Ecosystem services

Summary

In this video, the speaker explores the critical role of biodiversity through the lens of ecosystem services. These services are categorized into four main types: provisioning, regulating, supporting, and cultural. The speaker explains how ecosystems provide essential goods like food, water, and medicinal resources, regulate environmental factors like air quality and climate, and support foundational processes such as nutrient cycling. The video highlights the financial value of these services and discusses the impact of human activities like pollution and deforestation on their integrity. By using real-world examples, the speaker stresses the importance of preserving biodiversity for both environmental and economic sustainability.

Takeaways

• 😀 Ecosystem services are crucial benefits that humans and other organisms receive from healthy ecosystems, such as pollination and water filtration.
• 😀 Biodiversity directly impacts the effectiveness of ecosystem services, with more biodiversity leading to healthier ecosystems and better services.
• 😀 There are four main categories of ecosystem services: provisioning, regulating, supporting, and cultural services.
• 😀 Provisioning services include tangible benefits such as food, water, raw materials, medicinal resources, and genetic resources.
• 😀 Regulating services involve processes that maintain ecosystem health, like climate regulation, air quality maintenance, pollination, and erosion control.
• 😀 Supporting services are fundamental processes that allow ecosystems to function, such as nutrient cycling, energy introduction, and habitat creation.
• 😀 Cultural services are the non-material benefits from ecosystems, such as recreation, tourism, spiritual value, and educational opportunities.
• 😀 Ecosystem services like wetlands provide vital functions such as water filtration, reducing storm impacts, and mitigating flooding.
• 😀 Ecosystem services have significant economic value; for example, salt marshes and mangroves provide high-value services related to storm buffering and water purification.
• 😀 Human activities like deforestation, pollution, and pesticide use disrupt ecosystem services, causing both environmental damage and economic losses.
• 😀 Pollination is a key ecosystem service, and issues like pesticide use and declining native bee populations can disrupt this vital function, requiring measures like importing bees or even hand-pollination in extreme cases.

Q & A

What are ecosystem services, and why are they important?

Ecosystem services are the benefits that humans and other organisms receive from healthy ecosystems. These services include provisioning services (like food and water), regulating services (such as climate regulation and pollination), supporting services (like nutrient cycling and primary productivity), and cultural services (including recreation and spiritual value). They are crucial because they help maintain the health of ecosystems, support human well-being, and contribute to economic value.

How does biodiversity relate to ecosystem services?

Biodiversity is closely linked to ecosystem services because the greater the biodiversity in an ecosystem, the healthier the ecosystem is. This results in a more diverse range of ecosystem services. High biodiversity can enhance the resilience of ecosystems, ensuring that they continue to function properly and provide benefits to humans.

What are provisioning services, and can you provide examples?

Provisioning services are the tangible, material products that we obtain from ecosystems. Examples include fresh water from aquatic ecosystems, food (such as crops and animals), raw materials like wood and fibers, medicinal resources (e.g., aspirin from willow bark), and genetic resources like genetically modified organisms (e.g., golden rice that provides vitamin A).

What are regulating services, and why are they considered important?

Regulating services are the processes regulated by ecosystems that maintain their health and stability. Examples include climate regulation, air purification through photosynthesis, pollination, erosion control, and carbon storage. These services are essential because they maintain the ecosystem's ability to function and help mitigate the impact of natural disasters, such as floods or hurricanes.

Can you explain the role of wetlands in ecosystem services?

Wetlands play a significant role in ecosystem services by filtering water, controlling erosion, and buffering against natural disasters like storms and flooding. The plants in wetlands slow down water flow, allowing pollutants to be absorbed by plants and preventing soil erosion. Wetlands also store carbon and provide critical habitat for a variety of species.

What are supporting services, and why are they foundational?

Supporting services are the fundamental processes that support the existence of ecosystems. These include primary productivity (energy flow into ecosystems), nutrient cycling, water cycling, and soil formation. Without these processes, ecosystems would not be able to function, making supporting services the backbone of all other ecosystem services.

How do cultural services differ from other ecosystem services?

Cultural services are non-material benefits that humans derive from ecosystems. These include recreational activities, tourism, spiritual or emotional connections to nature, and educational opportunities. While these services are harder to quantify, they contribute significantly to human well-being and are important for fostering a sense of connection to the environment.

Why is it difficult to quantify the value of ecosystem services?

Quantifying ecosystem services is challenging because many of them, such as cultural services, are intangible and difficult to measure in monetary terms. Additionally, the value of services can vary depending on the region, the specific ecosystem, and the context in which they are used. Despite these challenges, economists have tried to estimate the value of ecosystem services, which helps highlight their importance.

How can human activities disrupt ecosystem services?

Human activities like deforestation, pollution, overuse of pesticides, and oil spills can disrupt ecosystem services. For example, pesticide use harms pollinators like bees, leading to decreased food production, while deforestation can reduce carbon storage and disrupt the water cycle. These disruptions can result in environmental and economic consequences, affecting both ecosystems and human well-being.

Can you give an example of how investing in ecosystem services can save money?

A great example is New York City's investment in protecting its watershed. By preserving natural ecosystems that filter water, the city saved billions of dollars in water treatment costs. Instead of building an expensive water treatment plant, the city invested in protecting and restoring the land, which improved water quality and reduced the need for costly infrastructure.