Valuing insect pollination services with cost of replacement

Value estimates of ecosystem goods and services are useful to justify the allocation of resources towards conservation, but inconclusive estimates risk unsustainable resource allocations. Here we present replacement costs as a more accurate value estimate of insect pollination as an ecosystem servic...

Full description

Saved in:

Bibliographic Details
Published in:	PloS one 2008-09, Vol.3 (9), p.e3128-e3128
Main Authors:	Allsopp, Mike H, de Lange, Willem J, Veldtman, Ruan
Format:	Article
Language:	eng
Subjects:	Agricultural economics Agricultural management Agriculture Agriculture - economics Animals Apis mellifera Bees Bees - physiology Biodiversity Biological diversity conservation Conservation Conservation of Natural Resources - economics Conservation of Natural Resources - methods Crops, Agricultural - economics Decision making Ecology Ecology/Conservation and Restoration Ecology Ecology/Ecosystem Ecology Ecology/Global Change Ecology Economic aspects Ecosystem Ecosystem management Ecosystems Estimates Fruit - economics Fruits Insecta - metabolism Insecta - physiology Insects Models, Biological Models, Economic Models, Theoretical Plant reproduction Pollen Pollination Pollinators Pricing Protection and preservation Resource allocation Risk allocation South Africa Wildlife conservation
Online Access:	Get full text
Tags:	Add Tag No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!

Description
Summary:	Value estimates of ecosystem goods and services are useful to justify the allocation of resources towards conservation, but inconclusive estimates risk unsustainable resource allocations. Here we present replacement costs as a more accurate value estimate of insect pollination as an ecosystem service, although this method could also be applied to other services. The importance of insect pollination to agriculture is unequivocal. However, whether this service is largely provided by wild pollinators (genuine ecosystem service) or managed pollinators (commercial service), and which of these requires immediate action amidst reports of pollinator decline, remains contested. If crop pollination is used to argue for biodiversity conservation, clear distinction should be made between values of managed- and wild pollination services. Current methods either under-estimate or over-estimate the pollination service value, and make use of criticised general insect and managed pollinator dependence factors. We apply the theoretical concept of ascribing a value to a service by calculating the cost to replace it, as a novel way of valuing wild and managed pollination services. Adjusted insect and managed pollinator dependence factors were used to estimate the cost of replacing insect- and managed pollination services for the Western Cape deciduous fruit industry of South Africa. Using pollen dusting and hand pollination as suitable replacements, we value pollination services significantly higher than current market prices for commercial pollination, although lower than traditional proportional estimates. The complexity associated with inclusive value estimation of pollination services required several defendable assumptions, but made estimates more inclusive than previous attempts. Consequently this study provides the basis for continued improvement in context specific pollination service value estimates.
ISSN:	1932-6203 1932-6203