The hidden value of trees: Quantifying the ecosystem services of tree lineages and their major threats across the contiguous US

• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pstr.0000010
• Publication Date: 2022-04-05T20:03:17Z
• Authors: Jeannine M. Caven...; Erik Nelson; Jose Eduardo Meir...; Jesse R. Lasky; Daniela A. Miteva; David J. Nowak; William D. Pearse; Matthew R. Helmus; Amy E. Zanne; William F. Fagan; Christopher Mihiar; Nicholas Z. Muller; Nathan J. B. Kraft; Stephen Polasky
• Keywords: 2. Zero hunger; 0106 biological sciences; 0303 health sciences; bepress|Life Sciences|Forest Sciences; Ecology and Evolutionary Biology; Life Sciences; bepress|Life Sciences|Biodiversity; bepress|Life Sciences|Forest Sciences|Other Forestry and Forest Sciences; Biodiversity; 15. Life on land; bepress|Life Sciences|Ecology and Evolutionary Biology; 01 natural sciences; 03 medical and health sciences; bepress|Life Sciences; Other Forestry and Forest Sciences; 13. Climate action; 11. Sustainability; Forest Sciences

Trees provide critical contributions to human well-being. They sequester and store greenhouse gasses, filter air pollutants, wood, food, other products, among benefits. These benefits are threatened by climate change, fires, pests pathogens. To quantify the current value of flow ecosystem services from U.S. trees, threats they face, we combine macroevolutionary economic valuation approaches using spatially explicit data about tree species lineages. We find that five key with adequate generated US trees is $114 billion per annum (low: $85 B; high: $137 2010 USD). The non-market carbon storage pollution removal far exceed their commercial wood products food crops. Two lineages—pines oaks—account for 42% these services. majority face many increasing fire risk, known pathogens threaten 40% total woody biomass. most valuable lineages those pathogens, at risk threat. High turnover across continent results in a diverse set distributed life contributing high diversity taxa forests may be important buffering service losses if when compromised.