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ECOSYSTEM SERVICES, CONCEPT OF Gretchen Daily* and Shamik Dasgupta† *Stanford University and †University College London I. Overview I. OVERVIEW II. History III. Biophysical Characterization Human societies derive many benefits from natural eco- IV. The Ecosystem Services Framework systems. These include the production of a diversity of V. Safeguarding ecosystem goods, or extractive benefits, such as seafood, VI. Conclusions timber, biomass fuels, and precursors to many indus- trial and pharmaceutical products. The harvest and trade of these goods represent an important and familiar part of the economy. Ecosystem services also include GLOSSARY non-extractive benefits—fundamental life-support pro- cesses including pollination, water purification, renewal ecosystem services The wide array of conditions and of soil fertility, and climate regulation. Ecosystem ser- processes through which ecosystems, and their bio- vices include life-fulfilling functions, encompassing aes- diversity, confer benefits on humanity; these include thetic beauty and the cultural, intellectual, and spiritual the production of goods, life-support functions, life- values derived from nature. Finally, preservation of the fulfilling conditions, and preservation of options. option to use these (or new) services in the future is marginal value Economic value of the next incremen- also an important service in itself. tal unit of something. In this context, marginal values One way to appreciate the nature and value of ecosys- are those associated with managing the next small tem services is to imagine trying to set up a happy unit of an ecosystem in a particular way (e.g., pre- existence on the moon. Assume for the sake of argument serving, rather than clearing, the next unit of forest). that the moon miraculously already had some of the basic conditions for supporting human life, such as an atmosphere and climate similar to those on Earth. After packing one’s prized possessions, the big question ECOSYSTEM SERVICES ARE ESSENTIAL TO HUMAN would be, Which of Earth’s millions of species would EXISTENCE, and yet their supply is seriously threat- be required to sustain the lunar colony? ened by the intensification of human impacts on the Tackling the problem systematically, one could first environment. This article provides an overview of issues choose from among all the species exploited directly for concerning the identification, biophysical and eco- food, drink, spice, fiber and timber, pharmaceuticals, nomic characterization, and safeguarding of ecosys- industrial products (such as waxes, lac, rubber, and tem services. oils), and so on. Even being selective, this list could Encyclopedia of Biodiversity, Volume 2 Copyright 2001 by Academic Press. All rights of reproduction in any form reserved. 353 354 ECOSYSTEM SERVICES, CONCEPT OF amount to hundreds, or even several thousand, species. TABLE I The space-ship would be filling up before even begin- A Classification of Ecosystem Services with Illustrative Examples ning to add the species crucial to supporting those at the top of one’s list. Which are these unsung heroes? Production of Goods No one knows which—nor even approximately how Food Terrestrial animal and plant products many—species are required to sustain human life. This Forage means that rather than listing species directly, you Seafood would have to list instead the life-support functions Spices required by your lunar colony; then you could guess Pharmaceuticals at the types and numbers of species required to perform Medicinal products each. At a bare minimum, other companions on the Precursors to synthetic pharmaceuticals spaceship would have to include species capable of Durable materials Natural fiber supplying a whole suite of ecosystem services that Timber Earthlings take for granted. Table I provides a classifi- Energy cation of important ecosystem services. Biomass fuels Armed with this preliminary list of services, one Low-sediment water for hydropower could begin to determine which types and numbers of Industrial products species are required to perform each. This is no simple Waxes, oils, fragrances, dyes, latex, rubber, etc. task. Consider soil fertility. Soil organisms play impor- Precursors to many synthetic products tant and often unique roles in the circulation of matter Genetic resources Which enhance the production of many of these goods in every ecosystem on Earth; they are crucial to the chemical conversion and physical transfer of essential Regeneration Processes nutrients to higher plants, and all larger organisms, Cycling and filtration processes including humans, depend on them. The abundance of Detoxification and decomposition of wastes Generation and renewal of soil fertility soil organisms is tremendous: under a square yard of Purification of air pasture in Denmark, for instance, the soil was found Purification of water to be inhabited by roughly 50,000 small earthworms Translocation processes and their relatives, 50,000 insects and mites, and nearly Dispersal of seeds necessary for revegetation 12 million roundworms. And that is not all. A single Pollination of crops and natural vegetation gram (a pinch) of soil has yielded an estimated 30,000 Stabilizing Processes protozoa, 50,000 algae, 400,000 fungi, and billions of Coastal and river channel stability Compensation of one species for another under varying individual bacteria (Overgaard-Nielsen, 1955). Which conditions to bring to the moon? Most of these species have never Control of the majority of potential pest species been subjected to even cursory inspection. Yet the so- Moderation of weather extremes (such as of temperature and bering fact of the matter is, as Ed Wilson put it: they wind) don’t need us, but we need them. Partial stabilization of climate Regulation of hydrological cycles (mitigation of floods and In the early 1990s, the first Biosphere 2 ‘‘mission’’ droughts) carried out this thought experiment to the greatest de- Life-Fulfilling Functions gree possible on Earth. Eight people were enclosed in Aesthetic beauty a 3.15-acre closed ecosystem, featuring agricultural land Cultural, intellectual, and spiritual inspiration plus a wide array of natural habitats (desert, savanna, Existence value tropical forest, wetland, and even a miniature ocean). Scientific discovery The aim was to demonstrate a (mostly) closed system Serenity that could supply people with their material needs for Preservation of Options two years. Yet in spite of an investment of over $200 Maintenance of the ecological components and systems needed million in the design, construction, and operation of for future supply of these goods and services and others this model Earth (including $1 million in annual energy awaiting discovery inputs), it proved impossible to do so and the experi- ment was shut down early in failure. Numerous un- pleasant and unexpected problems arose, including a fall in atmospheric oxygen concentration to 14% (the level normally found at an elevation of 17,500 feet); ECOSYSTEM SERVICES, CONCEPT OF 355 high spikes in carbon dioxide concentrations; nitrous these cycles without causing global disruption. Yet be- oxide concentrations high enough to impair brain func- cause most of these benefits are not traded in markets, tion; rapid species extinctions (including 19 of 25 verte- they carry no price tags that could alert society to brate species and all pollinators, thereby dooming most changes in their supply or to deterioration of the under- of the plant species to eventual extinction as well); lying ecological systems that generate them. Escalating overgrowth of aggressive vines and algal mats; and, impacts of human activities on forests, wetlands, and to top it all off, population explosions of crazy ants, other natural ecosystems imperil the delivery of ecosys- cockroaches, and katydids. Even heroic personal efforts tem services. The primary threats are land use changes on the part of the Biospherians did not suffice to make that cause losses in biodiversity as well as disruption the system viable and sustainable for humans nor many of carbon, nitrogen, and other biogeochemical cycles; nonhuman species, illustrating the tremendous expense human-caused invasions of exotic species; releases of and difficulty of replicating many basic ecosystem ser- toxic substances; possible rapid climate change; and vices (Cohen and Tilman, 1996). depletion of stratospheric ozone. Because threats to Ecosystem services are generated by a complex of these systems are increasing, there is a critical need natural cycles, driven by solar energy, that constitute for identification and monitoring of ecosystem services the workings of the biosphere—the thin layer near both locally and globally, and for the incorporation of Earth’s surface that contains all known life. The cycles their value into decision-making processes. operate on very different scales. Biogeochemical cycles, Based on available scientific evidence, it is certain such as the movement of the element carbon through that: the living and physical environment, are truly global and reach from the top of the atmosphere to deep into • Ecosystem services are essential to civilization. soils and ocean-bottom sediments. Life cycles of bacte- • Ecosystem services operate on such a grand scale ria, in contrast, may be completed in an area much and in such intricate and little-explored ways that smaller than the period at the end of this sentence. The most could not be replaced by technology. cycles also operate at very different rates. The biogeo- • Human activities
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