Humans and ecosystems: how do vultures provide ecosystem services? | Khan Academy

Summary

The video discusses the vital role of vultures, specifically the lammergeier, in maintaining healthy ecosystems. Known for consuming decaying carcasses and even bones, vultures help prevent the spread of harmful toxins and diseases. Their acidic digestive systems allow them to safely digest what would be dangerous for other species. Vultures, alongside other organisms, provide ecosystem services such as cleaning up dead animals, aiding in soil and water protection, and preserving biodiversity. However, threats like the drug diclofenac are causing a sharp decline in vulture populations, leading to ecological problems.

Takeaways

• 🦅 The lammergeier, a scavenger, eats bones and decaying flesh, helping clean ecosystems.
• 🦠 Vultures have highly acidic stomachs, allowing them to digest harmful substances and bones without getting sick.
• 🌱 Vultures play a crucial role in maintaining healthy ecosystems by removing carcasses and preventing contamination of soil, water, and food.
• 🍃 Ecosystem services are categorized into four types: provisioning, regulating, supporting, and cultural services.
• 💧 Provisional ecosystem services provide resources like food, water, timber, and natural energy.
• 🐝 Regulating ecosystem services include processes that maintain ecosystem health, like pollination, decomposition, and disease control by vultures.
• 🌍 Supporting ecosystem services, like photosynthesis and the water cycle, are the foundation of ecosystems and essential for air, water, and food.
• 🎨 Cultural ecosystem services provide inspiration, spiritual value, and recreation, such as bird-watching or enjoying natural landscapes.
• ⚠️ The loss of biodiversity weakens ecosystems, making it harder to provide essential services.
• 💊 Human-made chemicals like diclofenac are harmful to vultures, leading to significant population declines and increased disease risks in ecosystems.

Q & A

What does the lammergeier eat, and how is it able to digest bones?

The lammergeier eats decaying flesh and bones of dead animals. It has an incredibly acidic digestive system that allows it to digest most bones within 24 hours.

Why are vultures important to ecosystems?

Vultures play a crucial role in ecosystems by consuming decaying carcasses, which prevents the spread of diseases and contamination of soil, water, and food.

What is an ecosystem service, and how do vultures provide one?

An ecosystem service is a way that humans benefit from ecosystems. Vultures provide the ecosystem service of carcass cleanup, which helps prevent disease and contamination.

What are the four categories of ecosystem services?

The four categories are provisional (resources like food and water), regulating (processes like pollination and waste decomposition), supporting (underlying processes like photosynthesis and the water cycle), and cultural (spiritual and recreational benefits).

How does the process of photosynthesis support ecosystems?

Photosynthesis allows plants to produce oxygen and sugars, which are essential for the survival of most living organisms. It also contributes to the production of foods like fruits, seeds, and nuts.

What are some examples of cultural ecosystem services?

Cultural ecosystem services include the inspiration provided by landscapes such as the Grand Canyon, spiritual connections to nature, and recreational activities like bird-watching.

How has the use of the veterinary drug diclofenac affected vulture populations?

Diclofenac has caused a significant decline in vulture populations, as it is toxic to them when they consume the carcasses of treated cattle. This has led to a 95% reduction in vulture numbers in some areas.

What are the consequences of a decline in vulture populations?

A decline in vulture populations leads to slower carcass removal, increasing the risk of disease transmission and contamination of soil and water, which can negatively impact human health.

What is the relationship between vultures and disease control?

Vultures help control the spread of diseases by quickly consuming decaying carcasses, which might otherwise harbor harmful bacteria and toxins.

How do ecosystems contribute to human well-being?

Ecosystems provide resources like food and water, regulate environmental processes, support life through natural cycles, and offer cultural and spiritual benefits, all of which contribute to human health and well-being.

Outlines

00:00

🦅 The Lammergeier: A Bone-Eating Scavenger

This paragraph introduces the lammergeier, a scavenger that consumes bones and decaying flesh. It discusses how the bird’s highly acidic digestive system allows it to safely digest bones and prevent illness from harmful substances in rotting carcasses. The lammergeier plays a vital role in keeping ecosystems healthy by removing toxins and preventing contamination of soil, water, and food.

🌱 Ecosystem Services: Nature’s Benefits to Humans

This paragraph explains the concept of ecosystem services, which are the benefits humans receive from ecosystems. It categorizes ecosystem services into four types: provisional (resources like food and water), regulating (processes that maintain ecosystem health), supporting (natural processes like photosynthesis), and cultural (the inspiration and value ecosystems provide). Each category highlights the ways nature supports human life and well-being.

🔄 Regulating and Supporting Ecosystem Services

Here, the focus is on regulating and supporting ecosystem services. Regulating services include processes like waste decomposition and pollination, which help maintain ecosystem health. Supporting services are foundational processes like photosynthesis and the water cycle, which are essential for life on Earth. Without these services, ecosystems would not function properly, and human survival would be at risk.

🌍 Cultural and Spiritual Importance of Ecosystems

This paragraph highlights the cultural ecosystem services that provide meaning, inspiration, and spiritual value to humans. Examples include iconic landscapes, art, music, and outdoor activities such as bird-watching. The paragraph also touches on the religious and ancestral significance of ecosystems, particularly for indigenous groups, showing how ecosystems contribute to cultural diversity and societal well-being.

⚠️ Threats to Biodiversity and Ecosystem Health

The final paragraph discusses how the loss of biodiversity can harm ecosystem health and disrupt ecosystem services. It specifically addresses the decline in vulture populations due to human-made chemicals like the drug diclofenac. With fewer vultures to clean up carcasses, ecosystems suffer from the spread of diseases and contamination, posing serious health risks to humans. The paragraph concludes by reminding readers of the important role vultures play in sustaining ecosystem health.

Keywords

💡Lammergeier

The lammergeier, also known as the bearded vulture, is a scavenger bird that primarily consumes bones. In the video, it is highlighted for its unique ability to digest bones due to its highly acidic stomach, which allows it to play a vital role in cleaning up ecosystems by removing decaying animal carcasses. This species illustrates the broader theme of how scavengers contribute to ecosystem health.

💡Scavenger

A scavenger is an animal that feeds on dead organisms, helping to clean up decaying matter in ecosystems. The video emphasizes the importance of scavengers like vultures and lammergeiers in removing dead animals, thereby preventing the spread of disease and contamination in ecosystems.

💡Ecosystem services

Ecosystem services refer to the various benefits that humans derive from natural ecosystems. The video categorizes these services into four types: provisional, regulating, supporting, and cultural. Each of these services contributes to human well-being by providing resources like food and water, regulating natural processes, and offering cultural and spiritual value.

💡Provisional ecosystem services

These are resources provided by ecosystems that humans can use, such as food, water, and materials. The video gives examples like fruits, fish, timber, and clean drinking water, all of which are essential to human survival and are a result of healthy, functioning ecosystems.

💡Regulating ecosystem services

Regulating ecosystem services are natural processes that help maintain ecosystem health, such as waste decomposition, pollination, and carcass removal. Vultures, by eating dead animals, play a crucial role in disease control, an example of how regulating services keep ecosystems functioning properly.

💡Supporting ecosystem services

Supporting ecosystem services are the foundational processes that allow ecosystems to thrive, such as photosynthesis, the water cycle, and soil formation. The video discusses how these services, like photosynthesis, enable life by providing oxygen and food. Without them, ecosystems and human life would not be sustainable.

💡Cultural ecosystem services

These services provide humans with non-material benefits like inspiration, spiritual fulfillment, and recreational opportunities. The video highlights how natural landscapes, such as national parks, and cultural traditions, such as indigenous spiritual connections to nature, provide people with meaning and contribute to cultural diversity.

💡Biodiversity

Biodiversity refers to the variety of life in ecosystems, which is crucial for maintaining ecosystem resilience and health. The video discusses how a loss of biodiversity, such as the decline in vulture populations, can disrupt ecosystems, leading to an increase in diseases and environmental degradation.

💡Vulture population decline

The video explains that vulture populations have dramatically decreased due to human-made chemicals like diclofenac, a veterinary drug. This decline has serious consequences for ecosystems, as fewer vultures mean less efficient removal of carcasses, leading to increased disease transmission and contamination.

💡Toxins

Toxins are harmful substances, often produced by bacteria in decaying carcasses. The video discusses how scavengers like vultures have evolved to withstand these toxins, preventing them from getting sick and helping to remove dangerous substances from the environment. This ability highlights their importance in maintaining ecosystem health.

Highlights

The lammergeier eats decaying flesh and bones, making it a unique scavenger.

Rotting animal carcasses can contain harmful toxins, but vultures have an acidic digestive system that protects them.

The lammergeier's stomach acid is so strong it can digest bones within 24 hours.

Vultures play a crucial role in keeping ecosystems healthy by removing harmful substances from decaying animals.

Carcass cleanup by vultures is an example of ecosystem services, which benefit humans and the environment.

Ecosystem services are categorized into four types: provisional, regulating, supporting, and cultural.

Provisional ecosystem services include resources like fruits, vegetables, clean water, and timber.

Regulating ecosystem services involve processes like decomposition, pollination, and disease control through vultures.

Supporting ecosystem services are essential natural processes like photosynthesis and the water cycle.

Cultural ecosystem services encompass the inspiration and meaning that natural landscapes and ecosystems provide.

Examples of cultural ecosystem services include famous landscapes like the Grand Canyon and artistic inspiration from nature.

Vultures can suffer from human-made chemicals like diclofenac, which has caused a 95% population decline in some regions.

A decline in vultures can lead to the spread of diseases and contamination of soil and water from uncleaned carcasses.

Vultures' role in cleaning ecosystems helps prevent sickness in humans by controlling the spread of harmful bacteria.

By transforming death and decay into life, vultures maintain the health of ecosystems.

Transcripts

- [Instructor] Can you imagine eating bones for breakfast?

It sounds crunchy and pretty gross,

but that's exactly what the lammergeier eats.

The lammergeier is a scavenger,

which means it eats the decaying flush

and bones of dead animals.

Rotting animal carcasses can be full of harmful substances,

including toxins produced by bacteria.

These toxins can cause serious health issues in humans.

However, the vultures have evolved an incredibly

acidic digestive system, allowing them

to eat deceased carcasses without becoming sick.

The lammergeier's stomach acid is so acidic

that it can digest most bones in about 24 hours.

Vultures are essential to keeping our ecosystems

and us healthy by getting rid of harmful substances

that could contaminate soil, water or food.

Carcass cleanup by vultures is something

we call an ecosystem service, which is a way

that we humans benefit from ecosystems.

There are many different kinds of ecosystem services,

which can be sorted into four categories.

First, we have provisional ecosystem services,

which are the resources that are provided by nature

that we can use or eat, like fruits, vegetables\ and fish.

Provisional ecosystem services also include

clean drinking water, timber, oils,

some medicines and natural energy sources.

We also have regulating ecosystem services,

which are all the processes that help

keep ecosystems healthy and functional.

These include bacteria and invertebrates decomposing

or breaking down waste, bees and hummingbirds

pollinating all kinds of plants and trees

and other plants holding soil together

with their root systems to help

with flood control and to stop soil erosion,

and, of course, regulating ecosystem services

also include our friends, the vultures,

who help with carcass removal and disease control.

Ecosystems wouldn't work

without supporting ecosystem services.

These are the underlying natural processes

that are the foundation of ecosystems

and without them, we wouldn't be able to breathe air,

drink clean water or grow food.

Take photosynthesis for example.

When plants use sunlight, water

and carbon dioxide to make sugars and oxygen.

Without photosynthesis, we wouldn't have enough oxygen

in our atmosphere to breathe, and we wouldn't

have all the foods that we get

from plants, like fruits, seeds, and nuts.

Other supporting ecosystem services include

the water cycle, the nutrient cycle

and even soil formation and finally,

we also have cultural ecosystem services.

Have you ever visited or seen photos of the Grand Canyon,

the Redwoods in California or Yellowstone National Park?

These are incredible landscapes that provide

a lot of meaning and inspiration to us.

Think about the art and music

that gets made about different ecosystems.

Maybe you've heard Dolly Parton's

"My Tennessee Mountain Home."

She couldn't have written that song

about any other part of the country.

You might have hobbies that you enjoy doing outside too.

For me, I love bird-watching and learning

about all of the different bird species

that I can see where I live,

and that's a cultural ecosystem service.

Plus, ecosystems have religious, spiritual

and historical value for diverse groups of people.

For example, American-Indian tribes have deep ancestral

and spiritual connections to many North-American ecosystems.

So ecosystems also play an important role

in maintaining the richness and diversity

of people's cultures and societies of our world,

but a loss of biodiversity can make ecosystems less healthy,

which makes it harder for us to get the resources

and ecosystem services we rely on.

Vultures might be able to eat all kinds of nasty toxins,

but they can get sick and die from human-made chemicals.

For example, diclofenac, a common veterinary drug

used to treat cattle, will unfortunately kill vultures

if they eat it from a cow carcass.

Vulture populations have declined by 95%

in parts of the world, and that's caused

some pretty big problems in ecosystems.

With fewer vultures around to clean up carcasses,

diseases can quickly spread, and bacteria from the carcasses

can contaminate surrounding soil and water.

In turn, people can get very sick when vultures

and others scavengers aren't around

to keep the ecosystem healthy.

So the next time you see a vulture gliding through the sky,

take a moment to think about how that species is helping

to keep the ecosystem clean and healthy for all.

Through cleaning up carcasses and eating bones,

vultures play an important role conserving the health

of our ecosystems by transforming death and decay into life.