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Ecosystem Services Under Threat and Opportunity: Recreational Fishing Losses from Water Quality Degradation and Carbon Sequestration Benefits of Crop Management

Wu, Yining
http://orcid.org/0009-0003-3034-0276
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1744976479033276

Abstract Details

2025, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, Agricultural, Environmental and Developmental Economics.
As environmental challenges intensify globally, quantifying both the costs of ecosystem degradation and the benefits of potential solutions becomes increasingly vital for effective policy development. This dissertation develops the economic valuation of ecosystem services in two interconnected environmental contexts: water quality degradation in recreational fisheries and carbon sequestration potential in crop management as a climate change mitigation strategy. Harmful algal blooms dominated by cyanobacteria (HABs) have been increasing in extent and intensity in aquatic ecosystems worldwide. As they degrade water quality, threaten human health, and alter ecosystem services, behavioral responses by people who recreate in affected waterways remain incompletely understood. The first chapter quantifies the effect of HAB occurrence and intensity on recreational fishing trips by combining spatiotemporally varying measures of cyanobacteria intensity with on-site counts of private boats, charter boats, and shore anglers in 36 of Ohio’s Lake Erie harbors during the 2011 to 2018 fishing seasons. Using Poisson pseudo-maximum likelihood with a Control Function approach, we find heterogenous responses across fishing types, locations, and time periods. In the westernmost part of the lake, where HABs have been most frequent and severe, avoidance behavior occurs in all three fishing types, with charter boats demonstrating the strongest response. Shore anglers' avoidance extends from the western basin to the west-central basin in terms of geographical extent. Regarding temporal patterns, western basin private boat users avoid HABs on weekdays but show no significant response on weekends. We simulate the change of recreational activities involving various HAB scenarios and climate change scenarios. Collectively, our findings suggest that HABs, which are projected to intensify with climate change, negatively affect Lake Erie's multibillion-dollar fishing economy, providing economic evidence that could inform future policies aimed at mitigating the formation of HABs to protect both recreational fishing opportunities and ecosystem health. The second chapter further estimates welfare losses from recurring HABs in Lake Erie. Using revealed preference data from Ohio's Lake Erie coast, we estimate annual site-level fishing trip demand for 35 harbors based on trips from 2,206 zip codes across 8 years. We estimate that the average welfare losses per choice occasion were $3.58 in 2011 (7,598 trips lost), $3.02 in 2013 (5,907 trips lost), and $4.20 in 2015 (8,403 trips lost). Our findings reveal spatial substitution patterns wherein anglers avoid the heavily affected western basin in favor of less impacted areas, with lower-income communities in the inland areas of northwestern Ohio and southeastern Michigan bearing disproportionate welfare losses. Methodologically, this study advances recreation demand modeling by effectively utilizing limited on-site survey data, isolating HAB impacts from other site-specific factors, and providing critical evidence on the distributional consequences of environmental degradation. These insights can inform more equitable policy approaches to agricultural nutrient management and address the recurring water quality challenges. The third chapter investigates how crop rotation choices influence soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks in agricultural systems as a pathway for climate change mitigation. Using Rapid Carbon Assessment data from the USDA combined with Cropland Data Layer information, this research demonstrates that increasing the frequency of corn in corn-soybean rotations enhances SOC sequestration. The analysis suggests that an additional year of corn planted every three years can increase SOC stocks at depths of 0-100 cm by 25.1%. Based on the results, a large-scale shift in rotations across four Midwest states indicates potential carbon sequestration gains of up to 896.7 million Mg C if all soybean fields are converted to continuous corn production, representing a substantial climate mitigation opportunity. We do not estimate the price and yield effects of this change but acknowledge potentially significant costs. Taken together, this dissertation provides comprehensive economic evidence on the costs of ecosystem service degradation and potential benefits of climate mitigation strategies. The first two chapters quantify the losses from water quality degradation in recreational fisheries, highlighting distributional inequities in environmental impacts. The third chapter explores agricultural management strategies that can provide carbon sequestration benefits. Collectively, these findings provide valuable insights for developing evidence-based environmental policies that promote adaptation to environmental degradation and advance mitigation efforts to address environmental challenges.
Brent Sohngen (Advisor)
Frank Lupi (Committee Member)
Seungki Lee (Committee Member)
Daniela Miteva (Committee Member)
Environmental Economics

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Wu, Y. (2025). Ecosystem Services Under Threat and Opportunity: Recreational Fishing Losses from Water Quality Degradation and Carbon Sequestration Benefits of Crop Management [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1744976479033276

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Wu, Yining. Ecosystem Services Under Threat and Opportunity: Recreational Fishing Losses from Water Quality Degradation and Carbon Sequestration Benefits of Crop Management . 2025. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1744976479033276.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Wu, Yining. "Ecosystem Services Under Threat and Opportunity: Recreational Fishing Losses from Water Quality Degradation and Carbon Sequestration Benefits of Crop Management ." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2025. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1744976479033276

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

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Release 3.2.12