Biodiversity Chapter 5

Indirect use value

Processes or services that provide present and future economic benefits without being harvested or destroyed during use

Ecosystem services

Range of benefits provided to people from ecosystems, including flood control, clean water and reduction of pollution

Price of ecosystem services a year

• $72 trillion

Examples of indirect use value

• ecosystem productivity and carbon sequestration

• Water protection

• Soil protection

• Waste treatment and nutrient retention

• Climate regulation

• Species relationships and environmental monitors

• Amenity value

Total plant cover

• the percentage of the total surface area occupied by plants

Carbon sequestration

• the process involved in carbon capture and the long term storage of atmospheric carbon dioxide or other forms of carbon to mitigate or defer global warming

• Way to slow down greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels

Examples of carbon sources

• factories

• Universities

• Vehicles/airplanes

• Cutting down forest

Carbon sinks

• forest/restored forests

• Saline reservoirs

• Oceans

• Wetland

• Bogs

Where to restore forests and an example is North America

• temperate regions

Payment to companies to promote reduction in CO2 emissions

• $350 million per year

Social value of carbon

• financial impact on society of producing a ton of carbon

• Taxing carbon emission and subsidize sequestration based on its value

Most common natural disaster globally

• flooding

Major areas flooded due to landslides

• bangladesh

• India

• Phillipines

• Thailand

• Central america

Major Areas that have flooded due to hurricanes

• Louisiana

• Florida

• Carolinas

Major areas that have flooded due to conversion of flood plain habitat to farmland

• areas along Mississippi river

• Missouri river

• Rhine river (europe)

Waste treatment and nutrient retention valued at

• greater than $2 trillion per year

Regulating ecosystem service example

• swamps, lakes, rivers, floodplains, tidal marshes, mangroves, estuaries, the coastal shelf and open ocean can break down toxic pollutants such as heavy metals and pesticides released into the atmosphere by human activities

Plants regulating the climate at local level

• trees provide shade and evaporate water from their leaf surfaces during photosynthesis, reducing local temps

Plants regulating climate at regional level

• capture precipitation and transpire

• Loss of vegetation reduces average annual rainfall

• Loss of vegetation reduces CO2 uptake

Plants regulating climate at global level

• rising sea level reduces coastal marshes and mangroves

• Rising temperatures causes forest die back

Examples of Environmental monitiors

• Brazilian free tailed bat

• Lichens

• Bees

• Bean root-bacteria

Brazilian free-tailed bat

• can eat half its weight in insects in one night

• Pest control

Lichens

• absorb water

• Sensitive to toxins

Bees

• part of the pollinators required to pollinate 150 crop species

Bean root-bacteria symbiosis

• phaseolus vulgaris and rhizobium sp.

• Round nodules are formed by the roots of the common bean and are inhabited by nitrogen fixing bacteria

Amenity Value

• monetary value of the recreational activity

• Est. at $84 billion annually in the U.S. (greater than wood)

Ecotourism

• category of recreation whereby people visit places and spend money to experience an unusual biological community

• 20% of tourism

• @ $120 billion

Optional value

• part of indirect use value that evaluates possible future benefits to humans such as new medicines, sources of food, changing genetic resources

Bioprospecting

• searching the world for new species that may ight human disease or have other economic value

GlaxoSmithKline

• Brazilian biotech company in concert w Brazilian government to screen 40,000 plants

• Support community, conservation, science and company

Tolypocladium inflatum

• soil sample with fungus taken from Norway to Switzerland

• Found cyclosporine used in transplant surgery to prevent organ rejection

• $1.2 billion annually

• Norway hasn’t seen a dime

Biopiracy

• past and present unauthorized collecting of biological materials for commercial purposes

Bioprospecting vs Ethnobotany

• laws and permits

• Fines

• Agreements

Existence value

• amount people are willing to pay to prevent species from going extinct, habitats from being destroyed, and genetic variation from being lost

Bequest value

• how much people are willing to pay to protect something of value for their own children and for future generations

Box 5.1

• hurricane katrina

• Worst natural disaster in the history of the United States

• Article written about it a year before it happened

• Destruction of canals causing soil erosion and fresh and salt water mix

• Plan of restoration

Box 5.2

• brazilian free-tailed bat

• Pest control

• Breeding colonies in US southwest (San Antonio)

• Feed on destructive moth caterpillars that feed on key crops

• Cotton bollworm being the most destructive

Box 5.3

• pollination vital part of ecosystem

• Bees are biggest pollinators

• Bee numbers have declined ( 5 million to 2,5 million)

• Habitat loss, diseases and pathogens, pesticides and other agricultural poisons