Using biodiversity response for prioritizing participants and service provisions in a payment-for-water-storage program in the Everglades basin

•Payment for water storage (PWS) services programs can also provide enhanced biodiversity as an additional benefit.•Quantifying the changes in biodiversity is complex given the inter-dependency of the indicators.•Biodiversity response can be used as an additional selection criterion when evaluating PWS proposals.•Decision-support-system was developed to analyze trade-offs between water storage and biodiversity services.•Buyers may choose to accept lower water storage in exchange for biodiversity enhancement.