What are the research priorities for marine ecosystem services?

Despite the growing consensus in the applicability of the ecosystem services (ES) approach to marine resource management, its incorporation into real life decision-making remains insufficient. This paper provides the first bottom up consultation about research priorities of marine ES. This paper surveyed 404 marine ES practitioners globally with the aim of identifying the key research priorities for marine ES to determine crucial knowledge gaps that need to be addressed. The results of this study show that topics related to Linking ES and wellbeing, and Integrating economics, natural and social sciences into ecosystem services assessments are the most important research issues. The research done also indicate that questions concerning the interplay between ecosystems and people were found to be more important than instrumental questions. By identifying and prioritizing research questions this study will help to inform research-funding agencies, governments, and research units seeking to concentrate their financial and human resources on the challenges that require urgent attention, and to enhance the complementarity and minimize duplication of research efforts in the marine ES research community. This study provides the basis for developing a practice-oriented marine ES research agenda.