Location, Location, Habitat: How the Value of Ecosystem Services Varies across Location and by Habitat

We used a choice experiment to examine how ecosystem service values (ESVs) vary across locations and, for the first time, across habitats. The study context was three habitats (oyster reef salt marsh, and black mangrove) in two U.S. Gulf Coast locations. The null hypothesis of ESV equality across locations was rejected 44% of the time and, when tested over suites of services, was rejected 50% of the time. Across habitats, the null hypothesis was rejected 22% and 10% of the time, respectively. Overall, benefit transfer across habitats appeared to work fairly well, whereas results were more mixed across locations.