"Ecosystem services" is now an everyday term in the lexicon of applied ecology. Valuation of ecosystem services and relating the level of service provision to the level of biodiversity are extremely active research areas involving ecologists, economists, and conservation biologists. In this 2-4 page paper you will summarize current understanding about the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem services and discuss how protecting nature for economic benefits might or might not serve to reduce extinction risk for wild species and ecosystems.
A general, if somewhat dated, introduction to the idea of ecosystem services is provided in the Ecological Society of America Issue Paper by Daily et al (1997). Some of the challenges in applying the concept to biodiversity conservation and management are discussed by Kremen and Ostfeld (2005). Recent technical reviews on the the nature of the relationship between species diversity and ecosystem functioning are provided by Cardinale et al. (2006) and Balvanera et al. (2006).
In a letter to Nature, McCauley (2006) challenges the efficacy of ecosystem services for protecting biodiversity. His comments stimulated several replies to the editor.
To summarize the issue of biodiversity and ecosystem services, please follow the outline and address the specific questions listed below. Please use citations as appropriate. Although there are important economic dimensions to the issue, please focus on the ecological dimensions in 1) and 2). You are welcome to bring in more economic and social reasoning to answer 3).
1) Define "ecosystem services" and give two examples.
2) How are species diversity and community composition thought to be related to ecosystem functioning and the provision of ecosystem services? How strong is the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem services in practice based on ecological experiments?
3) How might conservation policies designed to conserve and restore ecosystem services serve to protect wild species and ecosystems? (This is a more conjectural question. Feel free to conjecture.)