Although ecosystem services research has become common, few efforts are directed toward in-depth understanding of the specific ecological quantities people value. The theoretical framework of final ecosystem services focuses attention on such measurable attributes, as a common currency for social-ecological systems research. Environmental communications as well as ecological monitoring and analysis efforts could be enhanced through increased documentation of final ecosystem services. For example, small changes in the way ecosystems are described could strongly influence relevance to the public and improve the foundation for environmental decision making. Focusing on rivers and streams, we conducted a content analysis of existing publications to document the breadth and frequency with which various measurable attributes, such as flooding, water quality characteristics, and wildlife appeared in different news sources over a multiyear timeline. In addition to attributes, motivations for human interest in river-related resources were also coded, such as recreation or preservation for future generations. To allow testing of differences between materials written for different audiences, three sources were sampled: a blog hosted by National Geographic, New York Times articles, and Wall Street Journal articles. The coding approach was rigorously tested in a pilot phase, with measures developed to ensure high data quality, including use of two independent coders. Results show numerous similarities across sources with some notable differences in emphasis. Significant relationships between groups of attribute and motivation codes were also found, one outcome of which is further support for the importance of nonuse values for fish and wildlife. Besides offering insight on ecosystem services, the project demonstrates an in-depth quantitative approach to analyzing preexisting qualitative data.

中文翻译：

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媒体中的河流：生态系统服务的内容分析


尽管生态系统服务研究已变得普遍，但很少有人致力于深入了解人们所重视的特定生态数量。最终生态系统服务的理论框架将注意力集中在这些可测量的属性上，作为社会生态系统研究的共同货币。通过增加最终生态系统服务的记录，可以加强环境交流以及生态监测和分析工作。例如，生态系统描述方式的微小变化可能会强烈影响与公众的相关性，并改善环境决策的基础。我们以河流和溪流为重点，对现有出版物进行了内容分析，记录了多年来不同新闻来源中出现的各种可衡量属性（例如洪水、水质特征和野生动物）的广度和频率。除了属性之外，人类对河流相关资源感兴趣的动机也被编码，例如为子孙后代提供娱乐或保护。为了测试为不同受众编写的材料之间的差异，我们对三个来源进行了抽样：国家地理主办的博客、《纽约时报》文章和《华尔街日报》文章。编码方法在试点阶段经过严格测试，并制定了确保高数据质量的措施，包括使用两个独立的编码器。结果显示，不同来源有许多相似之处，但侧重点存在显着差异。还发现了属性组和动机代码之间的显着关系，其结果之一是进一步支持鱼类和野生动物的非使用价值的重要性。 除了提供对生态系统服务的见解外，该项目还展示了分析现有定性数据的深入定量方法。