Forest biodiversity,ecosystem functioning and the provision of ecosystem services

Forests are critical habitats for biodiversity and they are also essential for the provision of a wide range of ecosystem services that are important to human well-being. There is increasing evidence that biodiversity contributes to forest ecosystem functioning and the provision of ecosystem services. Here we provide a review of forest ecosystem services including biomass production, habitat provisioning services, pollination, seed dispersal, resistance to wind storms, fire regulation and mitigation, pest regulation of native and invading insects, carbon sequestration, and cultural ecosystem services, in relation to forest type, structure and diversity. We also consider relationships between forest biodiversity and multifunctionality, and trade-offs among ecosystem services. We compare the concepts of ecosystem processes, functions and services to clarify their definitions. Our review of published studies indicates a lack of empirical studies that establish quantitative and causal relationships between forest biodiversity and many important ecosystem services. The literature is highly skewed; studies on provisioning of nutrition and energy, and on cultural services, delivered by mixed-species forests are under-represented. Planted forests offer ample opportunity for optimising their composition and diversity because replanting after harvesting is a recurring process. Planting mixed-species forests should be given more consideration as they are likely to provide a wider range of ecosystem services within the forest and for adjacent land uses. This review also serves as the introduction to this special issue of Biodiversity and Conservation on various aspects of forest biodiversity and ecosystem services.     

Non-linear effects of pesticide application on biodiversity-driven ecosystem services and disservices in a cacao agroecosystem: A modeling study

Growing concerns have been raised regarding the effects of disturbance due to agricultural practices on associate biodiversity and on the ecosystem services that biodiversity provides. Surprisingly little is known about the effects of such disturbances on complex agroecosystems with multiple interacting species. The aim of this study was to assess the effects of management by pesticide spraying on the productive outputs and the ecological functioning of a cacao agroecosystem. We built a mechanistic dynamic model including the dynamics of the crop, a pest (Cacao Pod Borer, Conopomorpha cramerella) and two beneficial insects: a hymenopteran egg–parasitoid and a ceratopogonid pollinator. Using this model, we tested the effects of a range of pesticide types characterized by their impacts on both the Cacao Pod Borer and the beneficial insects. Our results showed that yield strongly varies according to both pesticide type and timing of pesticide application. The type of pesticide had a strong influence on the flexibility of management. No simple spraying decision rule led to maximal yields for all types of pesticide. Although optimal spraying strategies differed with the type of pesticide used, they all showed a similar pattern, i.e. they limited and postponed the Cacao Pod Borer population peak while limiting the negative impacts on beneficial organisms. The results highlight the non-trivial effects of pesticide application in complex agroecosystems where associated biodiversity provides both ecosystem services and disservices. They illustrate the critical importance of providing good information to farmers on pesticide management because the use of pesticides can have a negative effect on production by decreasing ecosystem services such as pollination.     

石羊河流域生态系统服务权衡与协同关系研究

生态系统服务权衡与协同研究是国际生态学、地理学等学科研究的热点。以石羊河流域为研究区,借助In VEST模型,对流域2005、2010和2015年的水源涵养、土壤保持、水质净化、碳储存和生物多样性五项服务进行精准测度,分析服务的时空格局及演变特征,并利用相关系数法逐像元定量计算5种服务之间的权衡与协同关系,从不同尺度分析权衡与协同关系的空间格局特征。结果表明:(1)各项服务具有空间异质性:水源涵养、土壤保持、碳储存、生物多样性呈"西南高-东北低"的空间格局,且水质净化、碳储存服务的高值区沿河流分布。(2) 10年期间,水源涵养、水质净化、碳储存、生物多样性服务呈现"整体增加-局部减少"的变化趋势,而土壤保持呈"整体减少-局部增加"的变化特征。(3)多种服务之间权衡与协同关系具有区域依赖特征:水源涵养与土壤保持、水源涵养与水质净化、水质净化与碳储存、水质净化与生物多样性、土壤保持与碳储存、土壤保持与生物多样性以权衡关系为主;水源涵养与碳储存、水源涵养与生物多样性、土壤保持与水质净化、碳储存与生物多样性以协同关系为主。定量可视化评估生态系统服务及权衡关系,为制定区域发展与生态保护双赢政策提供依据,同时也为其他流域的相关研究提供可靠参考。     

Natural disturbance impacts on ecosystem services and biodiversity in temperate and boreal forests

In many parts of the world forest disturbance regimes have intensified recently, and future climatic changes are expected to amplify this development further in the coming decades. These changes are increasingly challenging the main objectives of forest ecosystem management, which are to provide ecosystem services sustainably to society and maintain the biological diversity of forests. Yet a comprehensive understanding of how disturbances affect these primary goals of ecosystem management is still lacking. We conducted a global literature review on the impact of three of the most important disturbance agents (fire, wind, and bark beetles) on 13 different ecosystem services and three indicators of biodiversity in forests of the boreal, cool‐ and warm‐temperate biomes. Our objectives were to (i) synthesize the effect of natural disturbances on a wide range of possible objectives of forest management, and (ii) investigate standardized effect sizes of disturbance for selected indicators via a quantitative meta‐analysis. We screened a total of 1958 disturbance studies published between 1981 and 2013, and reviewed 478 in detail. We first investigated the overall effect of disturbances on individual ecosystem services and indicators of biodiversity by means of independence tests, and subsequently examined the effect size of disturbances on indicators of carbon storage and biodiversity by means of regression analysis. Additionally, we investigated the effect of commonly used approaches of disturbance management, i.e. salvage logging and prescribed burning. We found that disturbance impacts on ecosystem services are generally negative, an effect that was supported for all categories of ecosystem services, i.e. supporting, provisioning, regulating, and cultural services (P < 0.001). Indicators of biodiversity, i.e. species richness, habitat quality and diversity indices, on the other hand were found to be influenced positively by disturbance (P < 0.001). Our analyses thus reveal a ‘disturbance paradox’, documenting that disturbances can put ecosystem services at risk while simultaneously facilitating biodiversity. A detailed investigation of disturbance effect sizes on carbon storage and biodiversity further underlined these divergent effects of disturbance. While a disturbance event on average causes a decrease in total ecosystem carbon by 38.5% (standardized coefficient for stand‐replacing disturbance), it on average increases overall species richness by 35.6%. Disturbance‐management approaches such as salvage logging and prescribed burning were neither found significantly to mitigate negative effects on ecosystem services nor to enhance positive effects on biodiversity, and thus were not found to alleviate the disturbance paradox. Considering that climate change is expected to intensify natural disturbance regimes, our results indicate that biodiversity will generally benefit from such changes while a sustainable provisioning of ecosystem services might come increasingly under pressure. This underlines that disturbance risk and resilience require increased attention in ecosystem management in the future, and that new approaches to addressing the disturbance paradox in management are needed.     

Suitability of Taxodium distichum for Afforesting the Littoral Zone of the Three Gorges Reservoir

The littoral zone ecosystem of the Three Gorges Reservoir (TGR) has become significantly degraded by annual cycles of prolonged winter flooding and summer drought. For purposes of flood control and sediment management, the water level in the reservoir is lowered by 30 m during the summer monsoon season and raised again to 175 m above sea level each year at the end of the monsoon period. To explore an effective way to promote biodiversity and associated ecosystem services, we examined Taxodium distichum as a species for afforesting the littoral zone. Sapling growth variations were measured after two rounds of winter flooding. Dominant influence factors were determined by redundancy analysis. Herb community similarities between the experimental afforested areas and nearby control areas were assessed to detect the ecosystem influence of the experimental afforestation. 94.5% of saplings planted at elevations above 168 m survived. All measured growth indices (tree height, diameter at breast height, crown width and foliage density) decreased as the flood depth increased. Completely submerged saplings had a mean dieback height of -0.65 m. Greater initial foliage density led to increased tree height and stem diameter. Shannon-Wiener indices were not significantly different between plots in experimental and control areas, but the low similarity of herb communities between experimental and control areas (0.242 on average) suggested that afforestation would enrich plant community structure and improve littoral zone ecosystem stability. Because littoral zone afforestation provides several ecosystem services (habitat, carbon sink, water purification and landscaping), it is a promising revegetation model for the TGR.     

Ecosystem Services and Opportunity Costs Shift Spatial Priorities for Conserving Forest Biodiversity

Inclusion of spatially explicit information on ecosystem services in conservation planning is a fairly new practice. This study analyses how the incorporation of ecosystem services as conservation features can affect conservation of forest biodiversity and how different opportunity cost constraints can change spatial priorities for conservation. We created spatially explicit cost-effective conservation scenarios for 59 forest biodiversity features and five ecosystem services in the county of Telemark (Norway) with the help of the heuristic optimisation planning software, Marxan with Zones. We combined a mix of conservation instruments where forestry is either completely (non-use zone) or partially restricted (partial use zone). Opportunity costs were measured in terms of foregone timber harvest, an important provisioning service in Telemark. Including a number of ecosystem services shifted priority conservation sites compared to a case where only biodiversity was considered, and increased the area of both the partial (+36.2%) and the non-use zone (+3.2%). Furthermore, opportunity costs increased (+6.6%), which suggests that ecosystem services may not be a side-benefit of biodiversity conservation in this area. Opportunity cost levels were systematically changed to analyse their effect on spatial conservation priorities. Conservation of biodiversity and ecosystem services trades off against timber harvest. Currently designated nature reserves and landscape protection areas achieve a very low proportion (9.1%) of the conservation targets we set in our scenario, which illustrates the high importance given to timber production at present. A trade-off curve indicated that large marginal increases in conservation target achievement are possible when the budget for conservation is increased. Forty percent of the maximum hypothetical opportunity costs would yield an average conservation target achievement of 79%.     

A multi-criteria,ecosystem-service value method used to assess catchment suitability for potential wetland reconstruction in Denmark

Wetlands provide a range of ecosystem services such as drought resistance, flood resistance, nutrient deposition, biodiversity, etc. This study presents a new multi-criteria, ecosystems service value-driven method to drive the optimal placement of restored wetlands in terms of maximizing selected ecosystem services which a wetland can provide or affect. We aim to answer two questions: 1) which of the ecosystem services indicators defines the placement of wetlands today? 2) Based on the ecosystem services indicator assessment, what are the recommendations for future selection of catchments for potential wetland reconstruction (i.e. restoration)?Five key ecosystem services indicators produced or affected by wetlands in Denmark were mapped (recreational potential, biodiversity, nitrogen mitigation potential, inverse land rent, and flash-flood risk). These services were compared to current placements of wetlands. Furthermore, scenario testing and hotspot analysis were combined to provide future recommendations for optimal placements of wetlands. The scenarios investigated were Climate Adaptation and Protection of Aquatic Environment, Land-Based Economy, and Rich Nature. Based on these scenarios, the most suitable areas for wetland reconstruction were mapped, taking both the scenarios and attached weightings of ecosystem services indicators into account.According to statistical results current reconstructed wetlands are situated in catchments with lower biodiversity, higher nitrogen mitigation potential, higher land rent (i.e. agricultural intensive areas), and to some extent higher flash flood risk compared to the median of catchments with wetlands. Hence, recreation potential, high biodiversity, and low land rent has not been prioritized. 35 out of the 3023 catchments investigated were identified with an especially high suitability when optimizing all scenarios. This coincides with a high suitability around peri-urban and urban areas and near natural areas, hence capturing both supply and demand services. Of the 35 identified catchments with potentially high suitability, only 2 actually hold a presently reconstructed wetland. This indicates a prior placement with almost no consideration of maximizing ecosystem services benefits.We recommend a systematic approach, such as the ecosystem service value-driven method demonstrated in the present case study, to target more services and improve the overall benefit from wetlands. This approach seeks to inform decision makers of synergies in the landscape, which is likely to transcend future policy implementations.     

生物多样性与生态系统服务评估指标与方法

评估、模拟和预测全球生物多样性和生态系统服务的状态、趋势及其对人类福祉的影响,是当前生物多样性和生态系统服务研究领域的重要任务。指标和数据、模型和情景是推动生物多样性与生态系统服务评估研究理论建设和方法集成的重要工具。但是,目前对生物多样性和生态系统服务评估的指标体系和技术方法的综合对比研究相对缺乏。因而,系统评述了生物多样性和生态系统服务评估的概念框架、评估指标以及各类评估模型和方法的最新进展。生物多样性—生态系统功能—生态系统服务—人类福祉的级联框架是极具逻辑性的生物多样性和生态系统服务评估框架。现有的评估指标体系和模型方法还存在很多的问题和挑战,难以充分揭示生态系统服务的形成和影响机制、服务之间的联系和作用机理,有效地指导生态系统服务管理和决策制定。然而,这些评估指标和方法可为构建生物多样性与生态系统服务综合集成模型研究的框架提供重要的切入点。基于此,提出了生物多样性与生态系统服务综合集成模型研究的核心内容:i)目的:基于自然—社会综合特征的情景分析确定所解决的科学问题,输出生态系统服务管理和决策制定方案;ii)内容:尺度、生态系统服务类型、生物多样性的层次结构、组分间相互关系、驱动要素、多源数据的综合分析;iii)方法:对现有的各类模型和模型组合进行比较和不确定性分析,建立符合区域实际需求的生物多样性与生态系统服务综合制图模型库。在此基础上,建议我国应尽快发展适合中国区域特点的标准化指标体系和综合评估模型系统,定期对生物多样性和生态系统服务进行综合评估,掌握生物多样性和生态系统服务的变化趋势,提升我国在生物多样性和生态系统服务研究领域的国际地位和话语权。     

Human transformation of ecosystems: Comparing protected and unprotected areas with natural baselines

Protected areas serve as reserves of biological diversity and conserve the naturalness of characteristic regional ecosystems. Numerous approaches have been applied to estimate the level of transformation of ecosystems and to compare trends inside and outside of protected areas. In this study, we apply aggregate indicators of anthropogenic pressures on ecosystems and biodiversity in a fine-scale spatial analysis to compare the level of human influence within protected and unprotected areas. The actual state of ecosystems is compared to a natural baseline that is intact or potential natural state. The results show that in a non-protected Central-European landscape, humans appropriate a considerable share of natural ecosystem productivity and carbon stocks, and significantly reduce natural biodiversity and ecosystem services. Human appropriation of net primary production reached more than 60% in total, humans reduced original biodiversity levels by 69%, and net carbon storage was considerably decreased by intensive types of land use. All three indicators significantly differed between protected areas and unprotected areas, suggesting that protected areas maintain higher biodiversity levels, store more carbon and are in total less influenced by human exploitation than average non-protected landscape. Furthermore, we bring evidence that human appropriation of net primary production is negatively related both to biodiversity and ecosystem services indicated by mean species abundance and net carbon storage at the national level. Our results contribute to the quantitative evidence of the impacts of anthropogenic transformation of natural ecosystems on the ecosystem condition, supporting the hypothesis that protected areas significantly reduce anthropogenic pressures and contribute to maintaining critical ecosystem services and biodiversity.     

Citation Patterns of a Controversial and High-Impact Paper: Worm et al. (2006) “Impacts of Biodiversity Loss on Ocean Ecosystem Services”

Citation patterns were examined for Worm et al. 2006 (Science 314∶787–790), a high-impact paper that focused on relationships between marine biodiversity and ecosystem services. This paper sparked much controversy through its projection, highlighted in the press release, that all marine fisheries would be collapsed by 2048. Analysis of 664 citing papers revealed that only a small percentage (11%) referred to the 2048 projection, while 39% referred to fisheries collapse in general, and 40% to biodiversity and ecosystem services. The 2048 projection was mentioned more often in papers published soon after the original paper, in low-impact journals, and in journals outside of fields that would be expected to focus on biodiversity. Citing papers also mentioned the 2048 projection more often if they had few authors (28% of single-author papers vs. 2% of papers with 10 or more authors). These factors suggest that the more knowledgeable the authors of citing papers were about the controversy over the 2048 projection, the less likely they were to refer to it. A noteworthy finding was that if the original authors were also involved in the citing papers, they rarely (1 of 55 papers, 2%) mentioned the 2048 projection. Thus the original authors have emphasized the broader concerns about biodiversity loss, rather than the 2048 projection, as the key result of their study.     

集成生态系统服务与生物多样性的系统保护规划

生物多样性和生态系统服务的保护与可持续管理是当今世界面临的重大挑战之一,但如何判识与优化集成生态系统服务与生物多样性保护对象的保护优先区网络,相关研究还很有限。针对“三江并流”区,选取珍稀濒危与特有动植物物种和自然植被类型作为生物多样性保护对象,以调节服务(碳存储、固碳和土壤保持)、文化服务(自然游憩)和供给服务(水源供给)为生态系统服务保护对象。应用系统保护规划方法,首先判识出单一生物多样性和生态系统服务保护优先区;然后,分析这些保护优先区间的相关关系,并选择与生物多样性正相关的生态系统服务类型,判识集成生态系统服务与生物多样性的保护优先区;最后,评估了集成生态系统服务与生物多样性保护优先区在六类已建保护地中的保护状况。结果表明：(1)“三江并流”区多情景规划得到的生物多样性与生态系统服务保护优先区之间均呈正相关关系;(2)与分别针对生态系统服务和生物多样性的规划情景相比,集成生态系统服务与生物多样性保护优先区能够同时对两类保护对象提供最高的保护覆盖率;(3)集成生态系统服务和生物多样性保护优先区占研究区总面积的48.9%,其已建保护地覆盖率为32.5%,说明现有保护地体系仍存在保护...     

Can biodiversity monitoring schemes provide indicators for ecosystem services?

Recently, the science and policy agenda on biodiversity moved to include ecosystem services assessments and it is recognised that for determining the effectiveness and progress of policy frameworks monitoring is crucial.Within European monitoring schemes, data is collected following different sampling protocols for a range of biodiversity or context related aspects; from EU-wide general land cover mapping to red list species within Annex I habitats. In this paper, we analysed field instructions of seven monitoring schemes on the extent to which they can provide data on the provision of ecosystem services and what additional information may be needed for future monitoring of ecosystem services.We compared seven monitoring schemes (i.e. CORINE Land Cover, Land Use Cover Area Survey (LUCAS), European Biodiversity Observation Network (EBONE), biodiversity monitoring on organic and low-input farming systems (BioBio), National Inventory of the Landscape of Sweden (NILS) and Pan-European Common Birds Monitoring (PECBM) and UK Butterfly monitoring (UK-BM)) by scoring the quality of recorded parameters and the adequacy of sampling protocols for ecosystem service monitoring.All the examined schemes were able to provide some parameters on ecosystem services, but the quality of the parameters on average did not exceed the level of qualitative data. Additionally, the divergence between the sampling designs of the schemes and the spatial characteristics of ecosystem services reduced the potential monitoring value of all schemes. Monitoring schemes including a range of sampling methods, scales and included the recording of data on habitats, such as EBONE, BioBio and NILS, provided the best data on the provision of ecosystem services.We conclude that improvement of the monitoring of ecosystem services is hindered by several knowledge gaps: (1) a robust definition and conceptual framework of ecosystem services; (2) the linkage between biodiversity and ecosystem services; and (3) the interpretation of monitoring data.In addition to ecosystem service monitoring, biodiversity monitoring unremittingly remains very important, at least to identify trade-offs between the management for services and the resulting biodiversity status.     

中国生物多样性与生态系统服务评估指标体系

生物多样性和生态系统服务评估是生态系统管理与决策制定的重要依据,指标体系是开展评估的主要工具。中国在生物多样性与生态系统服务评估指标体系建设方面,由于没有形成统一的指标体系和技术方法,导致不同区域间的评估结果可比性差,区域和国家尺度上的集成研究难以开展。因此,构建一套适用于中国国家尺度的科学化、系统性和规范化的生物多样性和生态系统服务评估指标体系,便成为当前迫切需要研究解决的问题。本文参考国内外生物多样性与生态系统服务评估的主要研究成果,在充分考虑"生物多样性—生态系统结构—过程与功能—服务"级联关系基础上,建立了生物多样性与生态系统服务评估指标体系构建的主要原则,构建了中国生物多样性与生态系统服务评估指标体系。     

Effects of Invasive-Plant Management on Nitrogen-Removal Services in Freshwater Tidal Marshes

Establishing relationships between biodiversity and ecosystem function is an ongoing endeavor in contemporary ecosystem and community ecology, with important practical implications for conservation and the maintenance of ecosystem services. Removal of invasive plant species to conserve native diversity is a common management objective in many ecosystems, including wetlands. However, substantial changes in plant community composition have the potential to alter sediment characteristics and ecosystem services, including permanent removal of nitrogen from these systems via microbial denitrification. A balanced assessment of costs associated with keeping and removing invasive plants is needed to manage simultaneously for biodiversity and pollution targets. We monitored small-scale removals of Phragmites australis over four years to determine their effects on potential denitrification rates relative to three untreated Phragmites sites and adjacent sites dominated by native Typha angustifolia. Sediment ammonium increased following the removal of vegetation from treated sites, likely as a result of decreases in both plant uptake and nitrification. Denitrification potentials were lower in removal sites relative to untreated Phragmites sites, a pattern that persisted at least two years following removal as native plant species began to re-colonize treated sites. These results suggest the potential for a trade-off between invasive-plant management and nitrogen-removal services. A balanced assessment of costs associated with keeping versus removing invasive plants is needed to adequately manage simultaneously for biodiversity and pollution targets.     

Assessment of higher insect taxa as bioindicators for different logging-disturbance regimes in lowland tropical rain forest in Sabah, Malaysia

One of the serious environmental problems since the 1980s has been the conflict between the high rate of deforestation and maintenance of healthy ecosystem services and biological values in tropical forests. There is an urgent demand for setting up an appropriate environmental assessment to keep healthy ecosystem functions and biodiversity along with sustainable forest use based on ecology. In this study, we tried to assess logging-disturbance effects on the abundances of several flying insect groups (higher-taxon approach) in lowland tropical rain forest (Deramakot Forest Reserve, Sabah, Malaysia), while considering seasonal changes and vertical forest stratification. The season was the most important factor affecting the abundances of all the insect groups. Effects of logging disturbance were prominent in the understorey but obscure in the canopy. Changes in physical conditions caused by logging—possibly an increased evaporation due to solar radiation—may have decreased the abundance of desiccation-sensitive insects, especially in the understorey. There are also two probable reasons for the difference between events in the understorey and those in the canopy: (1) noise effects of various physical, environmental factors may have obscured insect responses to logging disturbance in the canopy; (2) higher spatio-temporal variation in quality and quantity of living food resources—such as leaves, flowers and fruits—provided in the canopy may have affected the abundance of their consumer insects independently of logging disturbance. Thus, this study suggests that the abundance of some insect groups at higher-taxon level, especially in the understorey, can be used as bioindicators for assessing effects of logging disturbance on the forest ecosystem.     

Conservation planning for ecosystem services

Despite increasing attention to the human dimension of conservation projects, a rigorous, systematic methodology for planning for ecosystem services has not been developed. This is in part because flows of ecosystem services remain poorly characterized at local-to-regional scales, and their protection has not generally been made a priority. We used a spatially explicit conservation planning framework to explore the trade-offs and opportunities for aligning conservation goals for biodiversity with six ecosystem services (carbon storage, flood control, forage production, outdoor recreation, crop pollination, and water provision) in the Central Coast ecoregion of California, United States. We found weak positive and some weak negative associations between the priority areas for biodiversity conservation and the flows of the six ecosystem services across the ecoregion. Excluding the two agriculture-focused services—crop pollination and forage production—eliminates all negative correlations. We compared the degree to which four contrasting conservation network designs protect biodiversity and the flow of the six services. We found that biodiversity conservation protects substantial collateral flows of services. Targeting ecosystem services directly can meet the multiple ecosystem services and biodiversity goals more efficiently but cannot substitute for targeted biodiversity protection (biodiversity losses of 44% relative to targeting biodiversity alone). Strategically targeting only biodiversity plus the four positively associated services offers much promise (relative biodiversity losses of 7%). Here we present an initial analytical framework for integrating biodiversity and ecosystem services in conservation planning and illustrate its application. We found that although there are important potential trade-offs between conservation for biodiversity and for ecosystem services, a systematic planning framework offers scope for identifying valuable synergies.     

基于服务簇的东北地区生态系统服务权衡与协同

生态系统服务簇是多种生态系统服务的组合,能够表征生态系统服务间权衡与协同关系,可为制定有效的区域社会-生态系统管理方案提供科学依据。研究采用全局Moran′s I指数、主成分分析、聚类分析等方法,系统阐明了东北地区6种生态系统服务的组成、权衡与协同、作用机制和区域差异。结果表明:(1)6种生态系统服务均表现出显著的正空间自相关(Moran′s I0),即各生态系统服务存在空间聚类分布,而非随机分布;(2)聚类分析将东北地区划分为南部经济-生态协调区、东北部森林生态平衡区、西部防风固沙区和中部粮食生产区四个生态功能区;(3)水源涵养、固碳和土壤保持服务之间具有极显著的协同关系(r=0.73,r=0.70,r=0.80),而防风固沙和土壤保持服务之间存在极显著的权衡关系(r=-0.22);(4)东北部森林生态平衡区和南部经济-生态协调区的固碳能力显著高于西部防风固沙区和中部粮食生产区,中部粮食生产区的食物供给服务和生物多样性服务则较高。开展基于服务簇的生态系统服务权衡与协同的研究,有助于针对每种生态功能服务簇制定相应的管理方案,促进各个生态功能区经济、社会、资源与生态环境的全面协调可持续发展。     

A national approach for mapping and quantifying habitat-based biodiversity metrics across multiple spatial scales

Ecosystem services, i.e., services provided to humans from ecological systems have become a key issue of this century in resource management, conservation planning, and environmental decision analysis. Mapping and quantifying ecosystem services have become strategic national interests for integrating ecology with economics to help understand the effects of human policies and actions and their subsequent impacts on both ecosystem function and human well-being. Some aspects of biodiversity are valued by humans in varied ways, and thus are important to include in any assessment that seeks to identify and quantify the benefits of ecosystems to humans. Some biodiversity metrics clearly reflect ecosystem services (e.g., abundance and diversity of harvestable species), whereas others may reflect indirect and difficult to quantify relationships to services (e.g., relevance of species diversity to ecosystem resilience, cultural value of native species). Wildlife habitat has been modeled at broad spatial scales and can be used to map a number of biodiversity metrics. In the present study, we present an approach that (1) identifies mappable biodiversity metrics that are related to ecosystem services or other stakeholder concerns, (2) maps these metrics throughout a large multi-state region, and (3) compares the metric values obtained for selected watersheds within the regional context. The broader focus is to design a flexible approach for mapping metrics to produce a national-scale product. We map 20 biodiversity metrics reflecting ecosystem services or other aspects of biodiversity for all vertebrate species except fish. Metrics include species richness for all vertebrates, specific taxon groups, harvestable species (i.e., upland game, waterfowl, furbearers, small game, and big game), threatened and endangered species, and state-designated species of greatest conservation need, and also a metric for ecosystem (i.e., land cover) diversity. The project is being conducted at multiple scales in a phased approach, starting with place-based studies, then multi-state regional areas, culminating into a national-level atlas. As an example of this incremental approach, we provide results for the southwestern United States (i.e., states of Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, and Colorado) and portions of two watersheds within this region: the San Pedro River (Arizona) and Rio Grande River (New Mexico). Geographic patterns differed considerably among metrics across the southwestern study area, but metric values for the two watershed study areas were generally greater than those for the southwestern region as a whole.     

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.     

Perspectives on the link between ecosystem services and biodiversity: The assessment of the nursery function

The relationship between biodiversity and each ecosystem service or bundle of ecosystem services (e.g. win−win, win−lose or win−neutral) is an active field of research that requires structured and consistent information. The application of that research for conservation and decision-making can be hampered by the ambiguity found in the definition of the nursery function under the ecosystem service perspective. In this paper, we review how the role of nursery habitats is included in the ecosystem services literature, covering conceptual, biophysical and economic reflections. The role of ecosystems as nurseries is mostly analyzed in coastal environments. The main observation is that there is no consensus on the consideration of the nursery function as a service (e.g. which species or habitats) or on how to assess it (e.g. which indicators or valuation methods). After that review, we analyze three different interpretations given to the nursery function, namely the ecological, conservationist and economic point of view; and we distinguish between different types of assessment that may consider the nursery function.We conclude that the nursery function can be considered an ecosystem service on its own right when it is linked to a concrete human benefit and not when it is represented with indicators of general biodiversity or ecosystem condition. Thus, the analysis of the delivery of ecosystem services should be differentiated from the analysis of ecological integrity. Only with this distinction science may be able to quantify the link between biodiversity and ecosystem services and policy may be effective in halting biodiversity loss. Similar considerations could apply for other biodiversity constituents that may be treated as ecosystem services.