Regulating (and Maintaining) Ecosystem Services
Regulating (and maintaining) services contribute to the regulation and maintenance of the environment for humans, and thus human well-being. They result from the performance of functional and healthy ecosystems, their properties, and processes.
Include pollination, decomposition, soil formation, air and water purification, erosion and flood control, carbon storage, and local climate regulation. Thus, these services and their underlying functions are a prerequisite for safeguarding other ecosystem services.
In face of accelerating climate change, regulating services deserve increased attention, if not the highest priority.
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To check on more detailed examples of regulating ecosystem services, click on the tabs below.
Regulation of physical, chemical, biological conditions
- Wind erosion reduction and prevention
- Hydrological cycle and water flow regulation (incl. flood control)
- Regulation of surface water level and runoff
- Regulation of groundwater level
- Water accumulation and retention (incl. flood protection)
- Protection from soil erosion
- Reduction of wind speed; wind protection
- Fire protection
- Pollination
- Seed dispersal
- Maintaining nursery populations and habitats
- Biotic production
- Pest control and reduction of the spread of invasive species
- Prevention and reduction of diseases
- Soil formation
- Soil moisture regulation
- Mediation of weathering processes
- Decomposition and fixing processes
- Regulation of the chemical and physical quality of freshwater in surface water (standing and flowing)
- Water purification (of lakes)
- Regulation of the chemical and physical quality of groundwater
- Microclimate regulation
- Filtration and purification of air
- Air humidity regulation
- Carbon sequestration (reduction of anthropogenic CO2 emissions)
- Oxygen production
Transformation of biochemical or physical inputs
- Bioremediation/cleaning by (micro-) organisms
- Filtration, accumulation, storage by (micro-) organisms
- Smell reduction
- Noise attenuation
- Visual screening
- Protection from soil erosion