Assessing the ecosystem services and disservices provided by migratory wildlife across the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem

Highly mobile and migratory wildlife are ecologically, culturally, and economically important because they provide ecosystem services across heterogenous landscapes. Migratory ungulates (hoofed mammals) are particularly influential because of their large body size, seasonal movement across vast distances, and ties to human society. Ungulate migrations are widely declining in the face of habitat alteration, and initiatives across the globe seek to conserve them. However, migratory herds can generate significant costs or disservices for landowners and communities, complicating management and conservation. We demonstrate how a comprehensive assessment of the ecosystem services and disservices (ESDs) provided by mobile wildlife can enable conservation policy that facilitates co-existence across multi-use landscapes. Our mixed-methods approach applies the widely recognized Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) ESD categories as a framework to combine formal scientific knowledge spanning multiple disciplines with experiential knowledge gathered from local stakeholders through interviews. We apply this methodology in the context of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE), which harbors long-distance migrations of six ungulate species that move between public protected areas and private working lands. We discuss how stakeholder knowledge corroborates or contradicts scientific literature and characterize stakeholder groups and their perspectives. We suggest that formal assessments of ESDs within their ecological and socioeconomic contexts could mobilize resources for conservation, increase returns on conservation spending, and support conflict resolution amongst groups seeking to manage wildlife for different objectives.