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Linking human well-being and jellyfish: ecosystem services, impacts, and societal responses

Linking human well-being and jellyfish: ecosystem services, impacts, and societal responses
Linking human well-being and jellyfish: ecosystem services, impacts, and societal responses
Jellyfish are usually perceived as harmful to humans and are seen as “pests”. This negative perception has hindered knowledge regarding their value in terms of ecosystem services. As humans increasingly modify and interact with coastal ecosystems, it is important to evaluate the benefits and costs of jellyfish, given that jellyfish bloom size, frequency, duration, and extent are apparently increasing in some regions of the world. Here we explore those benefits and costs as categorized by regulating, supporting, cultural, and provisioning ecosystem services. A geographical perspective of human vulnerability to jellyfish over four categories of human well-being (health care, food, energy, and freshwater production) is also discussed in the context of thresholds
and trade-offs to enable social adaptation. Whereas beneficial services provided by jellyfish likely scale linearly with biomass (perhaps peaking at a saturation point), non-linear thresholds exist for negative impacts to ecosystem services. We suggest that costly adaptive strategies will outpace the beneficial services if jellyfish populations continue to increase in the future.
1540-9295
515-523
Graham, W.M.
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Gelcich, Stefan
10317d28-d21f-4821-bce1-d2e30d8c0f65
Robinson, Kelly L.
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Duarte, Carlos
861fbe39-21e4-4ede-8cef-5ec104829c52
Brotz, Lucas
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Purcell, Jennifer E.
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Madin, Laurence P.
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Mianzan, Hermes
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Sutherland, Kelly R
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Uye, Shin-Ichi
03531e96-8a2b-40fd-afc2-ebb96a720b73
Pitt, Kylie A.
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Lucas, Catherine
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Bogeberg, Molly
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Brodeur, Richard D.
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Condon, Robert. H.
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Graham, W.M.
ed88d278-51e1-4313-8c91-f2fa243d4a33
Gelcich, Stefan
10317d28-d21f-4821-bce1-d2e30d8c0f65
Robinson, Kelly L.
5f80b74f-5d2a-4d1c-8ce7-7a48f73d15be
Duarte, Carlos
861fbe39-21e4-4ede-8cef-5ec104829c52
Brotz, Lucas
06aa9e32-7946-4ba9-b761-469772afd861
Purcell, Jennifer E.
13d6c577-1268-40a4-930e-ee66edeb6809
Madin, Laurence P.
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Mianzan, Hermes
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Sutherland, Kelly R
751839cd-5451-4f39-b0cf-6c5d3dab35ee
Uye, Shin-Ichi
03531e96-8a2b-40fd-afc2-ebb96a720b73
Pitt, Kylie A.
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Lucas, Catherine
521743e3-b250-4c6b-b084-780af697d6bf
Bogeberg, Molly
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Brodeur, Richard D.
98369efd-565e-4c4c-b309-2a6d1c650e0b
Condon, Robert. H.
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Graham, W.M., Gelcich, Stefan, Robinson, Kelly L., Duarte, Carlos, Brotz, Lucas, Purcell, Jennifer E., Madin, Laurence P., Mianzan, Hermes, Sutherland, Kelly R, Uye, Shin-Ichi, Pitt, Kylie A., Lucas, Catherine, Bogeberg, Molly, Brodeur, Richard D. and Condon, Robert. H. (2014) Linking human well-being and jellyfish: ecosystem services, impacts, and societal responses. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 12 (9), 515-523, [12]. (doi:10.1890/130298).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Jellyfish are usually perceived as harmful to humans and are seen as “pests”. This negative perception has hindered knowledge regarding their value in terms of ecosystem services. As humans increasingly modify and interact with coastal ecosystems, it is important to evaluate the benefits and costs of jellyfish, given that jellyfish bloom size, frequency, duration, and extent are apparently increasing in some regions of the world. Here we explore those benefits and costs as categorized by regulating, supporting, cultural, and provisioning ecosystem services. A geographical perspective of human vulnerability to jellyfish over four categories of human well-being (health care, food, energy, and freshwater production) is also discussed in the context of thresholds
and trade-offs to enable social adaptation. Whereas beneficial services provided by jellyfish likely scale linearly with biomass (perhaps peaking at a saturation point), non-linear thresholds exist for negative impacts to ecosystem services. We suggest that costly adaptive strategies will outpace the beneficial services if jellyfish populations continue to increase in the future.

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Published date: November 2014

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 445377
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/445377
ISSN: 1540-9295
PURE UUID: 69cfa819-c363-4133-888e-27db20d4d30c
ORCID for Catherine Lucas: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-5929-7481

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Date deposited: 04 Dec 2020 17:32
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 02:40

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Contributors

Author: W.M. Graham
Author: Stefan Gelcich
Author: Kelly L. Robinson
Author: Carlos Duarte
Author: Lucas Brotz
Author: Jennifer E. Purcell
Author: Laurence P. Madin
Author: Hermes Mianzan
Author: Kelly R Sutherland
Author: Shin-Ichi Uye
Author: Kylie A. Pitt
Author: Catherine Lucas ORCID iD
Author: Molly Bogeberg
Author: Richard D. Brodeur
Author: Robert. H. Condon

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