Social Values for Ecosystem Services, version 3.0 (SolVES 3.0): documentation and user manual
Links
- More information: USGS Index Page
- Document: Report (5.98 MB pdf)
- Companion File: SolVES 3.0 (54.2 MB)
- Download citation as: RIS | Dublin Core
Abstract
The geographic information system (GIS) tool, Social Values for Ecosystem Services (SolVES), was developed to incorporate quantified and spatially explicit measures of social values into ecosystem service assessments. SolVES 3.0 continues to extend the functionality of SolVES, which was designed to assess, map, and quantify the social values of ecosystem services. Social values—the perceived, nonmarket values the public ascribes to ecosystem services, particularly cultural services, such as aesthetics and recreation—can be evaluated for various stakeholder groups. These groups are distinguishable by their attitudes and preferences regarding public uses, such as motorized recreation and logging. As with previous versions, SolVES 3.0 derives a quantitative 10-point, social-values metric—the value index—from a combination of spatial and nonspatial responses to public value and preference surveys. The tool also calculates metrics characterizing the underlying environment, such as average distance to water and dominant landcover. SolVES 3.0 is integrated with Maxent maximum entropy modeling software to generate more complete social-value maps and offer robust statistical models describing the relationship between the value index and explanatory environmental variables. A model’s goodness of fit to a primary study area and its potential performance in transferring social values to similar areas using value-transfer methodology can be evaluated. SolVES 3.0 provides an improved public-domain tool for decision makers and researchers to evaluate the social values of ecosystem services and to facilitate discussions among diverse stakeholders regarding the tradeoffs among ecosystem services in a variety of physical and social contexts ranging from forest and rangeland to coastal and marine.
| Publication type | Report |
|---|---|
| Publication Subtype | USGS Numbered Series |
| Title | Social Values for Ecosystem Services, version 3.0 (SolVES 3.0): documentation and user manual |
| Series title | Open-File Report |
| Series number | 2015-1008 |
| DOI | 10.3133/ofr20151008 |
| Year Published | 2015 |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | U.S. Geological Survey |
| Publisher location | Reston, VA |
| Contributing office(s) | Geosciences and Environmental Change Science Center |
| Description | Report: vi, 65 p.; SolVES 3.0 |
| First page | 65 |
| Public Comments | Land Change Science Program |
| Online Only (Y/N) | Y |
| Additional Online Files (Y/N) | Y |
| Google Analytic Metrics | Metrics page |