Ecosystem Functions and Services
& and
Ecosystem functions and Services
Ecosystem functions are the biophysical processes that take
place within an ecosystem.
The level – local, regional, global - of functions depends on
the ecosystem: e.g.
- terrestrial or marine,
- tropical,
- temperate or boreal,
Study the following diagram:
Process
Analyze the above diagram
• Soil organisms benefit from crops:
– Bacteria feed on the cellulose
– fibers of straw that farmers return to the soil;
– Amoebas feed on bacteria making lignite fibers
available for uptake by plants
• Contd.
– Algae provide organic matter and serve as natural
nitrogen fixers
– Rodents that bore under the fields aerate the soil
and improve its water-holding capacity
– Spiders, centipedes and insects grind organic
matter from the surface soil and leave behind
enriched droppings.
- Earthworms contribute to soil fertility
• They provide aerage, drainage and maintain soil
structure.
• According to Charles Darwin, “It may be doubted
whether there are many other animals which have
played so important a part in the history of
creatures.”
• The earthworm is like a natural tractor, fertilizer
factory and dam, combined!
• Industrial-farming techniques would deprive these
diverse species of food sources and instead assault
them with chemicals, destroying the rich biodiversity
in the soil and with it the basis for the renewal of the
soil fertility.
Ecosystem functions and services
- covering small or large areas,
- simple or complex,
- biodiversity-rich or not,
- damaged or intact, etc.), and
- on certain aspects of the landscape
context, e.g.,
- connectedness to other natural/human
features, accessibility, etc
Ecosystem services are the outcomes from
ecosystem functions that are to the benefit
of human beings; e.g.,
- better fishing and hunting,
- cleaner water,
- better views,
…%…
- ‘free’ wild pollinators,
- safer or less vulnerable areas to natural
disasters,
- lower global warming,
- new discoveries for pharmaceutical uses or
more productive soils).
- In principle, these could include both forest
products (timber and non-timber) and services.
- While we briefly mention the main products
serving people, our focus here will be on services in the
strict sense - i.e. the less tangible benefits derived from
forests.
• Ecosystem services, such as
– Protection of water resources
– Soils formation and protection
– Nutrient storage and recycling
– Pollution breakdown and absorption
– Contribution to climate stability
– Maintenance of ecosystems
– Recovery from unpredictable events
• Biological resources, such as
– Food
– Medicinal resources and pharmaceutical drugs
– Wood products
– Ornamental plants
– Breeding stocks, population reservoirs
– Future resources
– Diversity in genes, species and ecosystems
• Social benefits, such as
– Research, education and monitoring
– Recreation and tourism
– Cultural values
- Ecosystem services cannot be characterized
apart from any human context and require
some interaction with humans.
- Functions only become services to the
extent that humans acknowledge them within
their social systems of value generation.
• However, unlike forest products, most forest service
values are not paid for, i.e.,
- This means that the economic value of services more
often than not remains without a financial
counterpart,
- in other words,
those who own or control forests where those services
are produced, do not capture the economic benefits
that result from those services.
• The ecological services of forests are many.
Forests provide consumption goods, regulate local and
global climate, buffer weather events, regulate
the hydrological cycle, protect watersheds and their
vegetation, water flows and soils, and provide a vast
store of genetic information.
Ecological services (ES)
Goods and benefits obtained from a functioning
ecosystem
Provisioning services
"Products obtained from ecosystems"
– food (including game), crops, wild foods, and
spices
– raw materials (including lumber, skins, fuel
wood, organic matter, fodder, and fertilizer)
– genetic resources (including crop
improvement genes, and health care)
– water
– minerals
Provisioning services - contd
• "medicinal resources (including
pharmaceuticals, and test and assay organisms)
• energy (hydropower, biomass fuels)
• ornamental resources (including fashion,
handicraft, jewelry, pets, worship, decoration
and souvenirs like furs, orchids, butterflies,
aquarium fish, shells, etc.)
Regulating services
"Benefits obtained from the regulation of
ecosystem processes"
– carbon sequestration and climate regulation
– waste decomposition and detoxification
– purification of water and air
– pest and disease control
Cultural services
"Nonmaterial benefits people obtain from ecosystems
through spiritual enrichment, cognitive development,
reflection, recreation, and aesthetic experiences"
– cultural (including use of nature as motif in books,
film, painting, folklore, national symbols, architect,
advertising, etc.)
Cultural services - contd
• spiritual and historical (including use of nature
for religious or heritage value or natural)
• recreational experiences (including ecotourism,
outdoor sports, and recreation)
• science and education (including use of natural
systems for school excursions, and
scientific discovery)
Synopsis
• Ecosystem services, such as
– Protection of water resources
– Soils formation and protection
– Nutrient storage and recycling
– Pollution breakdown and absorption
– Contribution to climate stability
– Maintenance of ecosystems
– Recovery from unpredictable events
• Biological resources, such as
– Food
– Medicinal resources and pharmaceutical drugs
– Wood products
– Ornamental plants
– Breeding stocks, population reservoirs
– Future resources
– Diversity in genes, species and ecosystems
• Social benefits, such as
– Research, education and monitoring
– Recreation and tourism
– Cultural values
Forest values and valuation
Values
• The Webster Dictionary defines a value to be
“the quality of a thing according to which it is thought
of as being more or less desirable, useful, estimable or
important”.
• Economic values of ecosystems are simply
measures of how important ecosystem services are to
people – what they are worth.
There is a distinction between local, regional, national, and
global values associated with forests:
• Local values generally refer to goods and services where the
actual forest user derives the benefits (e.g. forest products
collected by a community for sale or own consumption; timber
harvested and sold by a logger; the recreation experience of a
family).
Regional values can be defined e.g. at the state or provincial
level - or by the nature of a forest-service link, e.g. downstream
users of a watershed.
National values refer to values that are captured beyond the
local forest user (e.g. wildlife habitat protection for national
tourism or hydroelectric generation).
Global values refer to those received by individuals living
outside sovereign nation producing them, but in any case
potentially by anyone (e.g. carbon sequestration).
Carbon sequestration:
• T he process involved in carbon capture and the long-
term storage of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO
2) and may refer specifically to:
• Definition
"The process of removing carbon from the atmosphere
and depositing it in a reservoir." When carried out
deliberately, this may also be referred to as
carbon dioxide removal, which is a form of
• When carried out deliberately, this may also be referred to as
carbon dioxide removal, which is a form of geo-engineering.
• Carbon capture and storage, where carbon dioxide is
removed from flue gases (e.g., at power stations) before being
stored in underground reservoirs.
• Natural biogeochemical cycling of carbon between the
atmosphere and reservoirs, such as by chemical weathering of
rocks.
• Carbon sequestration describes long-term storage of
carbon dioxide or other forms of carbon to either
mitigate or defer global warming and
avoid dangerous climate change.
• It has been proposed as a way to slow the
atmospheric and marine accumulation of
greenhouse gases, which are released by burning
fossil fuels
Carbon dioxide is naturally captured from the
atmosphere through biological, chemical or
physical processes.
• Additional reference readings available;
