Y2 Geog Ecosystem Services

For EYA :(

What are 4 provisioning services gained from rainforests?

1. Food

2. Raw materials

3. Freshwater

4. Medicinal resources

Give three examples of plants in the rainforest that can treat diseases and elaborate.

• Cinchona

  • Treats Malaria

  • provides quinine - world’s first anti-malarial drug

  • Drug can be found in the bark of the cinchona tree

• Cordoncillo

  • treats cancer

  • leaves contain chemicals that:

    • fight cancer cells

    • alleviate pain

    • fight bacteria

• Cat’s Claw

  • treats:

    • joint pain

    • arthritis

    • viral infections

    • haemorrhoids

    • ulcers

  • indigenous tribes use it as a ‘cure all’ medicine

  • has potential to alleviate more serious diseases

    • Alzheimer’s 

    • AIDS

What are 8 regulating services provided by the rainforest?

1. local climate air quality

2. Carbon sequestration and storage

3. Moderation of extreme events

4. Waste-water treatment

5. Erosion prevention and maintenance of soil fertility

6. Pollination

7. Biological control

8. Regulation of water flow

What is carbon sequestration?

• the process of capturing and storing atmospheric carbon dioxide

What is a carbon sink?

• a natural or artificial reservoir that absorbs and stores the atmosphere’s carbon with physical and biological mechanisms

How does carbon sequestration and storage Regulate the environment?

• Ocean carbon pump

  • physical pump

    • results from ocean circulation

  • biological pump

    • transfers surface carbon towards the seabed via the food web (it is stored there in the long term)

how do rainforests moderate extreme events?

• Ecosystems create buffers against natural disasters

  • Coastal wetlands act as frontline defences against potential devastation

  • e.g. Absorbing the impacts of tropical cyclones

• Animals and livestock prevent extreme events too

  • goats graze on a lot of grass and flammable items in nature

  • prevents wildfires

  • similar to pruning effect

  • allows diversification of in diversity, improving soil conditions

  • creates open space (which also prevents wildfires from spreading)

how do rainforests aid with waste-water treatment?

• Wetlands can remove nitrogen and phosphorus through physical, chemical, biological processes

  • these processes absorb, transform, sequester, remove the nutrients and other chemicals as water slowly flows through the wasteland

• tissues of some floating plants are able to absorb and store heavy metals such as iron and copper contained in wastewater

  • water hyacinth

  • duckweed

  • water fern

• has benefits

  • prevents nutrients from reaching toxic levels

  • helps to reduce the risk of eutrophication (accumulation of nutrients in other bodies of water)

  • removes toxic substances from pesticides, industrial discharges and mining activities

how do rainforests prevent erosion and help with maintenance of soil fertility?

• Vegetation cover ensures soil fertility through natural biological processes such as nitrogen fixation

• Converting atmospheric nitrogen into a form that plants can more readily use (nitrates, ammonia)

how do rainforests help with biological control?

• Activities of predators and parasites in ecosystems that act to control populations of potential pest and disease vector

• use of natural enemies, mostly arthropods and micro-organisms

• Benefits?

  • reduce pesticide use

  • enhances biodiversity

  • ensures production

What are 4 cultural services of rainforests?

1. Recreation and mental and physical health

2. tourism

3. aesthetic appreciation and inspiration for culture, art and design

4. spiritual experience and sense of place

What are 2 supporting services of a rainforest?

1. habitat for species

2. Maintenance of genetic diversity

how does maintenance of genetic diversity act as a supporting service?

• Forests are very important as they hold a large amount of the planet’s biodiversity

• but a lot of plant genetic diversity has been lost 

• livestock keepers need a broad gene pool to draw upon to improve the characteristics of their animals under changing conditions

• to support this:

  • Aquatic ecosystem biodiversity

  • sustainable fisheries

Name 5 benefits of maintaining genetic diversity.

• climate stability

• Food security

• Healthy soils

• Medicine

• Inspiration for innovation

Explain how climate stability is a benefit of maintaining genetic diversity.

• rapid evolution of marine phytoplankton increases ocean’s carbon uptake, helps to regulate climate

Explain how food security is a benefit of mainTraining genetic diversity.

• genetically diversified crops are less affected by disease attacks and yield more

Explain how healthy soils is a benefit of maintaining genetic diversity.

• genetically diversified plants release nutrients back into the soil that create a rich environment for new plant growth

Explain how medicine is a benefit of maintaining genetic diversity.

• retains and creates opportunities for pharmaceutical discovery

Explain how inspiration for innovation is a benefit of maintaining genetic diversity.

• Biometric signs draw from biometrical processes and can be used in regenerative medicine, tissue engineering, drug delivery