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100-585: Before 1800, the area was mostly pristine old-growth forest and had only a few inhabitants. Over the course of the 19th century, a rail line was built up the valley, reaching from the Androscoggin River to the headwaters of the Wild River . Logging camps prospered along the river, and by the turn of the 20th century nearly all accessible timber had been removed. In 1903, a severe drought year, campers fishing for brook trout at No Ketchum Pond left

200-421: A farm can stabilize and enhance the provision of pollination services. The presence of such ecosystem elements functions almost like an insurance policy for farmers. Coastal and estuarine ecosystems act as buffer zones against natural hazards and environmental disturbances, such as floods, cyclones, tidal surges and storms. The role they play is to "[absorb] a portion of the impact and thus [lessen] its effect on

300-418: A forest dynamics perspective, old-growth forest is in a stage that follows understory reinitiation stage. Those stages are: Of importance is that while the stand switches from one tree community to another, the stand will not necessarily go through old-growth stage between those stages. Some tree species have a relatively open canopy. That allows more shade-tolerant tree species to establish below even before

400-721: A free content work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 ( license statement/permission ). Text taken from The State of the World's Forests 2020. In brief – Forests, biodiversity and people​ , FAO & UNEP, FAO & UNEP. Ecosystem services Ecosystem services are the various benefits that humans derive from healthy ecosystems . These ecosystems, when functioning well, offer such things as provision of food, natural pollination of crops, clean air and water, decomposition of wastes, or flood control . Ecosystem services are grouped into four broad categories of services. There are provisioning services , such as

500-495: A Bayesian decision support system to both model the uncertainty in the scientific information Bayes Nets and to assist collecting and fusing the input from stakeholders. This study was about siting wave energy devices off the Oregon Coast, but presents a general method for managing uncertain spatial science and stakeholder information in a decision making environment. Remote sensing data and analyses can be used to assess

600-432: A biodiversity that is different from other forest stages. The characteristic topography of much old-growth forest consists of pits and mounds. Mounds are caused by decaying fallen trees, and pits ( tree throws ) by the roots pulled out of the ground when trees fall due to natural causes, including being pushed over by animals. Pits expose humus -poor, mineral-rich soil and often collect moisture and fallen leaves, forming

700-590: A campfire unattended. Slash left over from recent logging operations provided ample fuel, and the campfire sparked a large wildfire . This, combined with flooding from the river, wiped out the remaining timber business. In March 1914, the U.S. Forest Service purchased 41,000 acres (170 km) of land from the Hastings Lumber Company for inclusion in the White Mountain National Forest , part of which would later become

800-577: A different potential to store carbon. For example, this potential is particularly high in the Pacific Northwest where forests are relatively productive, trees live a long time, decomposition is relatively slow, and fires are infrequent. The differences between forests must, therefore, be taken into consideration when determining how they should be managed to store carbon. A 2019 study projected that old-growth forests in Southeast Asia ,

900-767: A different spatial location relative to the main canopy, hence each one receives a different amount of light. The mixed age of the forest is an important criterion in ensuring that the forest is a relatively stable ecosystem in the long term. A climax stand that is uniformly aged becomes senescent and degrades within a relatively short time to result in a new cycle of forest succession . Thus, uniformly aged stands are less stable ecosystems. Boreal forests are more uniformly aged, as they are normally subject to frequent stand-replacing wildfires. Forest canopy gaps are essential in creating and maintaining mixed-age stands. Also, some herbaceous plants only become established in canopy openings, but persist beneath an understory. Openings are

1000-563: A healthy fungal ecosystem, and presence of indicator species. Old-growth forests are often biologically diverse , and home to many rare species , threatened species , and endangered species of plants and animals, such as the northern spotted owl , marbled murrelet and fisher , making them ecologically significant. Levels of biodiversity may be higher or lower in old-growth forests compared to that in second-growth forests, depending on specific circumstances, environmental variables, and geographic variables. Logging in old-growth forests

1100-665: A local ecosystem. The mixture of fresh water and salt water ( brackish water ) in estuaries provides many nutrients for marine life . Salt marshes , mangroves and beaches also support a diversity of plants, animals and insects crucial to the food chain . The high level of biodiversity creates a high level of biological activity, which has attracted human activity for thousands of years. Coasts also create essential material for organisms to live by, including estuaries, wetland , seagrass , coral reefs , and mangroves. Coasts provide habitats for migratory birds , sea turtles, marine mammals, and coral reefs. There are questions regarding

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1200-533: A lot of tourists also travel to resorts close to the sea or rivers or lakes to be able to experience these activities, and relax near the water. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 14 also has targets aimed at enhancing the use of ecosystem services for sustainable tourism especially in Small Island Developing States . Estuarine and marine coastal ecosystems are both marine ecosystems . Together, these ecosystems perform

1300-410: A moist, relatively mild climate, some old-growth trees have attained notable height and girth (DBH: diameter at breast height), accompanied by notable biodiversity in terms of the species supported. Therefore, for most people, the physical size of the trees is the most recognized hallmark of old-growth forests, even though the ecologically productive areas that support such large trees often comprise only

1400-491: A nutritional resource is not limited to low- and middle-income countries; more than 100 million people in the European Union (EU) regularly consume wild food. Some 2.4 billion people – in both urban and rural settings – use wood-based energy for cooking. Regulating services are the "benefits obtained from the regulation of ecosystem processes". These include: An example for water purification as an ecosystem service

1500-704: A result of industrial logging operations. In 2006, about 61,000 hectares of tall-eucalypt RFA old-growth forests remained unprotected. Recent logging attempts in the Upper Florentine Valley have sparked a series of protests and media attention over the arrests that have taken place in this area. Additionally, Gunns Limited , the primary forestry contractor in Tasmania, has been under recent criticism by political and environmental groups over its practice of woodchipping timber harvested from old-growth forests. Increased understanding of forest dynamics in

1600-550: A result of tree death due to small impact disturbances such as wind, low-intensity fires, and tree diseases. Old-growth forests are unique, usually having multiple horizontal layers of vegetation representing a variety of tree species , age classes, and sizes, as well as "pit and mound" soil shape with well-established fungal nets . As old-growth forest is structurally diverse, it provides higher-diversity habitat than forests in other stages. Thus, sometimes higher biological diversity can be sustained in old-growth forests, or at least

1700-432: A severe disturbance, such as wildfire, insect infestation, or harvesting, is often called second-growth or 'regeneration' until enough time passes for the effects of the disturbance to be no longer evident. Depending on the forest, this may take from a century to several millennia. Hardwood forests of the eastern United States can develop old-growth characteristics in 150–500 years. In British Columbia , Canada, old growth

1800-486: A source of raw materials. These services include making breathable air, making pure water, carbon storage, regeneration of nutrients, maintenance of soils, pest control by insectivorous bats and insects, micro- and macro-climate control, and the storage of a wide variety of genes. The effects of old-growth forests in relation to global warming have been addressed in various studies and journals. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said in its 2007 report : "In

1900-412: A substrate for seedling trees. Intact soils harbor many life forms that rely on them. Intact soils generally have very well-defined horizons, or soil profiles . Different organisms may need certain well-defined soil horizons to live, while many trees need well-structured soils free of disturbance to thrive. Some herbaceous plants in northern hardwood forests must have thick duff layers (which are part of

2000-400: A thick organic layer that is able to nurture certain types of organisms. Mounds provide a place free of leaf inundation and saturation, where other types of organisms thrive. Standing snags provide food sources and habitat for many types of organisms. In particular, many species of dead-wood predators, such as woodpeckers , must have standing snags available for feeding. In North America,

2100-417: A useful number to measure. So, some forests may be excluded from being categorized as old-growth even if they have old-growth attributes just because they are too young. Also, older forests can lack some old-growth attributes and be categorized as old-growth just because they are so old. The idea of using age is also problematic, because human activities can influence the forest in varied ways. For example, after

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2200-584: A very small portion of the total area that has been mapped as old-growth forest. (In high-altitude, harsh climates, trees grow very slowly and thus remain at a small size. Such trees also qualify as old growth in terms of how they are mapped, but are rarely recognized by the general public as such.) The debate over old-growth definitions has been inextricably linked with a complex range of social perceptions about wilderness preservation, biodiversity, aesthetics, and spirituality, as well as economic or industrial values. In logging terms, old-growth stands are past

2300-414: Is a contentious issue in many parts of the world. Excessive logging reduces biodiversity, affecting not only the old-growth forest itself, but also indigenous species that rely upon old-growth forest habitat. Some forests in the old-growth stage have a mix of tree ages, due to a distinct regeneration pattern for this stage. New trees regenerate at different times from each other, because each of them has

2400-669: Is affected. Climate change showed an impact on the mortality of some dominant tree species, as observed in the Korean pine . Climate change also showed an effect on the composition of species when forests were surveyed over a 10- and 20-year period, which may disrupt the overall productivity of the forest. According to the World Resources Institute , as of January 2009, only 21% of the original old-growth forests that once existed on Earth are remaining. An estimated one-half of Western Europe's forests were cleared before

2500-661: Is as follows: In New York City , where the quality of drinking water had fallen below standards required by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) , authorities opted to restore the polluted Catskill Watershed that had previously provided the city with the ecosystem service of water purification. Once the input of sewage and pesticides to the watershed area was reduced, natural abiotic processes such as soil absorption and filtration of chemicals, together with biotic recycling via root systems and soil microorganisms , water quality improved to levels that met government standards. The cost of this investment in natural capital

2600-615: Is defined as 120 to 140 years of age in the interior of the province where fire is a frequent and natural occurrence. In British Columbia's coastal rainforests , old growth is defined as trees more than 250 years, with some trees reaching more than 1,000 years of age. In Australia, eucalypt trees rarely exceed 350 years of age due to frequent fire disturbance. Forest types have very different development patterns, natural disturbances and appearances. A Douglas-fir stand may grow for centuries without disturbance while an old-growth ponderosa pine forest requires frequent surface fires to reduce

2700-538: Is expected to cause a 9% decline in ecosystem services on average at global scale by 2100 Ecosystem-based adaptation (EBA or EbA) encompasses a broad set of approaches to adapt to climate change . They all involve the management of ecosystems and their services to reduce the vulnerability of human communities to the impacts of climate change . The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) defines EBA as "the use of biodiversity and ecosystem services as part of an overall adaptation strategy to help people to adapt to

2800-541: Is infinite, so having debate about what is the total value of nature is actually pointless because we can't live without it'. As of 2012, many companies were not fully aware of the extent of their dependence and impact on ecosystems and the possible ramifications. Likewise, environmental management systems and environmental due diligence tools are more suited to handle "traditional" issues of pollution and natural resource consumption . Most focus on environmental impacts , not dependence. Several tools and methodologies can help

2900-433: Is more accurate in forests where the species that constitute old-growth have long lifespans and succession is slow. Common cultural definitions and common denominators regarding what comprises old-growth forest, and the variables that define, constitute and embody old-growth forests include: Additionally, in mountainous, temperate landscapes (such as Western North America), and specifically in areas of high-quality soil and

3000-919: Is not the most commercially viable timber—in British Columbia, Canada, harvesting in the coastal region is moving to younger second-growth stands. A 2001 scientific symposium in Canada found that defining old growth in a scientifically meaningful, yet policy-relevant, manner presents some basic difficulties, especially if a simple, unambiguous, and rigorous scientific definition is sought. Symposium participants identified some attributes of late-successional, temperate-zone, old-growth forest types that could be considered in developing an index of "old-growthness" and for defining old-growth forests: Structural features: Compositional features: Process features: Old-growth forests provide ecosystem services that may be far more important to society than their use as

3100-486: Is said to provide substantial ecosystem services to local communities, including benefits to carbon storage, resiliency to climate, and endangered species habitat. As of 2020, the Eglin Air Force Base is said to provide about $ 110 million in ecosystem services per year, $ 40 million more than if no base was present. Although monetary pricing continues with respect to the valuation of ecosystem services,

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3200-557: Is seen as extremely economically unproductive, as timber can only be collected from falling trees, and also potentially damaging to nearby managed groves by creating environments conducive to root rot. It may be more productive to cut the old growth down and replace the forest with a younger one. The island of Tasmania , just off the southeast coast of Australia, has the largest amount of temperate old-growth rainforest reserves in Australia with around 1,239,000 hectares in total. While

3300-722: Is usually assumed that humans benefit from a combination of these services. The services offered by diverse types of ecosystems (forests, seas, coral reefs, mangroves, etc.) differ in nature and in consequence. In fact, some services directly affect the livelihood of neighboring human populations (such as fresh water, food or aesthetic value, etc.) while other services affect general environmental conditions by which humans are indirectly impacted (such as climate change , erosion regulation or natural hazard regulation, etc.). The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment report 2005 defined ecosystem services as benefits people obtain from ecosystems and distinguishes four categories of ecosystem services, where

3400-486: The European Union , just 60% of the yearly forest growth is harvested. Forests also provide non-wood forest products, including fodder, aromatic and medicinal plants, and wild foods. Worldwide, around 1 billion people depend to some extent on wild foods such as wild meat, edible insects, edible plant products, mushrooms and fish, which often contain high levels of key micronutrients. The value of forest foods as

3500-486: The Middle Ages , and 90% of the old-growth forests that existed in the contiguous United States in the 1600s have been cleared. The large trees in old-growth forests are economically valuable, and have been subject to aggressive logging throughout the world. This has led to many conflicts between logging companies and environmental groups . From certain forestry perspectives, fully maintaining an old-growth forest

3600-717: The Regional Forest Agreement (RFA) attempted to prevent the clearfelling of defined "old-growth forests". This led to struggles over what constitutes "old growth". For example, in Western Australia, the timber industry tried to limit the area of old growth in the karri forests of the Southern Forests Region; this led to the creation of the Western Australian Forests Alliance , the splitting of

3700-597: The ecosystem services they provide. This can be a point of contention when some in the logging industry desire to harvest valuable timber from the forests, destroying the forests in the process, to generate short-term profits, while environmentalists seek to preserve the forests in their pristine state for benefits such as water purification , flood control , weather stability, maintenance of biodiversity, and nutrient cycling . Moreover, old-growth forests are more efficient at sequestering carbon than newly planted forests and fast-growing timber plantations , thus preserving

3800-535: The spotted owl is well known for needing standing snags for nesting habitat. Fallen timber, or coarse woody debris , contributes carbon -rich organic matter directly to the soil , providing a substrate for mosses , fungi, and seedlings , and creating microhabitats by creating relief on the forest floor. In some ecosystems such as the temperate rain forest of the North American Pacific coast , fallen timber may become nurse logs , providing

3900-574: The tree line and feature subalpine vegetation. Old-growth forest An old-growth forest (also referred to as primary forest ) is a forest that has developed over a long period of time without disturbance . Due to this, old-growth forests exhibit unique ecological features. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations defines primary forests as naturally regenerated forests of native tree species where there are no clearly visible indications of human activity and

4000-1112: The 1990s is the marketing of ecosystem services protection. Payment and trading of services is an emerging worldwide small-scale solution where one can acquire credits for activities such as sponsoring the protection of carbon sequestration sources or the restoration of ecosystem service providers. In some cases, banks for handling such credits have been established and conservation companies have even gone public on stock exchanges, defining an evermore parallel link with economic endeavors and opportunities for tying into social perceptions. However, crucial for implementation are clearly defined land rights , which are often lacking in many developing countries . In particular, many forest-rich developing countries suffering deforestation experience conflict between different forest stakeholders. In addition, concerns for such global transactions include inconsistent compensation for services or resources sacrificed elsewhere and misconceived warrants for irresponsible use. As of 2001, another approach focused on protecting ecosystem service biodiversity hotspots . Recognition that

4100-617: The 1999 cyclone that hit India. Villages that were surrounded with mangrove forests encountered less damages than other villages that were not protected by mangroves. Supporting services are the services that allow for the other ecosystem services to be present. They have indirect impacts on humans that last over a long period of time. Several services can be considered as being both supporting services and regulating/cultural/provisioning services. Supporting services include for example nutrient cycling , primary production , soil formation , habitat provision. These services make it possible for

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4200-652: The Liberal Government of Western Australia and the election of the Gallop Labor Government. Old-growth forests in this region have now been placed inside national parks . A small proportion of old-growth forests also exist in South-West Australia and are protected by federal laws from logging, which has not occurred there for more than 20 years. In British Columbia , Canada , old-growth forests must be maintained in each of

4300-584: The Mediterranean. It was not until the late 1940s that three key authors— Henry Fairfield Osborn, Jr , William Vogt , and Aldo Leopold —promoted recognition of human dependence on the environment. In 1956, Paul Sears drew attention to the critical role of the ecosystem in processing wastes and recycling nutrients. In 1970, Paul Ehrlich and Rosa Weigert called attention to "ecological systems" in their environmental science textbook and "the most subtle and dangerous threat to man's existence ...

4400-469: The Middle Rio Grande basin of New Mexico. This study focused on modeling the stakeholder inputs across a spatial decision, but ignored uncertainty. Another study used Monte Carlo methods to exercise econometric models of landowner decisions in a study of the effects of land-use change . Here the stakeholder inputs were modeled as random effects to reflect the uncertainty. A third study used

4500-493: The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment lumped all of these together as ecosystem services . Four different types of ecosystem services have been distinguished by the scientific body: regulating services, provisioning services, cultural services and supporting services. An ecosystem does not necessarily offer all four types of services simultaneously; but given the intricate nature of any ecosystem, it

4600-549: The Wild River Wilderness. Visitors to the wilderness can view a forest that has largely reclaimed the land after a short period of human industry. Scattered throughout the area are various artifacts of the logging era. The main access to the wilderness is via the Wild River Trail, which climbs the grade of the old railroad to No Ketchum Pond. From this hub, trails branch off into the rugged mountains in

4700-432: The adverse effects of climate change ". Ecosystem services decisions require making complex choices at the intersection of ecology , technology , society , and the economy . The process of making ecosystem services decisions must consider the interaction of many types of information, honor all stakeholder viewpoints, including regulatory agencies , proposal proponents, decision makers, residents, NGOs , and measure

4800-446: The atmosphere. Proponents of harvesting the forest argue the carbon stored in wood is available for use as biomass energy (displacing fossil fuel use), although using biomass as a fuel produces air pollution in the form of carbon monoxide , nitrogen oxides , volatile organic compounds , particulates, and other pollutants, in some cases at levels above those from traditional fuel sources such as coal or natural gas. Each forest has

4900-481: The basis of all food webs. Further, it generates oxygen (O2), a molecule necessary to sustain animals and humans. On average, a human consumes about 550 liter of oxygen per day, whereas plants produce 1,5 liter of oxygen per 10 grams of growth. Cultural services relate to the non-material world, as they benefit the benefit recreational, aesthetic, cognitive and spiritual activities, which are not easily quantifiable in monetary terms. They include: As of 2012, there

5000-411: The best grassland management solution for concrete grassland. It will look holistically at the processes in the countryside and help to find best grassland management solutions by taking into account both natural and socioeconomic factors of the particular site. While the notion of human dependence on Earth's ecosystems reaches to the start of Homo sapiens ' existence, the term 'natural capital'

5100-688: The challenges in policy implementation and management are significant and considerable. The administration of common pool resources has been a subject of extensive academic pursuit. From defining the problems to finding solutions that can be applied in practical and sustainable ways, there is much to overcome. Considering options must balance present and future human needs, and decision-makers must frequently work from valid but incomplete information. Existing legal policies are often considered insufficient since they typically pertain to human health-based standards that are mismatched with necessary means to protect ecosystem health and services. In 2000, to improve

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5200-477: The concept of cultural ecosystem services that builds on three arguments: The Common International Classification of Ecosystem Services (CICES) is a classification scheme developed to accounting systems (like National counts etc.), in order to avoid double-counting of Supporting Services with others Provisioning and Regulating Services. Sea sports are very popular among coastal populations: surfing, snorkeling, whale watching, kayaking, recreational fishing ...

5300-481: The conservation of many ecosystem services aligns with more traditional conservation goals (i.e. biodiversity ) has led to the suggested merging of objectives for maximizing their mutual success. This may be particularly strategic when employing networks that permit the flow of services across landscapes , and might also facilitate securing the financial means to protect services through a diversification of investors. For example, as of 2013, there had been interest in

5400-419: The dynamics of ecological processes relative to ecosystem services is essential in aiding economic decisions. Weighting factors such as a service's irreplaceability or bundled services can also allocate economic value such that goal attainment becomes more efficient. The economic valuation of ecosystem services also involves social communication and information, areas that remain particularly challenging and are

5500-511: The early 2000s has made this concept better known. Ecosystem services or eco-services are defined as the goods and services provided by ecosystems to humans. Per the 2006 Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA), ecosystem services are "the benefits people obtain from ecosystems". The MA also delineated the four categories of ecosystem services into provisioning, regulating, supporting, and cultural. By 2010, there had evolved various working definitions and descriptions of ecosystem services in

5600-584: The ecological processes are not significantly disturbed. One-third (34 percent) of the world's forests are primary forests. Old-growth features include diverse tree-related structures that provide diverse wildlife habitats that increases the biodiversity of the forested ecosystem . Virgin or first-growth forests are old-growth forests that have never been logged. The concept of diverse tree structure includes multi-layered canopies and canopy gaps, greatly varying tree heights and diameters, and diverse tree species and classes and sizes of woody debris. As of 2020 ,

5700-421: The economic optimum for harvesting—usually between 80 and 150 years, depending on the species. Old-growth forests were often given harvesting priority because they had the most commercially valuable timber, they were considered to be at greater risk of deterioration through root rot or insect infestation, and they occupied land that could be used for more productive second-growth stands. In some regions, old growth

5800-425: The ecosystems to continue providing services such as food supply, flood regulation, and water purification. Nutrient cycling is the movement of nutrients through an ecosystem by biotic and abiotic processes. The ocean is a vast storage pool for these nutrients, such as carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus. The nutrients are absorbed by the basic organisms of the marine food web and are thus transferred from one organism to

5900-400: The environmental and economic values of ecosystem services. Some people may be unaware of the environment in general and humanity's interrelatedness with the natural environment, which may cause misconceptions. Although environmental awareness is rapidly improving in our contemporary world, ecosystem capital and its flow are still poorly understood, threats continue to impose, and we suffer from

6000-602: The focus of many researchers. In general, the idea is that although individuals make decisions for any variety of reasons, trends reveal the aggregated preferences of a society, from which the economic value of services can be inferred and assigned. The six major methods for valuing ecosystem services in monetary terms are: A peer-reviewed study published in 1997 estimated the value of the world's ecosystem services and natural capital to be between US$ 16 and $ 54 trillion per year, with an average of US$ 33 trillion per year. However, Salles (2011) indicated 'The total value of biodiversity

6100-472: The forest include large mammals such as moose , whitetail deer , and black bear . Smaller animals include pine marten , red squirrels , and snowshoe hare . The lower elevations are dominated by hardwoods, including the New Hampshire state tree , the white birch . Spruce and fir , which grew back after the 1903 fires, cover the higher areas. The very highest elevations of Carter Dome are above

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6200-436: The forest will switch back to understory reinitiation stage. Using the stand dynamics definition, old-growth can be easily evaluated using structural attributes. However, in some forest ecosystems, this can lead to decisions regarding the preservation of unique stands or attributes that will disappear over the next few decades because of natural succession processes. Consequently, using stand dynamics to define old-growth forests

6300-472: The forests is vital to climate change mitigation . Old-growth forests tend to have large trees and standing dead trees, multilayered canopies with gaps that result from the deaths of individual trees, and coarse woody debris on the forest floor. The trees of old-growth forests develop distinctive attributes not seen in younger trees, such as more complex structures and deeply fissured bark that can harbor rare lichens and mosses. A forest regenerated after

6400-696: The four categories of ecosystem services in a variety of ways: The provisioning services include forest products, marine products, fresh water , raw materials, biochemical and genetic resources. Regulating services include carbon sequestration (contributing to climate change mitigation ) as well as waste treatment and disease regulation and buffer zones. Supporting services of coastal ecosystems include nutrient cycling , biologically mediated habitats and primary production . Cultural services of coastal ecosystems include inspirational aspects, recreation and tourism , science and education. Coasts and their adjacent areas on and offshore are an important part of

6500-485: The four categories of ecosystem services in several ways. Firstly, their provisioning services include marine resources and genetic resources . Secondly, their supporting services include nutrient cycling and primary production . Thirdly, their regulating services include carbon sequestration (which helps with climate change mitigation ) and flood control. Lastly, their cultural services include recreation and tourism . The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) in

6600-502: The health and extent of land cover classes that provide ecosystem services, which aids in planning, management, monitoring of stakeholders' actions, and communication between stakeholders. In Baltic countries scientists, nature conservationists and local authorities are implementing integrated planning approach for grassland ecosystems. They are developing an integrated planning tool based on GIS (geographic information system) technology and put online that will help for planners to choose

6700-411: The impacts on all four parts of the intersection. These decisions are usually spatial , always multi-objective , and based on uncertain data, models, and estimates. Often it is the combination of the best science combined with the stakeholder values, estimates and opinions that drive the process. One analytical study modeled the stakeholders as agents to support water resource management decisions in

6800-543: The information available, the implementation of an Ecosystem Services Framework has been suggested (ESF ), which integrates the biophysical and socio-economic dimensions of protecting the environment and is designed to guide institutions through multidisciplinary information and jargon, helping to direct strategic choices. As of 2005 Local to regional collective management efforts were considered appropriate for services like crop pollination or resources like water. Another approach that has become increasingly popular during

6900-407: The land". Wetlands (which include saltwater swamps , salt marshes , ...) and the vegetation it supports – trees, root mats, etc. – retain large amounts of water (surface water, snowmelt, rain, groundwater) and then slowly releases them back, decreasing the likeliness of floods. Mangrove forests protect coastal shorelines from tidal erosion or erosion by currents; a process that was studied after

7000-427: The landscape patterns and habitat conditions normally maintained in nature . This coarse filter approach to biodiversity conservation recognizes ecological processes and provides for a dynamic distribution of old growth across the landscape. And all seral stages—young, medium, and old—support forest biodiversity. Plants and animals rely on different forest ecosystem stages to meet their habitat needs. In Australia ,

7100-525: The late 20th century led the scientific community to identify a need to inventory, understand, manage, and conserve representative examples of old-growth forests with their associated characteristics and values. Literature around old growth and its management is inconclusive about the best way to characterize the true essence of an old-growth stand. A better understanding of natural systems has resulted in new ideas about forest management, such as managed natural disturbances, which should be designed to achieve

7200-477: The list of "ecosystem engineers"—organisms that physically, biologically or chemically modify the environment around them in ways that influence the health of other organisms. Many of the ecological functions and processes performed or affected by shellfish contribute to human well-being by providing a stream of valuable ecosystem services over time by filtering out particulate materials and potentially mitigating water quality issues by controlling excess nutrients in

7300-611: The literature. To prevent double-counting in ecosystem services audits, for instance, The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) replaced "Supporting Services" in the MA with "Habitat Services" and "ecosystem functions", defined as "a subset of the interactions between ecosystem structure and processes that underpin the capacity of an ecosystem to provide goods and services". While Gretchen Daily 's original definition distinguished between ecosystem goods and ecosystem services , Robert Costanza and colleagues' later work and that of

7400-620: The local Regional Forest Agreement (RFA) was originally designed to protect much of this natural wealth, many of the RFA old-growth forests protected in Tasmania consist of trees of little use to the timber industry. RFA old-growth and high conservation value forests that contain species highly desirable to the forestry industry have been poorly preserved. Only 22% of Tasmania's original tall-eucalypt forests managed by Forestry Tasmania have been reserved. Ten thousand hectares of tall-eucalypt RFA old-growth forest have been lost since 1996, predominantly as

7500-408: The logging of 30% of the trees, less time is needed for old-growth to come back than after removal of 80% of the trees. Although depending on the species logged, the forest that comes back after a 30% harvest may consist of proportionately fewer hardwood trees than a forest logged at 80% in which the light competition by less important tree species does not inhibit the regrowth of vital hardwoods. From

7600-413: The long term, a sustainable forest management strategy aimed at maintaining or increasing forest carbon stocks, while producing an annual sustained yield of timber, fibre, or energy from the forest, will generate the largest sustained mitigation benefit." Old-growth forests are often perceived to be in equilibrium or in a state of decay. However, evidence from analysis of carbon stored above ground and in

7700-475: The main wood-based product groups ranged from 1 percent (woodbased panels) to 5 percent (industrial roundwood). The fastest growth occurred in the Asia-Pacific, Northern American and European regions, likely due to positive economic growth in these areas. Over 40% of the territory in the European Union is covered by forests. This region has grown via afforestation by roughly 0.4% year in recent decades. In

7800-481: The majority of which are in Indonesia and Malaysia , are able to sequester carbon or be a net emitter of greenhouse gases based on deforestation scenarios over the subsequent decades. Old-growth forests have the potential to impact climate change, but climate change is also impacting old-growth forests. As the effects of global warming grow more substantial, the ability of old-growth forests to sequester carbon

7900-557: The other and from one ecosystem to the other. Nutrients are recycled through the life cycle of organisms as they die and decompose, releasing the nutrients into the neighboring environment. "The service of nutrient cycling eventually impacts all other ecosystem services as all living things require a constant supply of nutrients to survive". Primary production refers to the production of organic matter, i.e., chemically bound energy, through processes such as photosynthesis and chemosynthesis. The organic matter produced by primary producers forms

8000-452: The potential destruction, by man's own activities, of those ecological systems upon which the very existence of the human species depends". The term environmental services was introduced in a 1970 report of the Study of Critical Environmental Problems , which listed services including insect pollination, fisheries , climate regulation and flood control. In following years, variations of

8100-665: The private sector value and assess ecosystem services, including Our Ecosystem, the 2008 Corporate Ecosystem Services Review, the Artificial Intelligence for Environment & Sustainability (ARIES) project from 2007, the Natural Value Initiative (2012) and InVEST (Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services & Tradeoffs, 2012) To provide an example of a cost comparison: The land of the United States Department of Defense

8200-433: The production of food and water. Regulating services , such as the control of climate and disease. Supporting services , such as nutrient cycles and oxygen production. And finally there are cultural services , such as spiritual and recreational benefits. Evaluations of ecosystem services may include assigning an economic value to them. For example, estuarine and coastal ecosystems are marine ecosystems that perform

8300-549: The production of timber, forestry activities may also result in products that undergo little processing, such as fire wood, charcoal, wood chips and roundwood used in an unprocessed form. Global production and trade of all major wood-based products recorded their highest ever values in 2018. Production, imports and exports of roundwood, sawnwood, wood-based panels, wood pulp, wood charcoal and pellets reached their maximum quantities since 1947 when FAO started reporting global forest product statistics. In 2018, growth in production of

8400-524: The province's ecological units to meet biodiversity needs. In the United States , from 2001, around a quarter of the federal forests are protected from logging. In December 2023, Biden's administration introduced a rule, according to which, logging is strongly limited in old growth forests, but permitted in "mature forests", representing a compromise between the logging industry and environmental activists. In 2006, Greenpeace identified that

8500-607: The shade-tolerant species and regenerate the canopy species. In the boreal forest of Canada , catastrophic disturbances like wildfires minimize opportunities for major accumulations of dead and downed woody material and other structural legacies associated with old growth conditions. Typical characteristics of old-growth forest include the presence of older trees, minimal signs of human disturbance, mixed-age stands, presence of canopy openings due to tree falls, pit-and-mound topography , down wood in various stages of decay, standing snags (dead trees), multilayered canopies, intact soils ,

8600-507: The so-called ' tragedy of the commons '. Many efforts to inform decision-makers of current versus future costs and benefits now involve organizing and translating scientific knowledge to economics , which articulate the consequences of our choices in comparable units of impact on human well-being. An especially challenging aspect of this process is that interpreting ecological information collected from one spatial-temporal scale does not necessarily mean it can be applied at another; understanding

8700-462: The so-called supporting services are regarded as the basis for the services of the other three categories. Provisioning services consist of all "the products obtained from ecosystems". The following services are also known as ecosystem goods : Forests and forest management produce a large type and variety of timber products, including roundwood, sawnwood, panels, and engineered wood, e.g., cross-laminated timber, as well as pulp and paper. Besides

8800-462: The soil has shown old-growth forests are more productive at storing carbon than younger forests. Forest harvesting has little or no effect on the amount of carbon stored in the soil, but other research suggests older forests that have trees of many ages, multiple layers, and little disturbance have the highest capacities for carbon storage. As trees grow, they remove carbon from the atmosphere, and protecting these pools of carbon prevents emissions into

8900-516: The soil profile). Fungal ecosystems are essential for efficient in-situ recycling of nutrients back into the entire ecosystem. Stand age can also be used to categorize a forest as old-growth. For any given geographical area, the average time since disturbance until a forest reaches the old growth stage can be determined. This method is useful, because it allows quick and objective determination of forest stage. However, this definition does not provide an explanation of forest function. It just gives

9000-414: The term were used, but eventually 'ecosystem services' became the standard in scientific literature. The ecosystem services concept has continued to expand and includes socio-economic and conservation objectives. [REDACTED]  This article incorporates text from a free content work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO ( license statement/permission ). Text taken from The State of

9100-549: The understory reinitiation stage. The shade-tolerant trees eventually outcompete the main canopy trees in stem-exclusion stage. Therefore, the dominant tree species will change, but the forest will still be in stem-exclusion stage until the shade-tolerant species reach old-growth stage. Tree species succession may change tree species' composition once the old-growth stage has been achieved. For example, an old boreal forest may contain some large aspen trees, which may die and be replaced by smaller balsam fir or black spruce. Consequently,

9200-453: The valuation of ecosystem services provided by shellfish production and restoration. A keystone species, low in the food chain, bivalve shellfish such as oysters support a complex community of species by performing a number of functions essential to the diverse array of species that surround them. There is also increasing recognition that some shellfish species may impact or control many ecological processes; so much so that they are included on

9300-653: The water. As of 2018, the concept of ecosystem services had not been properly implemented into international and regional legislation yet. Notwithstanding, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 15 has a target to ensure the conservation, restoration, and sustainable use of ecosystem services. An estimated $ 125 trillion to $ 140 trillion is added to the economy each year by all ecosystem services. However, many of these services are at risk due to climate and other anthropogenic impacts. Climate-driven shifts in biome ranges

9400-679: The western portion of the wilderness. The Appalachian Trail follows the ridge of the Carter-Moriah Range , which marks the western boundary of the preserve. The main trailhead is the Wild River Campground, a small, rustic campground run by the Forest Service. The campground is located at the end of a dirt road just outside the eastern border of the wilderness. Activities in the wilderness include hiking, fishing, hunting, and climbing. The diverse wildlife of

9500-471: The world has 1.11  billion   ha (2.7 billion acres) of primary forest remaining. Combined, three countries (Brazil, Canada, and Russia) host more than half (61 percent) of the world's primary forest. The area of primary forest has decreased by 81 million ha (200 million acres) since 1990, but the rate of loss more than halved in 2010–2020 compared with the previous decade. Old-growth forests are valuable for economic reasons and for

9600-413: The world's remaining intact forest landscapes are distributed among the continents as follows: [REDACTED]  This article incorporates text from a free content work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 ( license statement/permission ). Text taken from Global Forest Resources Assessment 2020 Key findings​ , FAO, FAO. [REDACTED]  This article incorporates text from

9700-407: Was a discussion as to how the concept of cultural ecosystem services could be operationalized, how landscape aesthetics, cultural heritage, outdoor recreation, and spiritual significance to define can fit into the ecosystem services approach. who vote for models that explicitly link ecological structures and functions with cultural values and benefits. Likewise, there has been a fundamental critique of

9800-476: Was estimated at $ 1–1.5 billion, which contrasted dramatically with the estimated $ 6–8 billion cost of constructing a water filtration plant plus the $ 300 million annual running costs. Pollination of crops by bees is required for 15–30% of U.S. food production ; most large-scale farmers import non-native honey bees to provide this service. A 2005 study reported that in California's agricultural region, it

9900-476: Was first coined by E. F. Schumacher in 1973 in his book Small is Beautiful . Recognition of how ecosystems could provide complex services to humankind date back to at least Plato (c. 400 BC) who understood that deforestation could lead to soil erosion and the drying of springs. Modern ideas of ecosystem services probably began when Marsh challenged in 1864 the idea that Earth's natural resources are unbounded by pointing out changes in soil fertility in

10000-480: Was found that wild bees alone could provide partial or complete pollination services or enhance the services provided by honey bees through behavioral interactions. However, intensified agricultural practices can quickly erode pollination services through the loss of species. The remaining species are unable to compensate this. The results of this study also indicate that the proportion of chaparral and oak-woodland habitat available for wild bees within 1–2 km of

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