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Resource footprints and their ecosystem consequences.

ABSTRACT: A meaningful environmental impact analysis should go beyond the accounting of pressures from resource use and actually assess how resource demand affects ecosystems. The various currently available footprints of nations report the environmental pressures e.g. water use or pollutant emissions, driven by consumption. However, there have been limited attempts to assess the environmental consequences of these pressures. Ultimately, consequences, not pressures, should guide environmental policymaking. The newly released LC-Impact method demonstrates progress on the path to providing this missing link. Here we present "ecosystem impact footprints" in terms of the consequences for biodiversity and assess the differences in impact footprint results from MRIO-based pressure footprints. The new perspective reveals major changes in the relative contribution of nations to global footprints. Wealthy countries have high pressure footprints in lower-income countries but their impact footprints often have their origin in higher-income countries. This shift in perspective provides a different insight on where to focus policy responses to preserve biodiversity.

SUBMITTER: Verones F

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5256307 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Resource footprints and their ecosystem consequences.

Verones Francesca F Moran Daniel D Stadler Konstantin K Kanemoto Keiichiro K Wood Richard R

Scientific reports 20170123

A meaningful environmental impact analysis should go beyond the accounting of pressures from resource use and actually assess how resource demand affects ecosystems. The various currently available footprints of nations report the environmental pressures e.g. water use or pollutant emissions, driven by consumption. However, there have been limited attempts to assess the environmental consequences of these pressures. Ultimately, consequences, not pressures, should guide environmental policymaking ...[more]

PMID: 28112168

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Project description:BackgroundAlternative organism designs (i.e. the existence of distinct combinations of traits leading to the same function or performance) are a widespread phenomenon in nature and are considered an important mechanism driving the evolution and maintenance of species trait diversity. However, alternative designs are rarely considered when investigating assembly rules and species effects on ecosystem functioning, assuming that single trait trade-offs linearly affect species fitness and niche differentiation.ScopeHere, we first review the concept of alternative designs, and the empirical evidence in plants indicating the importance of the complex effects of multiple traits on fitness. We then discuss how the potential decoupling of single traits from performance and function of species can compromise our ability to detect the mechanisms responsible for species coexistence and the effects of species on ecosystems. Placing traits in the continuum of organism integration level (i.e. traits hierarchically structured ranging from organ-level traits to whole-organism traits) can help in choosing traits more directly related to performance and function.ConclusionsWe conclude that alternative designs have important implications for the resulting trait patterning expected from different assembly processes. For instance, when only single trade-offs are considered, environmental filtering is expected to result in decreased functional diversity. Alternatively, it may result in increased functional diversity as an outcome of alternative strategies providing different solutions to local conditions and thus supporting coexistence. Additionally, alternative designs can result in higher stability of ecosystem functioning as species filtering due to environmental changes would not result in directional changes in (effect) trait values. Assessing the combined effects of multiple plant traits and their implications for plant functioning and functions will improve our mechanistic inferences about the functional significance of community trait patterning.

Project description:This study aimed to understand the movement behaviour and utilization distributions of Kori bustards in space and time in the Serengeti ecosystem. A total of 14 individuals were tracked with the aid of GPS (Geographical positioning system) satellite transmitters, and their sexes were identified using DNA analysis. A species utilization distribution was estimated using the Brownian bridge movement model (hereafter dBBMM) in which the probability of being in an area is conditioned by starting and ending (GPS) relocations. Resource selections were analysed by comparing the GPS relocations with locations randomly placed within each individual's region of utilization in a spatio-temporal approach. Vegetation information was derived from a Serengeti GIS vegetation map and Data Centre and was reclassified as Open grassland, Dense grassland, Shrubbed grassland, Treed grassland, Shrubland, and Woodland. The Shannon diversity index for vegetation was calculated based on the original vegetation classification. Used versus non-used habitats were contrasted using a generalized linear mixed-effects model with a binomial distribution. The results indicated that males were 21.5% more mobile than females, and movements were 6.3% more diffuse during the non-breeding period compared to the breeding period (7.59 versus 7.14, respectively). Contrasting models indicated that males preferred more open grasslands during the non-breeding period and also preferred closed and shrubbed grassland during the breeding period. Females preferred more woody vegetation during the non-breeding season compared to the breeding season. The most parsimonious model indicated that females preferred to stay closer to rivers and diverse areas during the non-breeding period whereas males preferred areas that were farther from rivers and homogenous. Homogeneous areas were preferred during the breeding period, and heterogeneous areas were preferred during the non-breeding period. We conclude that the movement behaviours of Kori bustards changes with the season and habitat. Further research is needed to understand the factors driving the seasonal movement of Kori bustards in the Serengeti ecosystem.

Dataset Information

Resource footprints and their ecosystem consequences.

Publications

Resource footprints and their ecosystem consequences.

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