Biodiversity and ecosystem function Managing landscapes for - PDF document

Biodiversity and ecosystem function Managing landscapes for multiple ecosystem services Christopher Philipson Twitter @PhilipsonChris

Biodiversity and ecosystem function: 
 the grassland experiments 
 Cedar Creek in North America

Biodiversity and ecosystem function: 
 the grassland experiments 
 The EU Biodepth Project

Plant biomass has been shown to increase with diversity in experimental grassland communities 1400 2 ) 1200 Aboveground biomass (g/m 1000 800 600 400 200 0 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 Species diversity .

Ecosystem functions and services

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

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 Congo: 250 tree species/ha Nearly 300 tree species in 1 ha of Amazonian forest – an equivalent area of temperate forest typically possesses less than ten Smokey Mountains, USA: 10 tree species/ha

Discussion session: Managing landscapes for multiple ecosystem services How much biodiversity do we need? Location: ? Academic Advisors versus Land Managers + General Public?

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

General public • Your homes are near the area under discussion • You may or may not care about the ‘environment’ but you care about your ‘environment’