biodiversity and ecosystem services (chp 6)

what are definitions of ecosystem services

The collection of biological processes required to sustain human life and provide a good quality of living.

Nature’s contributions to people – the variety of benefits ecosystems provide to humanity.

what are the requirements of an ecosystem service

Must have a biological “service provider.”

Be quantified with an ecological production function.

Be translated to some form of human value (e.g., money, health, happiness).

how have ecosystem valuation changed/evolved

ecosystem ecology moved toward environmental economics, and moved toward ecological economics

what did gretchen daily teach us about the field

Entire human economy depends on goods and services provided by earth's natural systems.

Human impacts are disrupting the functioning of natural systems and imperiling the delivery of these services.

Brought together world-renowned scientists to review the value of ecosystem services, the damage that has been done to them, and the implications for society.

what is the value of the world’s ecosystem services and natural capital

$16-53 trillion USD per year, and average of $33 trillion USD

what are the limitations of the monetary valuation of ecosystem services

• Monetary valuation is, at best, a partial representation of the things people value about nature.

• Relational values (e.g., cultural experiences, aesthetic beauty, one’s sense of purpose in life), contribute substantially to human well-being and happiness. Well-being and happiness can be studied and quantified (e.g., one can survey people to ask how happy or satisfied they are), but not in monetary terms.

• Monetary valuation is not applicable to many aspects of human health, since the value of a life, or the physical and mental well-being of one’s self or one’s family members are often seen as priceless.

what are types of ecosystem services

provisioning, regulating, cultural, and supporting

what are supporting ecosystem services

ecological processes that control the functioning of ecosystems and production of all other services (ex: primary and secondary production, biomass production, nutrient recycling, decompositions, etc)

primary production

Primary production (1º production) is the amount of new tissue produced by plants per unit time. Net production is the difference between Gross production and Respiration (NPP = GPP – R). Primary production is measured in a variety of ways depending on the organisms and ecosystem being studied.

secondary production

he amount of new tissue produced by consumers per unit time. Net production is the difference between Gross production and Respiration (NPP = GPP – R). Secondary production is typically measured from population censuses that quantify changes in the number of individuals in a population through time (deltaN), and multiply the mean N in that interval by the change in the weight of individuals through time (deltaW).

decomposition

rate of mass loss of dead organic material per unit time, usually quantified as the decay constant k. Decomposition is typically measured by repeated weighing of assays that contain dead material

recycling nutrients

Nutrient cycling is the process of mineralization (conversion from organic to inorganic form) and immobilization (conversion from inorganic to organic form). Rates of mineralization are non-linearly related to decomposition, and primarily occur in Phase 1 of decomposition, which is controlled by decomposers like bacteria, fungi, and micro-arthropods. Mineralization and immobilization are typically measured using nutrient resin bags that absorb soluble nutrients as they are created from decomposition

what are provisioning services

products obtained from ecosystems (ie food, water, raw materials, medicines, biotechnology)

describe food as a provisioning service

• Low diversity systems

  • 15 crops provide 90% of world’s food intake (exclusive of meat)

  • Three (rice, maize, and wheat) comprise two-thirds of human food consumption.

  • Grown as monocultures

• Subsistence farming: low intensity farming with polycultures

• Wild plants: >1 billion people eat wild plants.

• Wild animals: 62 developing countries rely on wildlife for ≥ one-fifth of animal protein.

• Wild caught fish: provide >3 billion people with ~20 percent of their animal protein. Wild capture fisheries dominate world output of fish protein with 130 million tons of fish, crustaceans, and mollusks, mainly wild species, harvested each year.

describe raw materials as a provisioning service

• Wood products: Timber, wood pellets, pulp, and paper had a 2016 export value of US$385 billion per year.

• Plant products: Dyes and perfumes in cosmetics, gums and resins in food and personal health care products.

• Animal products: hides, skins, feathers, and furs (e.g., alligator, fox, bear, rabbit, etc.) used for clothing and fashion accessories.

• Biogenic minerals: Silicates, carbonates, collagen and chitin mined for applications in medicine and nanotechnology.

describe medicines as a provisioning service

• Traditional medicines:

  • 80% of world’s population relies on traditional medicines from plants as primary form of treatment.

• Western medicines:

  • 20 most frequently used drugs in the U.S. based on chemicals identified in natural products.

  • ~25% of prescriptions filled in U.S. contain active ingredients derived from plants. Most important antibiotics (penicillin, tetracycline) derived from fungi and other microorganisms.

  • 3 of 4 anti-cancer drugs introduced over past 6 decades derived from natural products. 49% of chemotherapy drugs developed between 1940 and 2014 were natural products.

what is the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MEA)

Commissioned in 2000 by UN Secretary General, the MEA was the largest ever assessment of the health of Earth’s ecosystems,

The MEA concluded:

• In past 50 years, humans have changed the functioning of ecosystems more rapidly and extensively than in any comparable period in human history

• Ecosystem change has led to substantial gains in human well-being and economic development, but these gains have degraded nearly every other ‘service’ that ecosystems provide to humanity.

• 60% (15 of 24) ecosystem services evaluated have been degraded or are being used unsustainably.

what are regulating services?

benefits from regulation of ecosystem processes (ie, air and water purification, climate regulation, soil fertility, erosion control, pest and disease control, pollination, natural disaster mitigation)

describe water purification as a regulating service

Aquatic ecosystems (swamps, lakes, rivers, flood-plains, tidal marshes, mangroves, estuaries, etc.) are important biological filters of water contaminants.

Wastewater treatment worth $2 trillion per year worldwide.

describe disaster mitigation as regulating services

Loss of 1-ha of wetlands corresponded to an increase of US$33K in storm damage.

Mean value of wetlands US$8240 ha-1 yr-1, totaling US$23.2 billion yr-1.

Analysis of property damage caused by 34 major US hurricanes since 1980

what are cultural services

nonmaterial benefits obtained from ecosystems (ie recreation, ecotourism, health and well-being, spiritual and religious, aesthetic and inspiration, educational, cultural heritage)

describe how recreation and ecotourism are valuable cultural services

>250 million people spend 7 billion hours yr-1 at national parks, state parks, wildlife refuges, and other protected public lands in U.S.

describe health and wellbeing as a cultural service

increased happiness, reduced stress, anxiety, and depression, psychological well-being, improved cognitive functioning, physical health

what are the impacts of biodiversity

1. biodiversity loss reduces the efficiency by which ecological communities capture biologically essential resources, produce biomass, decompose and recycle biologically essential nutrients.

2. biodiversity increases the stability of ecosystem functions through time.

3. Impact of biodiversity on any single ecosystem process is nonlinear and saturating, such that change accelerates as biodiversity loss increases.

4. Diverse communities are more productive because they contain key species that have a large influence on productivity (selection effects), and differences in functional traits among organisms increase total resource capture (complementarity).

5. Loss of diversity across trophic levels can influence ecosystem functions even more strongly than diversity loss within trophic levels.

6. Functional traits of organisms have large impacts on the magnitude of ecosystem functions, which give rise to a wide range of plausible impacts of extinction on ecosystem function.

what is portfolio effect

occurs when each species responds differently to changing conditions through time, allowing the total amount of an ecosystem service delivered by the community to remain stable through time

what is population asynchrony

occurs when species fluctuate out of sync (neg covariance) through time, which decreases variation.

what are the primary reasons biodiversity loss makes ecosystems less efficient, less productive, and less stable on average

are niche partitioning (complementarity), selection effects, and portfolio effects.