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

Participation in biocultural diversity conservation : insights from five Amazonian examples

Unidad de excelencia María de Maeztu CEX2019-000940-MThe past three decades have seen the emergence of myriads of initiatives focused on conserving, revitalizing, and maintaining Indigenous and Local Knowledge (ILK) as part of biocultural approaches to conservation. However, the extent to which these efforts have been participatory has been often overlooked. In this chapter, we focus on five prominent ILK conservation initiatives in the Amazon Basin to examine the participation of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLCs) in ILK conservation. Our review illustrates several examples of ILK conservation initiatives offering substantial opportunities for meaningful IPLC participation over the long term. Overall, our case studies suggest that the development of robust and inclusive decision-making processes is essential to optimize IPLC participation in ILK conservation, thereby increasing the legitimacy of these initiatives. Our review is not an exhaustive account of the breadth and depth of all initiatives promoting participatory biocultural conservation in this region, but it illustrates that there are many strategies that can help foster IPLC engagement and lead the participatory turn in biocultural conservation

Potential use of radiometric data for wildlife habitat modelling

The potential use of existing radiometric data sets, previously collected for prospecting purposes, has very rarely been used as a variable predictor in wildlife habitat modelling. The utility of radiometric data for predicting vegetation community patterns and wildlife habitat was investigated in the Australian arid zone using the Burt Plain bioregion as a case study. Using spatial datasets and a Species Distribution Modelling Toolkit, arid zone vertebrate species were modelled with Generalised Linear Modelling (GLM) regression modelling techniques. These models were used to predict the probability of occurrence of a species at any given location, defined in terms of its environmental attributes. A statistical correlation between the radioactive elements uranium, thorium and potassium, and terrain aspect was found. No statistical correlations were established between the radioactive elements and vegetation patterns; although we suspect these exist at finer scales of mapping. Radiometric data were identified as explanatory variables in the habitat models of all of the 32 vertebrate species examined, and used as illustration in the development of probabilistic spatial predictions of three species (Red Kangaroo, Macropus rufus; Lesser Hairy-footed Dunnart, Sminthopsis youngsoni; and Rabbit, Oryctolagus cuniculus) in the bioregion. Our analyses suggest that radiometric data sets involving the radioactive elements: (uranium, thorium, and potassium), and vegetation could be used as predictors of biodiversity patterns at the bioregional and landscape level. This is an important finding given the challenges posed in undertaking broad-scale biological surveys in the arid zone of Australia

Use of radiometrics for bioregional conservation evaluation and wildlife habitat modelling in Central Australia

Airborne geophysical methods have traditionally been used in geological mapping and the exploration for valuable minerals. Radiometric surveys measure the distribution of uranium, thorium and potassium in the Earth's crust, by recording the gamma-ray radiation emitted during the decay of these elements. Approximately 90% of measured gamma rays are received from the top 30 cm of the ground. These measurements enable the interpretation of rock and soil types. These data can be used to define soil types, and radiometrics may help differentiate key discharge and recharge zones at the catchment level. However, the application of airborne geophysical technologies to other areas of land and resource evaluation remains limited despite the rapid development of these technologies over the past decade. In this paper we introduce a study investigating the utility of radiometric data for predicting vegetation community patterns and wildlife habitat in the arid zone. We test for statistical relationships between the concentrations of the elements uranium, thorium and potassium and terrain characteristics such as slope and aspect. We then examine the relationship between these elements and mapped vegetation communities, and the use of radiometric data as a surrogate predictor of wildlife habitat. To the best of our knowledge, this is one of the first investigations of its type for the Australian arid zone

A review of ecosystem services research in Australia reveals a gap in integrating climate change and impacts on ecosystem services

Ecosystem services (ES) are the benefits people obtain from ecosystems. A substantial part of human well-being is dependent on the sustainable flow of ES. Climate change, economic growth and an increasing human population has placed greater pressures on global ES. Australias ecosystems are among the most vulnerable sectors to climate change. Hence, a comprehensive review is necessary to explore ES research that integrates climate change impacts. Our review reveals that ES research in Australia, stimulated in the early 2000s, has continued to increase consistently after the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. Australian ES research has primarily focused on the impact of land-use change and management, policy and governance issues, but less on the impact of climate change on ES. Climate change models show that climate will threaten most of the main ES in Australia by 2050. For the sustainable management of these ES-incorporating climate change-ecosystem and ES specific adaptations are suggested as the best sustainable policy tools for the future. Therefore, further research needs to incorporate climate change and ES for evidence-based sustainable management of Australias ES. We provide the following recommendations for future ES research: (i) evaluating the extent and trend of climate change impacts on ES through consideration of different climate change scenarios; (ii) preparing vulnerability maps of important ES that are likely to be sensitive to climate change and (iii) developing ecosystem and ES specific adaptations to climate change that involve key stakeholders. © 2014 Taylor and Francis

A review of ecosystem services research in Australia reveals a gap in integrating climate change and impacts on ecosystem services

Ecosystem services (ES) are the benefits people obtain from ecosystems. A substantial part of human well-being is dependent on the sustainable flow of ES. Climate change, economic growth and an increasing human population has placed greater pressures on global ES. Australias ecosystems are among the most vulnerable sectors to climate change. Hence, a comprehensive review is necessary to explore ES research that integrates climate change impacts. Our review reveals that ES research in Australia, stimulated in the early 2000s, has continued to increase consistently after the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. Australian ES research has primarily focused on the impact of land-use change and management, policy and governance issues, but less on the impact of climate change on ES. Climate change models show that climate will threaten most of the main ES in Australia by 2050. For the sustainable management of these ES-incorporating climate change-ecosystem and ES specific adaptations are suggested as the best sustainable policy tools for the future. Therefore, further research needs to incorporate climate change and ES for evidence-based sustainable management of Australias ES. We provide the following recommendations for future ES research: (i) evaluating the extent and trend of climate change impacts on ES through consideration of different climate change scenarios; (ii) preparing vulnerability maps of important ES that are likely to be sensitive to climate change and (iii) developing ecosystem and ES specific adaptations to climate change that involve key stakeholders. © 2014 Taylor and Francis

Spatial congruence and divergence between ecosystem services and biodiversity in a tropical forested landscape

Tropical forests are the storehouse of both ecosystem services and biodiversity but the interlinkages between these two components of ecosystems are yet to be fully explored. We utilized expert opinion to assess the key and multiple ecosystem services, and biodiversity in a tropical landscape. We found that key and multiple ecosystem services supply varies across the landscape and that forest disturbances reduce the capacity to supply those ecosystem services. We also found that a spatial congruence is likely to occurs between high-potential biodiversity and high-potential global climate regulation ecosystem service in the intact rainforest areas while a spatial divergence is likely to occurs in the sclerophyll and other disturbed and low tree abundance forested areas. Overall in a tropical forested landscape, a spatial congruence between high-potential multiple ecosystem services supply and high-potential biodiversity values is likely to occurs provided that the multiple ecosystem services are forest-based. Along with conserving relatively intact forests, management intervention priorities should focus on increasing tree abundance both in non-tree vegetated land cover areas and within disturbed forested areas to increase the high-potential multiple ecosystem services supply at the landscape level. A careful selection of multiple ecosystem services is required to integrate both high-potential multiple ecosystem services and high-potential biodiversity in tropical forest management. © 2018 Elsevier LtdAssociated Grant:Skyrail Rainforest Foundation, Australia for the partial funding of this research

Assessing regulating and provisioning ecosystem services in a contrasting tropical forest landscape

Ecosystem services are the bridge between nature and society, and are essential elements of community well-being. The Wet Tropics Australia, is environmentally and biologically diverse, and supplies numerous ecosystem services. It contributes to the community well-being of this region, Australian national economy and global climate change mitigation efforts. However, the ecosystem services in the region have rarely been assessed undermining strategic landscape planning to sustain their future flow. In this study, we attempted to: (i) assess the quantity of five regulating ecosystem services - global climate regulation, air quality regulation, erosion regulation, nutrient regulation, and cyclone protection, and three provisioning ecosystem services - habitat provision, energy provision and timber provision across rainforests, sclerophyll forests and rehabilitated plantation forests; (ii) evaluate the variation of supply of those regulating and provisioning ecosystem services across environmental gradients, such as rainfall, temperature, and elevation; (iii) show the relationships among those ecosystem services; and (iv) identify the hotspots of single and multiple ecosystem services supply across the landscape. The results showed that rainforests possess a very high capacity to supply single and multiple ecosystem services, and the hotspots for most of the regulating and provisioning ecosystem services are found in upland rainforest followed by lowland rainforest, and upland sclerophyll forest. Elevation, rainfall and temperature gradients along with forest structure are the main determinant factors for the quantity of ecosystem services supplied across the three forest types. The correlation among ecosystem services may be positive or negative depending on the ecosystem service category and vegetation type. The rehabilitated plantation forests may provide some ecosystem services comparable to the rainforest. The results demonstrated disturbance regimes (such as tropical cyclones) may have influenced the usual spatial trend of ecosystem service values. This study will assist decision makers in incorporating ecosystem services into their natural resource management planning, and for practitioners to identify the areas with higher values of specific and multiple ecosystem services. © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved