Characteristic time and space scales related to ecosystems and their services

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Characteristic time and space scales related to ecosystems and their services

The time scale of change refers to the time required for the effects of a perturbation of a process to be expressed. Inertia refers to the delay or slowness in the response of a system to factors altering their rate of change, including continuation of change in the system after the cause of that change has been removed.

Year: 2007

From collection: Millennium Ecosystem Assessment

Cartographer: Philippe Rekacewicz, Emmanuelle Bournay, UNEP/GRID-Arendal

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Annual flow of benefits from forests in selected countries

Changes in agricultural land (pasture and cropland)

Changes in economic structure for selected countries

Changes in forest area

Collapse of Atlantic cod stocks off the East Coast of Newfoundland in 1992

Comparison of global river nitrogen export from natural ecosystems, agricultural systems, and sewage effluents, 1975 and 1990

Contrast between contemporary and pre-disturbance transports of total nitrogen through inland aquatic systems resulting from anthropogenic acceleration of this nutrient cycle

Contribution of ecosystems to historical radiative forcing and current greenhouse gas emissions

Conversion of terrestrial biomes

Decline in trophic level of fisheries catch since 1950

Economic benefits under alternate management practices

Estimated global marine fish catch, 1950 -2001

Estimated total reactive nitrogen deposition from the atmosphere (wet and dry) in 1860, early 1990s, and projected for 2050

Extent of cultivated systems, 2000

Forest systems

Global production, prices, and undernourishment

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) average annual growth, 1990–2003

Growth in number of marine species introductions

Human population growth rates, 1990–2000, and per capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and biological productivity in 2000 in ecological systems

Inland water and mountain systems

Linkages between ecosystem services and human well-being

Local adaptations of Millenium Assessment (MA) conceptual framework

Locations reported by various studies as undergoing high rates of land cover change in the past few decades

Main direct drivers of change in biodiversity and ecosystems (CWG)

Marine, coastal, and island systems

Millennium Ecosystem Assessment conceptual framework

Millennium Ecosystem Assessment - Sub-global assessments

Net change in components of human well-being between 2000 and 2050

Net national savings in 2001 adjusted for investments in human capital, natural resource depletion, and damage caused by pollution compared with standard net national savings measurements

Number of ecosystem services enhanced or degraded by 2050

Number of flood events by continent and decade since 1950

Number of major wild fires by continent and decade since 1950

Number of undernourished children projected in 2050

Per capita gross domestic product (GDP) average annual growth, 1990–2003

Proportion of population with improved drinking water supply in 2002

Proportion of population with improved sanitation coverage in 2002

Reactive nitrogen on earth by human activity, with projection to 2050

Relative changes in food supply (crops and livestock): industrial and developing countries

Species extinction rates

Time series of intercepted continental runoff and large reservoir storage, 1900–2000