Birds, ecosystem services and economy

Do you know that birds help states/towns local economies? Birds are providing ecosystem services for people, and their beauty has an economic value for the places they depend on/ their habitats. Do you know how many people travel as tourist to see birds in Florida, Michigan, or Wisconsin? And how many people go around the globe to places in the tropics, high mountains or deserts in search of feathery beings. The more rare, the more exciting a bird is for bird watchers. Some people would go to almost the end of the world...to see puffins? By doing so they are making themselves happy and at the same time contributing to those local economies. There are great revenues for localities, for small and large business and for entire cities based on the whereabouts of birds.


Types of ecosystems services provided by birds: provisioning (for example food), regulating (for example, participating in the cycling of nutrients); cultural (people identify with birds, for example, in the U.S., the bald eagle represent the strength of the country); other types of services are calling supporting services (e.g., birds serve as pollinators for crops and also control pest). 


Roles of birds in the ecosystem:

• predators
• pollinators
• scavengers
• seed eaters/seed dispersers
• prey or food for other species (or humans/recreational activities such as hunting)
• ecosystem engineers (some species have the ability to transform/or drive ecosystem change)
• other services driven by bird behavior: participation on nutrient cycling, feeding nutrients to plants. In some urban areas, the presence of excess of birds such as geese in nearby lakes may cause pollution or health concerns. By contrast, the presence of birds in other areas, e.g., eagles or kingfish in a river attract tourists. 
• Other services: birds can benefit agriculture (by controlling pest or providing pollination services to crops such as grapes or coffee); birds may cause crop loses by predating in a cash crop. 
• Migratory birds participate in ecosystem process at broad scales. They may transfer products from an area to another. Birds have been linked to the spread of invasive species at regional levels and to the spread of zootic/animal transmitting diseases such as viruses. 

References: 
Jedicka, Greenberg and Letourneau, 2011. Avian conservation practices strengthen ecosystem services in California vineyards.http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22096555


Whelan and Marquis, 2008. Ecosystem Services provided by birds.  Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2008;1134:25-60. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18616745

Kellerman, Johnson, Stercho and Hackett, 2008. Ecological and economic services provided by birds on Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee farmsConserv Biol. 2008 Oct;22(5):1177-85.http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18616745