Wetlands - Environment Value
Wetlands play a vital role in ecosystem economics. Ecosystem economics is a relatively new field of research which estimates the value of ecosystem services. Ecosystem services, in their simplest form, are the values provided by various ecosystems to society. Wetland function and value provides one of the largest components of all ecosystem services. It has been estimated that the total value of ecosystem services to society exceeds total gross domestic production at all levels of examination; it translates into an especially high ratio in developed countries where there is great need for ecosystem services such as nutrient recycling. Estuaries have some of the highest per acre values followed by swamps/floodplains, bottomland hardwoods, and pocosins/bays.