- "Ecosystem services are the many and varied benefits to humans provided by the natural environment and healthy ecosystems."
The benefits that people derive from natural ecosystems, such as clean water, clean air, and biodiversity.
Biodiversity: The variety of living organisms within an ecosystem, comprising genetic, species, and ecological diversity.
Ecosystem functions: The processes that occur within an ecosystem, such as nutrient cycling, pollination, and pest control.
Ecosystem services: The benefits that humans receive from functioning ecosystems, such as clean air and water, food, and recreational opportunities.
Sustainability: The capacity of ecosystems to provide long-term benefits for the environment and humans, while maintaining their biodiversity and productivity.
Ecological restoration: The process of restoring degraded or destroyed ecosystems to their natural state, to enhance their capacity to provide ecosystem services.
Environmental economics: The study of the economic value of ecosystem services, and the development of market-based mechanisms for conservation.
Habitat fragmentation: The breaking up of large, contiguous habitats into smaller, isolated patches, which can lead to loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services.
Climate change: The warming of the Earth's atmosphere due to human activities, which has significant impacts on ecosystem functions and services.
Land use change: The conversion of natural habitats to human uses, such as agriculture or urbanization, which can cause declines in biodiversity and ecosystem services.
Protected areas: Areas of land or water that are set aside for the conservation of biodiversity and ecosystem services.
Cultural ecosystem services: The non-material benefits that humans derive from ecosystems, such as spiritual and aesthetic values.
Resilience: The ability of ecosystems to withstand disturbance or change, while maintaining their structure and function.
Ecosystem-based management: The use of ecological principles to guide the management of resources and ecosystems, to ensure their sustainability and the provision of ecosystem services.
Natural capital: The stock of natural resources and ecosystem services that provide benefits to humans.
Ecological Footprint: A measure of the impact of human activities on the environment, based on the amount of land and water required to sustain a particular lifestyle or economy.
Invasive species: Non-native species that are introduced to an ecosystem and can cause harm to native species and disrupt ecosystem functions and services.
Water resource management: The activities, strategies, and policies to ensure wise and sustainable use of water resources, including ecosystem services provided by wetlands, watersheds, rivers, and lakes.
Agriculture and ecosystem services: The impacts of agricultural practices on ecosystem functions and services, including soil conservation, pollination, and pest control.
Marine and coastal ecosystem services: The value and conservation of ecosystem services provided by marine, estuarine and coastal systems.
Forest ecosystem services: The value and conservation of ecosystem services provided by forests, including carbon sequestration, timber, fuelwood, and non-timber forest products.
Provisioning Services: These services provide direct benefits to humans, by supplying food, freshwater, timber, and fiber, and other necessary products from the ecosystem.
Regulating Services: These services help regulate essential ecological processes, such as air and water quality, carbon sequestration, plant pollination, flood control, climate regulation, disease control, and pest control.
Cultural Services: These services provide non-material benefits from the ecosystem, such as recreational activities, aesthetic values, spiritual values, and educational opportunities.
Supporting Services: These services are the basis of all ecosystem services and include soil formation, nutrient cycling, and primary production.
Basic services: Basic services are inherent in the natural ecosystems like bio-geochemical cycles, nutrient recycling, and the provision of fertile soil.
Carbon regulation service: Carbon regulation service helps in regulating the amount of carbon in the air, water, and soil. The natural process of carbon regulation helps in purifying the air and water, and mitigates the climate.
Pollination service: Pollination service refers to the natural process of transferring pollen grains from the male flower to the female flower, which leads to the reproduction of the plant species.
Water regulation service: Water regulation service refers to the natural process of filtering and storing water that helps in maintaining the water cycle in the ecosystem.
Soil formation service: Soil formation service refers to the natural process of forming and maintaining the soil structure and quality, necessary for the growth of plants and other living organisms.
Biodiversity service: Biodiversity service refers to the diversity of living organisms found in the ecosystem. The greater the biodiversity, the more the ecosystem is stable, and the more resilience it can bear to adverse impacts.
Genetic service: Genetic service refers to the genetic material present in the living organisms, which can be significant for developing new medicines, crops, and other useful products.
Nutrient cycling service: Nutrient cycling service refers to the natural process of recycling nutrients in the ecosystem to maintain the nutrient balance, necessary for the growth of plants and other living organisms.
Erosion control service: Erosion control service helps in regulating soil erosion, which can lead to the loss of fertile soil, siltation in water bodies, and other ecological damages.
Disease regulation service: Disease regulation service helps in regulating the spread of diseases, which can have an adverse impact on the living organisms in the ecosystem.
- "Such ecosystems include, for example, agroecosystems, forest ecosystems, grassland ecosystems, and aquatic ecosystems."
- "Natural pollination of crops, clean air, extreme weather mitigation, and human mental and physical well-being."
- "Collectively, these benefits are becoming known as ecosystem services."
- "The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) in the early 2000s popularized this concept."
- "Ecosystem services are grouped into four broad categories: provisioning, regulating, supporting, and cultural."
- "Provisioning services include the production of food and water."
- "Regulating services include the control of climate and disease."
- "Supporting services include nutrient cycles and oxygen production."
- "Cultural services include spiritual and recreational benefits."
- "Estuarine and coastal ecosystems are both marine ecosystems."
- "Regulating services, provisioning services, cultural services, and supporting services."
- "Regulating services include climate regulation, waste treatment, disease regulation, and buffer zones."
- "Provisioning services include forest products such as timbers, marine products, fresh water, raw materials, and biochemical and genetic resources."
- "Cultural services include inspirational aspects, recreation and tourism, science and education."
- "Supporting services include nutrient cycling, biologically mediated habitats, and primary production."
- "While scientists and environmentalists have discussed ecosystem services implicitly for decades..."
- "To help inform decision-makers, many ecosystem services are being evaluated to draw equivalent comparisons to human-engineered infrastructure and services."
- "Natural pollination of crops, clean air, extreme weather mitigation, and human mental and physical well-being."
- "...and are often integral to the provision of food, the provisioning of clean drinking water, the decomposition of wastes, and the resilience and productivity of food ecosystems."