1. An Ecosystem Services Approach to Water Resources
Unit 1.1: Mapping Ecosystem Services
This the first activity for the Ecosystem Services Approach to Water Resources module. The instructor should provide an overall context to the module, unit, and lesson.

2. Learning objectives Define ecosystems and ecosystem services
Identify ecosystem services provided by an ecosystem
Classify ecosystem services according to one of the four categories as described in the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA)
Use the basic features of Google Earth
Evaluate how the production of ecosystem services varies over time
Students should have completed the first two learning objectives before the class began by doing the pre-class preparation (reading “An introduction to Ecosystem Services” PowerPoint. The bottom three learning objectives will be completed during the class period.

3. Landscape #1 – Missouri River in South Dakota
Combine
Riparian forest
Corn field
(being harvested)
Soybean field
(being harvested)
Soybean field
Farm
Roads
Vermillion River
Corn field
Housing development
This is a Google Earth image of a landscape on the Missouri River near Vermillion, SD (42°43‘59.21"N 96°52‘44.43"W). This image is within the Missouri National Recreational River, which is a 100-mile stretch of the Missouri River that is designated as a national park because it is “free flowing” (i.e. not managed for large boat/barge traffic). Although it is hard to see in the image, the larger crop fields (all of the marked fields) have irrigation to the fields (which has implications for the production of ecosystem services).
In class, the instructor could go to this location in Google Earth and zoom in on some of the features shown in this landscape. To go to this landscape in Google Earth, enter the location as N W in the Google Earth search bar. The image included above is from October 2014, and newer images are now available. In order to see this same image, use the “historical imagery” tool to go back to October 2014 (see slide 9 for more information about this tool).
Missouri River
Vegetated portion of sandbar
Sandbar

4. Linking Google Earth to photographs
These are photographs taken in May 2015 from the same location as Landscape #1. The purpose of providing these photographs is to help students link the Google Earth images to landscapes as they see them. Starting from the top left going clockwise, the pictures look to the north, east, south, and west.

5. Linking Google Earth to photographs
These are photographs taken in May 2015 from the same location as Landscape #1. The purpose of providing these photographs is to help students link the Google Earth images to landscapes as they see them. The left photograph is of an irrigation line in the field to the east. The photograph on the right is looking to the south.

6. Missouri River sandbars
Vegetated sandbar
Sandbar

7. Landscape #1
List and categorize at least two ecosystem services from each MA category that are likely provided by this landscape.
If students are working in groups, they should develop this list as a group. If students are working individually, students should present their lists back to class (e.g. each student provides one ecosystem service for a list that the instructor writes on the board, or each student could write all/some of the ecosystem services on a board).
Examples of ecosystem services include:
Supporting: sandbar formation, nutrient cycling, oxygen production, nutrient transformation, water cycling
Provisioning: corn grain, corn stover, soybeans, fish, hydropower/electricity (not from this particular site, but the Missouri River is dammed to provide hydroelectricity)
Regulating: carbon sequestration in trees, flood protection in riparian forest, water purification (i.e. transforming excess soil nitrogen to atmospheric nitrogen)
Cultural: beauty of the river, recreation on the rivers and sandbar, education as a national park

8. Google Earth – basic features
Toolbar buttons (see next slide)
Search panel
Navigation controls
Search panel: for more information about how to search see
Navigation controls: the top circle “tilts the terrain” from 0–90 degrees. The default view on Google Earth is a “top-down” view, and this top control allows you to look at a landscape more “from the side.” The bottom circle allows you to move forward, backward, left, and right. The bottom bar allows you to zoom in and out. Once you zoom in, there will also be an icon of a person that allows you to have a “street view.”
Layers panel

9. Google Earth – Toolbar Buttons
Buttons to highlight: placemark for a location allows the user to go back to the same spot later.
Display historical imagery: when this is clicked, a (horizontal) bar appears in the top left corner that allows the user to scroll back and forth in time. The extent of aerial imagery differs among locations. The small, vertical white bars on the horizontal bar indicate times when new imagery is available. The date that the imagery was taken appears above the horizontal bar. Because images are taken during different years and at different times of the year, this feature allows students to evaluate inter-annual and intra-annual (i.e. seasonal) changes in landscapes over time.
Ruler: allows users to measure distances (multiple unit options are available) on an image.
Information from Google Earth Support 2015

10. Using Google Earth
Navigate to this location: 40°59'0.43"N 87° 7'33.35"W
Enter into the search bar as N W
Zoom out until you can see the pond/lake to the northwest
Use the features of Google Earth to answer the following questions:
What state is this location in?
When is the first aerial image of this location available?
How many different aerial images are available for this location?
What different seasons are captured in the aerial imagery for this location?
What is the length of the pond/lake in this image in 2013?
Answers to questions:
What state is this location in: Indiana
When is the first aerial image of this location available: 4/10/98
How many different aerial images are available for this location: 10 images (as of 3/30/15)
What different seasons are captured: spring, summer, and fall (March, April, July, August, September, October)
What is the length of the pond: 0.19 miles (306 m)

11. Temporal changes in ecosystem services
List and categorize five ecosystem services that are especially important in this landscape
Evaluate if and how the production of these ecosystem services has changed over time
The instructor should highlight how the production of ecosystem services changes over time and on different time scales as well. For instance, if the landscape changes, the ecosystem services may change from year to year or over several years; in locations with variable seasons, the production likely changes within the year, as the seasons change. Students could work in groups to answer the following questions, which they will then present back to the class.
Answers will vary, but one conspicuous change is a flood of the creek in September 2003.

12. Presenting back to the class
Each group should give a short (~1 min) presentation back to the class
List one ecosystem service provided by this landscape that has changed over time.
Describe how the production of that ecosystem service has changed including the timescale of that change.
In order to keep the presentations short, the groups should pick only one ecosystem service to present back to the class. If another form of reporting findings is used, then more ecosystem services could be described.

13. Additional practice (1)
Navigate to this location: N , W
For this location, answer the following questions:
What state is this location in?
How has the land use to the east of this river changed since June 2005?
What impacts might these land-use changes have on the ecosystem services provided by the river?
Note: The river referred to in the question is on the west/left side of the image, and there is a multi-lane bridge that crosses the river near the center of the image.
Answers
What state is this location in: Utah
How has the land use changed: Fields were converted to large buildings with large parking lots
What impacts might these land-use changes have: Answers will vary. Example, the parking lots would increase the amount of impermeable surfaces which would increase runoff into the river (pollution and increase speed of water delivery). More human habitation and activity have reduced wildlife. Recreational activities have decreased.

14. Additional practice (2)
In Google Earth, navigate to a water body near your campus.
How has that water body changed over time?
List and describe five ecosystem services provided by the water body.
Find a similar type of water body in another country.
How might the ecosystem services provided by this water body differ from the one near your campus? How might the ecosystem services provided be the same?

15. Google Earth image that students should navigate to for slide 10