Stocks and flows of natural and human-derived capital in ecosystem services

•Realised ES are a product of the potential service and specified beneficiaries.•Natural capital (NC) and human-derived capital (HDC) are both essential for ES.•HDC plays a role even at the stage of potential ecosystem services.•It is possible but not always easy to separate the contribution of NC and HDC to ES.•Sustainable management should identify critical NC and HDC for each service.