Australia: deh.gov.au/epbc; Europe: europa.eu/legislation_summaries/environment/nature_and_biodiversity/l28076_en.htm; RSA: Mucina and Rutherford 2006; USA: Noss et al. 1995
| Australia |
| Aquatic root mat community in caves of the Swan Coastal Plain Cumberland Plain shale woodlands Eastern Stirling Range montane heath and thicket Lowland native grasslands of Tasmania Parched wetlands of the Wheatbelt region Temperate highland peat swamps on sandstone |
| Europe |
| Inland salt meadows Mediterranean temporary ponds Temperate Atlantic wet heaths Xeric sand calcareous grasslands Fennoscandian deciduous swamp woods Eastern white oak woods |
| South Africa |
| Atlantic sand fynbos Bloemfontein dry grassland Cape vernal pools Ironwood dry forest Legogote sour bushveld Lowveld riverine forest Swartland alluvium fynbos |
| United States |
| Longleaf pine forests and savannas in the southeastern coastal plain Tallgrass prairie east of the Missouri River and on mesic sites across range Wet and mesic coastal prairies in Louisiana Coastal strand in southern California Ungrazed sagebrush steppe in the Intermountain West Streams in the Mississippi Alluvial Plain |
Instrumental Values
The idea that ecosystems have instrumental values has a long history but the concept really took root with an important book, Nature’s Services (Daily 1997), that examined “ecosystem services” in depth. This term is a bit too narrow in that the concept encompasses all biodiversity values, not just those that are tightly tied to ecosystems, and both products (e.g. timber) as well as services (e.g. renewal of clean air and water). However, there is virtue in simplicity and “ecosystem services” has become a major rallying point for conservation activities that improve human welfare (Lele et al. 2013). Having covered the instrumental values of species in Chapter 3, here we will focus on those exhibited at the ecosystem level.
Economic Values
When we think of the economic values of ecosystems in terms of goods and services, the material goods provided by ecosystems can generally be accounted for by summing the goods provided by various species such as the lumber from tree species, the food from fish species, and so on. With services, however, whole ecosystems are often the logical “source of production.” For example, wetlands are often used for treatment of wastewater, a service that would be quite expensive to duplicate with a treatment plant (Gude et al. 2014; Wu et al. 2015), and can play a key role in mitigating floods (Acreman and Holden 2013). Dune and salt‐marsh ecosystems provide an invaluable service during coastal storms by buffering upland areas. Coastal wetlands export nutrients and organic matter to adjacent estuaries where they support economically valuable fisheries (Fig. 4.5). Forests export high‐quality water to aquatic ecosystems and urban water supplies. This list could go on and on because for virtually every ecosystem we could identify services that would be very expensive to replace artificially. Access to the recreational services of ecosystems is the basis for an enormous array of commercial enterprises. These can be as simple as bus trips for city dwellers to visit a forest or lake on a Saturday afternoon, or they can be as all‐inclusive as completely catered “ecotours” to coral reefs, tropical forests, Antarctic islands, and so on (Honey 2008).
Figure 4.5 Relatively few species can tolerate the special conditions of salt marshes, but those that do create ecosystems of great importance. Salt marshes buffer upland areas from ocean storms. They also export large amounts of organic matter to adjacent estuaries, which constitutes a key component of the estuarine food web.
(Trish Hartmann/Flickr/CC BY 2.0)
The economic values of ecosystems for both goods and services were compiled and a grand tally of their economic value estimated by multiplying a value‐per‐hectare figure for each major type of ecosystem by the total global area of that ecosystem (Costanza et al. 1997a). The estimate of $33 trillion per year was considered an average figure because of the nature of various uncertainties within a range of $16 to $64 trillion. To put these figures in perspective, the gross national products of all the world’s nations totaled about $18 trillion at that time.
Spiritual Values
The journeys people make to natural ecosystems, to places where the hand of humanity is hard to detect, are often too profoundly important to be reduced to dollars and cents (Fig. 4.6). The forty days Moses spent in the desert, the walkabouts of Australian Aborigines, and perhaps the night you spent watching the tide ebb and flood are periods of spiritual recreation and revitalization that many people find of immeasurable value. For some people, particularly those who are pantheistic (i.e. believe that God is nature and nature is God), ecosystems provide far more than an aesthetic setting for these experiences. The ecosystems themselves, with their depth and complexity, are a source of inspiration, a vehicle for feeling connected to something larger and more permanent than one’s self. It is notable that all the world’s major religions advocate respect and stewardship for “creation.”
Figure 4.6 Many people visit natural ecosystems to feel a sense of spiritual renewal, for example by walking this path in Japan.
(Sean Pavone/Shutterstock)
Scientific and Educational Values
Ecology has become a very sophisticated science, but we still cannot hope to understand an ecosystem fully. This dilemma is apparent when you think of ecology as the apex of a pyramid with biology as the next layer below, earth sciences such as geology and climatology forming the third layer, chemistry the fourth, and physics the foundation. Of course, ecologists do not need an intimate familiarity with quantum physics to be effective, but they do need a basic understanding of thermodynamics, electromagnetic radiation, and many other aspects of physics. In contrast, a physicist can be highly successful and understand nothing about ecology. The fact that ecosystems integrate so many phenomena makes them a focal point for scientists trying to monitor how the Earth is changing, particularly in response to human activities. This feature also means that ecosystems are fascinating models for researchers interested in complex systems, for example by modeling how carbon moves through ecosystems to better predict global climate change (Harris et al. 2014).
Ecosystems are also wonderful models for showing children and adults how everything in the environment can be connected to everything else. Drawing lines between boxes to represent the functional relationships of those boxes can become an extremely complex exercise. Alternatively, it can be as simple as drawing lines between the sun, a plant, and an animal to form a food chain and then adding more boxes and lines to create a food web. How did that cup of coffee you are drinking get into your hands? In short,
