Eruption of Mt. Pinotubo, 1991

Acid Rain Damage in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina

Ecosystem Services: Free, But Valuable Estimates of various Ecosystem Services ECOSYSTEM SERVICES VALUE (trillion $US) Nutrient cycling 17.1 Cultural (noncommercial use) 3.0 Waste Treatment 2.3 Water regulation and supply 2.3 Climate regulation (temperature and precipitation) 1.8 Food and raw materials production 1.4 Flood and storm protection 1.1 Recreation 0.8 Genetic resources 0.8 Atmospheric gas balance 0.7 Pollination 0.1 All other services 1.6 Total value of ecosystem services 33.3 Source: Adapted from R. Costanza et al., (1997) The Value of the World's Ecosystem Services and Natural Capital. Nature 387: 256, Table 2.

Global Gross National Product (US$ 18 trillion)

Water sources for New York City

In 1997, NYC asked the Federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to waive rules that required filtration of its water supply to meet the Safe Drinking Water Act (Filtration would have cost NYC $6-8 billion + $300 million / year maintenance cost) Instead, NYC pledged to improve the ecosystems around the watersheds that supply it with water (improvements cost roughly $1.5 billion) The EPA granted this waiver for 4 years In 2002, The EPA determined that NYC ecosystem improvements sufficiently increased water quality, and a new filtration waiver was granted indefinitely New York City Wastewater Treatment

Figure 55.0 Deforestation of tropical forests

Figure 55.00x Deforestation in the United States

Figure 55.1 Three levels of biodiversity

Figure 55.2 A hundred heartbeats from extinction: Philippine eagle (left), Chinese river dolphin (right)

Figure 55.3 The rosy periwinkle (Catharanthus roseus): a plant that saves lives

Figure 55.4 What scientists learned about ecosystem services from the world’s largest terrarium

Figure 55.5 Fragmentation of a forest ecosystem

Figure 55.6 The history of habitat reduction and fragmentation in a Wisconsin forest

St. Louis under normal conditions St. Louis during flood of

Cincinnati Flooding, 1997 Cincinnati Enquirer

From Photo by Steve Holmerwww.americanlands.org

Golden trumpets, a type of pitcher plant, are seen at the Pitcher Plant Bog Natural Area in Georgia. Human activities are threatening to wipe out as many as one-half of the Earth's plant species, a new study suggests. Earlier studies had estimated that only about 13 percent of all plant species are in danger of extinction. (AP Photo, Elliott Minor)

Marlin

Figure 55.7 Disastrous species introductions: Nile perch (top left), brown tree snake (top right), Argentine ants (bottom left), seaweed Caulerpa (bottom right)

Figure 55.7x Zebra mussels

Figure 55.8 The great auk (Pinguinis impennis)

Figure 55.9 North Atlantic bluefin tuna auctioned in a Japanese fish market

Figure The extinction vortex of the small-population approach

Figure The decline of the greater prairie chicken (Tympanuchus cupido) in central Illinois from 1970 to 1997

Figure Two species of edible plants whose persistence is threatened by habitat loss and overharvesting

Figure Long-term monitoring of a grizzly bear population

Figure Habitat requirements of the red-cockaded woodpecker

Figure Edges between ecosystems

Figure An artificial corridor

Figure Some biodiversity hot spots

Figure The legal and biotic boundaries for grizzly bears in Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks

Figure Zoned reserves in Costa Rica

Figure Local schoolchildren marvel at the diversity of life in one of Costa Rica's reserves

Figure 55.20b An endangered, endemic species in its unique habitat

Figure The size-time relationship for community recovery from natural (salmon-colored) and human- caused (white) disasters

Figure Restoration of degraded roadsides in the tropics

Figure Biophilia, past and present