Biodiversity and ecosystem function Managing landscapes for - - PDF document

Biodiversity and ecosystem function

Managing landscapes for multiple ecosystem services Christopher Philipson

Twitter @PhilipsonChris

Cedar Creek in North America

Biodiversity and ecosystem function:
 the grassland experiments


Biodiversity and ecosystem function:
 the grassland experiments


The EU Biodepth Project

Plant biomass has been shown to increase with diversity in experimental grassland communities

.

5 10 15 20 25 30 35 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400

Aboveground biomass (g/m

2)

Species diversity

Ecosystem functions and services

Does tree species diversity increase the functioning of forest ecosystems, and the services provided by the forest?

Our Question

Methods

• The Swedish National Forest Inventory
• Comprises all land area in Sweden
• Has been carried out since 1923

Methods

We used:

• 4300 plots from across the whole of Sweden
• Only production forests

Methods

Permanent sample plot

Six ecosystem services:

– Production of tree biomass [Swedish forest primarily managed for timber] – Carbon storage in the soil [important for climate change] – Amount of blueberries (Vaccinium myrtillus) [berry collecting particularly popular in Sweden]

Six ecosystem services:

– Understorey vegetation species richness [presence of 141 common forest plant species] – Amount of dead wood – important for many aspects of biodiversity – Amount of wildfood (of preferred plants for herbivores; proxy for herbivore production potential)

Just how diverse?

50 hectares of rain forest in Borneo contain as many tree species as there are in the entire north temperate region Nearly 300 tree species in 1 ha of Amazonian forest – an equivalent area of temperate forest typically possesses less than ten

Congo: 250 tree species/ha Smokey Mountains, USA: 10 tree species/ha

Discussion session: Managing landscapes for multiple ecosystem services How much biodiversity do we need?

Academic Advisors versus Land Managers + General Public? Location: ?

Academic Advisors:

• You are academic experts from a university
• You are familiar with cutting edge research (eg Dooley)
• You must persuade the land managers that they may need a

greater number of species than they think

• Try not to get caught in the technical details!
• Consider taking time to draw accessible diagrams

Land Managers:

• You have some knowledge of the science (eg gamfeldt)
• You are under heavy pressure from the government to manage

the land for multiple ecosystem services

• Management for some essential services (such as timber and

farming) can reduce biodiversity

• If a service is neglected - it will be seen to be your fault
• You have a limited budget and limited time to find a solution
• You want to make your lives easier - and feel you don't need as

much biodiversity

• Your homes are near the area under discussion
• You may or may not care about the

‘environment’ but you care about your ‘environment’

General public