van Heerden, V.N., and Snyder, B., 2024. Meta-analysis and spatial distribution of ecosystem services in Louisiana's coastal zone: Implications for coastal restoration. Journal of Coastal Research, 40(1), 17–30. Charlotte (North Carolina), ISSN 0749-0208.

Coastal Louisiana is shaped by dynamic and complex nature–society relationships. In environmental policymaking, the ecosystem services framework is a common approach to conceptualizing this relationship. A meta-analysis of 46 studies from 1974 to 2019 was conducted, which contained 168 primary ecosystem services valuations for wetlands in coastal Louisiana. Ecosystem services values for freshwater, brackish, and saltwater wetlands are presented. Services include disturbance regulation, fisheries, gas regulation, primary production, nutrient regulation, recreation, and waste regulation. With these values, total ecosystem services values for all wetlands in the coastal zone were calculated. The results showed that freshwater wetlands provide ecosystem services values similar to those of saltwater wetlands and that the annual ecosystem services provisioning for the coastal zone totals more than $36.3 billion (2022 U.S. dollars). This study presents environmental policymakers and planners with an updated ecosystem services value database for effectively communicating the dynamic relationship between people and nature in Louisiana.