Ecosystem Services that Wolf Prairie Provides For You!!!
The health and well-being of human populations depend on the services provided by ecosystems and their components: the organisms, soil, water, and nutrients. Ecosystem Services are the process by which the environment produces resources such as clean water, forage, and range; habitat for wildlife; and pollination of native and agricultural plants.
Ecosystems provide services that:
- Disperse seeds
- Mitigate drought and floods
- Cycle and move nutrients
- Detoxify and decompose waste
- Control agricultural pests
- Maintain biodiversity
- Generate and preserve soils and renew their fertility
- Contribute to climate stability
- Regulate disease-carrying organisms
- Protect soil from erosion
- Protect watersheds, and stream and river channels
- Pollinate crops and natural vegetation
- Provide aesthetic beauty
- Provide wildlife habitat
- Provide recreation
- Provide research opportunities
Ecosystem services are the benefits to people from nature.
What Does Wildlife Do For Us?
The value of nature to people has long been recognized, but in recent years, the concept of ecosystem services has been developed to describe these various benefits.
An ecosystem service is any positive benefit that wildlife or ecosystems provides to people. The benefits can be direct or indirect – small or large.
The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA), a major UN sponsored effort to analyze the impact of human actions on ecosystems and human well-being, identified four major categories of ecosystem services: provisioning, regulating, cultural and supporting services.
The value of nature to people has long been recognized, but in recent years, the concept of ecosystem services has been developed to describe these various benefits.
An ecosystem service is any positive benefit that wildlife or ecosystems provides to people. The benefits can be direct or indirect – small or large.
The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA), a major UN sponsored effort to analyze the impact of human actions on ecosystems and human well-being, identified four major categories of ecosystem services: provisioning, regulating, cultural and supporting services.
A provisioning service is any type of benefit to people that can be extracted from nature.
Along with food, other types of provisioning services include:
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A regulating service is the benefit provided by ecosystem processes that moderate natural phenomena.
Regulating services include:
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A cultural service is a non-material benefit that contributes to the development and cultural advancement of people including,
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Ecosystems themselves could not be sustained without the consistency of underlying natural processes, such as photosynthesis, nutrient cycling, the creation of soils and the water cycle. These processes allow the Earth to sustain basic life forms, let alone whole ecosystems and people. Without supporting services, provisional, regulating and cultural services would not exist.
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Modified and actual chart from MA to describe the vast different eco services that are provided by a ecosystem and biome.
7 Reasons to Establish a Prairie
- Save Time and Money: Studies have shown that large properties can save 25%-67% on land management over a ten year period by converting lawn to prairie. And any home-owner can benefit by spending less time pushing the lawn mower around every week.
- Clean Air: According to the U.S. E.P.A. up to 33% of all air pollution in urban areas is from lawn care machinery. Since you don’t need to mow prairies, there is no air pollution from lawn equipment.
- Conserve Water: According to the U.S. E.P.A. up to 30% of our drinking water is used to water lawns! Prairies don’t require any watering once established, conserving 300,000 gallons per acre per year compared to irrigated turf!
- Clean Water: Lawns use ten times as many chemicals per acre as industrial farmland. Some of these hazardous chemicals can make children and pets sick, and pollute our lakes, streams and groundwater. Prairies can help prevent water pollution by intercepting and breaking down these chemicals before they can do any harm.
- Wildlife Habitat: Thousands of species of beautiful and interesting insects such as butterflies, dragonflies and imperiled bees rely on prairie plants for their survival. These beneficial insects and other natural predators are important to control garden pests, mosquitoes and other harmful creatures, and also feed birds and other wildlife.
- Natural Education: One study showed that children could identify 1000 corporate logos but fewer than 10 plants or animals native to their backyard. Has your child had the chance to watch a butterfly emerge from a cocoon or catch lightning bugs on a summer night? Do you have a place close to home where you and your family can enjoy nature? If not, why not your own back yard?
- Natural Beauty: Natural settings are shown to reduce stress and promote happiness making them a good choice for your home or business. Show your commitment to the health of your community with a natural prairie planting.
No more lawn mowing for those long dreary hot summers!!!
Sources:
http://www.fs.fed.us/grasslands/ecoservices/
USDA website to increase awareness for protecting these natural grasslands and praries.
http://www.americanprairie.org/aboutapf/
Mission of protecting and making prarie based land to help wildlife survive and provide benefits for humans as well.
http://ppjv.org/science/ecosystem-services
Recognizing the importance of the protection of ecosystem services for us since the rapid population growth and climate change effect.
http://www.nwf.org/Wildlife/Wildlife-Conservation/Ecosystem-Services.aspx
The National Wildlife Federation believes wildlife is important to the heritage, culture and heart of America and we want to preserve it as a legacy for our children.
http://goodoak.com/prairie.html
Reasons to have a prairie and the benefits to us that it provides to establish one.
http://www.fs.fed.us/grasslands/ecoservices/
USDA website to increase awareness for protecting these natural grasslands and praries.
http://www.americanprairie.org/aboutapf/
Mission of protecting and making prarie based land to help wildlife survive and provide benefits for humans as well.
http://ppjv.org/science/ecosystem-services
Recognizing the importance of the protection of ecosystem services for us since the rapid population growth and climate change effect.
http://www.nwf.org/Wildlife/Wildlife-Conservation/Ecosystem-Services.aspx
The National Wildlife Federation believes wildlife is important to the heritage, culture and heart of America and we want to preserve it as a legacy for our children.
http://goodoak.com/prairie.html
Reasons to have a prairie and the benefits to us that it provides to establish one.