This section represents the second phase of the natural capital workflow. After identifying and classifying marine natural capital assets, the next step is to understand the benefits that flow from them. Ecosystem services describe these benefits and capture the direct and indirect contributions that marine ecosystems make to society. These include material outputs such as seafood, the regulating processes that maintain environmental quality and climate stability and the cultural values that support human wellbeing and connection to the marine environment.
We introduce the Universal Asset Service Matrix (Marine Natural Capital Hub: Marlin uASM), which shows how different habitats, seabed types and species groups contribute to the full suite of ecosystem services. This provides a pathway from ecological structure to societal benefits and prepares the ground for the next steps in the workflow which focus on mapping ecosystem services and assessing condition. The uASM was developed as part of the JNCC/mNCEA project 'A Natural Capital Approach to Achieving Good Environmental Status', which explored multiple aspects of the Marine Natural Capital Workflow.
Marine Natural Capital Hub: Workflow
What Are Ecosystem Services?
Ecosystem services are the benefits and values that people and society obtain from the marine environment. They arise directly from the ecological functions, processes and interactions supported by marine natural capital assets. The assets described in the previous section, including seabed habitats and species communities, provide the ecological foundation from which these services are generated. Understanding this link is central to a natural capital approach because it allows us to track how changes in asset condition or distribution influence the flow of benefits.
To organise these benefits in a structured and comparable way, ecosystem services are classified using the Common International Classification of Ecosystem Services (CICES). CICES provides a standardised framework widely used in natural capital accounting and environmental assessment to ensure that services are described consistently across regions, datasets and reporting programmes. The classification groups services according to the type of contribution they provide to society, allowing clear connections to be made between ecological structure, ecosystem processes and societal value.
Ecosystem services in CICES are organised into three main categories:
1) Provisioning services describe the physical products supplied by marine ecosystems, such as seafood and raw materials.
2) Regulation and maintenance services capture the ecological and biogeochemical processes that support environmental stability, including carbon sequestration, nutrient cycling and coastal protection.
3) Cultural services represent the non-material benefits associated with recreation, identity, heritage and education. Together, these categories provide a comprehensive framework for describing how marine assets support a diverse range of benefits.
In this workflow, identifying and classifying assets is the essential first step. Describing ecosystem services is the second step; building on that asset foundation to understand how benefits arise and how they can be assessed and mapped. This prepares the ground for the asset to service matrix and the spatial ecosystem service layers presented in the following sections of the Marine Natural Capital Workflow.
Provisioning Services
Provisioning services are the material outputs supplied directly by the biological and physical assets of marine ecosystems. These services can be biotic such as fish and shellfish and cosmetics from seaweed; or abiotic such as marine aggregates and drinking water from desalination plants.
The supply of these services depends on the condition, distribution and functioning of marine assets including habitat extent, substrate characteristics, species composition and food‑web dynamics. For example, wild-caught fish and shellfish are supported by key habitats such rock and sediments.
Using CICES v5.2 categories provides a clear and consistent basis for linking these material benefits to the habitats and species that underpin them and supports assessment of how provisioning outputs may change under different environmental and management scenarios.
CICES v5.2 Provisioning Categories and Sub‑categories
1. Provisioning
1.1 Biomass
1.1.1 Wild plants, algae and their outputs
1.1.2 Wild animals and their outputs
1.1.3 Cultivated plants and algae and their outputs
1.1.4 Reared animals and their outputs
1.1.5 Genetic materials from wild plants, algae, animals or micro‑organisms
1.2 Water
1.2.1 Surface water for drinking
1.2.2 Surface water for non‑drinking purposes
(Only applicable where marine or brackish water abstraction is relevant.)
1.3 Abiotic materials, energy and substances
1.3.1 Mineral materials
1.3.2 Non‑metallic minerals
1.3.3 Other abiotic materials (for example marine aggregates such as sand and gravel)
1.3.4 Abiotic energy (for example thermal or mechanical energy where included)
Regulation and Maintenance Services
Regulation and maintenance services arise from the ecological and biogeochemical processes supported by marine natural capital assets. These services do not produce material goods but instead maintain the environmental conditions required for healthy ecosystems and human wellbeing. In the marine environment, these processes are tightly linked to the structure and condition of seabed habitats and species communities described previously. Examples:
- Sediment habitats play a major role in carbon sequestration and long-term carbon storage.
- Filter‑feeding communities, on rock and in sediments, contribute to water filtration and nutrient cycling.
- Saltmarsh, seagrass and kelp forests help stabilise sediments and can reduce coastal erosion by attenuating wave energy.
- Ecological interactions sustain food‑web stability and population dynamics, for example predation, grazing and bioturbation by species within mixed sediment and coarse substrate habitats.
Using the CICES v5.2 structure allows these processes to be grouped consistently, supporting assessments of how environmental change or management interventions may influence the capacity of marine assets to maintain ecosystem functioning.
The following regulation and maintenance services were addressed within the mNCEA programme (the project codes are searchable on the Defra Science Search site: carbon regulation and sediment processes: ME4506; Water quality and nutrient cycling evidence: ME4504, ME4517, ME4521, ME4528; Coastal protection and nursery functions: ME4505).
CICES v5.2 Regulation and Maintenance Categories and Sub‑categories
2. Regulation and Maintenance
2.1 Transformation of biochemical or physical inputs
2.1.1 Bio‑remediation processes
2.1.2 Dilution, filtration or sequestration of pollutants
2.1.3 Regulation of chemical condition of waters (for example nutrient cycling)
2.2 Regulation of physical, chemical or biological conditions
2.2.1 Regulation of baseline flows and extreme events
(for example coastal protection, wave attenuation and sediment stabilisation)
2.2.2 Lifecycle maintenance, habitat and gene pool protection
(for example nursery habitats for fish and shellfish)
2.2.3 Pest, disease or invasive species control
2.2.4 Regulation of soil and sediment processes
(including bioturbation and carbon sequestration in marine sediments)
2.3 Atmospheric composition and climate regulation
2.3.1 Carbon sequestration and storage in marine habitats
2.3.2 Other greenhouse gas regulation processes
Cultural Services
Cultural services represent the non-material benefits that people derive from the marine environment. These benefits arise from the ecological characteristics, visual qualities and experiential opportunities supported by marine natural capital assets. Unlike provisioning or regulatory services, cultural services do not involve material outputs or biophysical regulating processes but instead relate to the ways in which marine ecosystems contribute to wellbeing, identity and social value. In coastal and marine settings, these services are linked to the condition and accessibility of habitats such as rocky shores, kelp forests, shallow sediment and coastal wetlands.
Cultural services include:
- Recreation
- Tourism
- Wildlife watching
- Education and scientific research
- Cultural identify and sense of place in coastal communities
Using the CICES v5.2 structure provides a consistent framework for capturing these diverse non-material benefits and helps link them to the underlying assets that generate them. This supports natural capital assessments by ensuring cultural values are considered alongside material and regulatory contributions when assessing the importance of marine ecosystems.
CICES v5.2 Cultural Categories and Sub‑categories
3. Cultural
3.1 Physical and experiential interactions
3.1.1 Recreation and leisure
3.1.2 Nature‑based tourism and wildlife watching
3.1.3 Experiential use of marine and coastal environments
(for example diving, angling, kayaking, coastal walking)
3.2 Intellectual and representative interactions
3.2.1 Scientific research and education
3.2.2 Cultural heritage, identity and sense of place
3.2.3 Inspiration for arts, media and design
3.3 Spiritual, symbolic and existence interactions
3.3.1 Spiritual or symbolic significance of marine places and species
3.3.2 Existence and bequest values
Abiotic (Geophysical) Ecosystem Service Categories
The CICES ecosystem service classification also includes abiotic service categories that describe benefits arising from the physical marine environment rather than from biological communities. These relate to non‑living outputs, physical processes and environmental settings that can support human activities. These categories provide useful context in CICES but are used less frequently in UK marine natural capital assessments because they do not align as directly with ecosystem‑based asset‑to‑service pathways and often represent physical background conditions rather than ecosystem-driven service flows.
Examples include:
- Use of seawater for industrial processes.
- Wave attenuation.
- Dispersion of pollutants.
- Experiential or symbolic value of physical marine features such as cliffs and sea caves.
Understanding the Asset–Service Matrix
This type of matrix provides a visual summary of how ecosystem services arise from specific natural capital assets. Habitats such as seagrass, kelp and maerl often show a strong relationship with multiple services due to their structural complexity, carbon storage capacity and influence on biodiversity. Saltmarsh and horse mussel beds also support a range of functions including water filtration, wave attenuation and nursery habitat provision. The matrix helps identify habitats that are critical for maintaining ecological processes.
By summarising these relationships in a simple visual format, the asset–service matrix supports transparent decision making and provides clear evidence on the pathways from assets to ecosystem services. It aligns with the structure used in the Universal Asset Service Matrix developed under the mNCEA programme.
JNCC Outputs
mNCEA Universal Asset Service Matrix
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mNCEA A Natural Capital Approach to Achieving Good Environmental Status mNCEA Year 2 and mNCEA Year 3
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CICES: Common International Classification of Ecosystem Services
“Internationally used hierarchical classification for ecosystem services covering provisioning, regulation and cultural benefits.” -
Review of approaches for assessing marine natural capital (JNCC Report 702)
“Synthesis of UK and international ecosystem‑service methods, frameworks and evidence gaps.” -
Natural capital benefits of MPA management in Lyme Bay (JNCC Report 773)
“Evidence showing how protection improves ecosystem‑service delivery such as carbon regulation and nursery function.” -
Marine Ecosystem Services Optimisation models (MESO – proof of concept)
“Pre‑mNCEA Bayesian models linking pressures to ecosystem‑service outcomes across UK sublittoral habitats.” -
Turks & Caicos Islands: Asset Register and Service Mapping (Darwin Plus 119)
“Asset–service matrices and service‑delivery maps developed for coastal and marine ecosystems in TCI.” -
Natural Capital Investment Plan – Turks & Caicos (RESEMBID)
“Natural‑capital‑driven finance and investment planning for fisheries, carbon, tourism and cultural values.” -
Natural capital in the UK Overseas Territories
“Valuation, vulnerability mapping and ecosystem‑service assessment across Caribbean and South Atlantic OTs.”
mNCEA Outputs
See Marine Natural Capital Hub: mNCEA Outputs Library
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