-
Biodiversity Under Global Change
-
Many common plant species, such as prairie grasses, have evolved traits for the efficient capture and use of two key resources that limit terrestrial productivity: nitrogen (N) and carbon dioxide (CO2). Over the past 60 years, human activity has vastly increased the availability of these resources. Atmospheric CO2 concentration has increased by 40%, and N availability has more than doubled. These changes are likely to have important consequences for species interactions, community structure, and ecosystem functioning. On
page 1399 of this issue, Reich investigates one important consequence, biodiversity loss, based on a long-term elevated CO2 and nitrogen fertilization experiment.
Located in
Resources
/
Climate Science Documents
-
Biotic Multipliers of Climate Change
-
A focus on species interactions may improve predictions of the effects of climate change
on ecosystems.
Located in
Resources
/
Climate Science Documents
-
Defaunation in the Anthropocene
-
We live amid a global wave of anthropogenically driven biodiversity loss: species
and population extirpations and, critically, declines in local species abundance.
Particularly, human impacts on animal biodiversity are an under-recognized form of
global environmental change. Among terrestrial vertebrates, 322 species have
become extinct since 1500, and populations of the remaining species show 25%
average decline in abundance. Invertebrate patterns are equally dire: 67% of
monitored populations show 45% mean abundance decline. Such animal declines
will cascade onto ecosystem functioning and human well-being. Much remains unknown
about this “Anthropocene defaunation”; these knowledge gaps hinder our capacity
to predict and limit defaunation impacts. Clearly, however, defaunation is both a
pervasive component of the planet’s sixth mass extinction and also a major driver of
global ecological change
25 JULY 2014 • VOL 345 ISSUE 6195
Located in
Resources
/
Climate Science Documents
-
Challenges of ecological restoration: Lessons from forests in northern Europe
-
The alarming rate of ecosystem degradation has raised the need for ecological restoration throughout different biomes and continents. North European forests may appear as one of the least vulnerable ecosystems from a global perspective, since forest cover is not rapidly decreasing and many ecosystem services remain at high level. However, extensive areas of northern forests are heavily exploited and have lost a major part of their biodiversity value. There is a strong requirement to restore these areas towards a more natural condition in order to meet the targets of the Convention on Biological Diversity. Several northern countries are now taking up this challenge by restoring forest biodiversity with increasing intensity. The ecology and biodiversity of boreal forests are relatively well understood making them a good model for restoration activities in many other forest ecosystems. Here we introduce northern forests as an ecosystem, discuss the historical and recent human impact and provide a brief status report on the ecological restoration projects and research already conducted there. Based on this discussion, we argue that before any restoration actions commence, the ecology of the target ecosystem should be established with the need for restoration carefully assessed and the outcome properly monitored. Finally, we identify the most important challenges that need to be solved in order to carry out efficient restoration with powerful and long-term positive impacts on biodiversity: coping with unpredictability, maintaining connectivity in time and space, assessment of functionality, management of conflicting interests and social restrictions and ensuring adequate funding.
Located in
Resources
/
Climate Science Documents
-
Schuette, Scott
-
Located in
Expertise Search
