Figure 1.

Ecosystem services bridge the ecological and social sciences relating ecosystem characteristics to human welfare as intermediate and final services. Scientists need to address two problems limiting the use of the ecosystem services approach in public policy: (1) a data gap, which requires conducting primary studies on causal links between ecosystem characteristics and final services, and (2) relevant information for decision-makers, which requires using legitimate interests (i.e. endpoints) and illustrating potential trade-offs of different management actions.