What this lesson teaches
I can name the ecosystem services in an urban neighbourhood: provisioning, regulating, cultural and supporting.
Syllabus K229, Topic 1.2, Key Question 2. What ecosystem services are found in urban neighbourhoods?
Make a guess
Nobody fishes in or drinks from a park pond. Is the pond still useful to people?
- No. Nature helps people when we take food or water from it.
- Not until it is turned into a reservoir for drinking water.
- No. Large forests provide benefits, but small ponds are too small to matter.
- Yes. It can hold floodwater and give people a place to relax.
Show the answer
Yes. It can hold floodwater and give people a place to relax.
Nature gives several kinds of benefit. A pond can control conditions and offer recreation even when nothing is taken from it.
Nature gives us materials, controls our surroundings, offers places to relax and learn, and keeps these benefits going.
An ecosystem is living things and their non-living surroundings working together. In a pond, plants, fish and tiny organisms depend on water, nutrients, sunlight and each other. City parks, lakes, ponds and forests are ecosystems too.
Ecosystem services are the benefits people get from nature. There are four types.
Provisioning services supply things, like food and fresh water. Regulating services control conditions. Plants cool the local climate, slow floodwater and help clean air and water. Cultural services include beauty, recreation and learning, such as a school nature walk.
Sort these
Which type of ecosystem service is each benefit?
Groups: Provisioning, Regulating, Cultural, Supporting.
- A school class learns about insects on a nature walk
- Trees shade and cool a hot street
- Plant roots slow rainwater before it reaches the drains
- Dead leaves break down slowly to form soil
- Residents jog and relax by the river in the evening
- Fresh water collected from a stream
- Fish caught from a lake for food
- Bees pollinate flowers so that fruit can form
Show the answer
Provisioning
- Fresh water collected from a stream Water taken for use is a supply of material, which is a provisioning service.
- Fish caught from a lake for food The lake supplies a product people use directly, so this is provisioning.
Regulating
- Trees shade and cool a hot street Cooling the local climate controls conditions around people, which is regulating.
- Plant roots slow rainwater before it reaches the drains Slowing water controls conditions and lowers flood risk, so it is regulating.
Cultural
- A school class learns about insects on a nature walk Learning in nature is a non-material benefit, which makes it a cultural service.
- Residents jog and relax by the river in the evening Recreation and enjoyment are cultural services, not things taken from nature.
Supporting
- Dead leaves break down slowly to form soil Soil formation is a background process that the other services depend on, so it is supporting.
- Bees pollinate flowers so that fruit can form Pollination keeps the ecosystem working and makes food possible later, so it is supporting.
Supporting services keep ecosystems working. In this syllabus, they include soil formation, photosynthesis and pollination. They make the other services possible.
One pond can provide several services, but how much depends on the site. Not every green space provides every service equally. In answers, explain the process and the benefit, not just the name of a tree or pond.
- Provisioning
- Things we take, like food and water.
- Regulating
- Controls climate, floods and air and water quality.
- Supporting
- Soil formation, photosynthesis and pollination.
Step by step
Find the interaction
Roots and plants slow water over the ground.
Trace the benefit
Water reaches drains more slowly.
Name the service
Slowing water flow is a regulating service.
Real examples to use
Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park
In 2012, a straight concrete canal was turned into a natural-looking river through the park. It now holds more floodwater, supports wildlife and gives people space to relax.
Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve
Its mangroves protect the coast, store carbon and provide a habitat for migratory birds.
Worked example: One pond, several services
Water from a pond is used to water plants (provisioning). Plants on its edges slow runoff (regulating). A path beside it hosts a school nature walk (cultural). Photosynthesis by pond plants keeps the whole system going (supporting).
Watch out for this
Pollination is a provisioning service because we eat the fruit.
The fruit is provisioning. In this syllabus, the process of pollination is a supporting service.
Check your understanding
Plants slow the speed of rainwater reaching a drain. Which service is this?
- Regulating, because it controls how fast water flows.
- Cultural, because people enjoy the plants along the drain.
- Provisioning, because a drain is an object.
Show the answer
Regulating, because it controls how fast water flows.
Yes. It moderates flooding.
Check your understanding
Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park's naturalised river holds floodwater during storms. Which type of ecosystem service is this?
- A cultural service.
- A regulating service.
- A provisioning service.
Show the answer
A regulating service.
Regulating services control conditions such as floods.