Editing Human ecology (section)

==Ecosystem services==
{{Main|Ecosystem services}}

[[File:Bee pollinating Aquilegia vulgaris.JPG|left|thumb|A [[bumblebee]] [[Pollination|pollinating]] a flower, one example of an ecosystem service]]
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| quote = Policy and human institutions should rarely assume that human enterprise is benign. A safer assumption holds that human enterprise almost always exacts an ecological toll - a debit taken from the ecological commons.<ref name="Sienkiewicz06">{{Cite journal |last = Sienkiewicz |first = A. |title = Toward a Legal Land Ethic: Punitive Damages, Natural Value, and the Ecological Commons |journal = Penn State Environmental Law Review |volume = 91 |pages=95–6 |date = 2006 |url = https://litigation-essentials.lexisnexis.com/webcd/app?action=DocumentDisplay&crawlid=1&doctype=cite&docid=15+Penn+St.+Envtl.+L.+Rev.+91&srctype=smi&srcid=3B15&key=6d0993165c3d310fcc3ceb54672154db }}</ref>{{Rp|95}}
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The ecosystems of planet Earth are coupled to human environments. Ecosystems regulate the global [[geophysical cycle]]s of energy, climate, soil nutrients, and water that in turn support and grow [[natural capital]] (including the environmental, physiological, cognitive, cultural, and spiritual dimensions of life). Ultimately, every manufactured product in human environments comes from natural systems.<ref name="Liu09" /> Ecosystems are considered [[common-pool resources]] because ecosystems do not exclude beneficiaries and they can be depleted or degraded.<ref name="Becker95">{{Cite journal |last1 = Becker |first1 = C. D. |last2 = Ostrom |first2 = E. |title = Human Ecology and Resource Sustainability: The Importance of Institutional Diversity |journal = Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics |volume = 26 |pages=113–133 |date = 1995 |issue = 1 |url = http://www.umich.edu/~ifri/Publications/R95I_20.pdf |doi = 10.1146/annurev.es.26.110195.000553 |bibcode = 1995AnRES..26..113B }}</ref> For example, [[green infrastructure|green space]] within communities provides sustainable health services that reduce mortality and regulate the spread of vector-borne disease.<ref name="McMichael99">{{cite journal | last1=McMichael | first1=A. J. | last2=Bolin | first2=B. | last3=Costanza | first3=R. | last4=Daily | first4=G. C. | last5=Folke | first5=C. | last6=Lindahl-Kiessling | first6=K. |display-authors=etal | title= Globalization and the Sustainability of Human Health | journal=BioScience | volume=49 | issue=3 | pages=205–210 | date=1999 |jstor=10.1525/bisi.1999.49.3.205 | doi=10.2307/1313510| doi-access=free }}</ref> Research shows that people who are more engaged with and who have regular access to natural areas benefit from lower rates of diabetes, heart disease and psychological disorders.<ref name="Hartig08">{{Cite journal |last = Hartig |first = T. |title = Green space, psychological restoration, and health inequality |journal = The Lancet |volume = 372 |issue = 9650 |pages=1614–5|date = 2008 |doi = 10.1016/S0140-6736(08)61669-4 |pmid = 18994650 |s2cid = 19609171 }}</ref> These ecological health services are regularly depleted through urban development projects that do not factor in the common-pool value of ecosystems.<ref name="Pickett07">{{Cite journal |last1 = Pickett |first1 = S. t. a. |last2 = Cadenasso |first2 = M. L. |title = Linking ecological and built components of urban mosaics: an open cycle of ecological design |journal = Journal of Ecology |volume = 96 |pages = 8–12 |date = 2007 |doi = 10.1111/j.1365-2745.2007.01310.x |doi-access = free }}</ref><ref name="Termorshuizen07">{{Cite journal |last1 = Termorshuizen |first1 = J. W. |last2 = Opdam |first2 = P. |last3 = van den Brink |first3 = A. |title = Incorporating ecological sustainability into landscape planning |journal = Landscape and Urban Planning |volume = 79 |issue = 3–4 |pages = 374–384 |date = 2007 |url = http://www.ontwerpenmetnatuur.wur.nl/NR/rdonlyres/EBE08632-E0F4-4DA1-ACDE-5C4C0710056C/44955/termorshuizenetal.pdf |doi = 10.1016/j.landurbplan.2006.04.005 |bibcode = 2007LUrbP..79..374T |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110724173457/http://www.ontwerpenmetnatuur.wur.nl/NR/rdonlyres/EBE08632-E0F4-4DA1-ACDE-5C4C0710056C/44955/termorshuizenetal.pdf |archive-date = 2011-07-24 }}</ref>

The ecological commons delivers a diverse supply of community services that sustains the well-being of human society.<ref name="Diaz06">{{Cite journal |last1 = Díaz |first1 = S. |last2 = Fargione |first2 = J. |last3 = Chapin |first3 = F. S. |last4 = Tilman |first4 = D. |title = Biodiversity Loss Threatens Human Well-Being|journal = PLOS Biol |volume = 4 |issue = 8 |pages=e277 |date = 2006 |doi = 10.1371/journal.pbio.0040277 |pmid = 16895442 |pmc = 1543691 |doi-access = free }} {{open access}}</ref><ref name="Ostrom99">{{Cite journal |author = Ostrom, E. |title = Revisiting the Commons: Local Lessons, Global Challenges|journal = Science|volume = 284 |issue = 5412 |pages=278–282 |date = 1999|url = http://isites.harvard.edu/fs/docs/icb.topic464862.files/Revisiting_the_Commons.pdf |pmid = 10195886 |doi = 10.1126/science.284.5412.278 |display-authors = 1 |last2 = Burger |first2 = J |last3 = Field |first3 = CB |last4 = Norgaard |first4 = RB |last5 = Policansky |first5 = D|citeseerx = 10.1.1.510.4369|bibcode = 1999Sci...284..278.| s2cid=19472705 }}</ref> The [[Millennium Ecosystem Assessment]], an international UN initiative involving more than 1,360 experts worldwide, identifies four main [[ecosystem service]] types having 30 sub-categories stemming from natural capital. The ecological commons includes provisioning (e.g., food, raw materials, medicine, water supplies), regulating (e.g., climate, water, soil retention, flood retention), cultural (e.g., science and education, artistic, spiritual), and supporting (e.g., soil formation, [[nutrient cycling]], water cycling) services.<ref name="MEA05">{{cite web|url=http://www.millenniumassessment.org/en/Synthesis.aspx|title=Millennium Ecosystem Assessment - Synthesis Report|date=2005|publisher=United Nations|access-date=4 February 2010}}</ref><ref name="de Groot02">{{Cite journal |last1 = de Groot |first1 = R. S. |last2 = Wilson |first2 = M. A. |last3 = Boumans |first3 = R. M. J. |title = A typology for the classification, description and valuation of ecosystem functions, goods and services |journal = Ecological Economics |volume = 41|pages=393–408 |date = 2002 |url = http://yosemite.epa.gov/SAB/sabcvpess.nsf/e1853c0b6014d36585256dbf005c5b71/1c7c986c372fa8d485256e29004c7084/$FILE/deGroot%20et%20al.pdf |doi = 10.1016/S0921-8009(02)00089-7 |issue = 3|bibcode = 2002EcoEc..41..393D }}</ref>
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