Towards integrated measures of biodiversity, ecosystem function

and ecosystem service

Martin Solan, Jasmin Godbold, Mark Bulling

Oceanlab, University of Aberdeen, UK

m.solan@abdn.ac.uk

Marine goods and services

Beaumont et al. 2008

Human impact on the global ocean

Halpern et al. 2008

Year

1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006

Cita

tion

fre

qu

en

cy

0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000

0 1 2 3

020

4060

8010

012

0

Habitat type of study

Ann

ual c

itatio

n ra

te

Accelerating interest

Year

1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006

Num

ber

of p

ublic

atio

ns (

year

-1)

0

50

100

150

200

Investigating consequences of species loss

0

10

20

30

40

50

A B Expected A+B A+B

Species

Eco

syst

em p

roce

ss

Fix biomass

Manipulating benthic diversity

Concerns over consequences of biodiversity loss

-Ethical-Religious

Schulze & Mooney (1994) Vitousek et al. (1997)

Hypothesis generation

-Rivet-Redundancy -Idiosyncratic

-Expert opinion

Hypothetical scenariogeneration

Sala et al. (2000)

Laboratory experiments TheoreticalHistorical data

LimitationsCriticism, validation & modification

-Small scale-Simple communities-One trophic level-No species interactions

-Heterogeneity of variance-Confounding factorsAarssen (1997), Huston (1997),Ieno et al. (2006)

For reviews:-Hooper et al. (2005)-Naeem et al. (2002)-Hughes & Petchey (2001)-Loreau et al. (2001)

Phase

1: Envi

ronm

enta

l va

riati

on c

ontr

olled

Reality Filter

Emmerson & Huxham (2002) Tilman et al. (1997)Cardinale et al. (2004)

Theoretical

Yachi & Loreau (1999)Cardinale et al. (2000)Ives & Cardinale (2004)Gross & Cardinale (2005)

Connection to real world Field experimentsReal world in laboratory

Combinatorial

Biodiversity futuresbased on data

Sp. addition & removalIn-situ

Naeem & Wright (2003)

Duffy et al. (2003)

Model with validation

Empirically derivedscenario generation

Emmerson et al. (2001)Widdicombe et al. (2000)

Bruno et al. (2005)Bruno et al. (2006)

Hector et al. (1999)Symstad & Tilman (2001)Diaz et al. (2003)

Biles et al. (2003)Swan & Palmer (2004)O’Connor & Crowe (2005)

Movement to the real world

Solan et al. (2004) Zavaleta & Hulvey (2004)Bunker et al. (2005) McIntyre et al. (2007)

Bracken et al. (2008)

Emmerson & Raffaelli (2000) Swan & Palmer (2005)Fox (2006)

Flint & Kalke (2005)Raffaelli et al. (2005a, b)

Controversy

Natural & anthropogenic gradients of disturbance Indirect manipulations

Wardle et al. (1997)Troumbis & Memtsas (2000)Cardinale et al. (2005)Ruesink et al. (2006)Natural reduction of

confounding factorsStatistical partitioning

Phase

2: In

clusi

on o

f su

bse

t of

envi

ronm

enta

l va

riati

on

Phase

3: In

corp

ora

ting

envi

ronm

enta

l va

riati

on

Vitousek et al. (1994)Austin (2002)

e.g. -partial linear regression-variance partitioning

- Time (O’Connor & Crowe, 2005)- Multi-trophism (France & Duffy, 2006a)- Community complexity (France & Duffy, 2006b)- Multi-functionality (Hector & Bagchi, 2007)

Fukami & Wardle (2005) -Diseases-Extractive industry-Paleological record-“freak” disturbance events

Field observations

Summaries andmeta-analyses

Covich et al. (2004)Balvanera et al. (2006)Cardinale et al. (2006)Worm et al. (2006)

BEF indicesScholes & Briggs (2005)Rouget et al. (2006)Zhang & Zhang (2007)

-Economic-Scientific

Relevance

Srivastava & Vellend (2005)

Increasing system complexity

Application in the real world

Extension to landscape & ecosystem scales

Connection with ecosystem services

Translation to policy

Aid management and conservation issues

Srivastava & Vellend (2005)Millenium Assessment (2005)Diaz et al. (2006)

Expert advice

Loreau et al. (2006)

Godbold 2009

(a) (b) (c) (d) (e) (f)

Year

1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006

Pro

port

ion

of

cita

tions

to N

aee

m e

t al.

(199

4)

0.0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.0

Year

1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006

Pro

port

ion

of

cita

tions

to H

usto

n (

1997

)

0.0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.0

Year

1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006

Pro

port

ion

of

cita

tions

to T

ilma

n et

al.

(199

7)

0.0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.0

Year

1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006

Pro

port

ion

of

cita

tions

to L

ore

au e

t al.

(200

1)

0.0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.0

Year

1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006

Pro

port

ion

of

cita

tions

to H

ecto

r e

t al.

(199

9)

0.0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.0

Year

1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006

Pro

port

ion

of

cita

tions

to H

oop

er &

Vito

usek

(1

997)

0.0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.0

From Solan & Godbold 2009See also Benton et al. 2007

Percolation and credibility effects – not got to ES yet

Talk>Theory>Methods>Lab and field experiments>Observations>Application

Moving towards ecosystem services

EF

Biodiversity Biodiversity

ES

Straightforward translation?

Rate/magnitude

Time / Space

ES ~ f(biodiversity, ecosystem functioning, environment)

Biodiversity

Environment

B

E

Biodiversity

Environment

E

B

Revise our way of thinking

• Distinguish the effects of biodiversity on ecosystem processes from the effects of the environmental factors

• Statistically overcome the limitations of confounding, collinear & auto-correlated variables

Biodiversity Environment

(Pearson & Rosenberg, 1978)

Dilemma #1: what contributes to ecosystem services?

Dilemma #2: scale and context

Dilemma #3: data resolution

Different factors contributing to ecosystem services will require different resolution

Dilemma #4: technology, manpower and resources

Moving to the real world?

Sensors are developed…

And in an estuarine setting, fouling no longer an issue…

Technology exists already, but has not been used in this context….

The Ythan-net vision: linking ecosystem services to changes in biodiversity and ecosystem functioning

Real time data coupled with ground truth survey and observation