Uploaded on 2017-06-18 by Rafaela Pavlou

The territory of Limassol, the town that I live in, includes a coastal area, a salt lake surrounded by biotopes, rural area and the mountains. So as you can see, there are a lot of different types of ecosystems that each one can provide completely different services. (a) Provisioning Services: Since I live in an island, the first main ecosystem I can think is the sea. It can provide food (like fish) for human consumption. Across the coast line and a little bit far away from the city, there are fish farms that can provide fish not only to the city, but to the whole island, too. Fresh fish is really easy to find, because of the small distances between the coastal areas and the rest of the land. (b) Regulating Services: Mountains in a dry island, where it is almost every day sunny, are really important. The high height of the mountains provides lower temperatures than the rest of the land, and at the same time it attracts rain. In that way, trees can grow and small rivers are shaped. Trees can control the temperature in dry hot areas like Cyprus and help to make it cooler. They influence rainfall and water availability both locally and regionally. (c) Habitat or Supporting Services: Not far away from the city of Limassol, there is a big Salt Lake that is surrounded by beautiful biotopes. Those biotopes accommodate hundreds of different bird and insect species, that some of them are rare and they can only found here. Those areas are strictly protected and there is no any development allowed. However, there are some road paths that people can follow so they can get closer to the lake. The only development you can find are some bird view shelters and benches. This area is a great opportunity to visitors to go and relax while they are enjoying the wild life closer. (d) Cultural Services: The combination of good weather, mountains and sea is always a great attraction for tourists. Beautiful villages can be found in the countryside, since they are made of stone and wood. Agritourism is getting more and more popular in the island that can provide to the tourists a beautiful landscape view, the relaxations they might need and at the same time learn about the local environment, the traditional architecture and local food.