Biodiversity and ecosystem services in forests: management and restoration founded on ecological theory

The role of forest fragmentation in yellow fever virus dispersal

The intense process of deforestation in tropical forests poses serious challenges for the survival of biodiversity, as well as for the human species itself. This scenario is supported by the increase in the incidence of epidemics of zoonotic origin observed over the last few decades. In the specific case of sylvatic yellow fever (YF), it has already been shown that an increase in the transmission risk of the causative agent (yellow fever virus - YFV) is associated with areas with a high degree of forest fragmentation, which can facilitate the spread of the virus. In this study we tested the hypothesis that areas with more fragmented landscapes and a higher edge density (ED) but a high degree of connectivity between forest patches favor YFV spread. To this end, we used YF epizootics in non-human primates (NHPs) in the state of São Paulo to build direct networks, and used a multi-selection approach to analyze which landscape features could facilitate YFV spread. Our results showed that municipalities with the potential to spread the virus exhibited a higher amount of forest edge. Additionally, the models with greater empirical support showed a strong association between forest edge density and the risk of occurrence of epizootic diseases, as well as the need for a minimum threshold of native vegetation cover to restrict their transmission. These findings corroborate our hypothesis that more fragmented landscapes with a higher degree of connectivity favor the spread of YFV, while landscapes with fewer connections tend to act as dead zones for the circulation of the virus.

Effect of forest cover change on ecosystem services in central highlands of Ethiopia: A case of Wof-Washa forest

Forest provides a wide range of ecosystem services and is considered as one of the major sources of livelihood for the local people. In recent years, forest cover in developing countries has been declining due to expansion of agricultural land and increasing human demand for forest products. The declining of forest cover significantly reduces forest ecosystem services, impacting environmental health and community well-being. Although many studies have shown declining of forest cover, the impact of declining forest cover on ecosystem services is not getting much attention in Ethiopia. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the impact of forest cover change on ecosystem service values in the Wof-Washa forest over the past 47 years. This study combined geospatial techniques and socioeconomic survey methods to assess the impact of land use and land cover (LULC) change on the value of ecosystem services. Ecosystem services were estimated using the benefit transfer method and socioeconomic assessment. A total of 184 households were surveyed with structured and semi-structured questionnaires. The results revealed that the provisioning services increased, while the regulating, supportive, and cultural services decreased. We find that about US$ 2 million were reduced due to LULC change, especially due to forest cover change. As forest cover decreased, the monetary value of ecosystem services and their benefits to local people declined significantly. The results reveal that deforestation is a major challenge that can reduce the value of ecosystem services. The results of this study are vital for developing effective forest conservation strategies before irreversible damage to ecosystem services.

Climate-driven divergent long-term trends of forest beetles in Japan

Concerning declines in insect populations have been reported from Europe and the United States, yet there are gaps in our knowledge of the drivers of insect trends and their distribution across the world. We report on our analysis of a spatially extensive, 14-year study of ground-dwelling beetles in four natural forest biomes spanning Japan's entire latitudinal range (3000 km). Beetle species richness, abundance and biomass declined in evergreen coniferous forests but increased in broadleaf-coniferous mixed forests. Further, beetles in evergreen coniferous forests responded negatively to increased temperature and precipitation anomalies, which have both risen over the study's timespan. These significant changes parallel reports of climate-driven changes in forest tree species, providing further evidence that climate change is altering forest ecosystems fundamentally. Given the enormous biodiversity and ecosystem services that forests support globally, the implications for biodiversity change resulting from climate change could be profound.

High exposure of global tree diversity to human pressure

Safeguarding Earth's tree diversity is a conservation priority due to the importance of trees for biodiversity and ecosystem functions and services such as carbon sequestration. Here, we improve the foundation for effective conservation of global tree diversity by analyzing a recently developed database of tree species covering 46,752 species. We quantify range protection and anthropogenic pressures for each species and develop conservation priorities across taxonomic, phylogenetic, and functional diversity dimensions. We also assess the effectiveness of several influential proposed conservation prioritization frameworks to protect the top 17% and top 50% of tree priority areas. We find that an average of 50.2% of a tree species' range occurs in 110-km grid cells without any protected areas (PAs), with 6,377 small-range tree species fully unprotected, and that 83% of tree species experience nonnegligible human pressure across their range on average. Protecting high-priority areas for the top 17% and 50% priority thresholds would increase the average protected proportion of each tree species' range to 65.5% and 82.6%, respectively, leaving many fewer species (2,151 and 2,010) completely unprotected. The priority areas identified for trees match well to the Global 200 Ecoregions framework, revealing that priority areas for trees would in large part also optimize protection for terrestrial biodiversity overall. Based on range estimates for >46,000 tree species, our findings show that a large proportion of tree species receive limited protection by current PAs and are under substantial human pressure. Improved protection of biodiversity overall would also strongly benefit global tree diversity.

Response of Biodiversity, Ecosystems, and Ecosystem Services to Climate Change in China: A Review

Climate change is having a significant impact on the global ecosystem and is likely to become increasingly important as this phenomenon intensifies. Numerous studies in climate change impacts on biodiversity, ecosystems, and ecosystem services in China have been published in recent decades. However, a comprehensive review of the topic is needed to provide an improved understanding of the history and driving mechanisms of environmental changes within the region. Here we review the evidence for changes in climate and the peer-reviewed literature that assesses climate change impacts on biodiversity, ecosystem, and ecosystem services at a China scale. Our main conclusions are as follows. (1) Most of the evidence shows that climate change (the increasing extreme events) is affecting the change of productivity, species interactions, and biological invasions, especially in the agro-pastoral transition zone and fragile ecological area in Northern China. (2) The individuals and populations respond to climate change through changes in behavior, functions, and geographic scope. (3) The impact of climate change on most types of services (provisioning, regulating, supporting, and cultural) in China is mainly negative and brings threats and challenges to human well-being and natural resource management, therefore, requiring costly societal adjustments. In general, although great progress has been made, the management strategies still need to be further improved. Integrating climate change into ecosystem services assessment and natural resource management is still a major challenge. Moving forward, it is necessary to evaluate and research the effectiveness of typical demonstration cases, which will contribute to better scientific management of natural resources in China and the world.

Tackling unresolved questions in forest ecology: The past and future role of simulation models

Understanding the processes that shape forest functioning, structure, and diversity remains challenging, although data on forest systems are being collected at a rapid pace and across scales. Forest models have a long history in bridging data with ecological knowledge and can simulate forest dynamics over spatio-temporal scales unreachable by most empirical investigations.We describe the development that different forest modelling communities have followed to underpin the leverage that simulation models offer for advancing our understanding of forest ecosystems.Using three widely applied but contrasting approaches - species distribution models, individual-based forest models, and dynamic global vegetation models - as examples, we show how scientific and technical advances have led models to transgress their initial objectives and limitations. We provide an overview of recent model applications on current important ecological topics and pinpoint ten key questions that could, and should, be tackled with forest models in the next decade.Synthesis. This overview shows that forest models, due to their complementarity and mutual enrichment, represent an invaluable toolkit to address a wide range of fundamental and applied ecological questions, hence fostering a deeper understanding of forest dynamics in the context of global change.

Contrasting vulnerability of monospecific and species-diverse forests to wind and bark beetle disturbance: The role of management

Wind and bark beetle disturbances have increased in recent decades, affecting Europe's coniferous forests with particular severity. Management fostering forest diversity and resilience is deemed to effectively mitigate disturbance impacts, yet its efficiency and interaction with other disturbance management measures remain unclear.We focused on Central Europe, which has become one of the hotspots of recent disturbance changes. We used the iLand ecosystem model to understand the interplay between species composition of the forest, forest disturbance dynamics affected by climate change, and disturbance management. The tested measures included (a) active transformation of tree species composition toward site-matching species; (b) intensive removal of windfelled trees, which can support the buildup of bark beetle populations; and (c) reduction of mature and vulnerable trees on the landscape via modified harvesting regimes.We found that management systems aiming to sustain the dominance of Norway spruce in the forest are failing under climate change, and none of the measures applied could mitigate the disturbance impacts. Conversely, management systems fostering forest diversity substantially reduced the level of disturbance. Significant disturbance reduction has been achieved even without salvaging and rotation length reduction, which is beneficial for ecosystem recovery, carbon, and biodiversity. Synthesis and applications: We conclude that climate change amplifies the contrast in vulnerability of monospecific and species-diverse forests to wind and bark beetle disturbance. Whereas forests dominated by Norway spruce are not likely to be sustained in Central Europe under climate change, different management strategies can be applied in species-diverse forests to reach the desired control over the disturbance dynamic. Our findings justify some unrealistic expectations about the options to control disturbance dynamics under climate change and highlight the importance of management that fosters forest diversity.

Do both habitat and species diversity provide cultural ecosystem services? A trial using geo-tagged photos

Conservation for both biodiversity and ecosystem services are an important issue worldwide. However, knowledge of their relationship remains limited. As habitat structure is strongly related to regional biodiversity, we studied cultural ecosystem services by using habitat structure as a proxy for biodiversity. Specifically, we used human preference, assessed by using photos with location information (i.e. geo-tagged digital pictures) as an index of a cultural ecosystem service. We conducted nature walks in semi-natural environments for cognitively-impaired students from a local special school and studied the photos they took during the walks. We analysed the habitat preferences inferred from the photo locations and the composition of the photos—whether they were close-up, scenic or landscape views. The results showed that levels of human preference and biodiversity, indicated by habitat structure, had a positive relationship. During spring to autumn, when levels of biological activity are higher, people tended to show more preference in close-up views (i.e. the subject of the photo was the species itself). In winter, they tended to be interested in scenic views that were not strongly influenced by species diversity. Additionally, photos taken in areas with threatened species almost always included close-up views, although not of the threatened species themselves. Areas with high species diversity therefore appeared to be more appealing to the participants. These results suggest that habitat diversity could not only contribute to biodiversity, but also provide cultural ecosystem services. Habitat conservation for semi-natural environments could be synergised for both biodiversity conservation and general human well-being.

Multiple forest attributes underpin the supply of multiple ecosystem services

Trade-offs and synergies in the supply of forest ecosystem services are common but the drivers of these relationships are poorly understood. To guide management that seeks to promote multiple services, we investigated the relationships between 12 stand-level forest attributes, including structure, composition, heterogeneity and plant diversity, plus 4 environmental factors, and proxies for 14 ecosystem services in 150 temperate forest plots. Our results show that forest attributes are the best predictors of most ecosystem services and are also good predictors of several synergies and trade-offs between services. Environmental factors also play an important role, mostly in combination with forest attributes. Our study suggests that managing forests to increase structural heterogeneity, maintain large trees, and canopy gaps would promote the supply of multiple ecosystem services. These results highlight the potential for forest management to encourage multifunctional forests and suggest that a coordinated landscape-scale strategy could help to mitigate trade-offs in human-dominated landscapes.

Linking forest successional dynamics to community dependence on provisioning ecosystem services from the Central Himalayan forests of Uttarakhand

The study examines the relationship between Ecosystem Services (ES) supply and vegetation dynamics through a series of five vegetation types representing a hypothetical successional sequence (i.e., Grassland, Pine, Pine-Oak mix, Open Oak, Dense Oak). We quantified and compared the dependence of local livelihood on provisioning services from forests at each level of succession and the resource extraction methods used to obtain desired products through a structured social survey covering 19 villages and 702 households in Tehri Garhwal and Dehradun districts of Uttarakhand. We found that broad leaved oak forests (covering 38.5% of total 57,516 ha of the study area) were the most important vegetation formation supporting local livelihoods. Meanwhile, the extraction of services from other early successional vegetation formations was significantly lower than oak forests, both in terms of number and quantities. Notably, the highest dependence was on fuel wood, fodder, and stall inlay (animal bedding), most of which were provided by dense oak forests. The high dependence on vegetation to support household needs and subsequent resource extraction through grazing, lopping, cutting, collection, and fire, act as unsystematic management techniques in the study area, maintaining the vegetation in its present form. An understanding of ecosystem service supply from each level of succession and the resource extraction methods used to obtain desired services can assist forest managers to choose the best suited management regime depending on their aim and stakeholder demands.