Ecosystem services

I have been re-reading Sir Keith Thomas's fascinating book on the history of man's relationship with other animals (Thomas, 1983). The core belief pervading medieval Christendom appears to be that the natural world was put there, presumably by God, for a purpose, the purpose being to benefit mankind. Life, it was held, was given to animals purely to keep their flesh fresh until we wished to eat them. It is easy to feel superior to our ancestors, but hold on a minute. Are we really any better now?   

To get my meaning some context is necessary. A concept has recently emerged among ecologists termed 'ecosystem services' (Moss, 2010). The concept is clearly understood by ecologists and evolutionary biologists  to describe mutualistic relationships such as the service provided by bees to flowers. In an adaptive sense therefore, flowers have bread bees to pollinate them and in this way promote flower reproduction (Dawkins, 1996), p 264. This concept points to a profound level of understanding achieved by these scientists about the nature and functioning of the natural world. But, as so often happens, the popular press has got hold of the concept and sees it to mean services supplied by the natural world solely for the benefit of homo sapiens. To understand the wonders of the natural world purely as a benefit to man is degrading. Wikipedia provides the following definition. "Our health and well being depend upon the services provided by ecosystems and their components, water, soil, nutrients and  organisms. Therefore  ecosystem services are the processes by which the environment produces resources utilised by man such as clean air, water food and  materials." (The bold type is mine). So here we are right back to Keith Thomas's medieval world  - not so superior after all are we!

references

Dawkins, R. (1996). Climbing Mount Improbable. London: W. W. Norton.

Moss, B. (2010). Ecology of Fresh Waters. A view for the Twenty-First Century. (4 ed.). Chichester, UK: Wiley -Blackwell.

Thomas, K. (1983). Man and the Natural World: Changing Attitudes in England 1500 - 1800. Harmandsworth: Penguin Books.