A Comparative Assessment of Water Supply Stress Index (WaSSI) and Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs (InVEST) Models for Annual Water Yield Estimation: A Case Study in the Croatan National Forest

This study conducts a comparison of two ecosystem service models: the Water Supply Stress Index (WaSSI) and the Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs (InVEST). It focuses on each model’s capability to estimate annual water yield within the Croatan National Forest (CNF). The Croatan Forest, characterized as a coastal ecosystem with high biodiversity and unique water resource management challenges, provides an opportune setting to examine and compare the accuracy and efficiency of these models in predicting water yield. Utilizing field data and remote sensing, we investigated the capabilities of both models to estimate water yield. The results indicate that both models can serve as useful tools for water resource management in coastal ecosystems, yet there are differences in their accuracy and sensitivity to environmental factors. This study is the first to compare the two ecosystem models, the WaSSI and InVEST, within a coastal forest setting for the calculation of water yield.