation. We found a high degree of spatial variability in both costs and benefits over this relatively small (~3,000 km²) landscape. Benefits exceeded costs in some areas, with carbon storage dominating the ecosystem service values and swamping opportunity costs. Other benefits associated with conservation were more modest and exceeded costs only in protected areas and indigenous reserves. We used this cost-benefit information to show that one potential corridor between two large forest patches had net benefits that were three times greater than two otherwise similar alternatives. Spatial cost-benefit analysis can powerfully inform conservation planning, even though the availability of relevant data may be limited, as was the case in our study area. It can help us understand the synergies between biodiversity conservation and economic development when the two are indeed aligned and to clearly understand the trade-offs when they are not.     

A comparison on ecosystem services before/after “5.12” Wenchuan earthquake

Earthquake has great potential to destroy vegetation and water resources. Here, we estimated the ecosystem services before/after “5.12” Wenchuan earthquake in China, in the center zone (ca. 24, 696.94 km²) of the earthquake, the destroyed service value approximately 520.04 × 10⁶ $. Moreover, the losses of biodiversity conservation value were inestimable in this earthquake. The results suggested that earthquake can seriously damage service function of ecosystem. It is a nice opportunity for ecologists to study the recovery of ecosystem services after earthquake disturbance.     

生物多样性与生态系统服务关系研究进展

生物多样性与生态系统服务关系是当前生态学研究的热点之一,2005年千年生态系统评估之后如何将两者关系应用到生态系统管理和政策制定中逐渐受到重视。然而,从理论上的两者关系认知到应用上的管理实践仍面临着严峻挑战,梳理已有研究成果有利于更好地指导管理实践。本文基于近年生物多样性与生态系统服务关系的主要研究成果,从生物多样性对生态系统单种服务、多种服务、生态系统服务权衡的影响以及环境变化如何影响这些关系等方面,总结了两者关系的主要研究进展,概述了两者关系在自然保护区管理、森林生态系统管理、退化生态系统恢复和农业生态系统改善等领域中的应用,分析了两者关系研究中依然存在的不足之处,强调未来需加强的研究方向主要包括: 生物多样性不同组分相互作用和多营养级生物多样性相互关系对生态系统服务的影响、环境耦合变化对两者关系的复合效应以及生物多样性改善生态系统服务的实践途径。     

Climate change impacts on selected global rangeland ecosystem services

Rangelands are Earth's dominant land cover and are important providers of ecosystem services. Reliance on rangelands is projected to grow, thus understanding the sensitivity of rangelands to future climates is essential. We used a new ecosystem model of moderate complexity that allows, for the first time, to quantify global changes expected in rangelands under future climates. The mean global annual net primary production (NPP) may decline by 10 g C m^?2 year^?1 in 2050 under Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) 8.5, but herbaceous NPP is projected to increase slightly (i.e., average of 3 g C m^?2 year^?1). Responses vary substantially from place‐to‐place, with large increases in annual productivity projected in northern regions (e.g., a 21% increase in productivity in the US and Canada) and large declines in western Africa (?46% in sub‐Saharan western Africa) and Australia (?17%). Soil organic carbon is projected to increase in Australia (9%), the Middle East (14%), and central Asia (16%) and decline in many African savannas (e.g., ?18% in sub‐Saharan western Africa). Livestock are projected to decline 7.5 to 9.6%, an economic loss of from $9.7 to $12.6 billion. Our results suggest that forage production in Africa is sensitive to changes in climate, which will have substantial impacts on the livelihoods of the more than 180 million people who raise livestock on those rangelands. Our approach and the simulation tool presented here offer considerable potential for forecasting future conditions, highlight regions of concern, and support analyses where costs and benefits of adaptations and policies may be quantified. Otherwise, the technical options and policy and enabling environment that are needed to facilitate widespread adaptation may be very difficult to elucidate.     

Human transformation of ecosystems: Comparing protected and unprotected areas with natural baselines

Protected areas serve as reserves of biological diversity and conserve the naturalness of characteristic regional ecosystems. Numerous approaches have been applied to estimate the level of transformation of ecosystems and to compare trends inside and outside of protected areas. In this study, we apply aggregate indicators of anthropogenic pressures on ecosystems and biodiversity in a fine-scale spatial analysis to compare the level of human influence within protected and unprotected areas. The actual state of ecosystems is compared to a natural baseline that is intact or potential natural state. The results show that in a non-protected Central-European landscape, humans appropriate a considerable share of natural ecosystem productivity and carbon stocks, and significantly reduce natural biodiversity and ecosystem services. Human appropriation of net primary production reached more than 60% in total, humans reduced original biodiversity levels by 69%, and net carbon storage was considerably decreased by intensive types of land use. All three indicators significantly differed between protected areas and unprotected areas, suggesting that protected areas maintain higher biodiversity levels, store more carbon and are in total less influenced by human exploitation than average non-protected landscape. Furthermore, we bring evidence that human appropriation of net primary production is negatively related both to biodiversity and ecosystem services indicated by mean species abundance and net carbon storage at the national level. Our results contribute to the quantitative evidence of the impacts of anthropogenic transformation of natural ecosystems on the ecosystem condition, supporting the hypothesis that protected areas significantly reduce anthropogenic pressures and contribute to maintaining critical ecosystem services and biodiversity.     

基于生态系统服务的海南岛自然保护区体系规划

随着我国生物多样性保护与生态建设的发展,区域尺度自然保护区体系规划得到广泛的关注.以海南岛为例,探索了利用生态系统服务空间格局进行区域自然保护区规划的方法.研究中,首先从生物多样性分布、水源涵养、水资源保护、土壤保持和海岸带防护等5个方面分析了海南岛生态系统服务的空间格局,综合评价单元生态系统重要性;然后基于生态系统服务综合评价结果,并根据海南省保护自然过程与生物多样性并重的要求,识别出生态重要性高但无保护区或保护面积不足的空间单元,提出海南岛自然保护区体系规划.根据本规划,海南岛将共建成规范完善的自然保护区42个,总面积290.14万hm2.其中,陆地自然保护区面积41.26万hm2,占海南岛陆地总面积的11.79％.新建保护区4个(面积8.80万hm2),调整保护区4个(扩大面积8.01万公顷),优化整合原有保护区中的17个为6个,升级保护区4个.结果表明,基于生态系统服务的自然保护区体系规划有助于发挥自然保护区的综合效益,并具有更强的可操作性.将生态系统服务纳入自然保护区体系规划应是今后的发展方向.     

Nature’s care: diarrhea, watershed protection, and biodiversity conservation in Flores, Indonesia

Part of the puzzle surrounding biodiversity loss lies in an incomplete understanding of how humans value the functions and services that flow from biodiversity conservation projects. This paper takes a closer look at the links between the conservation of biodiversity and the livelihoods of rural people who live on the fringes of the parks and protected areas. We revisit some of the key aspects of ecosystem valuation—purpose, methodology, and policy design and implementation—because the links between biodiversity conservation, ecosystem services, and human welfare are obscured by considerable smoke and mirrors. Using a biodiversity conservation project (Ruteng Park) on Flores Island in Indonesia as a case study, we build a concrete empirical example of ecosystem valuation. This conservation project has resulted in spatially patchy watershed protection that allows us to identify and estimate the impacts of watershed services on human health (diarrhea prevalence) in the buffer zone of the park. We conclude by offering a plan of research to improve the design of conservation interventions for protecting biodiversity and providing ecosystem services. These recommendations include developing more conceptual knowledge on the linkages between biodiversity and ecosystem services; scaling up valuation efforts of underappreciated services such as health; shifting focus from valuing services individually to valuing multiple benefits from the same area; and conducting conservation policy experiments to identify causal outcomes (including defensible estimates of ecosystem values).

Ecosystem services and biodiversity in developing countries

The concept of ecosystem services has become important for our understanding of the role of nature for maintaining human livelihoods. But is biodiversity essential to maintain ecosystem services? Many studies suggest that higher biodiversity allows a higher level of ecosystem services, but others argue that there is little hard evidence, especially from tropical environments, to document the necessity of high biodiversity for provision of most ecosystem services. Thus, effective valuation of biodiversity for ecosystem services and long-term studies and monitoring are needed to fully understand the complex biodiversity-ecosystem service interface. This introduction briefly reviews some of the main arguments in this debate and provides an overview of the other five special issue papers. Exploring biodiversity and ecosystem interactions in the context of the provision of ecosystem services, these papers address population and biodiversity coexistence, the importance of dung beetles in agricultural landscapes, the knowledge and use of palms by local communities, bioprospecting for drugs and how biodiversity conservation may have added benefits in terms of improved watershed functions and health.     

Effects of Invasive-Plant Management on Nitrogen-Removal Services in Freshwater Tidal Marshes

Establishing relationships between biodiversity and ecosystem function is an ongoing endeavor in contemporary ecosystem and community ecology, with important practical implications for conservation and the maintenance of ecosystem services. Removal of invasive plant species to conserve native diversity is a common management objective in many ecosystems, including wetlands. However, substantial changes in plant community composition have the potential to alter sediment characteristics and ecosystem services, including permanent removal of nitrogen from these systems via microbial denitrification. A balanced assessment of costs associated with keeping and removing invasive plants is needed to manage simultaneously for biodiversity and pollution targets. We monitored small-scale removals of Phragmites australis over four years to determine their effects on potential denitrification rates relative to three untreated Phragmites sites and adjacent sites dominated by native Typha angustifolia. Sediment ammonium increased following the removal of vegetation from treated sites, likely as a result of decreases in both plant uptake and nitrification. Denitrification potentials were lower in removal sites relative to untreated Phragmites sites, a pattern that persisted at least two years following removal as native plant species began to re-colonize treated sites. These results suggest the potential for a trade-off between invasive-plant management and nitrogen-removal services. A balanced assessment of costs associated with keeping versus removing invasive plants is needed to adequately manage simultaneously for biodiversity and pollution targets.