Modeling Marine Ecosystem Services

Humans benefit from marine systems in diverse ways. Advances in assessing these “ecosystem services” have raised awareness of our dependence on them and their threatened status. We discuss the importance of modeling ecosystem services to inform decisions, place these efforts in the context of coupled social–ecological systems, and highlight unique aspects of marine systems. We explore a variety of approaches to mapping, modeling, and valuing marine ecosystem services and provide four examples of approaches. Modeling marine ecosystem services helps society recognize the benefits of oceans and coasts, appropriately value marine natural capital, and make better choices about its use.