The Ecology Book

329

See also: Human activity and biodiversity 92–95 ■ Ecological resilience 150–151

■ The Gaia hypothesis 214–217 ■ Human devastation of Earth 299

ENVIRONMENTALISM AND CONSERVATION

Ecosystems,” edited by Gretchen

Daily, and “The Value of the World’s

Ecosystem Services and Natural

Capital,” edited by American

ecological economist Robert

Costanza. In 2001, UN Secretary

General Kofi Annan launched the

Millennium Ecosystem Assessment

(MEA), which helped popularize the

concept of ecosystem services in

2005, when they published a wide-

ranging appraisal of how humans

impact the environment.

The four types of service

The MEA’s 2005 report detailed four

categories of ecosystem services:

supporting, provisioning, regulating,

and cultural. Supporting services,

such as soil formation and water

purification, allow for the existence

of all other services. Provisioning

services consist of freshwater;

food, such as crops and livestock;

fibres, including wood, cotton,

and other materials used for human

essentials such as building and

clothing; and natural medicines,

and plants used in pharmaceuticals.

Regulating services include

nature’s ability to control pests—

as opposed to humans’ use of

pesticides—and the atmosphere’s

capacity to clean itself naturally, as

well as the control of weather

hazards through natural buffers

such as wetlands and mangrove

forests. Pollination is another

important regulating service, one

that is endangered by the global

decline of pollinators such as bees.

Cultural services involve the ways

that humans assign cultural or

spiritual significance to elements of

ecosystems such as sacred trees,

animals, rivers, and mountains.

The esthetic or recreational value

of a natural landscape is another

type of cultural service.

At its heart, the concept of

ecosystem services allows humans

to see how inextricably connected

they are to nature, and how without

the natural world human existence

would be impossible. Ecologists

use the concept to illuminate

how precious these systems are

for basic life conditions and to

convince industries, businesses,

and governments of the necessity

for ecological preservation. ■

Gretchen Daily

Born in 1964 in Washington,

D.C., Gretchen Daily

developed a passion for

ecology at a young age. After

her family moved to West

Germany in 1977, she

witnessed a national crisis

over acid rain, and saw people

protesting in the streets over

environmental degradation.

Daily earned two degrees and

then her Ph.D. in biology at

Stanford University, where she

is now the Bing Professor of

Environmental Science.

Daily studies biodiversity

within the framework of

“countryside biogeography,”

or the portions of nature that

have not been used for human

development, but whose

ecosystems are still impacted

by human activity. She is a

cofounder of the Natural

Capital Project, which aims to

incorporate environmentalism

into business practices and

public policy.

Key works

1997 Nature’s Services:

Societal Dependence on

Natural Ecosystems

2002 The New Economy of

Nature: The Quest to Make

Conservation Profitable

If current trends

continue, humanity will

dramatically alter virtually

all of Earth’s remaining

natural ecosystems

within a few decades.

Gretchen Daily

Plans to protect air

and water, wilderness and

wildlife are in fact plans

to protect man.

Stewart Udall

American politician and

conservationist

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