Chp 3: Ecosystem functions and

services
Objectives
• Define ecosystem functions/services
• Examine climate and biogeochemical cycles
• Examine the role of biodiversity in ecosystem services (keystone
species, mobile links, medicine)
• Objectively examine how ecosystems are valued

By Cagan H. Sekercioglu
• Associate Professor of Biology University of Utah
• Conservation ecologist, ornithologist, tropical biologist, and nature photographer
(www.naturalphotos.com).
• Ultimate goal is to prevent extinctions and consequent collapses of critical
ecosystem processes while making sure that human communities benefit from
conservation as much as the wildlife they help conserve.
Chp 3 Ecosystem functions and services

• Ecosystem services are

3.1 Climate and the Biogeochemical Cycles

• Ecosystem services start at the most fundamental level:

3.1 Climate and the Biogeochemical Cycles
• Global biogeochemical cycles consist of:
3.1 Climate and the Biogeochemical Cycles
• As carbon-based life forms, every single organism on our
planet is a part of the global carbon cycle.
• This cycle takes place between the four main reservoirs of
carbon:

*Plants play a major role in fixing atmospheric CO2 through photosynthesis and most
terrestrial carbon storage occurs in forest trees
3.1 Climate and the Biogeochemical Cycles
3.1 Climate and the Biogeochemical Cycles
• Since 1750, atmospheric CO concentrations have increased by 34%
2
3.1 Climate and the Biogeochemical Cycles
• Changes in ecosystems affect nitrogen, phosphorus, and sulfur cycles as well
3.1 Climate and the Biogeochemical Cycles
• Similarly, although sulfur is an essential element in proteins, excessive sulfur emissions from human activities
lead to sulfuric acid smog and acid rain that harms people and ecosystems alike
3.1 Climate and the Biogeochemical Cycles
3.2 Regulation of the hydrologic cycle
3.2 Regulation of the hydrologic cycle
3.2 Regulation of the hydrologic cycle
3.3 Soils and erosion

• Without forest cover, erosion rates skyrocket

• Soil is one of the most critical but also most

underappreciated and abused elements of
natural capital, one that can take a few years to
lose and millennia to replace.

• A soil’s character is determined by six factors:

3.3 Soils and erosion
• Soil provides numerous major ecosystem
services:
3.4 Biodiversity and Ecosystem Function
• The role of biodiversity in providing ecosystem
services is actively debated in ecology.

Figure 3: A biodiversity experiment at the Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve (a) demonstrates the
relationship between the number of planted species and ecosystem stability (b) or species stability (c).
© 2011 Nature Education 3B and 3C modified from Tilman et al. (2006). All rights reserved.
3.4 Biodiversity and Ecosystem Function
• Although it makes intuitive
sense that the species that
dominate in number and/or
biomass are more likely to be
important for ecosystem
function (Raffaelli 2004; Smith
et al. 2004) in some cases,
even rare species can have a
role
3.5 Mobile links
• “Mobile links” are

• The three main types of mobile links:

• Genetic links

• Process links

• Resource links
3.5 Mobile links
3.5 Mobile links
3.5 Mobile links
• Seed dispersal is thought to
benefit plants in three major
ways (Howe and Smallwood
1982):
3.5 Mobile
links

Pollinator species are also

“Mobile links”
3.5 Mobile
links
• Predators are
important trophic
process links and
can control the
populations of
pest species.
 3.5 Mobile links
• Mobile links also transport
nutrients from one habitat to
another.
3.5 Mobile links

• Mobile links, however, are

not always beneficial
3.6 Nature’s Cures
versus Emerging
Diseases
 3.6 Nature’s Cures versus
Emerging Diseases

• As with many of nature’s services,

there is a flip side to the medicinal
benefits of biodiversity, namely,
emerging diseases
3.7 Valuing
Ecosystem
Services
3.7 Valuing
Ecosystem Services
• We need cost-benefit analyses to
carefully quantify true costs of our
choices
3.7 Valuing Ecosystem Services