Environmental services (also called ecosystem services) are the benefits people obtain from ecosystems. Tropical forest environmental services perform a range of functions, such as: moderating weather extremes and their impacts; dispersing seeds; mitigating drought and floods; cycling and moving nutrients; storing carbon; protecting stream and river channels and coastal shores from erosion; detoxifying and decomposing wastes; controlling agricultural pests; maintaining biodiversity; generating and conserving soils and renewing their fertility; contributing to climate stability; purifying air and water; and pollinating crops and natural vegetation.