Ecosystem Services

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Ecosystem Services

• EEP 255
• Class 12,
• October 7, 2003

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Ecosystem services

• Ecosystem services are the conditions and
  processes through which natural ecosystems and
  the species that make them up, sustain and
  fulfill human life.
• They maintain biodiversity and the production of
  ecosystem goods, such as seafood, forage, timber,
  biofuels, fiber, and precursors to many
  pharmaceutical and industrial products
• Ecosystem services are also actual life support
  functions such as cleaning, recycling, renewal.
• Ecosystem services also provide intangible
  aesthetic and cultural benefits.

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Ecosystem Goods and Services

• Flows of materials, energy, and information from
  natural capital stocks which combine with
  manufactured and human capital services to
  produce human welfare.
• (Robert Constanza et. al, 1998, The value of the
  Worlds ecosystem services and natural capital,
  Ecological Economics Vol. 25, p.6)

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Ecosystem services (examples)

• Purification of air and water
• Detoxification and decomposition of wastes
• Mitigation of floods and droughts
• Generation and renewal of soil and soil fertility
• Pollination of crops and natural vegetation
• Control of potential/actual agricultural pests

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Ecosystem services (examples)

• Dispersal of seeds and translocation of nutrients
• Maintenance of biodiversity from which human
  enterprise derives ag, medicinal and industrial
  products
• Protection from Suns ultraviolet light
• Climate stabilization
• Moderation of temperature and
• Support for diverse human cultures
• Providing aesthetic beauty and intellectual
  stimulation (recreation services)

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Think about

• Each service
• Which types and number of species necessary to
  support each service?
• Complex bio-geo-chemical cycles with vastly
  varying cycle times and geographical ranges
• Solar energy,
• many micro-organisms
• Dynamic, evolving, adaptive

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Ecosystem goods

• Timber
• Minerals
• Energy sources (fossil fuels, geothermal, solar
  radiation)
• Nutrients, Fruits, vegetables, animals
• Fish and sea animals
• Space

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Economic vs. Ecosystem Goods and Services

• Economic goods and services (e.g., cars) are the
  result of economic production functions (e.g.,
  auto assembly). Most often these use ecosystem
  goods and services as inputs
• Ecosystem goods and services (e.g., healthy air)
  are the result of ecosystem functions (e.g.,
  carbon cycle) using natural capital.

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Natural Capital

• Capital is a stock of something that is used to
  produce a flow of goods and services.
• Natural capital is the stock of naturally
  available matter and energy that is used to
  produce a flow of transformed matter and energy

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Basic Forms of Natural Capital

• Quantity and quality of matter
• Quantity stock of elements available on earth
  (e.g., hydrogen, oxygen, carbon, potassium,
  phosphorus, sodium)
• Quality biotic and abiotic composition of the
  atmosphere (e.g., troposphere, stratosphere),
  hydrosphere (e.g., water bodies), geosphere
  (e.g., land formations), biosphere (e.g.,
  populations and communities of plants, animals,
  insects, bacteria), ecosystems (e.g., aquatic,
  terrestrial), and biomes (e.g., temperate forest,
  tropical forest, savannah, desert, etc.)

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Basic Forms of Natural Capital

• Quantity and quality of energy
• Quantity solar energy (kinetic), stored solar
  energy (potential)
• Quality concentration and form (e.g., heat,
  light, mechanical, chemical, electrical, and
  gravitational)

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Ecosystem Goods and Services (Matter and Energy
Transformed)
Ecosystem Functions
Natural Capital
UV Radiation Shielding
Ozone Layer Formation
Ozone Layer
Ecosystem Community
Wildlife Population Control
Food Chain
Biomass production
Photosynthesis
Trees
Storm water drainage
Hydrological cycle
River channel
Atmospheric carbon dioxide
Air temperature
Climate System
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Valuation of Ecosystem Services

• As a whole ecosystem services are of infinite
  value because human life could not be sustained
  without them. Imagine costs of recreating all
  the earths systems?
• However evaluation of tradeoffs currently facing
  society require estimating marginal value of
  ecosystem services, (i.e. value yielded by an
  additional unit of the service, all else held
  constant) to assess the costs of losing or
  benefits of preserving a given amount or quality
  of these services.

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Tradeoffs

• Choice between alternative uses of natural
  environment
• Should we preserve a wetland or drain it for
  agriculture?
• Should old growth forests be harvested?
• Should a park be converted to parking lot?
• How much should we spend to maintain the
  stratospheric ozone layer?

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Economic Valuation of Ecosystem Goods and Services

• When ecosystem goods and services enter the
  economic system (i.e., when people use or enjoy
  them), they have economic value.
• Economists can measure changes in economic value.
• Where ecosystem goods and services enter the
  economic system determines how economic value is
  determined.

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Intermediate vs. Final Goods and Services
ECOSYSTEM GOODS AND SERVICES
INTERMEDIATE
FINAL
ECONOMIC GOODS AND SERVICES
INTERMEDIATE
FINAL
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Example of Precipitation as a Final Ecosystem Good
INTERMEDIATE
FINAL
Carbon dioxide/water Concentrations in the
Atmosphere
ECOSYSTEM GOODS AND SERVICES
Precipitation
ECONOMIC GOODS AND SERVICES
Crop Production
Lawn Irrigation
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Example of Precipitation as an Intermediate
Ecosystem Good
INTERMEDIATE
FINAL
River Water Flow Rate
ECOSYSTEM GOODS AND SERVICES
Precipitation
White Water Rafting
ECONOMIC GOODS AND SERVICES
Electricity Generation
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Valuing a Change in Precipitation as a Final
Ecosystem Good
Change
Carbon Dioxide/water Concentrations in the
Atmosphere
ECOSYSTEM GOODS AND SERVICES
Precipitation
ECONOMIC GOODS AND SERVICES
Crop Production
Lawn Irrigation
Change in Supply
Change in Demand
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Valuing a Change in Precipitation When it is an
Intermediate Ecosystem Good
Change
Change
ECOSYSTEM GOODS AND SERVICES
Water Flow Rate
Precipitation
ECONOMIC GOODS AND SERVICES
White Water Rafting
Electricity Generation
Change in Supply
Change in Demand
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Effect of Increase in Precipitation on Crop
Supply (An Intermediate Economic Good)
Price/ Bushel
MC1
MB
MC2
Bushels
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Increase in net benefit from crops due to
precipitation
Price/ Bushel
MC1
MB
MC2


Bushels
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Effect of Increase in River Water Flow on
Hydro-Electricity Supply (an Intermediate
Economic Good)
Price/ kilowatt
MC1
MB
MC2
kilowatts
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Increase in net benefits from electricity due to
precipitation
Price/ kilowatt
MC1
MB
MC2


kilowatts
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Effect of Increase in River Water Flow on White
Water Rafting Trip Demand
Price/ trip
MC
MB2
MB1
Rafting trips at the River
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Increase in net benefit from white water rafting
trips
Price/ trip
MC
MB2
MB1


Rafting trips