Dataset Information

Ecosystem services and opportunity costs shift spatial priorities for conserving forest biodiversity.

ABSTRACT: Inclusion of spatially explicit information on ecosystem services in conservation planning is a fairly new practice. This study analyses how the incorporation of ecosystem services as conservation features can affect conservation of forest biodiversity and how different opportunity cost constraints can change spatial priorities for conservation. We created spatially explicit cost-effective conservation scenarios for 59 forest biodiversity features and five ecosystem services in the county of Telemark (Norway) with the help of the heuristic optimisation planning software, Marxan with Zones. We combined a mix of conservation instruments where forestry is either completely (non-use zone) or partially restricted (partial use zone). Opportunity costs were measured in terms of foregone timber harvest, an important provisioning service in Telemark. Including a number of ecosystem services shifted priority conservation sites compared to a case where only biodiversity was considered, and increased the area of both the partial (+36.2%) and the non-use zone (+3.2%). Furthermore, opportunity costs increased (+6.6%), which suggests that ecosystem services may not be a side-benefit of biodiversity conservation in this area. Opportunity cost levels were systematically changed to analyse their effect on spatial conservation priorities. Conservation of biodiversity and ecosystem services trades off against timber harvest. Currently designated nature reserves and landscape protection areas achieve a very low proportion (9.1%) of the conservation targets we set in our scenario, which illustrates the high importance given to timber production at present. A trade-off curve indicated that large marginal increases in conservation target achievement are possible when the budget for conservation is increased. Forty percent of the maximum hypothetical opportunity costs would yield an average conservation target achievement of 79%.

SUBMITTER: Schroter M

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4230974 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Ecosystem services and opportunity costs shift spatial priorities for conserving forest biodiversity.

Schröter Matthias M Rusch Graciela M GM Barton David N DN Blumentrath Stefan S Nordén Björn B

PloS one 20141113 11

Inclusion of spatially explicit information on ecosystem services in conservation planning is a fairly new practice. This study analyses how the incorporation of ecosystem services as conservation features can affect conservation of forest biodiversity and how different opportunity cost constraints can change spatial priorities for conservation. We created spatially explicit cost-effective conservation scenarios for 59 forest biodiversity features and five ecosystem services in the county of Tel ...[more]

PMID: 25393951

Similar Datasets

Project description:Resilience is increasingly being considered as a new paradigm of forest management among scientists, practitioners, and policymakers. However, metrics of resilience to environmental change are lacking. Faced with novel disturbances, forests may be able to sustain existing ecosystem services and biodiversity by exhibiting resilience, or alternatively these attributes may undergo either a linear or nonlinear decline. Here we provide a novel quantitative approach for assessing forest resilience that focuses on three components of resilience, namely resistance, recovery, and net change, using a spatially explicit model of forest dynamics. Under the pulse set scenarios, we explored the resilience of nine ecosystem services and four biodiversity measures following a one-off disturbance applied to an increasing percentage of forest area. Under the pulse + press set scenarios, the six disturbance intensities explored during the pulse set were followed by a continuous disturbance. We detected thresholds in net change under pulse + press scenarios for the majority of the ecosystem services and biodiversity measures, which started to decline sharply when disturbance affected >40% of the landscape. Thresholds in net change were not observed under the pulse scenarios, with the exception of timber volume and ground flora species richness. Thresholds were most pronounced for aboveground biomass, timber volume with respect to the ecosystem services, and ectomycorrhizal fungi and ground flora species richness with respect to the biodiversity measures. Synthesis and applications. The approach presented here illustrates how the multidimensionality of stability research in ecology can be addressed and how forest resilience can be estimated in practice. Managers should adopt specific management actions to support each of the three components of resilience separately, as these may respond differently to disturbance. In addition, management interventions aiming to deliver resilience should incorporate an assessment of both pulse and press disturbances to ensure detection of threshold responses to disturbance, so that appropriate management interventions can be identified.

Project description:Understanding the spatial distribution of urban forest ecosystem services is essential for urban planners and managers to effectively manage cities and is an essential part of sustainable urban development. Mapping the spatial distribution of urban forest ecosystem services and improving the accuracy of its assessment scale will undoubtedly provide a more accurate reference basis for later management. In this study, we used the i-Tree Eco model and kriging interpolation to quantify and map urban forest ecosystem services and their spatial distribution in Zhengzhou, a city along the lower reaches of the Yellow River in China; analyzed the mapping errors and applicable conditions; and further explored the spatial differences using geographic probes. The i-Tree Eco model estimation results showed that the total carbon storage in the urban forest of Zhengzhou city was 75.7 tons, the annual carbon sequestration was 14.66 tons, the trees and shrubs in the urban area of Zhengzhou city could effectively avoid a total of 307.86 m3 of surface runoff per year, and trees and shrubs removed 411.8 kg/year of air pollution (O3, CO, NO2, PM2.5, PM10, and SO2). The spatial distribution of all urban forest ecosystem services showed significant heterogeneity, but the spatial evaluation precision of different factors varied. GDP and population data showed a negative correlation with ecosystem services, and ecosystem services were abundant in watershed and woodland areas. This study differs from traditional assessments based on regional data due to its improved spatial evaluation accuracy, and the results, discussion, and analysis not only help Zhengzhou's own urban development, but also provide a basis for the future construction and management of other cities, the Central Plains urban agglomeration, and the surrounding larger regions. This will contribute to the enhancement of ecosystem services and thus improve the ecological conditions of the region. This will also have a positive effect on the health of urban residents.

Dataset Information

Ecosystem services and opportunity costs shift spatial priorities for conserving forest biodiversity.

Publications

Ecosystem services and opportunity costs shift spatial priorities for conserving forest biodiversity.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets