APES: Ecosystem Services

What are supporting services?

Providing living spaces for plants or animals and maintaining a diversity of plants and animals

Why are supporting services so important?

Without them the other 3 services wouldn't exist?

What are some example of supporting services?

Habitats for species (biodiversity hotspots)

Maintenance of genetic diversity

What are provisioning services?

Materials and goods that are traded in markets, used for income purposes and used by humans directly

What are some examples of provisioning services?

Food

Water

Timber

Natural gas

Oil

Items used to make clothing/medicine

What are regulating services?

Make life possible for humans by helping run ecosystems and if damaged can be difficult to restore and losses can be substantial, and usually are invisible and taken for granted

What are some example of regulating services?

Maintaining the quality of air and sol

Providing flood and disease control

Pollinating crops

Decomposition

What are cultural services?

Nonmaterial benefits people gain from ecosystems often connected to provisioning and regulating services. Guides our cultural, intellectual and social development by a constant force

What are some examples of cultural services?

Tourism

Real estate

Recreation

Spiritual value

Aesthetic value