Ecoinformatics and Soil-Plant Formations - New Ecoinformatics Tools in Environmental Science: Applications and Decision-making - page 637

Table 8.1 Ecosystems and their functions of life support
Ecosystem Human life support Regulation of the state of the environment and

human life support

Agro-
ecosystem

￿ Food (agricultural crops)
￿ Fibre (agricultural crops)
￿ Genetic diversity of
agricultural crops

￿ Maintaining the functions of watersheds
(in ltration, regulation of run-offs, partial
protection of soils)
￿ Provision of habitat for birds, pollination
processes, functioning of soil organisms
￿ Formation of soil organics
￿ Accumulation of carbon from the atmosphere
￿ Provision of population employment

Coastal
ecosystems

￿ Fish and mollusks
￿ Fish as food for animals
￿ Algae (as food and raw
material for industry)
￿ Salt
￿ Genetic resources

￿ Some impact on storms (mangrove thickets,
“ barrier ” islands
￿ Habitat for wild fauna and flora
￿ Biodiversity maintenance
￿ Solution and processing of wastes
￿ Provision of harbours and routes for water
transport
￿ Habitation for humans
￿ Provision of population employment
￿ Provision of places for recreation and

aesthetic satisfaction

Forest
ecosystems

￿ Wood
￿ Wood fuel
￿ Water for drinking and
reclamation
￿ Non-wood products
(wine, bamboo, leaves,
etc.)

￿ Removal of atmospheric pollutants and
emission of oxygen
￿ Nutrients cycles
￿ Maintaining the functions of watersheds
(in ltration, water cleaning, regulation of
run-off, stabilization of soil properties)
￿ Biodiversity maintenance
￿ ￿ Food (honey,

mushrooms, fruit, etc.)

Accumulation of carbon from the atmosphere

￿ Some weakening of extreme impacts of

weather ￿ Genetic resources

￿ Soil formation

￿ Provision of habitat for humans and wild

animals

￿ Provision of places for recreation and

aesthetic satisfaction

Fresh-water
ecosystems

￿ Water for drinking and
reclamation

￿ Regulation of water regime
￿ Solution and removal of wastes
￿ ￿ Fish Cycles of nutrients

￿ Hydroelectric energy ￿ Biodiversity maintenance

￿ Genetic resources ￿ Provision of aquatic habitat

￿ Provision of water transport routes

￿ Provision of population employment

￿ Provision of places for recreation and

aesthetic satisfaction

(continued)