UPSC Prelims 2012·GS1·geography·ecology and environment

The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment describes the following major categories of ecosystem services—provisioning, supporting, regulating, preserving and cultural. Which one of the following is supporting service?

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Last updated 23 May 2026, 3:31 pm IST
  1. AProduction of food and water
  2. BControl of climate and disease
  3. CNutrient cycling and crop pollinationCorrect
  4. DMaintenance of diversity

Explanation

The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment classifies ecosystem services into four distinct categories. Supporting services are those that are necessary for the production of all other ecosystem services. They have indirect or long term impacts on humans. Examples include nutrient cycling, soil formation, primary production, and crop pollination. These processes maintain the conditions for life on Earth. To clarify the other options: Production of food and water belongs to Provisioning services. Control of climate and disease belongs to Regulating services. Maintenance of diversity is often considered a subset of Supporting services or a component of overall ecosystem health, but Nutrient cycling and pollination are the definitive examples used by the Assessment to define this category.
geography: The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment describes the following major categories of ecosystem services—provisioning, support

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