Cost-effective targeting of conservation investments to reduce the northern Gulf of Mexico hypoxic zone.

ABSTRACT: A seasonally occurring summer hypoxic (low oxygen) zone in the northern Gulf of Mexico is the second largest in the world. Reductions in nutrients from agricultural cropland in its watershed are needed to reduce the hypoxic zone size to the national policy goal of 5,000 km(2) (as a 5-y running average) set by the national Gulf of Mexico Task Force's Action Plan. We develop an integrated assessment model linking the water quality effects of cropland conservation investment decisions on the more than 550 agricultural subwatersheds that deliver nutrients into the Gulf with a hypoxic zone model. We use this integrated assessment model to identify the most cost-effective subwatersheds to target for cropland conservation investments. We consider targeting of the location (which subwatersheds to

SUBMITTER: Rabotyagov SS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4284528 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature