Ecosystems

Ecosystem Services
• Ecosystem services are those systems
and processes that contribute to the
natural and efficient functioning of
environments.
Maintenance of Ecosystems

• Ecosystems can be understood as a web that connects one living thing to a

network of both living and non-living things.
• They are crucial for survival as well as maintaining a balance between living
things and the resources all living things need to survive (e.g. shelter and
food).
• For example, you can see that plants are needed not only to maintain levels of
humidity and water, but also to conserve the balance of oxygen and carbon
dioxide present in the atmosphere. The removal or even the disturbance of any
part of an ecosystem can have direct impacts on many other parts of the
ecosystem.
• When natural environments and habitats are maintained, ecosystems are
able to function across a wider geographical area.
• These habitats can act as sanctuaries for breeding populations of animals
but are also home to predators that play an important role in controlling
the pest populations of that area.
• For example, birds and other predators are crucial in controlling insect
pest populations in agricultural areas.
• The benefit of this is commercial as well as environmental, as it can
reduce the need for (and cost of) artificial measures of control.
Soil Formation & Protection
• Biodiversity is necessary in order to maintain a soil structure that can retain
sufficient levels of nutrients and moisture.
• When trees are present in an environment, they help to lower the watertable
and aid in the removal of deposited salt that sits in the upper soil.
• Another benefit of the presence of trees and vegetation in an environment is
their role in soil formation.
• The litter formed by vegetation, along with the decay and regeneration of
small, fibrous roots, provides organic matter that facilitates microbial
activity.
• Furthermore, roots are able to break up both rock and soil, which can help
with the diffusion of water. Roots are extremely important, as they are able
to transport mineral nutrients to the surface.
Protection of Water Resources

• Another important role of natural vegetation is maintaining hydrological cycles.

• Vegetation coverage in water catchments can regulate as well as stabilise water
run-off and can act as a buffer against natural disasters such as floods or extreme
events such as drought.
• Vegetation is also involved in less visible yet equally important functions such
as regulating underground watertables.
• Vegetation also helps prevent dryland salinity, a problem that currently affects
vast areas of agricultural lands in Australia and presents a great cost to the
Australian community.
Ecosystem Services

• Ecosystem services : Biodiversity and nature provide countless benefit

s for humans - YouTube
 1. List three ecosystem services and outline
their value to our society and the economy.
2. Explain how the removal or even the
disturbance of any part of an ecosystem can
have an indirect impact on many other parts
of the ecosystem. (create a flow chart with
Questions 5-6 steps to show the connections)
3. Define what biodiversity is and give one
reason why it is so important in Australia.
4. The conservation of biological diversity is
tied to the conservation of the cultural
identity of Indigenous Australians.’ Discuss
this statement using examples.