Ecosystem service facts for kids

Ecosystem services are the amazing benefits that nature and healthy natural places give to people. Think of them as gifts from our planet! These natural places, like forests, grasslands, rivers, and oceans, work together to provide us with many important things. They help pollinate our food crops, give us clean air to breathe, protect us from extreme weather, and even make us feel good mentally and physically.

These benefits are often key to getting our food, having clean drinking water, breaking down waste, and keeping our food systems strong and productive.

Scientists and environmentalists have talked about these benefits for a long time. But the idea really became popular in the early 2000s with something called the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA). This assessment grouped ecosystem services into four main types:

• Provisioning services: These are the products we get from nature, like food and water.
• Regulating services: These are the ways nature controls things, like climate and diseases.
• Supporting services: These are the basic processes that keep ecosystems healthy, like nutrient cycles and making oxygen.
• Cultural services: These are the non-material benefits, like spiritual feelings or places for fun and learning.

To help people make good decisions, many of these services are now being studied to see how valuable they are compared to things we build ourselves, like roads or factories.

What Are Ecosystem Services?

Ecosystem services are simply the good things that natural systems give to humans. The 2006 Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) said they are "the benefits people obtain from ecosystems." This assessment also created the four main groups of services: supporting, provisioning, regulating, and cultural. In simple words, these services include providing food, water, wood, fibers, and even medicines.

By 2010, many different ways of defining ecosystem services had developed. To avoid counting things twice, groups like The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) changed "Supporting Services" to "Habitat Services" and "ecosystem functions." These functions are the ways different parts of an ecosystem work together to provide goods and services.

Types of Ecosystem Services

Detritivores like this dung beetle help turn animal waste into useful organic material for plants.

Scientists have identified four main types of ecosystem services: regulating, provisioning, cultural, and supporting services. An ecosystem usually provides a mix of these services, not just one. The services from different types of ecosystems (like forests, oceans, or coral reefs) can be different. Some services directly help people nearby, like fresh water or food. Other services affect general environmental conditions, which then affect humans indirectly, like how nature helps with climate change or prevents erosion.

The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment report in 2005 explained that supporting services are the foundation for the other three types of services.

Regulating Services

These services are about how nature controls or regulates important processes. They help keep our environment stable and healthy.

• Cleaning water and air.
• Storing carbon and controlling the climate.
• Breaking down waste and removing harmful substances.
• Predation (animals hunting other animals) helps control populations.
• Natural control of pests and disease.
• Pollination of plants by insects and other animals.
• Controlling natural problems like floods.

Provisioning Services

These services are the actual products or "goods" we get from ecosystems.

• Food: This includes seafood, crops, wild foods, and spices.
• Raw materials: Things like wood, animal skins, firewood, and materials for fertilizer.
• Genetic resources: Genes from plants and animals used to improve crops or develop new medicines.
• Medicines: Natural substances used for health care and pharmaceuticals.
• Energy: Power from water (hydropower) or plant materials (biomass fuels).
• Ornamental resources: Things used for fashion, crafts, jewelry, or decoration, like furs, feathers, or shells.

Cultural Services

These services are the non-material benefits that enrich our lives. They are about how nature inspires us and helps us learn and relax.

• Cultural inspiration: Nature is used in books, films, paintings, stories, and even advertisements.
• Spiritual and historical value: Nature can have religious or historical meaning for people.
• Recreational experiences: Fun activities like ecotourism, outdoor sports, and just relaxing in nature.
• Science and education: Using natural places for school trips and scientific discovery.
• Therapeutic benefits: Nature can help people feel better, like through eco-therapy or animal-assisted therapy.

Supporting Services

These services are the basic processes that make all other ecosystem services possible. They have indirect but very important impacts on humans over a long time.

• Nutrient cycling: How nutrients like carbon and nitrogen move through an ecosystem.
• Primary production: The creation of organic matter (food) by plants through photosynthesis. This also creates the oxygen we breathe!
• Soil formation: The process of creating healthy soil, which is vital for growing food.
• Habitat provision: Providing homes and safe places for different species to live.

These services are like the foundation of a house. Without them, the house (the other services) cannot stand. For example, healthy soil and nutrient cycling allow plants to grow, which then provide food (a provisioning service).

Ecology and Ecosystem Services

Understanding ecosystem services means understanding ecology, which is the study of how living things interact with each other and their environment. It's a big challenge for scientists to understand all the complex ways that energy and materials flow through ecosystems.

For example, in a forest, the forest floor, the dead leaves, the tiny organisms in the soil, and the soil itself all work together. This helps the forest provide services like storing carbon, cleaning water, and preventing erosion in nearby areas. Often, one natural area can provide many services at once. The same forest might also be a home for animals and a place for people to relax, which are also ecosystem services!

Many ecologists believe that having a variety of living things (high biodiversity) helps keep ecosystem services stable. More biodiversity often means more types of services available to us. Knowing how biodiversity affects an ecosystem's stability is key to managing our natural resources.

Why Biodiversity Matters

Imagine an airplane wing with many rivets. If one rivet pops out, the plane is still safe. But if too many pop out, the wing could fall apart. This is like the "rivet popping" idea for ecosystems. If one species disappears, the ecosystem might not lose much function at first. But if many species are lost, the whole system could collapse. This idea suggests that every species is important, and losing any one can hurt the ecosystem.

Another idea, called the "portfolio effect," compares biodiversity to investing money. Just like having different types of stocks makes your investment safer, having many different species makes an ecosystem more stable. If some species are affected by a problem, others can step in and keep the ecosystem working.

Experiments in labs and in nature have tested these ideas. Some studies suggest that losing species quickly harms ecosystems, while others show that ecosystems can handle some loss because other species can take over.

Coastal Ecosystem Services

A beach used for recreation and tourism.

Estuaries (where rivers meet the sea) and marine coastal ecosystems are both parts of the ocean environment. They provide all four types of ecosystem services in many ways.

Coasts and the areas near them are very important parts of local ecosystems. The mix of fresh and salt water in estuaries provides lots of nutrients for marine life. Places like salt marshes, mangroves, and beaches are home to many different plants, animals, and insects, which are vital to the food chain. This high level of different life forms creates a lot of biological activity, which has attracted humans for thousands of years. Coasts also create important living spaces like wetlands, seagrass beds, coral reefs, and mangroves. They provide homes for migratory birds, sea turtles, marine mammals, and coral reefs.

Regulating Services of Coasts

These services are about how coastal ecosystems control natural processes.

• Climate regulation: Ocean ecosystems help control the climate by absorbing large amounts of CO2 and other greenhouse gases. Marine plants use CO2 for photosynthesis, further reducing it from the air. Oceans also absorb heat and move it around the world through currents, helping to cool or warm the atmosphere.
• Waste treatment and disease control: Marine ecosystems can dilute and break down waste. Tiny organisms filter water and help clean up pollutants, turning them into harmless substances. This helps reduce diseases and makes seafood safer to eat.
• Buffer zones: Coastal ecosystems like wetlands and mangrove forests act as natural barriers against floods, storms, and tidal surges. They absorb the impact of these events, protecting the land behind them. For example, villages protected by mangrove forests had less damage from a cyclone in India.

Provisioning Services of Coasts

These are the products we get from coastal and marine ecosystems.

• Forest products: Coastal forests (like mangroves) provide wood for building and fuel. They also offer non-wood products like wild foods and medicinal plants.
• Marine products: The seas provide us with wild and farmed seafood. Over a billion people worldwide rely on fish as their main source of animal protein. Fish and other seafood are a big part of the local diets and traditions for people living along the coast.
• Fresh water: While oceans are salty, coastal areas can be near sources of fresh water like rivers and lakes, which are essential for all living things.
• Raw materials: Marine life provides materials for clothing, building (like lime from coral reefs), and decorative items. We also use the ocean for renewable energy, like tidal power, and for oil and gas.
• Biochemical and genetic resources: Compounds from marine organisms are used in medicines, cosmetics, and other products. Genetic information from marine life can be used for breeding animals and plants, and for new technologies.

Cultural Services of Coasts

These are the non-material benefits we get from coastal areas.

• Inspiration: Marine environments have inspired art, music, and traditions for many people. Water can also be a place for spiritual renewal and a source of fond memories.
• Recreation and tourism: Sea sports like surfing, snorkeling, whale watching, and fishing are very popular. Many tourists travel to coastal resorts to enjoy these activities and relax by the water.
• Science and education: We can learn a lot from marine processes, environments, and organisms. The ocean world is incredibly complex, and there's still so much to discover!

Supporting Services of Coasts

These services are the basic processes that make other coastal services possible.

• Nutrient cycling: The ocean is a huge storage place for important nutrients like carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus. These nutrients move through the marine food web, from tiny organisms to larger ones. They are recycled as organisms die and decompose.
• Biologically mediated habitats: Living marine structures, like coral reefs and mangrove forests, provide homes for countless other species of fish, seaweed, and shellfish. These habitats are crucial for different species to interact and for young marine life to grow safely.

Coral and other living organisms serve as habitats for many marine species.

• Primary production: This is the creation of organic matter (food) by tiny marine plants through photosynthesis. This process forms the base of all ocean food webs and also produces oxygen, which is necessary for animals and humans to breathe.

Economics of Ecosystem Services

A sustainable urban drainage pond in Scotland. Natural vegetation helps filter and clean water, which is an ecosystem service.

People are still learning about the economic value of ecosystem services. Sometimes, people don't fully realize how much we depend on nature. Even though awareness is growing, the value of natural resources is often not fully understood.

One big challenge is figuring out how to put a price tag on these services. Scientists try to explain the benefits of nature in economic terms to help people make better decisions. For example, cleaning water naturally might cost less than building a water treatment plant.

Here are some ways people try to value ecosystem services in money terms:

• Avoided cost: How much money we save because nature does something for us (e.g., wetlands cleaning water means we don't have to pay for a huge water treatment plant).
• Replacement cost: How much it would cost to replace a natural service with a human-made system.
• Factor income: How much more money people earn because of a natural service (e.g., cleaner water leading to more fish for fishers).
• Travel cost: How much people are willing to pay to travel to enjoy a natural service (e.g., the cost of a trip to a national park).
• Hedonic pricing: How much more people pay for things associated with nature (e.g., houses near the coast costing more than inland homes).
• Contingent valuation: Asking people how much they would pay for a service in a made-up situation.

One study in 1997 estimated the value of the world's ecosystem services to be between $16 trillion and $54 trillion per year! However, some experts say that the total value of nature is endless, because we simply cannot live without it.

Many companies are now starting to understand how much they rely on and affect ecosystems. Tools are being developed to help businesses assess the value of these services.

Managing Ecosystem Services

Managing ecosystem services is a big challenge because it involves balancing human needs now and in the future. Decision-makers often have to work with incomplete information. Old laws are often not enough because they focus on human health, not on keeping ecosystems healthy.

One idea is to use an "Ecosystem Services Framework." This helps bring together scientific and economic information to guide decisions about protecting the environment.

Local efforts are good for services like crop pollination or water. Another popular idea is to create markets for protecting ecosystem services. This means people can pay to support activities that protect things like carbon storage or restore natural areas. However, this often requires clear rules about land ownership, which can be a problem in some countries.

For example, people are interested in the value of services provided by shellfish like oysters. Oysters are "ecosystem engineers" because they change their environment in ways that help other organisms. They filter water and help control excess nutrients, which improves water quality.

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 15 aims to make sure we conserve, restore, and use ecosystem services in a sustainable way. It's estimated that all ecosystem services add about $125 trillion to $140 trillion to the economy each year!

Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA)

Ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA) is a strategy that uses nature to help communities deal with the effects of climate change. It means using healthy ecosystems to protect people. For example, restoring wetlands can help protect a town from storm surges and floods.

The Convention on Biological Diversity defines EbA as "the use of biodiversity and ecosystem services to help people adapt to the adverse effects of climate change." This includes managing, conserving, and restoring ecosystems as part of a bigger plan to adapt to climate change. It also considers the many social, economic, and cultural benefits for local communities.

EbA projects involve scientists, policy makers, and community members working together. They use expert knowledge and local experience to find unique solutions for unique problems.

Land Use Decisions

Decisions about how we use land and its ecosystem services are complex. They involve ecology, technology, society, and the economy. These decisions need to consider many types of information and respect the views of everyone involved, including government agencies, local residents, and environmental groups.

Often, the best scientific information is combined with the values and opinions of local people to make these choices. For example, satellite data can help assess the health of land areas that provide ecosystem services. This helps with planning, managing, and communicating between different groups.

In Baltic countries, scientists and local authorities are working on a tool using GIS (geographic information system) technology. This tool will help planners choose the best ways to manage grasslands by looking at both natural and social factors.

History of Ecosystem Services

Humans have always depended on Earth's ecosystems. The idea of "natural capital" was first used by E. F. Schumacher in 1973. But people have understood how ecosystems help us for a very long time. For example, Plato (around 400 BC) knew that cutting down forests could lead to soil erosion and drying up springs.

Modern ideas about ecosystem services began when Marsh pointed out in 1864 that Earth's natural resources are not endless. In the late 1940s, authors like Aldo Leopold helped people realize how much humans depend on the environment.

In 1956, Paul Sears highlighted the important role of ecosystems in processing waste and recycling nutrients. In 1970, Paul Ehrlich and Rosa Weigert warned that human activities could destroy the "ecological systems" that humans depend on.

The term "environmental services" was first used in a 1970 report, listing services like insect pollination, fisheries, climate regulation, and flood control. Later, "ecosystem services" became the standard term in science.

The idea of ecosystem services has continued to grow. It now includes social and economic goals, and aims to protect nature.

Examples of Ecosystem Services

Here are some real-world examples of how humans benefit from natural ecosystems:

• In New York City, the drinking water quality was getting bad. Instead of building a very expensive water filtration plant (which would cost billions!), authorities decided to restore the polluted Catskill Watershed. By reducing sewage and pesticides, natural processes like soil absorption and filtration cleaned the water. This investment in nature cost much less than building a new plant!
• Bees pollinate 15-30% of U.S. food production. Many farmers bring in honey bees for this service. A 2005 study in California found that wild bees could also help pollinate crops or even make honey bees work better. Having natural habitats nearby, like chaparral or oak-woodland, helps keep these pollination services strong. It's like an insurance policy for farmers!
• In the Yangtze River area in China, scientists studied how forests help with hydroelectric power. They found that keeping the forests healthy for power services was 2.2 times more valuable each year than cutting them down for timber.
• In the 1980s, the mineral water company Vittel in France had a problem: nitrates and pesticides were getting into their springs. Local farmers had cleared natural vegetation that used to filter the water. Vittel offered farmers money and help to change their farming practices, like planting trees and using fewer chemicals. This helped clean the water and protected Vittel's product.
• In 2016, a study in the UK looked at planting new woodlands. Just for timber, it would cost more than the benefit. But if all the other benefits of trees were included (like soil protection, wind breaks, recreation, clean air, carbon storage, wildlife homes, and flood prevention), the benefits would be much higher than the costs.

Images for kids

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  Honey bee on Avocado crop. Pollination is just one type of ecosystem service.

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  Upland bog in Wales, forming the official source of the River Severn. Healthy bogs sequester carbon, hold back water thereby reducing flood risk, and supply cleaned water better than degraded habitats do.

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  Social forestry in Andhra Pradesh, India, providing fuel, soil protection, shade, and even well-being to travelers.