Supporting services: A summary

Abstract

Supporting services comprise services internal to ecosystems, maintaining their integrity, functioning, and resilience including their capacity to produce other more directly exploited ecosystem services (provisioning, regulatory, and cultural services). They relate to processes and functions within ecosystems which, though of fundamental importance, generally have no associated market values and have historically been overlooked in economic analyses and management. Recognizing, valuing (generally in nonmonetary terms), and incorporating these vital services into wetland management are vital for system integrity and health.