Uploaded on 2017-01-22 by Jan Kowalczyk

1. Ecosystem services in your living area What ecosystem services do you have in and around your living area? Give at least one example for each of the four types of ecosystem services. Provisioning services – Warsaw is surrounded by significant agricultural areas, which provide food not only for the city, but for most of the country. In particular, the Grójec region is famous for its apples, being the biggest apple orchard area in all of Europe. Regulating services – The Vistula river, running through the middle of the city, is separted from the highly urbanized areas by green areas (natural as well as man-made) running along both banks. This helps to mitigate negative effects of occasional flooding. Habitat or Supporting services – In order to protect species of animals and plants, within Warsaw borders there are numerous wildlife sanctuaries and refuges. One can find there various plants and animals which normally don’t live in an urbanized environment. This allows for maintaining biodiversity of the local ecosystem. Cultural services – tourism: Warsaw is a popular tourist destination with a lot of attractions for tourists. Apart from national monuments and historical places, Warsaw is also a green city with many parks, surrounded by forests.