Topic 2.2 Notes – Ecosystem Services

What Ecosystem Services Are

An ecosystem service is a human benefit that comes from nature. That benefit can come from the ecosystem itself or from an ecosystem process, which is something happening in nature like pollination, water filtration, or nutrient cycling.

The key difference is simple:

• Process = what happens in the ecosystem
• Service = the human benefit from that process

Example:

• In a wetland, plants and soils remove sediment and nutrients from water.
• That removal is the process.
• Cleaner water and lower water-treatment costs are the service.

This idea is anthropocentric, which means human-centered. You’re looking at nature in terms of how people depend on it. That does not mean nature only matters when it helps humans.

Biodiversity matters here because changes in species, habitats, or ecological interactions can change the services an ecosystem provides. Also, one ecosystem can provide many services at the same time. You classify the benefit, not the whole ecosystem.

Provisioning, Regulating, Cultural, and Supporting

Ecosystem services are grouped into four main categories, and the diagram gives you a quick way to organize them before you look at each one in more detail.

Four categories of ecosystem services

There are four categories:

Provisioning services

These are products people take from ecosystems.

• Food like crops, livestock products, seafood, wild game, fruits, and nuts
• Fresh water
• Timber, lumber, paper, and wood products
• Fibers such as cotton and wool
• Fuelwood and biofuel materials
• Medicinal plants and pharmaceutical compounds
• Genetic resources used in agriculture, medicine, and biotechnology

Regulating services

These control or moderate environmental conditions.

• Climate regulation through carbon uptake and storage
• Flood moderation and water-flow regulation
• Storm protection and coastal erosion reduction
• Water purification
• Air-quality improvement
• Erosion control and soil stabilization
• Pollination
• Natural pest control
• Regulation of some diseases
• Decomposition and treatment of organic wastes
• Local temperature and microclimate moderation

Cultural services

These are nonmaterial benefits.

• Recreation like hiking, swimming, boating, fishing, camping, and wildlife watching
• Tourism and ecotourism
• Aesthetic enjoyment
• Spiritual and religious significance
• Cultural identity and connection to place
• Educational opportunities
• Scientific study and inspiration
• Mental and physical benefits from natural areas

Supporting services

These are the underlying ecological processes that make the others possible.

• Photosynthesis and primary production
• Nutrient cycling
• Soil formation
• Maintenance of food webs
• Habitat provision
• Conditions that allow organisms and communities to persist

How to Classify Services Correctly

Classification depends on the benefit being emphasized.

A coastal wetland can provide all four at once:

• Provisioning: fish, shellfish, reeds, fresh water
• Regulating: water filtration, flood storage, shoreline stabilization, carbon storage, storm-surge reduction
• Cultural: birdwatching, boating, fishing, education, beauty
• Supporting: nutrient cycling, primary production, soil development, nursery habitat

Common AP pairs that get mixed up:

• Timber = provisioning, but erosion prevention by tree roots = regulating
• Fresh water supply = provisioning, but natural purification = regulating
• Crops or fruit = provisioning, but pollination = regulating
• Fish for food = provisioning, but recreational fishing = cultural
• Carbon storage = regulating, but photosynthesis/primary production = supporting
• Soil formation and nutrient cycling = supporting, but stabilization of existing soil = regulating

Economic value does not decide the category. All four can be valuable in money terms.

How Human Activities Disrupt Ecosystem Services

Anthropogenic means human-caused.

Major disruptions include deforestation, wetland drainage, urban development, intensive agriculture, overfishing, pollution, pesticide use, habitat fragmentation, overuse of water, and climate change.

Here’s the usual pathway:

1. Human activity changes an ecosystem component or process.
2. One or more ecosystem services decline.
3. Ecological consequences follow.
4. Economic consequences follow.

One of the most tested ideas here is trade-offs. You might increase one provisioning service, like crop production, but reduce regulating, cultural, or supporting services.

Ecological and Economic Consequences

A strong AP answer traces both kinds of consequences.

• Ecological consequences include habitat loss, biodiversity decline, disrupted food webs, lower primary productivity, reduced soil fertility, more erosion and sedimentation, poorer water quality, altered water flow, less carbon storage, less pollination, and lower resilience.
• Economic consequences include lower income from farming, fishing, forestry, recreation, and tourism; shortages or higher prices for food, timber, or water; higher water-treatment costs; more flood and storm damage; restoration expenses; lower property values; job losses; and public health or cleanup costs.

Wetland conversion is the model example. The image below shows a coastal wetland bordered by housing, roads, and agriculture, which is exactly the kind of land-use change AP questions use to connect ecological damage to economic costs.

Converted coastal wetland

When wetlands are drained or filled, you lose flood control, water purification, shoreline stabilization, habitat, fisheries support, and recreation. That leads to more runoff, more sediment and nutrients, more erosion, habitat loss, and population declines, plus higher flood damage, higher treatment costs, and lower fisheries and tourism revenue.