Ecosystem Services Quiz

Benefits Provided by Healthy Nature, Forests, and Environmental Systems

• Ecosystem services are benefits to humans provided by natural environments and healthy ecosystems, such as natural pollination of crops, clean air, extreme weather mitigation, and human mental and physical well-being.

• These services are grouped into four categories: provisioning, regulating, supporting, and cultural, which include providing food, clean drinking water, decomposition of wastes, and resilience and productivity of food ecosystems.

• Estuarine and coastal ecosystems perform all four categories of ecosystem services, including climate regulation, waste treatment and disease control, natural hazard regulation, and forest and marine products, fresh water, raw materials, biochemical and genetic resources, inspirational aspects, recreation and tourism, science and education, nutrient cycling, biologically mediated habitats, and primary production.

• Ecosystem services or eco-services are defined as the goods and services provided by ecosystems to humans, including provision of food materials, water, timber, fibers, and medications.

• There are four types of ecosystem services: regulating, provisioning, cultural, and supporting, and they differ in nature and consequence depending on the type of ecosystem.

• Understanding of ecosystem services requires a strong foundation in ecology, and the descriptive characterization of energy and material flow between organisms and their surroundings.

• The provision of ecosystem services can be stabilized with biodiversity, which benefits the variety of ecosystem services available to society.

• The concept of ecological redundancy assumes that more than one species performs a given role within an ecosystem, while the portfolio effect compares biodiversity to stock holdings, where diversification minimizes the risk of instability of ecosystem services.

• Coastal and estuarine ecosystems act as buffer zones against natural hazards and environmental disturbances, such as floods, cyclones, tidal surges, and storms.

• Forests produce a large variety of timber products, including roundwood, sawnwood, panels, and engineered wood, as well as pulp and paper, and non-wood forest products, including fodder, aromatic and medicinal plants, and wild foods.

• Global production and trade of all major wood-based products reached their maximum quantities since 1947 in 2018, with the fastest growth occurring in the Asia-Pacific, Northern American, and European regions.

• Worldwide, around 1 billion people depend on wild foods such as wild meat, edible insects, edible plant products, mushrooms, and fish, which often contain high levels of key micronutrients, and more than 100 million people in the European Union regularly consume wild foods as a nutritional resource.Ecosystem Services: An Overview

• Marine ecosystems provide people with wild and cultured seafood, fresh water, fiber and fuel, biochemical and genetic resources.

• Fresh water is essential for the survival of humans and all existing species of animals and plants.

• Marine creatures provide raw materials for manufacturing of clothing, building materials, ornamental items, and personal-use items.

• Biochemical and genetic resources extracted from marine organisms are used in medicines, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and other biochemical products.

• Cultural services include inspiration for art, music, architecture, traditions, and recreational activities like sea sports and tourism.

• Marine processes, environments, and organisms offer opportunities for scientific learning and technological advances.

• Supporting services like nutrient cycling and biologically mediated habitats allow for the provision of marine goods and services.

• The economic valuation of ecosystem services is a challenge, and many companies are not fully aware of their dependence and impact on ecosystems.

• Payments and trading of services are emerging solutions for acquiring credits for sponsoring the protection of carbon sequestration sources or the restoration of ecosystem service providers.

• Ecosystem-based adaptation is a strategy for community development and environmental management that seeks to use an ecosystem services framework to help communities adapt to the effects of climate change.

• Ecosystem services decisions require making complex choices at the intersection of ecology, technology, society, and the economy.

• Stakeholder inputs across a spatial decision must be modeled and analyzed to make ecosystem services decisions.Overview of Ecosystem Services

• Three studies used different methods to manage uncertain science and stakeholder information in decision-making environments

• Remote sensing data and analysis can be used to assess land cover classes that provide ecosystem services for planning, management, monitoring and communication

• Scientists, nature conservationists and local authorities in Baltic countries are developing an integrated planning tool based on GIS technology to choose the best grassland management solution for a particular site

• The term "natural capital" was first coined by E.F. Schumacher in 1973, but the recognition of how ecosystems could provide services to humans dates back to Plato

• The concept of ecosystem services has expanded to include socio-economic and conservation objectives

• Gretchen Daily's original definition distinguished between ecosystem goods and services, but Robert Costanza and colleagues' later work lumped them together

• Examples of ecosystem services include carbon sequestration, water purification, and pollination

• The State of the World's Forests 2020 and Global Forest Resources Assessment 2020 provide further information on ecosystem services

• The ecosystem services concept has gained attention in scientific literature and policy-making

• The history of the ecosystem services concept and terminology is discussed in Daily's book "Nature's Services: Societal Dependence on Natural Ecosystems"

• The ecosystem services concept highlights the importance of preserving and restoring natural ecosystems for human well-being

• The ecosystem services concept has implications for sustainable development and environmental conservation.