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Ecosystems Respond to Disturbance & Provide Valuable Services

Ecosystems Respond to Disturbance & Provide Valuable Services. Lecture 2.7. Watershed Studies. Studying BGC on a global scale is too complex Watersheds act as a closed system Hubbard Brook, NH (1962) Six watersheds 30-106 acres Impermeable bedrock substrate

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Ecosystems Respond to Disturbance & Provide Valuable Services

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  1. Ecosystems Respond to Disturbance & Provide Valuable Services Lecture 2.7

  2. Watershed Studies • Studying BGC on a global scale is too complex • Watersheds act as a closed system • Hubbard Brook, NH (1962) • Six watersheds 30-106 acres • Impermeable bedrock substrate • Measure the amounts of water & nutrients leaving the system

  3. Hubbard Brook Experiment

  4. Hubbard Brook & Clear-cutting • Clear-cut area & herbicides to prevent re-growth • Measurable NO3- leached out • Terrestrial systems increase retention of nutrients on land

  5. DISTURBANCE • Physical • Chemical • Biological • Natural –v- Anthropogenic

  6. Resistance • Low-intensity fires • Disturbance changes populations/community but no effect of energy flow High resistance

  7. Resilience • Flow of energy and matter are affected by disturbance • How quickly to recover? • How completely the ecosystem can recover to its original state? • Global Warming -v- Drought Low resilience

  8. Resilience-Yellowstone NP

  9. Ten years

  10. Intermediate Disturbance Hypothesis • Disturbance is not a bad thing!

  11. Restoration Ecology • Restore the ecosystem to its original state • Florida Everglades • Chesapeake Bay • Wetland re-creation • MOVIE: Reforestation at the Panama Canal

  12. Why Protect Biodiversity? • Instrumental Value • Lumber, pharmaceutical • Intrinsic Value • morality

  13. Instrumental Value • Ecosystem Services • Agricultural ecosystem  food production • Wetland ecosystem  water filtration • Economists: Cost/benefit analysis

  14. Ecological Economists • What is the total value of ecosystem services to the human economy? • Replacement cost? • Property values? (the oceanfront property) • Time/Money people are willing to spend to use the service? • $30 trillion>> world’s economy (1997)

  15. Calculating Instrumental Value: FIVE CATEGORIES • Provisions • Regulating Services • Support Systems • Resilience • Cultural services

  16. 1- Provisions • Goods humans use directly • Lumber • Food crops • Minerals (Fe, U, NaCl) • Furs • Example: Medicinal Plants (70% pharmaceuticals) • Example: Pacific Yew Trees: Taxol

  17. SIDEBAR: DOVE soaps • The Girl • The Guy • What is Reality: Where Does Photography End and digital manipulation begin? • So where is the Environment?

  18. 2-Regulating Services • Regulation of natural systems • CO2emmisions & Global Warming Problem • Loading 8GT(=1 trillion kg) but…. • 4 GT stay in the atmosphere • Where did the rest go? • Rainforests,oceans

  19. 3-Support Systems • Pollinators ($3.1billion) • Natural Pest Control • Natures Air Conditioners • Water Filtration • NYC & Catskill Mountains • Too costly for humans to generate these services

  20. 4-Resilience • Function of species diversity • Genetic diversity is the insurance policy! • Example: Monoculture -v- polyculture • Web of Life Analogy • Shooting a Gun in the Airplane Cockpit instruments analogy

  21. 5-Cultural Services • Cultural & aesthetic benefits • I will pay to see that! • Awe-inspiring • Cure for cancer?

  22. Intrinsic Value • It has a right to exist

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