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Mass stabilisation and erosion control

Mass stabilisation and erosion control is delivered through vegetation cover protected and stabilising terrestrial, coastal and marine ecosystems, coastal wetlands and dunes. Vegetation on slopes also prevents avalanches and landslides, and mangroves, sea grass and macroalgae provide erosion protection of coasts and sediments.

Benefits:

Reduction of damages, avoided costs, and avoided sediment pollution.

Ecosystem service:

Natural capital assets:

Habitats
Land geomorphology
Soils and sediments

Likely response	Effect of variability on services provision	Human action or natural variation	Timescale	Spatial Characteristics
Damage protective vegetation.	Poor vegetation cover. Damage protective vegetation.	Human action	Short term	Local
Climate change driven rising temperatures, changes in rainfall patterns and an increase in extreme weather events threatens fodder crop production.	Models suggest substantial risks to the volume, volatility, and quality of animal feed supply chains despite some gains in productivity.	Human action	Long-term	Global
Rising temperatures and changing rainfall patterns creates the risk of crop failure, e.g. the 2010 Russian heatwave and the 2012 US Midwest drought.	Decreasing yields of cereals, contributing to higher food prices and a greater demand than supply.	Human action	Long-term	Global
Damage protective vegetation. Loss of cover due to event induced tree throw. Scalding removes topsoil.	Reduction of erosion control.	Human action or Natural variation	Short-Long term	Global
Drought displaces or reduces populations of biota. Also reduces thickness of soil water films and inhibits enzymes.	Disturbance of biotic and abiotic factors poses environmental constraints that can temporarily or indefinitely affect decomposition sensitivity.	Human action	Short-Long term	Local-Global

Likely response	Effect of variability on services provision	Human action or natural variation	Timescale	Spatial Characteristics
There will be a reduction in plant based fibre material post fire and during recovery period.	Imbalances in the fire cycle caused by extreme weather such as drought can create severe fires which affect provision of fibre and other plant based materials.	Natural variation	Long-term	Global
Damage protective vegetation. Loss of cover due to event induced tree throw. Scalding removes topsoil.	Reduction of erosion control.	Human action or Natural variation	Short-Long term	Global

Likely response	Effect of variability on services provision	Human action or natural variation	Timescale	Spatial Characteristics
Loss of cover due to event induced tree throw. Wave action generated by winds.	Damage protective vegetation.	Natural variation	Short term	Global
Climate change driven rising temperatures, changes in rainfall patterns and an increase in extreme weather events threatens fodder crop production.	Models suggest substantial risks to the volume, volatility, and quality of animal feed supply chains despite some gains in productivity.	Human action	Long-term	Global
Rising temperatures and changing rainfall patterns creates the risk of crop failure, e.g. the 2010 Russian heatwave and the 2012 US Midwest drought.	Decreasing yields of cereals, contributing to higher food prices and a greater demand than supply.	Human action	Long-term	Global
Damage of protective vegetation and watersheds.	Saturates ecosystem, reduced water storage capacity.	Human action	Short-Long term	Global
Wave action generated by wind and intense storms damages plants and cause changes in hydrology.	Loss or damage of vegetation can cause reduction in sediment retention capacity. Storm induced tree throw exposes soil and triggers erosion.	Natural variation	Short term	Local

Likely response	Effect of variability on services provision	Human action or natural variation	Timescale	Spatial Characteristics
Earth movements, alteration of slope steepness, slope length and slope morphology.	Increased soil break up and vulnerability to water erosion. The speed of runoff increases on steep slopes, which increases the power of water to break off and carry soil particles.	Natural variation	Short term	Local
Earth movements, alteration of slope steepness, the speed of runoff increases on steep slopes, which increases the power of water to break off and carry soil particles.	Increase soil break up and vulnerability to water erosion.	Natural variation	Short term	Local
Increased or decreased water flows through landscapes	Increased or decreased water balances within landscapes	Natural variation	Short term	Local-Regional

Likely response	Effect of variability on services provision	Human action or natural variation	Timescale	Spatial Characteristics
Habitat degradation and loss of plant species, thus reducing the number of plants available to perform phyto-remediation.	Decreased ability of plants to perform phyto-remediation.	Human action	Short term	Local
Land use change alters sediment supply causing state change in asset	Carbon burial in marine sediments is reduced; carbon emissions increased	Human action	Short term	Coastal ecosystems
Deforestation reduces tree density and diversity	Evapotranspiration decreases, more ground surface exposed increasing albedo and climate warming	Human action	Medium term	Tropics
Conversion of wetlands for commercial purposes and resource extraction leads to loss of regional climate regulating function.	Conversion of wetlands causes the average temperature to increase by 0.77?C in all four seasons.	Human action	Medium term	Global
Forests converted to cultivated land causes removal of above ground biomass.	Increase in carbon emissions.	Human action	Short term	Tropical forests
Deforestation, reduction in vegetation cover	Decreases stability and resistance of topsoil. No barriers for buffering and attenuation.	Human action	Short-Mid-term	Local
Deforestation, reduction in vegetation cover	Decreases stability and resistance of top-soil. Reduction of erosion control.	Human action	Short-Mid-term	Local
Forest edges opened up, exposing humans to new diseases from previously uncontacted pathogens	Service provision weakens as there are no factors present for the regulation of the disease transmission cycle	Human action	Short term	Developing countries
Deforestation, road construction, agricultural encroachment, dam building, irrigation, coastal zone degradation, wetland modification, mining, and urbanisation	Complex and interlinked response in asset-service system. Interruption of the natural regulation of habitat for disease hosts results in increased exposure of humans to infectious disease	Human action	Short-Long term	Global
Higher water turbidity (from sediment loading) leads to decreased light availability for photosynthesis.	There has been a loss of canopy-forming algae (up to 70 %) on parts of the Adelaide metropolitan coast since major urbanisation.	Human action	Long term	Coastal ecosystems
The transition from natural to artificial coastal habitat dramatically changes species diversity while overall species abundance remains the same	Changes in species diversity will alter habitat composition and could introduce unwanted effects for marine algae such as increase in predators or diseases. This will reduce the quantity and quality of quality of algal-based agricultural materials.	Human action	Medium term	Global
The supply of wood for pulp and wood ash is decreasing as a result of deforestation and unsustainable logging.	Timber plantations expand into natural forests. Models suggest deforestation over degradation in response to market demands resulting in eventual exhaustion of the supply.	Human action	Short term	Global
There is a strong impact of land use on species composition. For example human land uses and secondary vegetation in an early stage of recovery are poor at retaining the species that characterise pristine (untouched) vegetation.	This loss can impact on fibre production (e.g., cotton) and other wild sourced fibres as land is consumed for other uses.	Human action	Short-Mid-term	Global
There is a strong impact of land use on species composition. For example human land uses and secondary vegetation in an early stage of recovery are poor at retaining the species that characterise pristine (untouched) vegetation.	This loss can impact on animal material production and as agricultural land is consumed for other uses.	Human action	Short-Mid-term	Global
Reduction in the habitats available to perform filtration and sequestration.	Decreased ability to perform filtration and sequestration of pollutants at the ecosystem level (e.g. resulting from draining of key habitats such as wetlands, raised and blanket bogs; and from reclamation of marine habitats such as saltmarshes).	Human action	Short term	Local
Reduction or complete destruction of vegetation cover, modification of hydrological regime.	Damage and loss of protective vegetation reduces flood attenuation capacity. Changes in river flow alter extent, duration and frequency of floodplain inundation.	Human action	Short-Mid-term	Local
Freshwater diversion from estuarine areas	Habitat loss leads to disruption of connectivity between spawning, nursery and adult stage habitats.	Human action	Short-Mid-term	Local-Regional
Changes in intensity and extension.	Vegetation alteration can degrade or cause loss of service.	Human action	Short term	Local
Changes in intensity and extension.	Type of land use determine types of disturbance (tillage, agrochemicals, fertilizers, excrements, etc.) and changes soil properties and water flow rates.	Human action	Short term	Local
Increase in non-native species	Changes in habitat characteristics facilitate non-native species which can outcompete native species creating more opportunities for pests.	Human action	Long term	Global
Changes to the way water flows through landscapes	Increased or decreased availability of water at the local and landscape level.	Human action	Short term	Local

Likely response	Effect of variability on services provision	Human action or natural variation	Timescale	Spatial Characteristics
Affects health of ecosystems, alters ocean currents and changes biotic communities.	Warming and acidification ocean creates thermal stress (e.g. coral bleaching), sea level rise, sedimentation, Altered ocean currents lead to changes in connectivity and temperature regimes. Ocean acidification leads to a reduction in pH levels and decreases growth rates.	Human action or Natural variation	Short-Long term	Local-Regional-Global
Coral reef calcification slows due to acidification, affecting the rate of growth.	Loss, degradation or growth reduction of coral reefs and mangroves diminishes storm surge (flood) attenuation capacity, and water storage.	Human action	Mid-Long term	Global
Rising atmospheric CO2 lowers concentrations of seawater carbonate and reduces calcium carbonate production by corals.	Bleaching and calcification cause mortality and increased coral erosion rates.	Human action	Short-Mid-term	Global

Likely response	Effect of variability on services provision	Human action or natural variation	Timescale	Spatial Characteristics
Increase in freshwater due to melting of ice caps linked to climate change leads to weakening or collapse of the ocean thermohaline circulation.	Air-sea carbon uptake substantially reduced.	Human action	Long term	Global
Breakdown in thermohaline circulation caused by rapid glacial melting and influx of freshwater to oceans.	Rapid climate cooling and loss of regional climate regulating function.	Human action	Long-term	Regional seas and smaller regions of ocean
Affects health of ecosystems, alters ocean currents and changes biotic communities.	Warming and acidification ocean creates thermal stress (e.g. coral bleaching), sea level rise, sedimentation, Altered ocean currents lead to changes in connectivity and temperature regimes. Ocean acidification leads to a reduction in pH levels and decreases growth rates.	Human action or Natural variation	Short-Long term	Local-Regional-Global

Likely response	Effect of variability on services provision	Human action or natural variation	Timescale	Spatial Characteristics
Surface area of coastal habitats reduced by rising sea level.	Removal of organic component of coastal sediments and their burial. Loss of carbon sink.	Human action	Long term	Coastal ecosystems
Coastal wetlands and other ecosystems experience large losses.	Loss of coastal habitats and upward and landward movement of flooding risk zones.	Human action	Mid-Long term	Global
Affects health of ecosystems, alters ocean currents and changes biotic communities.	Warming and acidification ocean creates thermal stress (e.g. coral bleaching), sea level rise, sedimentation, Altered ocean currents lead to changes in connectivity and temperature regimes. Ocean acidification leads to a reduction in pH levels and decreases growth rates.	Human action or Natural variation	Short-Long term	Local-Regional-Global

Likely response	Effect of variability on services provision	Human action or natural variation	Timescale	Spatial Characteristics
Rainfall intensity	Risk as heavy raindrops on bare soil causes soil surface to seal increasing erodibility. Increased soil break up and vulnerability to water erosion.	Natural variation	Short term	Local
Rainfall intensity	Risk as heavy raindrops on bare soil causes soil surface to seal increasing erodibility.	Natural variation	Short term	Local
Species (of pathogens or their hosts) range shifts due to change in climate conditions	Usual predator-prey relationships change and harmful species can spread into areas where they are not predated on	Human action	Long term	Global
Permafrost (frozen soil layer) melting due to higher average annual temperatures	Methane gas bubbles trapped in soil released as it melts, increasing emissions to the atmosphere, exacerbating the warming effect in the short term and causing a positive feedback in the long term as warming continues to melt permafrost releasing more methane.	Human action	Long term	High latitudes
Climatic anomalies (e.g. ENSO) create deficits and excesses in temperature and precipitation.	Regulation of regional climate is heavily impacted, e.g. an El Niño is associated with warm and very wet weather months in April–October causing major flooding in southern hemisphere countries such as Peru and Ecuador.	Natural variation	Long-term	Regional
Climate change driven rising temperatures, changes in rainfall patterns and an increase in extreme weather events threatens fodder crop production.	Models suggest substantial risks to the volume, volatility, and quality of animal feed supply chains despite some gains in productivity.	Human action	Long-term	Global
Rising temperatures and changing rainfall patterns creates the risk of crop failure, e.g. the 2010 Russian heatwave and the 2012 US Midwest drought.	Decreasing yields of cereals, contributing to higher food prices and a greater demand than supply.	Human action	Long-term	Global
Climate anomalies cause changes to the photosynthetic cycle and global greening patterns.	There is a quantitative link between climate anomalies such as the El Nino Southern Oscillation and weather events. There is evidence of reduced vegetation greenness during ENSO events in sub-tropical parts of the southern hemisphere impacting fibre provision.	Natural variation	Medium term	Semi-arid vegetation in the southern hemisphere
Increased or decreased functioning of habitats within ecosystems	Increased or decreased ability of habitats to perform filtration, sequestration, storage, and/or accumulation of pollutants within ecosystems.	Natural variation	Short term	Regional-Global
Damage of protective vegetation and watersheds.	Reduction of flood attenuation capacity.	Human action	Short-Long term	Global
Alters conditions: temperature, humidity, rainfall.	Climatic conditions affect air pollution levels and absorption by vegetation. Climate changes may alter vegetation. Droughts may cause disruption of water for sound attenuation.	Human action or Natural variation	Short-Mid-term	Global
Alteration of biochemical and chemical reactions.	Biochemical and chemical reactions involved in decomposition and fixation processes are temperature dependent and have high temperature sensitivity.	Human action	Short-Long term	Global
More unstable precipitation patterns and increases in global temperature.	Increases or decreases in water balance at a local and regional scale	Human action	Short term	Global
Increases or decreases in the amount of rainfall and solar energy available on a regional/local basis.	Increased or decreased water balances within landscapes.	Natural variation	Short term	Regional

Likely response	Effect of variability on services provision	Human action or natural variation	Timescale	Spatial Characteristics
Strong wave action by boats	Coastal systems such as mangrove forests could be damaged.	Human action	Short term	Local
Land use change alters sediment supply causing state change in asset	Carbon burial in marine sediments is reduced; carbon emissions increased	Human action	Short term	Coastal ecosystems
Industrial activities and construction cause land use change and exposes upper soil layer resulting in loss of soil organic carbon.	Soil drainage increases aeration. Soil microorganism respiration rates therefore increase. Soil no longer accumulates soil organic carbon but becomes CO2 source.	Human action	Short term	Global
Coastal systems such as mangrove forests could be damaged.	Reduction of storm attenuation capacity.	Human action	Short term	Local
Water quality, depth, turbidity, salinity and nutrient changes will lead to changes in plant community structure and health, and decreases or disappearance of biotic communities and habitat health and complexity.	Habitat loss leads to disruption of connectivity between spawning, nursery and adult stage habitats. Displacement or local extinction of adult populations, disrupting spawning patterns. Sedimentation due to shipping activity reduces light penetration, settlement success, survival, and diversity of habitats such as coral.	Human action	Short term	Local
Strong wave action by boats. Loss of sand through mining, development and coastal structures. Disturbance of vegetation.	Damage of coastal ecosystems such as mangrove forests and loss of dunes and natural beaches results in reduction of sediment retention and erosion control.	Human action	Short term	Local

Likely response	Effect of variability on services provision	Human action or natural variation	Timescale	Spatial Characteristics
Habitat degradation and reduction or interruption of algal species’ ability to perform bio-remediation.	Decreased bio-remediation due to decreased ability of algae to perform bio-remediation.	Human action	Short term	Local
Excess nutrient loads and sunlight cause imbalances in micro algae concentrations. Harmful toxins produced by the bloom kill beneficial cyanobacteria.	Any services arising from the algae will be diminished or stopped.	Human action	Short term	Global
Reduction in the ability of habitats to filter or capture pollutants.	Decreased filtration, adsorption, or accumulation of pollutants at the ecosystem level.	Human action	Short term	Local
Habitat loss due to overfertilization and toxics contamination	Habitat loss due to clouding of coastal waters by sediment from run-off and toxics which leads to contamination.	Human action	Short-Mid-term	Local-Regional
Alters conditions: temperature, humidity, rainfall	Pollution may alter presence and conditions of urban and suburban vegetation, may diminish plants’ capacity of gas absorption.	Human action	Short-Mid-term	Global
Microbiota are sensitive to metal pollution. Toxicity of heavy metals displaces exchangeable nutrients from binding sites.	Pollution inhibits litter decomposition. Decomposition is sensitive to pollution and metals contaminants at the microbial level. Metal pollution also makes plant matter difficult to decompose. May lead to algal blooms.	Human action	Short-Long term	Local-Global
Suppressed rainfall in highly polluted areas due to reduced efficiency of clouds at releasing precipitation.	Decreased water balance and disrupted hydrological cycle in polluted areas	Human action	Short term	Local

Likely response	Effect of variability on services provision	Human action or natural variation	Timescale	Spatial Characteristics
Caused an annual 1% decline in phytoplankton in worlds’ oceans.	Less carbon absorbed by phytoplankton for photosynthesis.	Human action	Short term	Global
Cyclic and fatally bleached sponge tissues had lower chlorophyll a concentrations than non-bleached tissues.	Sponge pieces incubated at 30°C in a lab show mortality after less than 15 hours with impacts on medicinal compound provision.	Human action	Medium term	Warm water coral reef ecosystems

Likely response	Effect of variability on services provision	Human action or natural variation	Timescale	Spatial Characteristics
Diversion of drainage furrows, waterways, dam by washes, etc.	Run-off concentration. Increase soil break up and vulnerability to erosion leading to loss of service.	Human action	Short-Mid-term	Local
Increase slope length and/or steepness	Slope increase causes increase in speed, power and depth of the runoff carrying more soil with it. Influence nature of the soil making it more susceptible to erosion.	Human action	Short-Mid-term	Local
Deforestation, loss of biological community.	Alters biological, mechanical and chemical weathering processes. Type of land use determines type of disturbance (tillage, agrochemicals, fertilizers, excrements, etc.) changes soil properties.	Human action	Long term	Local

Likely response	Effect of variability on services provision	Human action or natural variation	Timescale	Spatial Characteristics
Changes soil properties	Changes soil water retention properties thus increases susceptibility to water or wind erosion.	Human action	Short-Mid-term	Local
Addition of organic or inorganic matter results in changes in diversity in the soil and the microbial composition.	Alters matter composition and microbial community structure which in turn affects decomposition rate.	Human action	Short-Long term	Local-Global

Likely response	Effect of variability on services provision	Human action or natural variation	Timescale	Spatial Characteristics
Timber and wood harvesting leads to a reduction in standing timber biomass and exposes upper soil layer.	Soil organic carbon declines rapidly under cultivation, e.g. woodland conversion results in soil degradation, erosion and loss of organic matter, diminishing the soil potential to sequester carbon.	Human action	Long term	Global
Stump and root harvesting as a source of woody biomass for bioenergy generation leads to soil disturbance.	Stump harvesting causes existing soil organic carbon to become mineralised, leading to carbon loss as carbon dioxide, e.g. 1 tonne carbon per hectare per year might be lost compared with sites undisturbed by stump harvesting operations.	Human action	Short term	Global

Likely response	Effect of variability on services provision	Human action or natural variation	Timescale	Spatial Characteristics
Microbiota are sensitive to metal pollution. Toxicity of heavy metals displaces exchangeable nutrients from binding sites.	Acid rain and pollution, acidity in air, etc. alters weathering agents in the environment (water, soil, air).	Human action	Long term	Local-Global
Microbiota are sensitive to metal pollution. Toxicity of heavy metals displaces exchangeable nutrients from binding sites.	Pollution inhibits litter decomposition. Decomposition is sensitive to pollution and metals contaminants at the microbial level. Metal pollution also makes plant matter difficult to decompose. May lead to algal blooms.	Human action	Short-Long term	Local-Global

Natural capital assets:

Drivers of environmental change:

Droughts

Fire

Flooding

Landslides

Habitat modification

Ocean acidification

Ocean current and circulation

Sea level rise

Storms

Weather conditions

Industrial or domestic activities

Industrial or domestic construction

Pollution

Sea surface temperature

Drivers of environmental change:

Flooding

Earthquakes

Landslides

Habitat modification

Industrial or domestic activities

Volcanoes

Drivers of environmental change:

Volcanoes

Droughts

Fire

Flooding

Landslides

Habitat modification

Industrial or domestic activities

Intensive agriculture and aquaculture

Overharvesting

Pollution

Sea surface temperature

Storms

Weather conditions