CURRENT AND FUTURE CLIMATE CHANGE EFFECTS ON THE ECOSYSTEM SERVICES AND ECONOMICS OF WILD BLUEBERRIES

The project described in this proposal examines ES tradeoffs across three dimensions: (a) at the field level in a factorial block design trial, (b) in a new crop model, applied spatially across the state of Maine, and (c) in the context of wild blueberry grower decision making, explored through focus groups and decision "gamification". Therefore, the long-term goal of this project is to investigate tradeoffs in dynamic ESs under probable future climate scenarios, and bring these findings to bear on management choices wild blueberry growers must make in the context of climate change. Under this broad goal, we have three project-specific goals:Goal 1. Investigate and describe how ecosystem services affect and are affected by wild blueberries in the context of a changing climate.Goal 2: Assess probable future growing conditions for wild blueberries, and associated ecosystem services.Goal 3: Assess farm-scale economics relevant to climate risk mitigation, and identify barriers to adoption of mitigation strategies.