Editing Ecosystem (section)

==Human interactions with ecosystems==
Human activities are important in almost all ecosystems. Although humans exist and operate within ecosystems, their cumulative effects are large enough to influence external factors like climate.<ref name="Chapin-2011a" />{{rp|14}}

===Ecosystem goods and services===
[[File:Avalanche Lake, looking south.jpg|thumb|The [[High Peaks Wilderness Area]] in the {{convert|6000000|acre|adj=on}} [[Adirondack Park]] is an example of a diverse ecosystem.]]
{{Main|Ecosystem services|Ecological goods and services}}
{{See also|Ecosystem valuation|Ecological yield}}
Ecosystems provide a variety of goods and services upon which people depend.<ref name="Christensen-1996">{{cite journal |last1=Christensen |first1=Norman L. |first2=Ann M. |last2=Bartuska |first3=James H. |last3=Brown |first4=Stephen |last4=Carpenter |first5=Carla |last5=D'Antonio |first6=Robert |last6=Francis |first7=Jerry F. |last7=Franklin |first8=James A. |last8=MacMahon |first9=Reed F. |last9=Noss |first10=David J. |last10=Parsons |first11=Charles H. |last11=Peterson |first12=Monica G. |last12=Turner |first13=Robert G. |last13=Woodmansee |year=1996|title=The Report of the Ecological Society of America Committee on the Scientific Basis for Ecosystem Management|journal=Ecological Applications|volume=6|issue=3|pages=665–691|doi=10.2307/2269460|citeseerx=10.1.1.404.4909 |jstor=2269460 |bibcode=1996EcoAp...6..665C |s2cid=53461068 }}</ref> Ecosystem goods include the "tangible, material products" of ecosystem processes such as water, food, fuel, construction material, and [[medicinal plant]]s.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Ecosystem Goods and Services|url=https://ec.europa.eu/environment/nature/info/pubs/docs/ecosystem.pdf|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091110215725/http://ec.europa.eu/environment/nature/info/pubs/docs/ecosystem.pdf |archive-date=2009-11-10 }}</ref><ref name="Brown-2007">{{cite journal|last1=Brown|first1=Thomas C.|author2=John C. Bergstrom|author3=John B. Loomis|year=2007|title=Defining, valuing and providing ecosystem goods and services|url=http://lawlibrary.unm.edu/nrj/47/2/04_brown_goods.pdf|journal=Natural Resources Journal|volume=47|issue=2|pages=329–376|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130525213257/http://lawlibrary.unm.edu/nrj/47/2/04_brown_goods.pdf|archive-date=2013-05-25}}</ref> They also include less tangible items like [[tourism]] and recreation, and genes from wild plants and animals that can be used to improve domestic species.<ref name="Christensen-1996"/>

[[Ecosystem services]], on the other hand, are generally "improvements in the condition or location of things of value".<ref name="Brown-2007" /> These include things like the maintenance of hydrological cycles, cleaning air and water, the maintenance of oxygen in the atmosphere, crop [[pollination]] and even things like beauty, inspiration and opportunities for research.<ref name="Christensen-1996" /> While material from the ecosystem had traditionally been recognized as being the basis for things of economic value, ecosystem services tend to be taken for granted.<ref name="Brown-2007" />

The ''[[Millennium Ecosystem Assessment]]'' is an international synthesis by over 1000 of the world's leading biological scientists that analyzes the state of the Earth's ecosystems and provides summaries and guidelines for decision-makers. The report identified four major categories of ecosystem services: provisioning, regulating, cultural and supporting services.<ref name="Millennium Ecosystem Assessment-2005">{{Cite web|date=2005|title=Millennium Ecosystem Assessment|url=https://www.millenniumassessment.org/en/index.html|url-status=live|access-date=10 November 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110524043553/http://www.millenniumassessment.org/en/index.html |archive-date=2011-05-24 }}</ref> It concludes that human activity is having a significant and escalating impact on the biodiversity of the world ecosystems, reducing both their [[Resilience (ecology)|resilience]] and [[biocapacity]]. The report refers to natural systems as humanity's "life-support system", providing essential ecosystem services. The assessment measures 24 ecosystem services and concludes that only four have shown improvement over the last 50 years, 15 are in serious decline, and five are in a precarious condition.<ref name="Millennium Ecosystem Assessment-2005" />{{rp|6–19}}

The [[Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services]] (IPBES) is an intergovernmental organization established to improve the interface between science and policy on issues of [[biodiversity]] and ecosystem services.<ref>{{cite web|author=<!--Not stated-->|title=IPBES|url=https://www.ipbes.net|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190627065419/https://www.ipbes.net/|archive-date=27 June 2019|access-date=28 June 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Díaz |first1=Sandra |last2=Demissew |first2=Sebsebe |last3=Carabias |first3=Julia |last4=Joly |first4=Carlos |last5=Lonsdale |first5=Mark |last6=Ash |first6=Neville |last7=Larigauderie |first7=Anne |last8=Adhikari |first8=Jay Ram |last9=Arico |first9=Salvatore |last10=Báldi |first10=András |last11=Bartuska |first11=Ann |date=2015 |title=The IPBES Conceptual Framework — connecting nature and people |journal=Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability |language=en |volume=14 |pages=1–16 |bibcode=2015COES...14....1D |doi=10.1016/j.cosust.2014.11.002 |s2cid=14000233 |doi-access=free |hdl-access=free |hdl=11336/56765}}</ref> It is intended to serve a similar role to the [[Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change]].<ref>{{cite web|date=January 20, 2012|title=Biodiversity crisis is worse than climate change, experts say|url=https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120120010357.htm|access-date=September 11, 2019|website=[[ScienceDaily]]|archive-date=December 29, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211229035952/https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120120010357.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> 

Ecosystem services are limited and also threatened by human activities.<ref name="Ceccato-2014">{{cite journal |last1=Ceccato |first1=Pietro |last2=Fernandes |first2=Katia |last3=Ruiz |first3=Daniel |last4=Allis |first4=Erica |date=17 June 2014 |title=Climate and environmental monitoring for decision making |journal=Earth Perspectives |volume=1 |issue=1 |page=16 |doi=10.1186/2194-6434-1-16 |bibcode=2014EarP....1...16C |s2cid=46200068 |doi-access=free }}</ref> To help inform decision-makers, many ecosystem services are being assigned economic values, often based on the cost of replacement with anthropogenic alternatives. The ongoing challenge of prescribing economic value to nature, for example through [[biodiversity banking]], is prompting transdisciplinary shifts in how we recognize and manage the environment, [[social responsibility]], business opportunities, and our future as a species.<ref name="Ceccato-2014" />

===Degradation and decline===
{{see also|Ecosystem collapse|Biodiversity loss|Effects of climate change on biomes}}
As human population and per capita consumption grow, so do the resource demands imposed on ecosystems and the effects of the human [[ecological footprint]]. Natural resources are vulnerable and limited. The environmental impacts of [[human impact on the environment|anthropogenic]] actions are becoming more apparent. Problems for all ecosystems include: [[Pollution|environmental pollution]], [[climate change]] and [[biodiversity loss]]. For terrestrial ecosystems further threats include [[air pollution]], [[Soil retrogression and degradation|soil degradation]], and [[deforestation]]. For [[aquatic ecosystems]] threats also include unsustainable exploitation of marine resources (for example [[overfishing]]), [[marine pollution]], [[microplastics]] pollution, the [[effects of climate change on oceans]] (e.g. warming and [[Ocean acidification|acidification]]), and building on coastal areas.<ref name="Alexander-1999">{{cite book| last = Alexander| first = David E.| title = Encyclopedia of Environmental Science| publisher = [[Springer Science+Business Media|Springer]]| date = 1 May 1999| isbn = 978-0-412-74050-3 }}</ref>

Many ecosystems become degraded through human impacts, such as [[Erosion|soil loss]], [[Air pollution|air]] and [[water pollution]], [[habitat fragmentation]], [[Interbasin transfer|water diversion]], [[Wildfire suppression|fire suppression]], and [[introduced species]] and [[invasive species]].<ref name="Chapin-2011l" />{{rp|437}}

These threats can lead to abrupt transformation of the ecosystem or to gradual disruption of biotic processes and degradation of [[Abiotic component|abiotic]] conditions of the ecosystem. Once the original ecosystem has lost its defining features, it is considered ''[[ecosystem collapse|collapsed]]'' (see also [[IUCN Red List of Ecosystems]]).<ref name="Keith-2013">{{cite journal|last1=Keith|first1=DA|last2=Rodríguez|first2=J.P.|last3=Rodríguez-Clark|first3=K.M.|last4=Aapala|first4=K.|last5=Alonso|first5=A.|last6=Asmussen|first6=M.|last7=Bachman|first7=S.|last8=Bassett|first8=A.|last9=Barrow|first9=E.G.|last10=Benson|first10=J.S.|last11=Bishop|first11=M.J.|last12=Bonifacio|first12=R.|last13=Brooks|first13=T.M.|last14=Burgman|first14=M.A.|last15=Comer|first15=P.|last16=Comín|first16=F.A.|last17=Essl|first17=F.|last18=Faber-Langendoen|first18=D.|last19=Fairweather|first19=P.G.|last20=Holdaway|first20=R.J.|last21=Jennings|first21=M.|last22=Kingsford|first22=R.T.|last23=Lester|first23=R.E.|last24=Mac Nally|first24=R.|last25=McCarthy|first25=M.A.|last26=Moat|first26=J.|last27=Nicholson|first27=E.|last28=Oliveira-Miranda|first28=M.A.|last29=Pisanu|first29=P.|last30=Poulin|first30=B.|last31=Riecken|first31=U.|last32=Spalding|first32=M.D.|last33=Zambrano-Martínez|first33=S.|title=Scientific Foundations for an IUCN Red List of Ecosystems|journal=PLOS ONE|date=2013|volume=8|issue=5|page=e62111|doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0062111|pmid=23667454|pmc=3648534|bibcode=2013PLoSO...862111K|doi-access=free}}</ref> Ecosystem collapse could be reversible and in this way differs from [[species extinction]].<ref name="Boitani-2014">{{cite journal|last1=Boitani|first1=Luigi|last2=Mace|first2=Georgina M.|last3=Rondinini|first3=Carlo|title=Challenging the Scientific Foundations for an IUCN Red List of Ecosystems|journal=Conservation Letters|doi=10.1111/conl.12111|volume=8|issue=2|date=2014|pages=125–131|url=http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/1443166/1/conl12111.pdf|hdl=11573/624610|s2cid=62790495|hdl-access=free|access-date=2021-01-06|archive-date=2018-07-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180722080846/http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/1443166/1/conl12111.pdf|url-status=live}}{{open access}}</ref> Quantitative assessments of the [[IUCN Red List of Ecosystems|risk of collapse]] are used as measures of conservation status and trends.

=== Management ===
{{Main|Ecosystem management|Ecosystem-based management|Ecosystem approach}}

When [[natural resource management]] is applied to whole ecosystems, rather than single species, it is termed [[ecosystem management]].<ref name="Grumbine-1994">{{cite journal|last=Grumbine|first=R. Edward|year=1994|title=What is ecosystem management?|url=http://www.pelagicos.net/MARS6920_spring2010/readings/Grumbine_1994.pdf|journal=Conservation Biology|volume=8|issue=1|pages=27–38|doi=10.1046/j.1523-1739.1994.08010027.x|bibcode=1994ConBi...8...27G |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130502051519/http://www.pelagicos.net/MARS6920_spring2010/readings/Grumbine_1994.pdf|archive-date=2013-05-02}}</ref> Although definitions of ecosystem management abound, there is a common set of principles which underlie these definitions: A fundamental principle is the long-term [[sustainability]] of the production of goods and services by the ecosystem;<ref name="Chapin-2011l">{{Cite book|last=Chapin|first=F. Stuart III|title=Principles of terrestrial ecosystem ecology|date=2011|publisher=Springer|others=P. A. Matson, Peter Morrison Vitousek, Melissa C. Chapin|isbn=978-1-4419-9504-9|edition=2nd|location=New York|chapter=Chapter 15: Managing and Sustaining Ecosystems|oclc=755081405}}</ref> "intergenerational sustainability [is] a precondition for management, not an afterthought".<ref name="Christensen-1996" /> While ecosystem management can be used as part of a plan for [[wilderness]] conservation, it can also be used in intensively managed ecosystems<ref name="Christensen-1996" /> (see, for example, [[agroecosystem]] and [[close to nature forestry]]).

=== Restoration and sustainable development ===
{{see also|Restoration ecology}}

[[Integrated Conservation and Development Project|Integrated conservation and development projects]] (ICDPs) aim to address [[Conservation biology|conservation]] and human livelihood ([[sustainable development]]) concerns in [[Developing country|developing countries]] together, rather than separately as was often done in the past.<ref name="Chapin-2011l" />{{rp|445}}