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Ecosystem Services: a brief overview

Ecosystem Services: a brief overview. Laura A. Meyerson The H. John Heinz III Center for Science, Economics and the Environment Washington, DC. Plato 427-347 BC. George Perkins Marsh – Man and Nature, 1864. Fairfield Osborn – Our Plundered Planet 1948.

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Ecosystem Services: a brief overview

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  1. Ecosystem Services: a brief overview Laura A. Meyerson The H. John Heinz III Center for Science, Economics and the Environment Washington, DC

  2. Plato 427-347 BC George Perkins Marsh – Man and Nature, 1864 Fairfield Osborn – Our Plundered Planet 1948 Aldo Leopold - A Sand County Almanac, 1949

  3. The process of environmental change by man Paul Sears (1956) Ecosystems in jeopardy Paul and Anne Ehrlich (1970)

  4. Environmental Services The benefits that people receive from well-functioning ecosystems, such as food, flood control, climate regulation, and recreation (SCEP 1970).

  5. “Environmental Services” • SCEP (1970) • Pest control • Insect pollination • Fisheries • Climate regulation • Soil retention • Flood control • Soil formation • Cycling of matter • Composition of the atmosphere • Holdren and Ehrlich(1974) • Maintenance of • soil fertility • Maintenance of a • genetic library

  6. Evolution of Terminology “Public Services of the global ecosystem” (Ehrlich et al. 1977) “Natures services”(Westman 1977) “Ecosystem Services” (Ehrlich and Ehrlich 1981)

  7. Nature’s Services: Societal Dependence on Natural Ecosystems Gretchen Daily (1997) The value of the world’s ecosystem services and natural capital Costanza et al. (1998)

  8. PROVISIONING SERVICES Products obtained from ecosystems (food, fresh water, fuelwood, fiber, biogeochemicals, genetic resources) REGULATING SERVICES Benefits obtained from regulation of ecosystem processes (Climate regulation, disease regulation, water regulation, water purification) CULTURAL SERVICES Nonmaterial benefits obtained from ecosystems (spiritual and religious, recreation and ecotourism, aesthetic, inspirational, educational, sense of place, cultural heritage) SUPPORTING SERVICES Services necessary for the production of all other ecosystem services (soil formation, nutrient cycling, primary production)

  9. Aggregate measures of ecosystem services: can we take the pulse of nature? Meyerson et al. 2005

  10. Moving forward? • How will the loss of biodiversity affect ecosystem services? (1981) • Is it possible to find and deploy technological substitutes for services? (1981)

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