• About
  • Introduction
  • The ARIES approach
  • Applications of ARIES
  • The ARIES team
• Modules
  • Overview
  • Carbon sequestration & storage
  • Flood regulation
  • Coastal flood regulation
  • Aesthetic views & proximity
  • Freshwater supply
  • Sediment regulation
  • Subsistence fisheries
  • Recreation
• Case studies
  • Overview
  • Western Washington
  • San Pedro River, AZ
  • Madagascar
  • Veracruz, Mexico
  • West Coyote Hills, CA
  • Dominican Republic
  • Vermont
  • Colorado
• Resources
  • Overview
  • Toolkit
  • Site map

At a glance

Ecosystem services

Ecosystem services (ES) are the economic benefits provided by nature to humans. ES can be used to frame tradeoffs in conservation and economic development. Examples of ecosystem services include water supply, flood and coastal storm regulation, nutrient regulation and carbon sequestration and storage.

Development background

ARIES is a federally funded project aiming to provide intelligent support to Ecosystem Service Assessment and Valuation (ESAV); it started on April 1, 2007 thanks to a $925,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to the Ecoinformatics Collaboratory at University of Vermont, Earth Economics, and Conservation International. Partners from Madagascar to Puget Sound are providing case studies, data and knowledge to inform the ARIES algorithms. Demonstration, proof-of-concept, and test releases were made available starting in summer 2008. A fully functional portal will be available to the public by mid-2012.

How it works

ARIES encodes relevant ecological and socioeconomic knowledge to map ES provision, use, and benefit flows - all of which are built according to our latest understanding of ecosystem services. This is done through an automated data integration process utilizing an extensive database featuring global through local scale GIS data and ecosystem service models.

Overview

ARIES is a web-based technology offered to users worldwide to assist rapid ecosystem service assessment and valuation (ESAV). Its purpose is to make environmental decision making easier and more effective. ARIES helps users discover, understand, and quantify environmental assets and the factors influencing their values, for specific geographic areas and based on user needs and priorities.

ARIES follows the open source software paradigm; our goal is to have unsupervised access to ARIES services open and free for all non-profit users, including members of NGOs, academic, or governmental institutions. Non-profit users commit to sharing data in ways that best reflect their mission and sources, contributing to the growth of the system over time. Access to ARIES for business and consulting groups will also be made available through consortium members, whose proceeds will support the maintenance and growth of the system.

Copyright © 2013 The ARIES Consortium. All rights reserved.