Section of Biodiversity and Environmental Science, Department of Biology, University of Turku, Finland.
Ambio. 2010 Jun;39(4):314-24. doi: 10.1007/s13280-010-0048-x.
Over the past 50 years, human beings have influenced ecosystems more rapidly than at any similar time in human history, drastically altering ecosystem functioning. Along with ecosystem transformation and degradation, a number of studies have addressed the functioning, assessment and management of ecosystems. The concept of ecosystem services has been developed in the scientific literature since the end of the 1970s. However, ecosystem service research has focused on certain service categories, ecosystem types, and geographical areas, while substantial knowledge gaps remain concerning several aspects. We assess the development and current status of ecosystem service research on the basis of publications collected from the Web of Science. The material consists of (1) articles (n = 353) from all the years included in the Web of Science down to the completion of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment and (2) more recent articles (n = 687) published between 2006 and 2008. We also assess the importance of international processes, such as the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Kyoto Protocol and the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, as drivers of ecosystem service research. Finally, we identify future prospects and research needs concerning the assessment and management of ecosystem services.
在过去的 50 年里，人类对生态系统的影响速度比人类历史上任何类似时期都要快，极大地改变了生态系统的功能。随着生态系统的转化和退化，许多研究已经针对生态系统的功能、评估和管理进行了探讨。生态系统服务的概念自 20 世纪 70 年代末以来就在科学文献中得到了发展。然而，生态系统服务研究主要集中在某些服务类别、生态系统类型和地理区域，而在几个方面仍存在大量知识空白。我们根据从 Web of Science 收集的出版物评估了生态系统服务研究的发展和现状。这些材料包括（1）来自 Web of Science 中包含的所有年份的文章（n=353），直到千年生态系统评估完成，以及（2）2006 年至 2008 年期间发表的较新的文章（n=687）。我们还评估了国际进程（如生物多样性公约、京都议定书和千年生态系统评估）作为生态系统服务研究驱动力的重要性。最后，我们确定了生态系统服务评估和管理方面的未来前景和研究需求。
