How do we quantify biodiversity? All the evidence in one place.

Biodiversity is a multi-dimensional concept that is represented by a large variety of measures. This complexity and lack of consistency limits the development of a coherent scientific understanding of biodiversity and how properties, such as ecosystem services, may depend on it. Here, I demonstrate that the formal discipline of creating a relational database (RDB) for information about biodiversity and its measures, is a useful tool in organising such knowledge into coherent sense. Following steps of the logical database design and data normalization to build a RDB, results in a formal definition of biodiversity within a well defined concept structure; mapping rules between the concepts of biodiversity and entities of RDB and a consistent information structure - all in one place. I show how this is then used to support evidence-based objective statements about biodiversity

Mapping of Forest Biodiversity Values: A Plural Perspective

The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment is built on a conceptual framework that links biodiversity to the services ecosystems provide to society. Based on this framework, we first compile market and non-market forest valuation studies and, secondly, explore the potential of an econometric modeling exercise by conducting a world wide meta-analysis. This exercise aims to highlight the mapping of biodiversity indicators and assesses their respective role on the valuation exercise. Our results show that biodiversity loss is having an effect on forest ecosystem values. In addition, these effects reveal to be dependent on the type of services and global geo-climatic regions.Millennium Ecosystems Approach, Biodiversity Loss, Meta-Analysis, Market Valuation, Non-Market Valuation, Forests

Fine-scale mapping of High Nature Value farmlands: novel approaches to improve the management of rural biodiversity and ecosystem services

High Nature Value farmlands (HNVf) are defined as rural lands characterized by high levels of biodiversity and extensive farming practices. These farmlands are also known to provide important ecosystems services, such as food production, pollination, water purification and landscape recreation. Recently, this concept has been introduced in Rural Development Programmes related to biodiversity preservation in traditional agricultural landscapes. However, there are no specific rules concerning the practical use of the concept, particularly on the identification of potential HNVf areas at a local scale. However, this application becomes important for farmland biodiversity protection in the context of multi-scale agricultural development. We present a novel approach for HNVf mapping, which provides an improved local discrimination of farmlands according to their contribution for the conservation of rural biodiversity and ecosystem services. Our approach is based on a multi-criteria valuation of habitat types based on the national land cover map and agrarian censuses. It is onsidered applicable in other EU countries since comparable datasets are usually available. This methodology is also expected to provide the backbone of a standard, cost-effective methodology for HNVf monitoring, with an emphasis on the impacts of land use change on species, habitats and landscape function

Global Hotspots of Conflict Risk between Food Security and Biodiversity Conservation

This work contributes to the Belmont Forum/FACCE-JPI DEVIL project (grant number NE/M021327/1), and AM is supported by a BBSRC EastBio Studentship (http://www.eastscotbiodtp.ac.uk/). The Conservation Biology Institute are acknowledged for provision of data as well as BirdLife International, IUCN, NatureServe, and USGS for their contribution of the species range map data used in producing data available from the Biodiversity Mapping website (http://biodiversitymapping.org).Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Mapping biodiversity value worldwide: combining higher-taxon richness from different groups

Maps of large-scale biodiversity are urgently needed to guide conservation, and yet complete enumeration of organisms is impractical at present. One indirect approach is to measure richness at higher taxonomic ranks, such as families. The difficulty is how to combine information from different groups on numbers of higher taxa, when these taxa may in effect have been defined in different ways, particularly for more distantly related major groups. In this paper, the regional family richness of terrestrial and freshwater seed plants, amphibians, reptiles and mammals is mapped worldwide by combining: (i) absolute family richness; (ii) proportional family richness; and (iii) proportional family richness weighted for the total species richness in each major group. The assumptions of the three methods and their effects on the results are discussed, although for these data the broad pattern is surprisingly robust with respect to the method of combination. Scores from each of the methods of combining families are used to rank the top five richness hotspots and complementary areas, and hotspots of endemism are mapped by unweighted combination of range-size rarity scores

Mapping environmental services in Guatemala

In this paper, we use data from Guatemala to map areas that are important for the provision of indirect ecosystem services—services whose benefits are enjoyed at some distance from the ecosystem that provides them, such as watershed services (enjoyed downstream) or biodiversity conservation (enjoyed globally). These services are usually externalities from the perspective of land users, and so tend to be under-provided. Mapping the areas that supply such services links the supply and demand of ecosystem services in a spatially explicit way, allowing us to identify and prioritize areas of conservation interest.environmental services, mapping, gis, guatemala, watershed

Mitochondrial metagenomics: letting the genes out of the bottle

‘Mitochondrial metagenomics’ (MMG) is a methodology for shotgun sequencing of total DNA from specimen mixtures and subsequent bioinformatic extraction of mitochondrial sequences. The approach can be applied to phylogenetic analysis of taxonomically selected taxa, as an economical alternative to mitogenome sequencing from individual species, or to environmental samples of mixed specimens, such as from mass trapping of invertebrates. The routine generation of mitochondrial genome sequences has great potential both for systematics and community phylogenetics. Mapping of reads from low-coverage shotgun sequencing of environmental samples also makes it possible to obtain data on spatial and temporal turnover in whole-community phylogenetic and species composition, even in complex ecosystems where species-level taxonomy and biodiversity patterns are poorly known. In addition, read mapping can produce information on species biomass, and potentially allows quantification of within-species genetic variation. The success of MMG relies on the formation of numerous mitochondrial genome contigs, achievable with standard genome assemblers, but various challenges for the efficiency of assembly remain, particularly in the face of variable relative species abundance and intra-specific genetic variation. Nevertheless, several studies have demonstrated the power of mitogenomes from MMG for accurate phylogenetic placement, evolutionary analysis of species traits, biodiversity discovery and the establishment of species distribution patterns; it offers a promising avenue for unifying the ecological and evolutionary understanding of species diversity

Industrial Waste and Urban Bio-diversity in Developing country: Mapping Aquatic Biodiversity in Nepal

This study investigates empirically the relationship between industrial waste and urban biodiversity in Nepal by using mapping method based on secondary data sources. In addition, it estimates social cost of urban biodiversity loss. Its result is positive correlation between industrial waste and urban biodiversity loss. Its social cost is interestingly significant

A Synopsis of Global Mapping of Freshwater Habitats and Biodiversity: Implications for Conservation

Accurately mapping freshwater habitats and biodiversity at high-resolutions across the globe is essential for assessing the vulnerability and threats to freshwater organisms and prioritizing conservation efforts. Since the 2000s, extensive efforts have been devoted to mapping global freshwater habitats (rivers, lakes, and wetlands), the spatial representation of which has changed dramatically over time with new geospatial data products and improved remote sensing technologies. Some of these mapping efforts, however, are still coarse representations of actual conditions. Likewise, the resolution and scope of global freshwater biodiversity compilation efforts have also increased, but are yet to mirror the spatial resolution and fidelity of mapped freshwater environments. In our synopsis, we find that efforts to map freshwater habitats have been conducted independently of those for freshwater biodiversity; subsequently, there is little congruence in the spatial representation and resolution of the two efforts. We suggest that global species distribution models are needed to fill this information gap; however, limiting data on habitat characteristics at scales that complement freshwater habitats has prohibited global high-resolution biogeography efforts. Emerging research trends, such as mapping habitat alteration in freshwater ecosystems and trait biogeography, show great promise in mechanistically linking global anthropogenic stressors to freshwater biodiversity decline and extinction risk

Mapping and assessment of ecosystems and their services. Urban ecosystems

Action 5 of the EU Biodiversity Strategy to 2020 requires member states to Map and Assess the state of Ecosystems and their Services (MAES). This report provides guidance for mapping and assessment of urban ecosystems. The MAES urban pilot is a collaboration between the European Commission, the European Environment Agency, volunteering Member States and cities, and stakeholders. Its ultimate goal is to deliver a knowledge base for policy and management of urban ecosystems by analysing urban green infrastructure, condition of urban ecosystems and ecosystem services. This report presents guidance for mapping urban ecosystems and includes an indicator framework to assess the condition of urban ecosystems and urban ecosystem services. The scientific framework of mapping and assessment is designed to support in particular urban planning policy and policy on green infrastructure at urban, metropolitan and regional scales. The results are based on the following different sources of information: a literature survey of 54 scientific articles, an online-survey (on urban ecosystems, related policies and planning instruments and with participation of 42 cities), ten case studies (Portugal: Cascais, Oeiras, Lisbon; Italy: Padua, Trento, Rome; The Netherlands: Utrecht; Poland: Poznań; Spain: Barcelona; Norway: Oslo), and a two-day expert workshop. The case studies constituted the core of the MAES urban pilot. They provided real examples and applications of how mapping and assessment can be organized to support policy; on top, they provided the necessary expertise to select a set of final indicators for condition and ecosystem services. Urban ecosystems or cities are defined here as socio-ecological systems which are composed of green infrastructure and built infrastructure. Urban green infrastructure (GI) is understood in this report as the multi-functional network of urban green spaces situated within the boundary of the urban ecosystem. Urban green spaces are the structural components of urban GI. This study has shown that there is a large scope for urban ecosystem assessments. Firstly, urban policies increasingly use urban green infrastructure and nature-based solutions in their planning process. Secondly, an increasing amount of data at multiple spatial scales is becoming available to support these policies, to provide a baseline, and to compare or benchmark cities with respect to the extent and management of the urban ecosystem. Concrete examples are given on how to delineate urban ecosystems, how to choose an appropriate spatial scale, and how to map urban ecosystems based on a combination of national or European datasets (including Urban Atlas) and locally collected information (e.g., location of trees). Also examples of typologies for urban green spaces are presented. This report presents an indicator framework which is composed of indicators to assess for urban ecosystem condition and for urban ecosystem services. These are the result of a rigorous selection process and ensure consistent mapping and assessment across Europe. The MAES urban pilot will continue with work on the interface between research and policy. The framework presented in this report needs to be tested and validated across Europe, e.g. on its applicability at city scale, on how far the methodology for measuring ecosystem condition and ecosystem service delivery in urban areas can be used to assess urban green infrastructure and nature-based solutions