Читать книгу Fundamentals of Conservation Biology - Malcolm L. Hunter Jr. - Страница 55

When we think about the instrumental value of a species, we take a very human‐centric approach: Can I eat it? Can I make it into clothing or shelter? Can I burn it to keep me warm? Or, in the market‐based economies in which most of us live: Can I sell it? Materialistic uses of a species may be the core of instrumental values, but this is not the whole story. People also value species for purely aesthetic or spiritual reasons; species have instrumental value as members of ecosystems and as models for science and education; and conservation biologists use certain species to expedite their larger goal of maintaining biodiversity. Some instrumental values are conceptualized as functions of whole ecosystems, not individual species; we explore ecosystem values, especially ecosystem services, in the next chapter. Note that the term “ecosystem services” has become a popular catchphrase for all the instrumental values associated with biodiversity, both goods and services, whether tied most closely to ecosystems, species, or genes.