Ecosystem service concept

Ecosystems have potential to supply a range of services that are of fundamental importance to
human well-being, health, livelihoods, and survival (Costanza et al., 1997; Millennium
Ecosystem Assessment (MEA), 2005; TEEB Synthesis, 2010). Different ways of defining
ecosystem service have been developed so far – they can be described as the benefits that
people obtain from ecosystems (MEA, 2005) or as the direct and indirect contributions of
ecosystems to human well-being (TEEB, 2010). More recent publications define
the ecosystem services (ES) as contributions of ecosystem structure and function (in
combination with other inputs) to human well-being (Burkhard et al., 2012; Burkhard B. &
Maes J. Eds., 2017).
Ecosystem cannot provide any benefits to people without the presence of people (human
capital), their communities (social capital), and their built environment (built capital). Thus
ecosystem services should be perceived as a contribution of the natural capital to human well-
being, which forms only by interaction with human, social and built capital.

Ecosystem services can be perceived also as

an interface between people and nature, which is illustrated by so called ‘cascade model’ (Haines-
Young and Potschin, 2010; Potschin and Haines-Young, 2016; Burkhard and Maes (Eds.), 2017). This
model describes the pathway of causal interrelations between ecosystem at one end and the human well-
being at another (Fig. 1.2). The ecosystem within this model is characterized by its biophysical
structures and processes. The biophysical structure, in a more simple way, can be labelled as a habitat
type (e.g. woodland, wetland, grassland etc.), while processesrefers to dynamics and interactions
forming the ecological system (e.g. primary production). The ecosystem functions, in the context of the
cascade model, are understood as the characteristics or behaviours of the ecosystem that underpins its
capacity to deliver an ecosystem service (e.g. ability of the woodland or grassland to generate a standing
stock of biomass). Those elements and features, which are behind the ecosystem capacity to deliver
services, are sometimes called ‘supporting’ or ‘intermediate’ services, while the ‘final’ ecosystem
service is what we actually can harvest (e.g. hey, timber) or gain from ecosystem (e.g. flood protection,
beautiful landscape etc.). The ‘final’ services directly contribute to human well-being through the
benefits that they support (e.g. health and safety). People are used to assign values to the benefits,
therefore they are also referred as ‘goods’ and ‘products’. The value can be expressed in many different
ways – using monetary as well as moral, aesthetic or other qualitative criteria.
The capacity of the ecosystem to supply services for human well-being directly depends on
the ecosystem condition (its structure and processes). While increasing the pressure on
ecosystem or by changing the land use type (and thus fundamentally impacting or destroying
the previous ecosystem), people influence the ecosystem service supply or trade-offs between
different services. For example, by draining a wetland people can gain arable land and thus
valuable food products, but at the same time lose such services as flood protection, natural
habitats and species diversity as well as possibilities for nature tourism. In counting together
all the benefits (in monetary or other valuation system), the value of wetland most probably
would be much higher that the value of arable land.
Biodiversity has essential role in supply of the ecosystem services although this interrelation
not always is so straightforward. Mostly it is associated with so called ‘supporting or
intermediate services’, although few studies demonstrated a direct linear relation
between species diversity and ecosystem productivity, biomass production, nutrient cycling
etc. (Haines-Young and Potschin, 2010). For example there is experimental evidence that
maintaining high levels of plant species diversity increases grassland productivity (e.g. Fagan
et al., 2008). The productivity is an ecosystem function that underpins a range of ecosystem
services (e.g. biomass production, soil formation and erosion control). However, it is not only
the species richness, which supports the ecosystem service supply – there are also other
ecosystem properties, which plays significant role, e.g. presence of particular species or species
groups with particular features, that have certain function in ecosystem or its performance. For
example, the ability of vegetation to store nutrients (used in establishing buffer stripes along
water bodies) might depend on presence of species with the particular feature and their
abundance in relation to the level of nutrients in the system. Such features of species are
called functional traits. There is an agreement among researchers that functional diversity,
formed by type, range and relative abundance of functional traits in a community, can have
important consequence for ecosystem processes (De Bello et al., 2008). Ecosystems,
where functional groups (i.e. groups of species with similar functions) are formed by
ecologically similar species with different reactions on environmental pressures, are more
resistant to adverse effects and thus can continue to supply services essential for human well-
being.
The interrelation between biodiversity, ecosystem and socio-economic system via flows of
ecosystem services and drivers of change is reflected also within the conceptual framework for
EU and national ecosystem assessment developed by MAES initiative under Action 5 of the
EU Biodiversity strategy (Maes et al., 2016) (Fig. 1.3).
Based on changes of the values or preferences/demand for the benefits provided by ecosystem, people
make judgements about the kinds of interventions in the ecosystem either by protecting ecosystem or
enhancing the supply of ecosystem service. Therefore, knowledge on ecosystem service supply and
their links to biodiversity as well as limits of ecological functioning and how external pressures may
impact on ecological structures and processes is crucial when making decisions on land use or
development projects, which are impacting ecosystem condition.

Four Types of Ecosystem Services

The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA), a major UN-sponsored effort to analyze the
impact of human actions on ecosystems and human well-being, identified four major categories
of ecosystem services: provisioning, regulating, cultural and supporting services.

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When people are asked to identify a service provided by nature, most think of food. Fruits,
vegetables, trees, fish, and livestock are available to us as direct products of ecosystems. A
provisioning service is any type of benefit to people that can be extracted from nature. Along
with food, other types of provisioning services include drinking water, timber, wood fuel,
natural gas, oils, plants that can be made into clothes and other materials, and medicinal
benefits.

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Ecosystems provide many of the basic services that make life possible for people. Plants clean
air and filter water, bacteria decompose wastes, bees pollinate flowers, and tree roots hold soil
in place to prevent erosion. All these processes work together to make ecosystems clean,
sustainable, functional, and resilient to change. A regulating service is the benefit provided by
ecosystem processes that moderate natural phenomena. Regulating services include
pollination, decomposition, water purification, erosion and flood control, and carbon storage
and climate regulation.

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As we interact and alter nature, the natural world has in turn altered us. It has guided our
cultural, intellectual, and social development by being a constant force present in our lives. The
importance of ecosystems to the human mind can be traced back to the beginning of mankind
with ancient civilizations drawing pictures of animals, plants, and weather patterns on cave
walls. A cultural service is a non-material benefit that contributes to the development and
cultural advancement of people, including how ecosystems play a role in local, national, and
global cultures; the building of knowledge and the spreading of ideas; creativity born from
interactions with nature (music, art, architecture); and recreation.

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The natural world provides so many services, sometimes we overlook the most fundamental.
Ecosystems themselves couldn't be sustained without the consistency of underlying natural
processes, such as photosynthesis, nutrient cycling, the creation of soils, and the water cycle.
These processes allow the Earth to sustain basic life forms, let alone whole ecosystems and
people. Without supporting services, provisional, regulating, and cultural services wouldn't
exist.