An ecosystem service is any positive benefit that wildlife or ecosystems provide to people. The benefits can be direct or indirect—small or large.

Examples of ecosystem services include products such as food and water, regulation of floods, soil erosion and disease outbreaks, and non-material benefits such as recreational and spiritual benefits in natural areas….

• spiritual or religious enrichment.
• cultural heritage.
• recreation and tourism.
• aesthetic experience.

An ecosystem is a large community of living organisms (plants, animals and microbes) in a particular area. The living and physical components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. Ecosystems are of any size, but usually they are in particular places.

Biodiversity provides us with drinking water, oxygen to breathe, food, medicine, decomposition of waste, and helps our planet withstand natural disasters.

Why do ecosystems matter for human health? Ecosystem services are the benefits that people obtain from ecosystems. From the availability of adequate food and water, to disease regulation of vectors, pests, and pathogens, human health and well-being depends on these services and conditions from the natural environment.

Ecosystem services are the multitude of benefits that nature provides to society. Biodiversity is the diversity among living organisms, which is essential to ecosystems function and services delivery.

Ecosystem services are the benefits people obtain from ecosystems: provisioning services (also known as goods) such as food and water; regulating services such as flood, pest, and disease control; cultural services such as spiritual and recreational benefits; and supporting services, such as nutrient cycling, that …

Disease regulation. Changes in ecosystems can directly change the abundance of human pathogens, such as cholera, and can alter the abundance of disease vectors, such as mosquitoes. Pest regulation. Ecosystem changes affect the prevalence of crop and livestock pests and diseases.

ecosystem services provided by biodiversity, such as nutrient cycling, carbon sequestration, pest regulation and pollination, sustain agricultural productivity.

Regulating services

• Carbon sequestration and climate regulation.
• Predation regulates prey populations.
• Waste decomposition and detoxification.
• Purification of water and air.
• pest and disease control.
• Flood protection.

Biodiversity is known to underpin these ecosystem services, which inter alia, include: 1) provisioning services that provide potable water, food, fibre and medicine; 2) regulating services which control our climate, disease vectors, crop pests and pollinators; 3) cultural services that influence our beliefs, traditions …

More About Ecosystem Services

• Provisioning Services or the provision of food, fresh water, fuel, fiber, and other goods;
• Regulating Services such as climate, water, and disease regulation as well as pollination;
• Supporting Services such as soil formation and nutrient cycling; and.

10 Most Threatened Biodiversity Hotspots in the world

• Cerrado, Brazil.
• Himalayas.
• Polynesia-Micronesia, Southern Pacific Ocean.
• Atlantic Forest – Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina, Uruguay.
• Indo-Burma – Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, India, China.
• Philippines, Pacific Ocean.
• Madrean Pine-Oak Woodlands, Mexico.

Ecological resilience was defined as the amount of disturbance that an ecosystem could withstand without changing self-organized processes and structures (defined as alternative stable states).

An example of resilient is elastic being stretched and returning to its normal size after being let go. An example of resilient is a sick person rapidly getting healthy. Able to recover readily, as from misfortune.

An ecosystem is said to possess ecological stability (or equilibrium) if it is capable of returning to its equilibrium state after a perturbation (a capacity known as resilience) or does not experience unexpected large changes in its characteristics across time.

Ecological Resilience For example, plants absorb phosphorus and limit algal growth in shallow lakes with low levels of phosphorus. An increase in phosphorus inputs, however, can lead to algal blooms that reduce light penetration and kill plants, releasing more phosphorus for algae.

Psychologists define resilience as the process of adapting well in the face of adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats, or significant sources of stress—such as family and relationship problems, serious health problems, or workplace and financial stressors. That’s the role of resilience.

Stability Important The two key components of ecosystem stability are resilience and resistance.

Oceans is stable ecosystems since it stays unchanged over the long term. Various natural geological and anthropogenic forces build and damage mountains, deserts and forests but oceans have remained stable over the long history of the Earth. Their volume is massive and thus, minor shifts in oceans are not easily felt.

One reason ecosystem stability is important for life-forms because it creates a habitable environment for life-forms to live in. Such stability is important for an adjoining one because it allows the sphere of influence and boundaries to extend beyond its boundaries.

A stable community is one in which the size of the populations of all species remain relatively constant over time. In the example above the amount of grass, and the numbers of rabbits and foxes all remain relatively constant. The different populations are living in a healthy balance with their environment.

When something is stable, it’s fixed and steady. If you needed advice, you’d probably go to your most stable friend, the one least likely to act crazy or be easily upset. Whether you’re talking about an object or a person, the adjective stable implies reliability and strength.

One of the most important characteristics of an ecological community is species diversity. Ecological communities are complex because many different factors affect species interactions in communities. Moreover, the different types of interactions among species in communities interact.

(i) Less variation in productivity from year to year. (ii) Resistance or resilience to occasional disturbances (natural or man-made). (iii) Resistance to invasions by alein species.

A community is composed of all of the biotic factors of an area. An ecosystem includes the living organisms (all the populations) in an area and the non-living aspects of the environment (Figure below). An ecosystem is made of the biotic and abiotic factors in an area.

A stable community should not show too much variation in productivity from year to year. A stable community must be either resistant or resilience to occasional disturbance (natural or man-made). A stable community must be resistant to invasion by alien species.

Sometimes communities persist over long periods without exhibiting any substantial change in their appearance or composition, and when such “periods-without-change” prevail, we often refer to the communities as “stable”.