The purpose of this study is to explore the ecosystem service and benefit indicators of natural seaweed beds. Ecosystems of natural seaweed beds provide a wide range of services and benefits to human society including provisioning services, regulating services, supporting services, and cultural services. Indicators for each of the ecosystem services are chosen by marine plants ecologists and as follows. Ecosystem indicators of natural seaweed beds for provisioning services are well-being food(amount of seaweed harvested/amount of fish landed, fish biomass, area of natural seaweed beds, the number of species, contribution to the second production), raw materials(amount of biomass by breed, amount of aquaculture feed), genetic resources(amount of genetic material extracted, amount of genetic material contained by age and habitat), and medicinal resources(amount of medicinal material extracted). Ecosystem indicators of natural seaweed beds for regulating services are air purification(amount of fine dust/NOx or SO2 captured), climate regulation(amount of CO2 sequestered), waste treatment(amount of N, P stored, biochemical degradation capacity COD), and costal erosion prevention(length and change of natural coast line, amount of sediment prevented). Ecosystem indicators of natural seaweed beds for supporting services are lifecycle and maintenance(primary production, contribution to the second production) and gene pool protection(amount of compositional factors in ecosystem, introduced species). Ecosystem indicators of natural seaweed beds for cultural services are recreation and tourism(the number of visits of an area) and information for cognitive development(amount of time spent in education, research and individual learning about ecosystem of natural seaweed beds).

• 강석규(제주대학교 경영학과) | Seok-Kyu Kang