Nature's Services

by Daily, Gretchen C.

• ISBN13: 9781559634755
• ISBN10: 1559634758
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1997-02-01
• Publisher: Island Pr

Summary

Life itself as well as the entire human economy depends on goods and services provided by earth's natural systems. The processes of cleansing, recycling, and renewal, along with goods such as seafood, forage, and timber, are worth many trillions of dollars annually, and nothing could live without them. Yet growing human impacts on the environment are profoundly disrupting the functioning of natural systems and imperiling the delivery of these services.Nature's Servicesbrings together world-renowned scientists from a variety of disciplines to examine the character and value of ecosystem services, the damage that has been done to them, and the consequent implications for human society. Contributors including Paul R. Ehrlich, Donald Kennedy, Pamela A. Matson, Robert Costanza, Gary Paul Nabhan, Jane Lubchenco, Sandra Postel, and Norman Myers present a detailed synthesis of our current understanding of a suite of ecosystem services and a preliminary assessment of their economic value. Chapters consider: major services including climate regulation, soil fertility, pollination, and pest control philosophical and economic issues of valuation case studies of specific ecosystems and services implication of recent findings and steps that must be taken to address the most pressing concerns Nature's Servicesrepresents one of the first efforts by scientists to provide an overview of the many benefits and services that nature offers to people and the extent to which we are all vitally dependent on those services. The book enhances our understanding of the value of the natural systems that surround us and can play an essential role in encouraging greater efforts to protect the earth's basic life-support systems before it is too late.

Table of Contents

Contributors	xi
Preface	xv
Gretchen C. Daily
Perspectives on Nature's Services	xvii
John Peterson Myers
Joshua S. Reichert
Introduction: What Are Ecosystem Services?	1	(10)
Gretchen C. Daily
Ecosystem Services: A Fragmentary History	11	(12)
Harold A. Mooney
Paul R. Ehrlich
Part I: Economic Issues of Valuation
Valuing Ecosystem Services: Philosophical Bases and Empirical Methods	23	(26)
Lawrence H. Goulder
Donald Kennedy
Valuing Ecosystem Services with Efficiency, Fairness, and Sustainability as Goals	49	(22)
Robert Costanza
Carl Folke
Part II: Overarching Services
The Interaction of Climate and Life	71	(22)
Susan E. Alexander
Stephen H. Schneider
Kalen Lagerquist
Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning	93	(20)
David Tilman
Ecosystem Services Supplied by Soil	113	(20)
Gretchen C. Daily
Pamela A. Matson
Peter M. Vitousek
Services Provided by Pollinators	133	(18)
Gary Paul Nabhan
Stephen L. Buchmann
Natural Pest Control Services and Agriculture	151	(26)
Rosamond L. Naylor
Paul R. Ehrlich
Part III: Services Supplied by Major Biomes
Marine Ecosystem Services	177	(18)
Charles H. Peterson
Jane Lubchenco
Freshwater Ecosystem Services	195	(20)
Sandra Postel
Stephen Carpenter
The World's Forests and Their Ecosystem Services	215	(22)
Norman Myers
Ecosystem Services in Grasslands	237	(18)
Osvaldo E. Sala
Jose M. Paruelo
Part IV: Case Studies
Biodiversity's Genetic Library	255	(20)
Norman Myers
Impacts of Marine Resource Extraction on Ecosystem Services and Sustainability	275	(20)
Les Kaufman
Paul Dayton
Ecosystem Services in Subsistence Economies and Conservation of Biodiversity	295	(16)
Kamaljit S. Bawa
Madhav Gadgil
Ecosystem Services in a Modern Economy: Gunnison Country, Colorado	311	(18)
Andrew Wilcox
John Harte
Water Quality Improvement by Wetlands	329	(16)
Katherine C. Ewel
Services Supplied by South African Fynbos Ecosystems	345	(20)
Richard M. Cowling
Robert Costanza
Steven I. Higgins
Part V: Conclusion
Valuing and Safeguarding Earth's Life-Support Systems	365	(10)
Gretchen C. Daily
Index	375