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Week 10 lecture 1

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  • What is an ecosystem service?

    Ecosystem services are natural processes that sustain human life and depend on the integrity of natural systems, providing benefits that are often costly or impossible to duplicate artificially.

  • Name the four categories of ecosystem services.

    Provisioning (food and water), Regulating (climate control, disease regulation), Supporting (nutrient cycling), and Cultural (recreational and emotional benefits).

  • What is provisioning ecosystem service?

    Provisioning services involve the production of food and water, such as fisheries that provide food for many people.

  • Give examples of regulating ecosystem services.

    Regulating services include climate control, disease regulation, and buffering storms, like wetlands reducing hurricane impacts.

  • What are supporting ecosystem services?

    Supporting services provide essential processes like nutrient cycling, for example nitrogen fixation by legumes.

  • What are cultural ecosystem services?

    Cultural services offer personal and emotional benefits such as recreation, tourism, and appreciation of biodiversity.

  • Why is biodiversity important for ecosystem functioning?

    More diverse ecosystems provide greater ecosystem functioning, which supports the delivery of ecosystem services critical to human life.

  • What was the key goal of establishing Masoala National Park in Madagascar?

    To protect biodiversity, especially endemic species, while allowing sustainable human use in buffer zones to support local livelihoods.

  • How do wetlands contribute to water purification?

    Wetlands filter out 20-60% of metals, 80-90% of sediments, 70-90% of nitrogen waste, and reduce human pathogens from water.

  • What are some human activities that disrupt natural water purification?

    Paved roads, dams, loss of wetlands, invasive species, and eutrophication all reduce natural water filtration and alter ecosystems.

  • How do mangroves and wetlands protect coastal areas?

    They buffer storm impacts, reducing damage from hurricanes and tsunamis by absorbing wave energy and stabilizing shorelines.

  • What is ecosystem-based management (EBM)?

    EBM is managing ecosystems to maintain healthy, functioning systems that sustain a range of ecosystem services, including humans as integral components.

  • How does EBM differ from traditional management approaches?

    EBM integrates multiple sectors, agencies, and activities across ecosystems, focusing on cumulative impacts rather than isolated management.

  • Why is stakeholder involvement important in EBM?

    Stakeholders, including local citizens and businesses, have interests in management outcomes and must be involved in planning for success.

  • What does managing for cumulative impacts mean in EBM?

    It means considering combined effects of multiple human activities across sectors and ecosystems rather than managing each activity separately.

  • What did global studies reveal about human impacts on oceans?

    There is no ocean area free from human impact; some areas have low impact, but many show high cumulative effects from fishing, pollution, and climate change.

  • What paradigm shifts does EBM represent?

    Shifts from single species to ecosystem scale, single sector to multiple sectors, short-term to long-term perspectives, and commodity to activity-based management.

  • Why is it called ecosystem-based management instead of ecosystem management?

    Because it focuses on managing human activities within ecosystems, recognizing humans as ecosystem components, rather than controlling ecosystems as isolated units.

  • Does EBM require understanding every species and interaction in an ecosystem?

    No, EBM uses the best available ecological information and adapts management as new data become available, acknowledging ecosystem complexity.

  • What is adaptive management in the context of EBM?

    Adaptive management is an iterative process of planning, monitoring, analyzing results, and adjusting management actions based on new information.

  • How did New York City apply ecosystem services in water management?

    They chose to restore the watershed for natural water purification, costing less than building a new water treatment plant, saving billions.