Ecosystem Services
Old-growth forests provide ecosystem services that may be far more important to society than their use as a source of raw materials. These services include breathable air, pure water, carbon storage, regeneration of nutrients, maintenance of soils, pest control by insectivorous bats and insects, micro- and macro-climate control, and the storage of a wide variety of genes.
Read more about this topic: Old Growth Forests
Famous quotes containing the word services:
“Civil servants and priests, soldiers and ballet-dancers, schoolmasters and police constables, Greek museums and Gothic steeples, civil list and services list—the common seed within which all these fabulous beings slumber in embryo is taxation.”
—Karl Marx (1818–1883)