Which of the following is an example of an ecosystem service?
a. water purification
b. water shortage
c. soil pollution
d. decreased climate control

the correct option is b.

ecosystem services are the resources or processes of natural ecosystems that provide a multitude of benefits to society.

all the goods and services enjoyed by human societies depend totally transformations of materials and energy that can only be obtained from nature. the ecosystems and their maintenance are the basis of our subsistence, as well as economic and social development of which our well depends.

the benefits that the ecosystem provide us can be of two type: direct and indirect. direct benefits are the production of provisions, water and food, or the regulation of cycles such as floods, soil degradation, desiccation and salinization, pets and diseases. indirect benefits are related to the functioning of ecosystem processes that generate direct services, such as the process of photosynthesis and the formation and storage of organic matter , the nutrient cycle, etc. there is, then, a wide range of ecosystem services, some of which benefit people directly and others indirectly.

they encountered severe weather for which they were poorly prepared.