Distribution of capitalized benefits from land conservation.

Land conservation efforts throughout the United States sustain ecological benefits while generating wealth in the housing market through capitalization of amenities. This paper estimates the benefits of conservation that are capitalized into proximate home values and quantifies how those benefits are distributed across demographic groups. Using detailed property and household-level data from Massachusetts, we estimate that new land conservation led to $62 million in new housing wealth equity. However, houses owned by low-income or Black or Hispanic households are less likely to be located near protected areas, and hence, these populations are less likely to benefit financially. Direct study of the distribution of this new wealth from capitalized conservation is highly unequal, with the richest quartile of households receiving 43%, White households receiving 91%, and the richest White households receiving 40%, which is nearly 140% more than would be expected under equal distribution. We extend our analysis using census data for the entire United States and observe parallel patterns. We estimate that recent land conservation generated $9.8 billion in wealth through the housing market and that wealthier and White households benefited disproportionately. These findings suggest regressive and racially disparate incidence of the wealth benefits of land conservation policy.

Value of protected areas to avian persistence across 20 years of climate and land-use change.

Establishing protected areas, where human activities and land cover changes are restricted, is among the most widely used strategies for biodiversity conservation. This practice is based on the assumption that protected areas buffer species from processes that drive extinction. However, protected areas can maintain biodiversity in the face of climate change and subsequent shifts in distributions have been questioned. We evaluated the degree to which protected areas influenced colonization and extinction patterns of 97 avian species over 20 years in the northeastern United States. We fitted single-visit dynamic occupancy models to data from Breeding Bird Atlases to quantify the magnitude of the effect of drivers of local colonization and extinction (e.g., climate, land cover, and amount of protected area) in heterogeneous landscapes that varied in the amount of area under protection. Colonization and extinction probabilities improved as the amount of protected area increased, but these effects were conditional on landscape context and species characteristics. In this forest-dominated region, benefits of additional land protection were greatest when both forest cover in a grid square and amount of protected area in neighboring grid squares were low. Effects did not vary with species' migratory habit or conservation status. Increasing the amounts of land protection benefitted the range margins species but not the core range species. The greatest improvements in colonization and extinction rates accrued for forest birds relative to open-habitat or generalist species. Overall, protected areas stemmed extinction more than they promoted colonization. Our results indicate that land protection remains a viable conservation strategy despite changing habitat and climate, as protected areas both reduce the risk of local extinction and facilitate movement into new areas. Our findings suggest conservation in the face of climate change favors creation of new protected areas over enlarging existing ones as the optimal strategy to reduce extinction and provide stepping stones for the greatest number of species.

Valor de las Áreas Protegidas para la Persistencia de Aves a lo largo de 20 Años de Cambio Climático y Cambios en el Uso de Suelo Resumen El establecimiento de áreas protegidas, donde las actividades humanas y los cambios en la cobertura de suelo están restringidos, es una de las estrategias más utilizadas para la conservación de la biodiversidad. Esta práctica está basada en la suposición de que las áreas protegidas guarecen a las especies de los procesos que ocasionan la extinción. Sin embargo, se ha cuestionado si las áreas protegidas pueden mantener la biodiversidad de cara al cambio climático y los cambios subsecuentes en su distribución. Evaluamos el grado al cual las áreas protegidas influyeron sobre los patrones de colonización y extinción de 97 especies de aves durante 20 años en el noreste de los Estados Unidos. Ajustamos los modelos de ocupación dinámica de visita única a los datos de los Atlas de Aves Reproductoras para cuantificar la magnitud del efecto de los causantes de colonización y extinción local (p. ej.: clima, cobertura de suelo, tamaño del área protegida) en paisajes heterogéneos que variaron en cantidad de área bajo protección. Las probabilidades de colonización y extinción mejoraron conforme aumentó el tamaño del área protegida, pero estos efectos fueron condicionales con respecto al contexto del paisaje y a las características de la especie. En esta región dominada por bosques, los beneficios de una protección adicional del suelo fueron mayores cuando la cobertura de bosque en una cuadrícula y el tamaño del área protegida en una cuadrícula adyacente fueron bajos. Los efectos no variaron acorde a los hábitos migratorios o al estado de conservación de la especie. El aumento en la cantidad de suelo protegido benefició a las especies en los márgenes de su extensión pero no en la extensión nuclear de la especie. La mayores mejorías en la colonización y en las tasas de extinción se acumularon para las aves de bosque en relación con especies generalistas o de hábitat abierto. En general, las áreas protegidas frenaron la extinción más veces de las que promovieron la colonización. Nuestros resultados indican que la protección de suelo permanece como una estrategia viable de conservación a pesar del cambio que existe en los hábitats y en el clima ya que las áreas protegidas reducen el riesgo de extinción local y facilitan el movimiento hacia zonas nuevas. Nuestros hallazgos sugieren que la conservación de cara al cambio climático favorece la creación de nuevas áreas protegidas por encima del aumento de las ya existentes como la estrategia óptima para reducir la extinción y proporcionar escalones para el mayor número de especies.

The human health effects of harmful algal blooms in Florida: The importance of high resolution data.

Harmful algal blooms (HABs) have been found to cause increases in healthcare visits for a variety of illnesses to humans if exposure and contact is sufficient. We use a more comprehensive dataset than previously implemented in prior literature to better isolate visits by healthcare facility type and proximity to bloom. Using a difference-in-differences model, our results suggest HABs cause an increase of 23.67 healthcare admissions per zip code per month across four HAB-related diagnoses. This impact is a 3,000% increase over baseline non-bloom times and an increase in monthly healthcare costs of about $250,000 for the entire impacted area. Our data include inpatient non-emergency and outpatient healthcare visits, which account for over 60% of all HAB-related healthcare visits, meaning that prior literature that has not measured those facilities has greatly underestimated HAB health impacts.

Seafood consumption during harmful algal blooms: The impact of information regarding safety and health.

Harmful algal blooms (HABs) can cause massive fish kills all over the world. However, some commercially caught species are safe to eat. The fish safe for consumption are vastly different from the fish that wash up on shore. Prior research finds this difference in edibility is mostly unknown by consumers, and that the misperception of unhealthy and unsafe fish is the dominant paradigm. To date, there has been minimal research on the effect of disseminating this information regarding seafood health to consumers, and how consumption habits would change during a bloom. We implement a survey that presents respondents with information explaining the health and safety of certain commercially caught seafood during a HAB, specifically red grouper. It is a particularly popular, large, deep-sea fish. Our results suggest that respondents receiving this information are 34 percentage points more likely to say that they would be willing to consume red grouper during a bloom, relative to consumers who were not provided this added information. Prior knowledge of this information suggests long-term outreach programs may be more effective than last minute "point of sale" information campaigns. The results demonstrated the importance of correct knowledge and awareness regarding HABs, as it pertains to efforts to stabilize local economies dependent on seafood harvesting and consumption.