How ecosystem services research can advance ecological economics principles

Ecosystem services (ES) have been a part of the ecological economics (EE) toolkit for decades. Over that time, however, ES has grown into a field of its own, and some ecological economists have criticized it for diverging from several core tenets of EE. Here we highlight five frontier areas of ES research and practice that can reverse that trend. Each of these areas has seen important recent ES research that builds toward stronger alignment with EE. These areas of emphasis are: measure ES broadly, not just monetarily; focus on stocks in addition to flows; better consider distributional impacts; incorporate non-Western perspectives on the benefits from ecosystems; and account for social dynamics, particularly learning. For each of these research areas, we describe its overall importance and potential for alignment, and we highlight the growing body of recent research. We then suggest further research questions related to each idea. We hope that distilling this list can contribute to meaningful advancements in both fields and stronger synergies between them.