Skip to main content

Table 6 Classification of ecosystem services outcomes in broad and specific categories, as presented in [15]

From: Evidence for the impacts of agroforestry on agricultural productivity, ecosystem services, and human well-being in high-income countries: a systematic map protocol

Broad category

Specific category

Examples

Provisioning

Energy

Biomass-based energy sources (plant and animal)

Mechanical energy (animal-based)

Materials

Biomass (e.g. fiber and other materials from plants, and animals for direct use or processing)

Water (surface or ground water for non-drinking purposes)

Nutrition

Biomass (e.g. cultivated crops, reared animals and their outputs, wild plants and animals and their outputs, etc.)

Water (e.g. surface or groundwater for drinking)

Regulation and maintenance

Mediation of waste, toxics and other nuisances

Filtration/sequestration/storage/accumulation/mediation of smell/noise/visual impacts

Weed and pest control

Mediation of flows

Mass stabilization and control of erosion rates

Hydrological cycle and water flow maintenance

Flood and storm protection

Ventilation and transpiration

Maintenance of physical, chemical, biological conditions

Lifecycle maintenance, habitat and gene pool protection (pollination and seed dispersal, maintaining nursery populations and habitats)

Biodiversity

Pest and disease control

Soil formation and composition

Water conditions

Atmospheric composition and climate regulation

Cultural

Physical and intellectual interactions with environmental settings

Physical and experiential interactions (use of plants and animals)

Intellectual and representative interactions (scientific, education, heritage/cultural, aesthetic, etc.)

Spiritual, symbolic and other interactions with environmental settings

Spiritual and/or emblematic (symbolic, sacred, and religious use of plants and animals)

Other cultural outputs (existence, bequest of plants and animals)

  1. Specific categories divide each broad category into main types of output or process [61]