A Rosetta Stone for Nature’s Benefits to People

After a long incubation period, the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) is now underway. Underpinning all its activities is the IPBES Conceptual Framework (CF), a simplified model of the interactions between nature and people. Drawing on the legacy of previous large-scale environmental assessments, the CF goes further in explicitly embracing different disciplines and knowledge systems (including indigenous and local knowledge) in the co-construction of assessments of the state of the world’s biodiversity and the benefits it provides to humans. The CF can be thought of as a kind of “Rosetta Stone” that highlights commonalities between diverse value sets and seeks to facilitate crossdisciplinary and crosscultural understanding. We argue that the CF will contribute to the increasing trend towards interdisciplinarity in understanding and managing the environment. Rather than displacing disciplinary science, however, we believe that the CF will provide new contexts of discovery and policy applications for it.     

IPBES框架下生物多样性和生态系统服务情景和模型方法评估及对我国的影响

随着国际社会对生物多样性保护关注度的提升, 生物多样性和生态系统服务情景和模型方法逐渐成为国际进程和条约关注的焦点问题。生物多样性和生态系统服务政府间科学-政策平台(Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, IPBES)将“生物多样性和生态系统服务情景和模型方法评估”列入2014-2018年工作方案, 作为IPBES首批评估活动之一, 其评估报告及决策者摘要已在IPBES第四次全体会议上获得通过。本文概述了该评估报告的主要内容和结论, 探讨了报告与其他国际进程的关系及其可能对中国的影响。该报告梳理了国际上现有的生物多样性和生态系统服务相关情景和模型方法, 综合分析了它们的优缺点、适用范围和限制条件, 提出了使用过程中应对数据和知识空缺的方法, 为制定、使用及优化情景和模型提供了指导。IPBES的一系列评估报告将引领生物多样性和生态系统服务相关科学领域的发展, 为各国在生物多样性领域进行对话、权衡与博弈, 实现本国利益最大化提供一个高效的平台。中国作为一个发展中的生物多样性大国, 积极参与、发声必然是应对IPBES未来发展的最优方式。     

IPBES:生物多样性科学评估将成为政策决策的驱动因素

生物多样性和生态系统服务政府间科学-政策平台(IPBES)的目的,是为了缓解生物多样性持续减退的趋势,推动政策和科学之间的互动。2012年成立至今构建了概念模型,确定了2014—2018年的工作方案。分析IPBES工作方案的4个目的和相应交付成果可以看出,通过推出不同专题评估报告,将为全球提出生物多样性相关的新问题,给生物多样性相关的谈判和履约提出新挑战。一系列区域和全球评估报告的推出,可能通过持续积累效益,引起公众和媒体的关注,使生物多样性问题迅速政治化,形成科学驱动政策决策的趋势。应对IPBES及其生物多样性相关公约的谈判,我国需要制定深入和持续参与其国际过程的策略,需要通过培养和推荐专业水平高且政治敏感的专家,参与IPBES评估报告的具体工作,从科学层面影响评估结果,把握生物多样性领域国际政策决策动向,在保护生物多样性的基础上,维护国家利益。     

IPBES工作进展及我国对策建议

作为生物多样性保护领域的首个政府间机制, 生物多样性和生态系统服务政府间科学政策平台(IPBES)正在对全球生物多样性和生态系统保护政策的制定和实施产生重要影响, 其评估成果大大提升了全球决策者对生物多样性的关注。2019年4月, IPBES在法国巴黎召开第七次全体会议, 会议总结了第一轮工作方案(2014-2019)各目标的实现情况, 通过了第二轮工作方案(2019-2030), 为未来10年重点工作和评估方向提供指导。本文结合两轮工作方案的具体目标, 分析研判了IPBES工作及评估进展, 对各成员国主要观点进行了梳理, 提出了中国的应对策略。IPBES评估发现, 人类面临的生物多样性问题越来越多元化、复杂化, IPBES正通过发布一系列的评估报告, 将生物多样性保护问题进一步主流化、政治化。我们建议, 作为全球生物多样性最为丰富的国家之一, 中国应该充分认识到IPBES的作用, 积极参与有关进程, 加强跨部门跨学科协助, 促进国际合作与交流, 提升我国在生物多样性领域相关谈判中的主动权和话语权。     

Biodiversity Governance: A Tower of Babel of Scales and Cultures

The recently created Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), originally focused on multilateral and global issues, is shifting its focus to address local issues and to include in its assessments local stakeholders and indigenous and traditional systems of knowledge. Acknowledging that full biodiversity governance is unavoidably rooted in participation of local actors and their problems and knowledge, we suggest that to deal successfully with the complexity and diversity of local issues, including indigenous knowledge systems, IPBES must recognize a key role of local institutions.     

IPBES的建立、前景及应对策略

生物多样性和生态系统服务政府间科学-政策平台(IPBES)是一个类似于气候变化专门委员会(IPCC)的独立的政府间机构,其目标是建立科学界和决策者之间的沟通平台,推动全球生物多样性和生态系统服务的保护.从2008年11月到2010年6月,联合国环境规划署(UNEP)主持召开了三次政府间谈判会议.在最后一次会议上各国同意建立IPBES,并形成了一份《釜山成果》文件,确定其基本职能主要是开展评估,还确定IPBES的决策机构是全体会议,向联合国所有会员国和区域经济一体化组织开放,政府间组织和其他利益相关方可作为观察员.IPBES的建立将会在国际社会产生深刻的影响,但其未来走向也有一定的不确定性:一是如何保持科学独立性的问题,二是评估尺度可能会影响其成功,三是能否促进发展中国家的广泛参与.为使我国能在IPBES中发挥重要作用,建议今后应加强对IPBES运作模式的研究,加强评估工具和方法的开发以及加强生物多样性的监测.     

IPBES工作效率和科学职能的有效性分析

IPBES第一轮工作方案受到国际社会的广泛关注,奠定了其作为第一个生物多样性领域政府间机制的重要地位.IPBES自成立以来相继发布了系列评估报告和决策者摘要,引起了国际社会广泛关注,因此,其公平性、公正性、科学性和透明性始终为各界关注的焦点,直接决定着IPBES评估报告的可信度和未来的发展.为有效提升工作效率,提高其成...     

IPBES评估报告对全球生物多样性保护的影响——以美国传粉者保护政策为例

作为生物多样性领域首个政府间、多学科、跨领域的综合性科学政策平台, 联合国生物多样性和生态系统服务政府间科学-政策平台(The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, IPBES)将会对全球生物多样性保护及其他领域产生重要影响。本文通过分析美国传粉者保护政策的制定和实施过程, 获得了生物多样性相关保护政策的制定为科学评估-政府关注-出台限制性政策措施的过程和模式。基于IPBES 2016年发布《传粉者、传粉与粮食生产评估报告》(The Assessment Report on Pollinators, Pollination and Food Production)的事实, 推测IPBES交付品可能促进对新烟碱类农药产业和蜂产品尤其是野生蜂产品交易限制性政策的产生。并进一步分析了IPBES交付品可能在全球以及我国生物多样性保护及其相关领域带来的影响, 比如可能通过促进生物多样性领域的科学评估, 进一步主流化生物多样性保护问题, 促使生物多样性保护成为重要的政治议题。本文旨在为我国建立生物多样性保护的适应性政策提供科学支持。     

The Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES): progress and next steps

Biodiversity and the services ecosystems provide have built the foundation of human civilization and provide for the welfare of people. With the increase of the human population it has become clearer than ever that the human exploitation of our natural resources leads to detrimental interactions between ecological and sociological systems. Only concerted and global actions will be able to reverse ongoing biodiversity loss. In response to these needs, the United Nations agreed the establishment of the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) in 2010. Here, we report on the progress IPBES has made since its inception, and suggest how the scientific community can engage with this important science-policy interface.     

IPBES土地退化和恢复专题评估报告及其潜在影响

随着国际社会对生物多样性保护和人类福祉关注度的提升, 土地退化作为全球面临的重要问题逐渐成为国际公约和进程关注的热点问题。生物多样性和生态系统服务政府间科学政策平台(Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, IPBES)将“土地退化和恢复”列入2014-2018年工作方案, 开展评估。2018年3月, 该评估报告在IPBES第六次全体会议上获得通过。本文概述了评估报告的主要内容和结论, 探讨了对其他国际进程的可能影响。评估报告在IPBES概念框架的基础上, 厘清了土地退化的概念与内涵, 全面梳理了土地退化对人类生活质量的影响, 阐明了土地退化的现状和进程, 分析了直接和间接驱动因素与土地退化的作用, 揭示了土地退化与人类福祉的关系, 提出了土地退化和恢复的对策建议。该项评估将为各国决策者制定政策工具提供最有效的技术支撑, 为相关国际进程谈判提供重要的科学参考。中国作为生物多样性大国, 应重视IPBES的评估机制并积极参与, 加强促进生物多样性和生态系统服务领域的科学成果转化, 适时针对国内关键问题启动相关评估, 促进我国生态文明建设和山水林田湖草系统治理, 实现美丽中国的建设目标。     

“自然对人类的贡献”的实现、发展趋势和启示

生物多样性和生态系统服务政府间科学政策平台(IPBES)的目标是加强科学政策对生物多样性和生态系统服务的影响。为了更好地理解和展示IPBES目标的基本要素及其相互关系, 在千年生态系统评估(MA)的基础上, IPBES融合多种知识体系, 不断完善、创新, 逐步形成了以“自然对人类的贡献” (NCP)为核心的概念框架。本文首先梳理了NCP的发展历程, 论述了NCP与生态系统服务的关系, 指出两者均关注人类福祉, 但与生态系统服务不同的是, NCP涵盖了自然对人类生活的消极影响, 强调社会文化因素、传统知识和土著居民的地位以及人与自然共同作用的重要性。其次, 本文阐述了人与自然共同实现NCP进而影响人类良好生活质量的机制, 并分析了NCP大幅下降的全球趋势, 提出世界各国应不断推动生物多样性保护主流化, 增加国际交流与合作, 致力实现“人与自然和谐共生”的2050年愿景。最后, 本文讨论了NCP在IPBES评估和《生物多样性公约》磋商谈判中的应用前景, 为今后NCP理论研究和实践提供科学支持。     

Climate Change,Habitat Loss,Protected Areas and the Climate Adaptation Potential of Species in Mediterranean Ecosystems Worldwide

Mediterranean climate is found on five continents and supports five global biodiversity hotspots. Based on combined downscaled results from 23 atmosphere-ocean general circulation models (AOGCMs) for three emissions scenarios, we determined the projected spatial shifts in the mediterranean climate extent (MCE) over the next century. Although most AOGCMs project a moderate expansion in the global MCE, regional impacts are large and uneven. The median AOGCM simulation output for the three emissions scenarios project the MCE at the end of the 21^st century in Chile will range from 129–153% of its current size, while in Australia, it will contract to only 77–49% of its current size losing an area equivalent to over twice the size of Portugal. Only 4% of the land area within the current MCE worldwide is in protected status (compared to a global average of 12% for all biome types), and, depending on the emissions scenario, only 50–60% of these protected areas are likely to be in the future MCE. To exacerbate the climate impact, nearly one third (29–31%) of the land where the MCE is projected to remain stable has already been converted to human use, limiting the size of the potential climate refuges and diminishing the adaptation potential of native biota. High conversion and low protection in projected stable areas make Australia the highest priority region for investment in climate-adaptation strategies to reduce the threat of climate change to the rich biodiversity of the mediterranean biome.     

Increased Dependence of Humans on Ecosystem Services and Biodiversity

Humans have altered ecosystems more rapidly and extensively than ever, largely to meet rapidly growing demands for resources along with economic development. These demands have been considered important drivers of ecosystem degradation and biodiversity loss. Are humans becoming less dependent on ecosystem services and biodiversity following economic development? Here, we used roundwood production, hydroelectricity generation and tourism investment in 92 biodiversity hotspot and 60 non-hotspot countries as cases to seek the answer. In 1980–2005, annual growth rates of roundwood production, hydroelectricity generation and tourism investment were higher in hotspot countries (5.2, 9.1 and 7.5%) than in non-hotspot countries (3.4, 5.9 and 5.6%), when GDP grew more rapidly in hotspot countries than non-hotspot countries. Annual growth rates of per capita hydropower and per capita tourism investment were higher in hotspot countries (5.3% and 6.1%) than in non-hotspot countries (3.5% and 4.3%); however, the annual growth rate of per capita roundwood production in hotspot countries (1%) was lower than in non-hotspot countries (1.4%). The dependence of humans on cultural services has increased more rapidly than on regulating services, while the dependence on provisioning services has reduced. This pattern is projected to continue during 2005–2020. Our preliminary results show that economic growth has actually made humans more dependent upon ecosystem services and biodiversity. As a consequence, the policies and implementations of both economic development and ecosystems/biodiversity conservation should be formulated and carried out in the context of the increased dependence of humans on ecosystem services along with economic development.     

Open exchange of scientific knowledge and European copyright: The case of biodiversity information

Background. The 7^th Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development is helping the European Union to prepare for an integrative system for intelligent management of biodiversity knowledge. The infrastructure that is envisaged and that will be further developed within the Programme “Horizon 2020” aims to provide open and free access to taxonomic information to anyone with a requirement for biodiversity data, without the need for individual consent of other persons or institutions. Open and free access to information will foster the re-use and improve the quality of data, will accelerate research, and will promote new types of research. Progress towards the goal of free and open access to content is hampered by numerous technical, economic, sociological, legal, and other factors. The present article addresses barriers to the open exchange of biodiversity knowledge that arise from European laws, in particular European legislation on copyright and database protection rights.We present a legal point of view as to what will be needed to bring distributed information together and facilitate its re-use by data mining, integration into semantic knowledge systems, and similar techniques. We address exceptions and limitations of copyright or database protection within Europe, and we point to the importance of data use agreements. We illustrate how exceptions and limitations have been transformed into national legislations within some European states to create inconsistencies that impede access to biodiversity information.Conclusions. The legal situation within the EU is unsatisfactory because there are inconsistencies among states that hamper the deployment of an open biodiversity knowledge management system. Scientists within the EU who work with copyright protected works or with protected databases have to be aware of regulations that vary from country to country. This is a major stumbling block to international collaboration and is an impediment to the open exchange of biodiversity knowledge. Such differences should be removed by unifying exceptions and limitations for research purposes in a binding, Europe-wide regulation.     

Spatially Explicit Trends in the Global Conservation Status of Vertebrates

The world''s governments have committed to preventing the extinction of threatened species and improving their conservation status by 2020. However, biodiversity is not evenly distributed across space, and neither are the drivers of its decline, and so different regions face very different challenges. Here, we quantify the contribution of regions and countries towards recent global trends in vertebrate conservation status (as measured by the Red List Index), to guide action towards the 2020 target. We found that>50% of the global deterioration in the conservation status of birds, mammals and amphibians is concentrated in <1% of the surface area, 39/1098 ecoregions (4%) and eight/195 countries (4%) – Australia, China, Colombia, Ecuador, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, and the United States. These countries hold a third of global diversity in these vertebrate groups, partially explaining why they concentrate most of the losses. Yet, other megadiverse countries – most notably Brazil (responsible for 10% of species but just 1% of deterioration), plus India and Madagascar – performed better in conserving their share of global vertebrate diversity. Very few countries, mostly island nations (e.g. Cook Islands, Fiji, Mauritius, Seychelles, and Tonga), have achieved net improvements. Per capita wealth does not explain these patterns, with two of the richest countries – United States and Australia – fairing conspicuously poorly. Different countries were affected by different combinations of threats. Reducing global rates of biodiversity loss will require investment in the regions and countries with the highest responsibility for the world''s biodiversity, focusing on conserving those species and areas most in peril and on reducing the drivers with the highest impacts.     

Linking plant diversity–productivity relationships to plant functional traits of dominant species and changes in soil properties in 15‐year‐old experimental grasslands

Positive plant diversity–productivity relationships are known to be driven by complementary resource use via differences in plant functional traits. Moreover, soil properties related to nutrient availability were shown to change with plant diversity over time; however, it is not well‐understood whether and how such plant diversity‐dependent soil changes and associated changes in functional traits contribute to positive diversity–productivity relationships in the long run. To test this, we investigated plant communities of different species richness (1, 2, 6, and 9 species) in a 15‐year‐old grassland biodiversity experiment. We determined community biomass production and biodiversity effects (net biodiversity [NEs], complementarity [CEs], and selection effects [SEs]), as well as community means of plant functional traits and soil properties. First, we tested how these variables changed along the plant diversity gradient and were related to each other. Then, we tested for direct and indirect effects of plant and soil variables influencing community biomass production and biodiversity effects. Community biomass production, NEs, CEs, SEs, plant height, root length density (RLD), and all soil property variables changed with plant diversity and the presence of the dominant grass species Arrhenatherum elatius (increase except for soil pH, which decreased). Plant height and RLD for plant functional traits, and soil pH and organic carbon concentration for soil properties, were the variables with the strongest influence on biomass production and biodiversity effects. Our results suggest that plant species richness and the presence of the dominant species, A. elatius, cause soil organic carbon to increase and soil pH to decrease over time, which increases nutrient availability favoring species with tall growth and dense root systems, resulting in higher biomass production in species‐rich communities. Here, we present an additional process that contributes to the strengthening positive diversity–productivity relationship, which may play a role alongside the widespread plant functional trait‐based explanation.     

Can Joint Carbon and Biodiversity Management in Tropical Agroforestry Landscapes Be Optimized?

Managing ecosystems for carbon storage may also benefit biodiversity conservation, but such a potential ‘win-win’ scenario has not yet been assessed for tropical agroforestry landscapes. We measured above- and below-ground carbon stocks as well as the species richness of four groups of plants and eight of animals on 14 representative plots in Sulawesi, Indonesia, ranging from natural rainforest to cacao agroforests that have replaced former natural forest. The conversion of natural forests with carbon stocks of 227–362 Mg C ha⁻¹ to agroforests with 82–211 Mg C ha⁻¹ showed no relationships to overall biodiversity but led to a significant loss of forest-related species richness. We conclude that the conservation of the forest-related biodiversity, and to a lesser degree of carbon stocks, mainly depends on the preservation of natural forest habitats. In the three most carbon-rich agroforestry systems, carbon stocks were about 60% of those of natural forest, suggesting that 1.6 ha of optimally managed agroforest can contribute to the conservation of carbon stocks as much as 1 ha of natural forest. However, agroforestry systems had comparatively low biodiversity, and we found no evidence for a tight link between carbon storage and biodiversity. Yet, potential win-win agroforestry management solutions include combining high shade-tree quality which favours biodiversity with cacao-yield adapted shade levels.     

Reproductive trait differences drive offspring production in urban cavity‐nesting bees and wasps

The contrasting and idiosyncratic changes in biodiversity that have been documented across urbanization gradients call for a more mechanistic understanding of urban community assembly. The reproductive success of organisms in cities should underpin their population persistence and the maintenance of biodiversity in urban landscapes. We propose that exploring individual‐level reproductive traits and environmental drivers of reproductive success could provide the necessary links between environmental conditions, offspring production, and biodiversity in urban areas. For 3 years, we studied cavity‐nesting solitary bees and wasps in four urban green space types across Toronto, Canada. We measured three reproductive traits of each nest: the total number of brood cells, the proportion of parasite‐free cells, and the proportion of non‐emerged brood cells that were parasite‐free. We determined (a) how reproductive traits, trait diversity and offspring production respond to multiple environmental variables and (b) how well reproductive trait variation explains the offspring production of single nests, by reflecting the different ways organisms navigate trade‐offs between gathering of resources and exposure to parasites. Our results showed that environmental variables were poor predictors of mean reproductive trait values, trait diversity, and offspring production. However, offspring production was highly positively correlated with reproductive trait evenness and negatively correlated with trait richness and divergence. This suggests that a narrow range of reproductive traits are optimal for reproduction, and the even distribution of individual reproductive traits across those optimal phenotypes is consistent with the idea that selection could favor diverse reproductive strategies to reduce competition. This study is novel in its exploration of individual‐level reproductive traits and its consideration of multiple axes of urbanization. Reproductive trait variation did not follow previously reported biodiversity‐urbanization patterns; the insensitivity to urbanization gradients raise questions about the role of the spatial mosaic of habitats in cities and the disconnections between different metrics of biodiversity.     

The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES): getting involved

The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) held its 5th plenary session in Bonn during March 2017. After last year’s pollinator assessment, the biodiversity assessments currently being undertaken are shortly to be available for peer review. The scientific community can play an important role in both conducting assessments and in the peer-review process. Independent scientists can contribute to ensure that these assessments are comprehensive with respect to the current state and future trends of biodiversity and the ecosystem services. We outline possibilities for deeper involvement of the scientific community in the IPBES process and draw attention to upcoming reviews in 2017.     

Mutualism Disruption Threatens Global Plant Biodiversity: A Systematic Review

Background

As global environmental change accelerates, biodiversity losses can disrupt interspecific interactions. Extinctions of mutualist partners can create “widow” species, which may face reduced ecological fitness. Hypothetically, such mutualism disruptions could have cascading effects on biodiversity by causing additional species coextinctions. However, the scope of this problem – the magnitude of biodiversity that may lose mutualist partners and the consequences of these losses – remains unknown.

Methodology/Principal Findings

We conducted a systematic review and synthesis of data from a broad range of sources to estimate the threat posed by vertebrate extinctions to the global biodiversity of vertebrate-dispersed and -pollinated plants. Though enormous research gaps persist, our analysis identified Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, and global oceanic islands as geographic regions at particular risk of disruption of these mutualisms; within these regions, percentages of plant species likely affected range from 2.1–4.5%. Widowed plants are likely to experience reproductive declines of 40–58%, potentially threatening their persistence in the context of other global change stresses.

Conclusions

Our systematic approach demonstrates that thousands of species may be impacted by disruption in one class of mutualisms, but extinctions will likely disrupt other mutualisms, as well. Although uncertainty is high, there is evidence that mutualism disruption directly threatens significant biodiversity in some geographic regions. Conservation measures with explicit focus on mutualistic functions could be necessary to bolster populations of widowed species and maintain ecosystem functions.