What are regulating services?

• A. Regulation of ecosystem processes for human benefit
• B. Provisioning of goods
• C. Cultural services
• D. Supporting services

Answer: (A)

Regulating services are benefits that come from ecosystems actively moderating natural processes to support human well-being. This includes things like forests and wetlands buffering floods and stabilizing water flow, landscapes storing and releasing carbon to influence climate, natural enemies and biodiversity helping control pests and diseases, and ecosystems filtering and purifying water. These are different from provisioning services, which are tangible goods like timber or crops, and from cultural services, which are nonmaterial benefits such as recreation and aesthetics, as well as from supporting services, which are the ecological processes that enable all other services but aren’t directly used or valued by people.