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In the Spotlight
Year of the Reef
Every four years the world’s leading coral reef scientists gather to share their research efforts to protect these threatened living structures that provide habitat for thousands of fish and invertebrate species. For the first time in 30 years, the International Coral Reef Symposium was held in the United States mainland in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
EPA scientists joined their colleagues July 7-11 to present results of their ongoing research. The meeting is one of the highlights of a coral reef conservation effort called the International Year of the Reef. 
EPA coral reef experts conduct research in Florida, the Caribbean Sea and other locations where coral reefs are in danger. They are providing the critical information that will lead to better assessments of coral reef conditions that can help with their conservation. EPA coral reef research is intended to provide coral reef and other resource managers better tools and information to make better decisions.
Learn about the EPA research presentations.
More information on coral reef research.
Partnerships with EPA’s Ecological Research Program
EPA’s scientists are establishing partnerships with states, tribes and territories, communities, universities, federal agencies, non-governmental organizations, and others to ensure the best scientific tools and information are developed for use in making decisions about ecosystem services.
Collaborations provide an opportunity for outside input into the planning and development of the science and help scientists identify the needs of those who use the science products. Collaborations provide an opportunity for outside input into the planning and development of the science so that scientific tools and information is developed to meet the needs of our partners.
Formal partnership agreements have been made with the following organizations:
Gund Institute for Ecological Economics at the University of Vermont.
The purpose of this agreement is to share scientific expertise and knowledge. One area of collaboration will be to apply a suite of computer models developed by the Gund Institute to research projects planned by EPA to study ecosystem services in four different parts of the country: the plains in the Upper Midwest, the Willamette River Valley in Oregon, coastal areas of North and South Carolina and Tampa Bay in Florida.National Geographic Society.
The purpose of this collaboration is to develop methods to map ecosystem services and to create maps displaying these services for the U.S. at multiple scales. The collaboration will enhance shared interests in educating the public about the variety of ecosystem services in the U.S.
Scientific Experts Employed
Highly skilled scientific experts are joining forces with scientists in EPA’s Ecological Research Program to expand research on ecosystem services. These special government employees work at universities and other scientific organizations and are hired on a temporary and part-time basis to work with staff on research projects.
“We will benefit greatly from the expertise of these top leaders in the field of ecosystem services research,” said Rick Linthurst, director of the Ecological Research Program.
The program plans to hire approximately 15 special government employees who are national and international leaders in ecosystem services research to work with EPA scientists.
Scientists:
Dr. David Yoskowitz
Professor
Department of Finance, Economics and Decision Sciences at Texas A&M University in Corpus Christi, Texas.Dr. Yoskowitz will work with the research team in the Ecological Research Program’s Tampa Bay study, providing expertise to study economic valuation of ecosystem services in Tampa Bay, Florida. He will evaluate the potential and approach for economic valuation of ecosystem services in Tampa Bay, map valuation techniques to identify landscape and ecosystem services, integrate valuation of ecosystem services using benefit transfer methodology and develop an implementation plan assessing the relationship between ecological function and the value of ecosystem services for Tampa Bay.
Dr. Lisa Wainger
Research Associate Professor
University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science in Solomons, MarylandDr. Wainger will assist the research team in EPA’s Future Midwestern Landscapes (FML) study, specifically in the construction of a “multiple services” future scenario for the study area in the Midwest. This task requires determining production functions for various ecosystem services, codifying these spatially and economically, and modeling the resulting landscape change. Dr. Wainger’s work involves gathering and manipulating spatially-referenced agricultural and ecological data sets, estimating ecological production functions, employing valuation approaches, and modeling landscape change.
Dr. Wainger will help to develop or refine socio-economic or risk indicators describing how changes in ecosystem services can affect stakeholders' issues and management decisions and assist with the development of techniques for measuring, mapping, and valuing ecosystem services for the Ecological Research Program.
Dr. Mitchell J. Small
Professor
Civil & Environmental Engineering/Engineering & Public Policy, Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PennsylvaniaDr. Small will provide his expertise to support and inform the development of an innovative, online decision support platform that offers EPA, states, tribes, local communities and resource managers the ability to integrate, visualize, and maximize use of diverse data, models, and tools at multiple scales to generate alternative decision options and understand the consequences of management decisions on the sustainability of ecosystem services, their value and human well-being.
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