Table 1 Metrics used for estimating ES supply, demand, and benefits.

From: Projected losses of ecosystem services in the US disproportionately affect non-white and lower-income populations

Ecosystem service

Key beneficiaries

Supply metric

Demand metric

Benefit metric

Air quality

Downwind population

Avoided PM2.5 emissions (kg × yr−1)

Downwind population exposed to PM2.5 emissions (Count)

Avoided mortalities (Count × yr−1)

Crop pollination

Farmers within county

Wild-bee abundance (0–1 index)

Pollinator-dependent crop area (ha)

Abundance of wild bees in pollinator-dependent cropland (index)

Vector-borne disease control

County population

Avoided risk of exposure to West Nile virus (Count per 100,000 people × yr−1)

Population exposed to West Nile virus (Count)

Avoided cases of West Nile virus (Count × yr−1)

  1. See Methods section for more information about the data and models used to estimate each of these metrics. Social inequalities may be reflected in how ecosystem services are distributed among groups of people. Here the authors estimate the distribution of three ecosystem services across demographic and socioeconomic groups in the US between 2020 and 2100, finding that non-white and lower-income groups disproportionately bear the loss of ecosystem service benefits.
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