Recent high-profile efforts have called for integrating ecosystemservice values into important societal decisions, but there are few demonstrations of this approach in practice. We quantified ecosystem-service values to help the largest private landowner in Hawaii, Kamehameha Schools, design a land-use development plan that balances multiple private and public values on its North Shore land holdings (Island of O'ahu) of ∼10,600 ha. We used the InVEST software tool to evaluate the environmental and financial implications of seven planning scenarios encompassing contrasting land-use combinations including biofuel feedstocks, food crops, forestry, livestock, and residential development. All scenarios had positive financial return relative to the status quo of negative return. However, tradeoffs existed between carbon storage and water quality as well as between environmental improvement and financial return. Based on this analysis and community input, Kamehameha Schools is implementing a plan to support diversified agriculture and forestry. This plan generates a positive financial return ($10.9 million) and improved carbon storage (0.5% increase relative to status quo) with negative relative effects on water quality (15.4% increase in potential nitrogen export relative to status quo). The effects on water quality could be mitigated partially (reduced to a 4.9% increase in potential nitrogen export) by establishing vegetation buffers on agricultural fields. This plan contributes to policy goals for climate change mitigation, food security, and diversifying rural economic opportunities. More broadly, our approach illustrates how information can help guide local land-use decisions that involve tradeoffs between private and public interests.conservation | mapping | private lands R ecent high-profile studies (1-4) have emphasized the importance of ecosystems in providing valuable services to humanity, and recent events have provided strong evidence of the value of flood-risk mitigation (5, 6), coastal protection (7, 8), and pollination (9). Global changes in land use and climate also have highlighted the role of ecosystems in food, water, and energy security and in climate change mitigation and adaption (10

Handheld aerial infrared imagery was used to infer submarine groundwater discharge (SGD) to a Hawaiian fishpond and adjacent bay at Kaloko, Hawai'i, using heat as a tracer for the relatively cooler groundwater. Use of a handheld infrared camera aboard readily available, unmodified aircraft is a convenient and less expensive alternative to use of a camera mounted in the belly of a customized aircraft, although it favors taking images with an oblique view instead of the preferable nadir view. Pond-wide patterns of SGD were readily apparent in oblique images and were typically more apparent in infrared imagery than in ground truth data, due to the formation of thin (order of cm) surface strata of groundwater which could easily fail to be observed with conventional temperature probes. Absolute temperature measurement is affected by the variation of surface emissivity and reflectivity with angle of camera view; corrections based on use of Fresnel's equation were of the order of several degrees centigrade at convenient oblique aerial viewing angles. Other factors that may affect apparent water temperature include sky temperature and camera error. Surface waves may also account for variations in average surface emissivity and reflectance that were not accounted for by the aforementioned corrections. Under suitable conditions, handheld aerial infrared imagery revealed spatial patterns of groundwater inflow, detected differences in water temperature at the meter scale, and measured absolute water temperature with accuracy on the order of 2 to 3 °C.

[1] We optimize groundwater management in the presence of marine consequences of submarine groundwater discharge (SGD). Concern for marine biota increases the optimal steady-state head level of the aquifer. The model is discussed in general terms for any coastal groundwater resource where SGD has a positive impact on valuable nearshore resources. Our application focuses on the Kona Coast of Hawai'i, where SGD is being actively studied and where both nearshore ecology and groundwater resources are serious sociopolitical issues. To incorporate the consequences of water extraction on nearshore resources, we impose a safe minimum standard for the quantity of SGD. Efficient pumping rates fluctuate according to various growth requirements on the keystone marine algae and different assumptions regarding recharge rates. Desalination is required under average recharge conditions and a strict minimum standard and under low recharge conditions regardless of minimum standards of growth.

Gracilaria coronopifolia and an invasive congener, Gracilaria salicornia, were examined across an SGD gradient in the field and laboratory. Tissue samples of both species were cultured for 16 days along an onshore-offshore SGD gradient at Wailupe, Oahu. G. salicornia tolerated the extremely variable salinity, temperature, and nutrient levels associated with SGD. In marked contrast, half of G. coronopifolia plants suffered tissue loss and even death at SGD-rich locations in the field and in laboratory treatments simulating high SGD flux. Measurements of growth, photosynthesis, and branch development via two novel metrics indicated that the 27‰ simulated-SGD treatment provided optimal conditions for the apparently less tolerant G. coronopifolia in the laboratory. Benthic community analyses revealed that G. salicornia dominated the nearshore reef exposed to SGD compared with the offshore reef, which had a greater diversity of native algae. Ultimately, SGD inputs to coastal environments likely influence benthic community structure and zonation on otherwise oligotrophic reefs.