28. Lugo, A.E., and M.M. Brinson. 1978. Calculations of the value of 

 saltwater wetlands. Pages 120-130 in P.E. Greeson, J.R. Clark, and J.E. 

 Clark, eds. Wetlands functions and values: the state of our understanding. 

 Proceedings of a national symposium on wetlands. Various Federal agencies 

 and the American Water Resources Association, Minneapolis, MN. 



Lugo and Brinson strongly advocate a variant of the ecosystem life support 

 function or energy theory of value introduced by Gosselink, Odum, and Pope (see 

 [9]) and Pope and Gosselink ([8]) to impute dollar values to wetlands preserva- 

 tion benefits. This variant may be called the energy quality equivalent theory. 

 Lugo and Brinson argue that the energy quality theory of value corrects several 

 obvious deficiencies in the original formulation of the ecosystem life support 

 theory of value. The energy quality theory of value allows Lugo and Brinson to 

 impute values for work performed by solar energy in producing outputs other than 

 primary plant biomass. Thus the energy and work done by ocean tides can be given 

 dollar values with this approach. Another plausible consequence of applying this 

 more elaborate version of the energy theory of value is that forest stands that 

 are no longer growing rapidly, but which have appreciable quantities of stored 

 solar energy, can be valued relative to primary plant biomass production. 



Roughly, the quality correction denotes a value upgrading of solar energy 

 that is stored at slow rates over long periods of time in landscape forms and 

 plant biomass. Unfortunately, the paper is not self-contained, in that the 

 energy quality theory itself is developed in other research documents; this paper 

 merely applies the theory. 



29. Odum, E.P. 1978. The value of wetlands: a hierarchical approach. Pages 

 16-26 in P.E. Greeson, J.R. Clark, and J.E. Clark, eds. Wetlands 

 functions and values: the state of our understanding. Proceedings of a 

 national symposium on wetlands. Various Federal Agencies and the American 

 Water Resources Association, Minneapolis, MN. 



The author reviews the social benefits provided by various wetlands 

 functions, including the provision of wildlife habitat for various terrestrial 

 and aquatic species, groundwater recharge, waste assimilation, water purifica- 

 tion, and atmospheric stabilization. He suggests that there are three methods 

 for valuing these outputs and functions. The first, the common denominator 

 approach, involves the application of an energy theory of value--(this approach 

 is also called the "ecosystem life support" method in the work of Pope and 

 Gosselink (see [8]) and Gosselink, Odum, and Pope ([9])--to impute preservation 

 values to these wetlands. 



The second is similar to what might be called an expert systems approach. 

 It involves the use of experts to scale and weigh the outputs and functions. 

 The third involves economists determining the replacement cost of various 

 alternative means of obtaining these functions and outputs from other resources. 



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