Types of Ecosystem Services: Ecosystem Services is an effort sponsored by the UN in order to study and analyze the impact of human actions on the ecosystem because humans directly interact with the ecosystem and derive a number of benefits from the ecosystem and these actions of humans also lead to changes in the ecosystem. This effort under the title of Millennium Ecosystem Assessment classified the ecosystem services into 4 major types. In this article, we shall study these 4 ecosystem services.
Ecosystem Services
The ecosystem is defined as the area in which organisms interact with their surroundings. An ecosystem has two components which are biotic i.e. living and abiotic i.e. non-living components. The ecosystem provides various services to us. Both biotic and abiotic provide so many benefits to humans, such benefits are known as ecosystem services. Ecosystem services are classified into 4 major types.
Types of Ecosystem Services
Following are the 4 types of ecosystem services present in the ecosystem:
Provisioning Services
Provisioning services refer to the benefits that the organisms derived from the ecosystem. Human beings and all other organisms in the ecosystem derive a lot of things from the ecosystem such as food, shelter, water, clothing, etc. We cannot survive without interacting with the ecosystem. Apart from all these direct benefits, we also get certain indirect benefits from the ecosystem such as natural gas, LPG, wood, coal, minerals, etc.
Regulating Services
Our ecosystem helps to sustain life through the process of moderation of natural phenomena. Without the ecosystem, natural phenomena will either be extreme or completely absent. This function of the ecosystem is termed a regulating service of the ecosystem. The ecosystem has various functions such as cleaning of air by plants, pollination, decomposition of waste, and prevention of soil erosion by trees. These functions of the ecosystem make the Earth suitable to live.
Cultural Services
The cultural aspects of human life are interlinked with how they interact with the ecosystem and nature of the surroundings in which they live. Various civilizations evolved over time and interacted differently with their ecosystem which shaped their cultural habits and life. Thus we can say that cultural services of the ecosystem are those services that influence the cultural life of people and leads to the advancement of the people, and their creativity, and affects the local, national, and global cultures.
Supporting Services
These are the most important and fundamental services provided by the ecosystem that are responsible to sustain life on the Earth. These services of the ecosystem are provided by the various processes that take place in the ecosystem but which are not visible as such. A number of processes such as photosynthesis, oxygen cycle, carbon cycle, phosphorous cycle, etc. are responsible to maintain life on this Earth. One cannot imagine life without these services of the ecosystem. Thus all other services of the ecosystem are directly dependent on supporting services of the ecosystem.
Threats to Ecosystem
As humans interact with the ecosystem, they modify their ecosystem which has led to threats to our ecosystem. Various threats to our ecosystem are as follows:
- Pollution: It is the biggest threat to the ecosystem. Pollution leads to changes in air, water, and land which are the major components of the ecosystem. Pollution disturbs the ecological balance which directly affects the lives of humans as well. It also leads to interference with natural cycles such as the water cycle, oxygen cycle, etc.
- Eutrophication: Excessive use of fertilizers in farms has led to an increase in the phosphorous content in water bodies which causes dense plant growth in these water bodies. It leads to a reduction in the level of oxygen in water bodies which is harmful to aquatic animals and also leads to poisoning of water bodies.
- Global Warming: Global warming is a major problem today. It is causing the increase in Earth’s average temperature which is causing untimely rains and modification in the seasons on Earth. It is also causing depletion of the ozone layer which is leading to the melting of ice in polar regions and a rise in sea level. Thus global warming is affecting each and every component of the ecosystem.
- Deforestation: Reckless cutting of trees is leading to loss of forest cover which is leading to global warming. It also leads to soil erosion as in the absence of trees, the soil is not held by the roots of plants and is easily washed away. This soil erosion is causing the removal of topsoil which is very fertile and thus reduces the fertility of the land.
- Invasive Species: The introduction of invasive species in the ecosystem causes a threat to the indigenous and endemic species of a region. This leads to an imbalance in the ecosystem.
FAQs on Types of Ecosystem Services
Q: What are some barriers to ecosystem services?
Answer:
The difficulty in attaching a monetary value and quantifying the development of ecosystem services are the main barriers to the promotion of ecosystem services.
Q: What is the importance of ecosystem services?
Answer:
Ecosystem services are important because they are responsible to provide various benefits to humans such as materials, a sense of security, and health, and ensuring the overall well-being of humans.
Q: Why are supporting services of the ecosystem most important?
Answer:
The supporting services of the ecosystem are the most important because these are responsible to make life possible on the Earth. Without these services, other services of the ecosystem cannot exist.
Q: Which organization gave the classification of ecosystem services?
Answer:
Ecosystem services were sponsored by the UN under Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MEA).