The Daily Bulletin

Please join the Biology Department and the Great Lakes Center for the seminar “Examining Inequality in Aquatic Ecosystem Services: Evidence from Large-Scale Monitoring Programs,” presented by Katya E. Kovalenko, research associate at the University of Minnesota Duluth, on Monday, April 15, at 3:00 p.m. in Science and Mathematics Complex 151. Attendees are welcome to enjoy coffee and cookies during the seminar.

Abstract
Multiple aquatic ecosystem services sustain humanity, but some of them may not be equitably accessible to all people. Dr. Kovalenko takes a transdisciplinary approach to recent literature to highlight some of the inequalities specific to aquatic ecosystems, focusing on provisioning, supporting and cultural aquatic ecosystem services. She used existing data from large-scale aquatic monitoring programs (National Coastal Condition Assessment, National Lakes Assessment) to examine relationships between ecosystem condition, approximating a subset of cultural and provisioning services, and inequality (population below poverty level, minority population). She assessed whether monitoring sites equitably represented the gradient of socioeconomic backgrounds. Several water quality indicators were associated with significantly different minority and low income percentages; however, the effect size was generally small, with the exception of nitrogen condition status. Minority communities were somewhat underrepresented when comparing the distribution of all census blocks with those in proximity to monitoring sites. Analyses were sensitive to the skewed distribution of monitoring sites with a low frequency of observations at the more socially vulnerable part of the gradient. She will discuss implications of these findings for improving the representation of vulnerable communities in large-scale monitoring programs.