Conservation Of Ecosystem Services Research Articles

Connecting ecosystem services science and policy in the field

Conservation and provision of ecosystem services (ES) have been adopted as high‐level policy in many countries, yet there has been surprisingly little application of these broad policies in the field; for example, ES are rarely considered in permit issuance or other discrete agency actions. This large implementation gap arises in part because the science that drove general policy interest in ES differs from the science needed for practical application. A better understanding of the environmental policy toolkit can guide more effective research to support agency decisions. Here, we outline the framework used to teach environmental policy instruments through the “Five P’s”: prescription, property, penalty, payment, and persuasion. We then discuss the discrete ES research required to effectively implement each tool. To support greater conservation of ES in the field, scientists and policy makers must clearly recognize what each needs from the other.

Determination of conservation priority areas in Qinghai Tibet Plateau based on ecosystem services

Facing rapid ecological degradation in the Qinghai Tibet Plateau (QTP), the determination of priority areas for conservation (CPAs) based on ecosystem services (ESs) is a key step for nature conservation and sustainable development. However, the trade-off between services makes the plan of maintaining protected areas (PAs) a challenge. In this study, by quantifying a variety of essential ESs in the QTP from 2000 to 2015, we used the multi-criteria ordered weighted average method to balance the trade-offs and determine the key CPAs for ES conservation. We found that the multi-criteria based selection of CPAs leads to higher (1.35) and more balanced ES protection efficiency (PE) than the single strategy. The CPAs obtained based on the logical framework of this paper are mainly located in the southeastern QTP and cover an area of 12.78 % of the QTP (330,124.76 km2). The comprehensive PE of ES was 1.68, and the PE of carbon storage, water yield, soil conservation, and cultural service were 2.20, 2.17, 4.54, and 1.59, respectively. Additionally, compared with the existing PA settings, our results can increase the proportion of biodiversity of amphibians and birds by more than 12 %. The framework of CPAs selection in this paper can provide a reference for the government’s growing nature conservation affairs, which will contribute to sustainable development.

Recent changes in cropland area and productivity indicate unsustainable cropland expansion in Malawi

Cropland expansion is a common strategy for boosting agricultural production in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) even though it often leads to economic, environmental, and social trade-offs. Ensuring sustainable cropland use and their management is critical for improving food security and preserving ecosystem services. To develop policies and approaches that support sustainable cropland management at national and sub-national scales, there is a need to understand the spatial distribution of cropland expansion (/loss), and any resultant changes in cropland productivity. This is especially important in SSA countries such as Malawi, where spatially explicit assessments of changes in cropland area and cropland productivity are lacking. To address this gap in Malawi, we used multi-source satellite data and socio-economic data, combined with satellite image classification and trend analysis, firstly to quantify spatial changes in cropland area and productivity, and secondly to evaluate potentially available cropland for future expansion. We found evidence of unsustainable cropland use in Malawi, which was demonstrated by: (a) rapid cropland expansion between 2010 and 2019 (increase 8.5% of land area), characterized by an expansion of crop farming into upland areas which indicate increased land scarcity in Malawi; (b) limited potential for future expansion, as approximately only 5% of the total land remained as potentially available cropland (corresponding to 4671 000 ha); and (c) an overall reduction in cropland productivity and a prevalence of increase in soil erosion. Our findings underscore the urgent need for taking measures to promote sustainable cropland use, including by protecting current cropland from further degradation (e.g. Southern Malawi) and improving cropland use planning (e.g. Northern Malawi).

Cartografía de un nuevo Modelo de Estados y Transiciones de la Estepa Magallánica Seca en la Patagonia argentina

We analyzed 103 vegetation relevés in the Dry Magellan Steppe, a 12000 km2 semiarid biozone (170-270 mm of annual rainfall) dominated by grass steppes in the SE of Patagonia. The objective was to map rangeland states within the State and Transition Model (STM). Cluster analysis showed 10 communities, some of them not included in previous STM models of the region, so that a new model was designed. In addition to already described transitions such as those driven by erosion that exposes argilic soil horizons covered by dwarf Shrub Steppes, the new model includes transitions driven by eroded soil accumulation that benefit Pappostipa chrysophylla, an invasive psammophyle grass species. Three states previously differentiated by short grass cover were combined in order to reflect only irreversible transitions. Maps were obtained by drawing polygons around each relevé, grouping them in accordance to the classes defined by cluster analysis and extracting spectral firms of these areas in a Landsat 8 image. These classes were grouped into five states. We estimated 61% precision of the map. Tussock grasslands in good conservation state occupied 39% and were dominant in the south of the area. Degraded dwarf shrub steppes with P. chrysophylla (18%) and dwarf shrub steppes (15%) were next in importance. Fence contrasts in the map show some of the hypothesized transitions, such as those that lead to dwarf shrub or dwarf shrubs with P. chrysophylla in highly grazed wintering areas in the north. The map and new STM will help to interpret the dynamics of the Magellan Steppe, one of the most diverse and productive biozones of Patagonia that shows clear evidence of past degradation. Some of these rangelands should probably be protected in the future, as conservation areas are almost nonexistent. In this sense, all of the region should be conserved in productive units by managing grazing with moderate stocking rates and rests in order to ensure conservation of biodiversity, productivity and other ecosystem services.

Traditional forest-related knowledge and agrobiodiversity preservation: the case of the chagras in the Indigenous Reserve of Monochoa (Colombia)

Chagras are complex agroforestry systems developed by indigenous populations of the Amazon region based on shifting agriculture, as part of a system that includes harvesting of wild fruits and plants, hunting and fishing. During the centuries, thanks to their traditional knowledge, indigenous populations have developed a deep relationship with the surrounding environment, as, living in remote places, they must be self-sufficient. The result is the chagra, a system whose cycle is based on seven basic steps to establish a successful and sustainable system, starting from place selection and ending with the abandonment of the plot after harvesting of the products. After the abandonment, the forest starts to grow again to allow the agroecosystem to recover and to take advantage of the residual vegetal material to avoid erosion. The paper takes into consideration the Indigenous Reserve of Monochoa in Colombia as an example of how traditional knowledge can support a rich biodiversity conservation. Moreover, differently from other parts of the world where there is a growing contrast between indigenous communities and protected areas, in the Indigenous Reserve of Monochoa local communities have been recognized as the owners of the land. Results highlighted the crucial role of the indigenous communities for biodiversity conservation. The preservation and adaptation of traditional knowledge and practices, a decentralized autonomous governance system demonstrates that local communities not only can be part of ecosystems with unique biodiversity, but that they can represent the main actors for an active conservation of biodiversity. Agroforestry systems based on traditional forest-related knowledge can therefore be an effective alternative to biodiversity and ecosystem services conservation based on strict nature protection where humans are perceived as a negative factor.

Restoring tropical forest–grassland mosaics invaded by woody exotics

Although important for biological conservation and provisioning of several ecosystem services, tropical forest–grassland mosaics face several threats, one of which is woody invasion in grasslands of these mosaics—an issue proving to be challenging to solve. We present a framework to guide grassland restoration in these mosaics that takes into account their unique ecology, outlines a general chronological sequence of restoration activities, and helps identify research priorities to guide restoration efforts. Specifically, we outline approaches to (1) increase the cost‐effectiveness of restoration programs (e.g. selecting restoration targets and priority sites); (2) restore edaphic processes impacted by woody invasion; (3) maximize the establishment of native grass and forb species, and (4) maintain restored communities in the long‐term by minimizing re‐invasions. We apply this framework to montane southern Indian forest‐grassland mosaics (locally called shola‐grassland mosaics) invaded by nitrogen‐fixing woody exotics to identify research priorities that can act as “game‐changers” in the restoration of these ecosystems. These include (1) identifying invaded areas where passive restoration can be effective, (2) understanding the role of endogenous disturbances, particularly fire, in the spread and management of invasive species and the prevention of re‐invasion, and (3) assessing the role of large‐scale seed farming and emerging seed technologies for the use of seeds to effectively re‐introduce native grassland species. Restoration frameworks that take into account unique ecologies are needed to make the most of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, and we present such a framework for forest‐grassland mosaics—an important ecosystem that is generally neglected.

The role of estuarine macrofaunal patterns for the management of marine protected areas in a changing world

The integration of biodiversity knowledge with management needs in coastal protected ecosystems is a current challenge that requires a social-ecological perspective, especially in view of the current scenario regarding climate changes. At the southeastern Brazil, estuaries inside protected areas highlight as a great source of ecosystem services connected to the biodiversity, such as the food provisioning for local communities (i.e. fishery supply). However, climate change models considering the last four decades alert to an annual rainfall increase in the region, threatening the estuarine biodiversity and its associated ecosystem services. Here, we evaluated how estuarine macrofaunal distribution could be used as ecological indicators to support the stakeholders management needs in subtropical Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). The intertidal macrofauna distribution was assessed along physical gradients in estuaries within MPAs of the southeastern Brazil, testing the effects of salinity and sediment properties on taxa richness. Then, implications of these ecological findings were discussed with the local users and managers of the MPAs, aiming to stipulate indicators and management proposals considering the rainfall increase predicted for the region. We found that macrofauna community varied between estuarine zones along the physical gradients. High values of mud and organic content in the sediment were correlated with reduced taxa richness in the upper estuarine zone, indicating high vulnerability of biodiversity to a possible estuarine mud input connected to the expected rainfall increase. Stakeholders noted that this knowledge could assist with spatial planning for an adaptive management of the biodiversity use rules on the MPAs, with focus on the ecosystem services conservation (ecosystem-based management). Stakeholders suggested using biodiversity hotspots to guide estuarine areas classification (no-take zones and sustainable use zones), maintaining the resources use rules adaptable according to the biodiversity changes. In this regard, our data revealed important bioindicators, such as the macrofaunal richness, which can be monitored as “early signals” to assess eventual ecosystem alterations related to the climate changes. These signals can include loss in taxa richness, extirpation of species exclusively found on the lower estuarine zone (sensitives to mud input) and changes in the distribution or abundance of dominant taxa. We suggest that understanding the relationships between macrofaunal indicators and ecosystems services, associated with continuous monitoring, are the key steps to implementing an adaptive ecosystem-based management of these protected estuaries in the current changing scenario, contributing to decision making at local scale that respond to global challenges, as the UN Ocean Decade.

Ecosystem-based disaster management in the coastal zone: Governance and public engagement after fires in a state park in southern Brazil

Ecosystem-based disaster management focus on conservation or restoration of ecosystem services provided by healthy ecosystems. To be put into practice, this approach requires the engagement of different social actors in collaborative processes that reduce the risk of disasters. In this research, we analyzed the engagement of social actors in the restoration of coastal ecosystems after the successive arson fires that occurred in 2019 in the Serra do Tabuleiro State Park (STSP), Santa Catarina, Brazil. We collected data through documentary research, semi-structured interviews with participants in an event focused on recovering the burnt areas, and participant observation in the elaboration of two plans: 1) Forest Fire Fighting Contingency Plan in the Baixada do Massiambú, and 2) Action Plan for Ecological Restoration of the Baixada do Massiambú. Our results suggest that fires act as a trigger for a process of public engagement involving social actors with different backgrounds, motivations, and knowledge about the STSP. The analyzed plans promote inter-scale articulations between organizations aiming the conservation of ecosystems. Public engagement is the result of three factors: investment in training and development of projects for community mobilization, worsening of power disputes over projects for the territory, and media construction of an image of fires in the Amazon associated with the disruption of Brazilian environmental policy.

Financing mechanisms to bridge the resource gap to conserve biodiversity and ecosystem services in Brazil

This article discusses financial mechanisms for the conservation of biodiversity and ecosystem services in Brazil. Five mechanisms were selected for in-depth analysis using the Biofin methodological approach: ecological fiscal transfer, environmental reserve quotas, payments for environmental services, tourism concessions, and forest concessions. They can reduce the current financial gap for biodiversity conservation in the country. Ecological fiscal transfer, payments for environmental services, tourism, and forest concessions can generate approximately US$ 1 billion annually. The potential to generate revenues in environmental reserve quotas markets is big, but uncertainty is also very high, with estimates from US$ 1 to US$ 20 billion up to 2030. Most of these mechanisms aim to involve the private sector in conserving biodiversity and require an active role for the public sector, either through fiscal or regulatory instruments. There is a need to adapt the financial mechanism to the political and institutional context. In Brazil, weak public management capacity, institutional uncertainties, and political opposition to environmental policy are the main challenges for large-scale implementation of these instruments.

Enhancing ecological integrity while preserving ecosystem services: Constructing soft‐sediment islands in a shallow lake

Abstract Ecosystems are increasingly managed to provide multiple benefits to humans, which often degrades their ecological integrity. This strongly applies to aquatic ecosystems, in which engineering can enhance flood protection, drinking water supply, fisheries and recreation. Although these activities typically increase ecosystem functionality to humans, they often impair key aspects of biodiversity and natural functioning. Classical restoration of such degrading freshwater ecosystems can lead to societal opposition, if returning to a former ecosystem state affects previously acquired ecosystem services. Innovative nature‐based solutions are therefore needed that enhance natural values in ecosystems, without affecting existing services. We present a large‐scale project aiming to increase the ecological integrity of a human‐modified freshwater lake while maintaining its services to humans. The freshwater lake Markermeer in the Netherlands was formed by closing off an estuary for flood protection. The ecological integrity of this lake diminished over time, likely because a declining primary productivity impaired biodiversity at higher trophic levels. This decline is associated with a lack of gradual land–water transitions, strong resuspension of fine sediments, low nutrient availability and lack of dynamics typically to be expected in a natural temperate freshwater lake. Restoring the lake to its former marine state would conflict with current ecosystem services. A nature‐based solution was initiated in 2016, consisting of constructing a five‐island archipelago from the lake's own soft‐sediments called the ‘Marker Wadden’. The project aims to increase the lake's primary production by creating gradual land–water transitions, more heterogeneity in water depths and decreasing turbidity by creating shelter and deep sinks reducing fine‐sediment resuspension by the wind – thus introducing currently missing elements that are typical for natural lakes. We present the underlying ecological framework and first scientific results of this innovative ongoing project. Within 4 years, the Marker Wadden project shows how forward‐looking sustainable development of lake ecosystems using a rewilding approach can enhance natural processes and attract birds and fish, without conflicting with existing ecosystem services. This inspires new directions for halting and reversing the degradation of other vital ecosystems worldwide.

Selective logging in a chronosequence of Atlantic Forest: drivers and impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem services

Selective logging impacts biodiversity and ecosystem services in forest ecosystems, but we know little about its main drivers in the Atlantic Forest. We investigated selective logging along a chronosequence (mature, late secondary and early secondary forests) in a State Park in Pernambuco, Brazil, and hypothesised that it is driven by variables of supply (forest age, density, richness and biomass of living trees) and access (nearest edge and declivity). Selective logging was described by richness, density and biomass of logged trees. We predicted the relationship of logging to be positive with supply and negative with the distance of access. Logged trees comprised 267 stumps, 55 species and 5.11 Mg.ha-1 in one year, corresponding to 2.8%, 20.8% and 0.37% of living trees density, richness and biomass. Selective logging was the highest in richness in mature forest, influenced by access and forest age. Access influenced higher species removal in the early-secondary forest, despite its lower richness, while the lowest logging values were recorded in the late-secondary forest, regardless of its higher supply than early-secondary forest. Logging occurs in more accessible areas, where tree species exploitation will depend on the available supply. In this scenario, integrated actions for biodiversity and ecosystem services conservation should account for socioeconomic demands, vigilance and control.

Adaptive governance of recreational ecosystem services following a major hurricane

Despite the popularity of coastal recreational ecosystem services, and their linked synergies and tradeoffs with regulating and provisioning ecosystem services, there is uncertainty over integration into decision-making. There are few empirical analyses of decision-making, and “governance is largely ignored” (Primmer et al., 2015, pg. 158). This case study details decision-making following a major coastal hazard, Hurricane Harvey in the Gulf of Mexico, in the United States (U.S.). It illustrates how collaborative adaptive governance of recreational ecosystem services enhances coastal resilience, or the ability to recover after a hazard. Evidence of resilience centered policy is surprising in the U.S. state of Texas, a conservative subnational area where the denial of climate change science is popular in the epicenter of the U.S. oil and gas industry. This research suggests the devastating hurricane and the popularity of recreational ecosystem services provided a window of opportunity for policy makers to address resilience, which would have been otherwise impossible for political reasons. As part of this process, decision-makers and stakeholders 1) sought out new and innovative funding sources for rapid recreational infrastructure repairs focused on resilience, 2) prevented the loss of public waterfronts and small businesses in the nature based recreational economy that constitute major parts of local identity, and 3) enhanced decision maker capacity to include local ecological knowledge in novel and potentially transformative ways. Recreational ecosystem services, due to their obvious economic importance and popularity, may act as unifying symbols to decision-makers, allowing them enact policy to respond to climate impacts and to conserve ecosystem services in places where this is otherwise politically unpopular.

Shade trees and agrochemical use affect butterfly assemblages in coffee home gardens

Agroforestry systems have been recognised as a possible refuge for biodiversity especially when bordering intact landscapes. The intensification of crop management to increase yields is usually associated with a reduction of shade trees and heavy use of chemicals, typically correlated with a decrease in biodiversity. The relationship between intensity of crop management and biodiversity, however, is not clear-cut and is dependent on environmental and geographical differences. We assessed the influence of different shade cover, shade tree richness, richness of other crops, distance from the forest, and use of chemicals on the diversity, richness and abundance of butterflies, a bioindicator in coffee home gardens. We collected data in 42 coffee home gardens in West Java, Indonesia, via Pollard transects, totalling 15.1 km (July-August 2019 and July-August 2020). We found 54 species of butterflies in the gardens. Via Generalised Additive Mixed Models, we found that the use of chemicals negatively influenced the abundance (p = 0.001) and richness (p = 0.039) of butterflies, while shade tree richness positively influenced the abundance (p < 0.001), diversity (p = 0.046) and richness (p < 0.001) of butterflies. The other predictors did not have a significant effect. The high diversity of butterflies in the study area suggests that the agroforestry environment is now resilient, but the relationship between butterfly abundance, diversity, and richness with shade tree richness indicates an urgency to maintain and improve current ecosystem complexity. The negative relationship between butterfly abundance and richness and the use of chemicals further indicates that organic farming should be promoted to preserve ecosystem services provided by pollinators. Coffee production in Indonesia has dramatically increased in the last 10 years and producers are keener to use more intensive farming techniques with a consequent reduction of ecosystem complexity. This process can break the resilience of agroforestry habitats if actions are not taken immediately.

Effectiveness of a conservation education program among school students on the importance of mangrove ecosystems in Setiu Wetlands, Malaysia

This study evaluated the effectiveness of a conservation education program in raising awareness among school students about the importance of mangrove ecosystems in Setiu Wetlands. About seventy-four upper secondary students were involved in a survey that was conducted with an educational workshop. The workshop focused on the benefits, threats, conservation, and importance ofmangrove ecosystem services, such as regulating, provisioning, supporting, and cultural services. The respondents were found to be unfamiliar with the benefits offered by cultural services, while regulation, provision, and support services were found to be significant.

Increasing provision of ecosystem services through participation in a conservation program

Grasslands provide a variety of goods and services that benefit humans, but only a few have a market value. Despite the benefits provided, native grasslands continue to be degraded. Lack of a proper valuation, including a monetary value of grassland nonmarket goods and services, has become one of the factors contributing to the degradation trend. The objective of this research was to quantify the cost of increasing the provision of ecosystem services from grassland ecosystems in the Gulf Coastal Plains and Ozarks (GCPO) Landscape Conservation Cooperative geographic area of the U.S. A contingent valuation method (CVM) was used to estimate landowner willingness to accept (WTA) monetary compensation in exchange for implementing management practices preserving grassland ecosystems. The mean WTA compensation was $290.10 per acre per year for a 10-year contract. Required compensation increased with landowner income, frequency of contacts with state wildlife agencies, and percentage change in grassland area. Landowner age and proximity to the nearest local park were negatively associated with WTA. The total cost of preserving ecosystem services, estimated based on WTA, was US$3 billion per year and 57 times larger than the 2016 Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) allocation for this purpose in the amount US$50 million. However, the preservation cost varied from US$1.7 million to 1.1 billion depending upon the number of ecological attributes to be preserved and corresponding levels of ecosystem services. Results will be helpful in quantifying future funding levels necessary for implementation of coordinated conservation activities in grasslands and other ecosystems, prioritizing ecosystem services for restoration, and developing conservation programs in the U.S. and other countries.

Research effort devoted to regulating and supporting ecosystem services by environmental scientists and economists.

The economic valuation of ecosystem services in part reflects the desire to use conventional economic tools (markets and economic instruments) to conserve ecosystem services. However, for regulating and supporting ecosystem services that depend on ecosystem structure and function, estimation of economic value requires estimates of the current level of underlying ecological functions first. This primary step is in principle, the job of environmental scientists, not economists. Here, we provide a coarse-level quantitative assessment of the relationship between the research effort expended by environmental scientists (on the biophysical values) and economists (on the monetary values) on 15 different regulating and supporting services in 32 ecosystem types using peer-reviewed article hits retrieved from bibliographic databases as a measure of research effort. We find a positive, moderately strong (r = 0.69) correlation between research efforts in the two domains, a result that, while encouraging, is likely to reflect serendipity rather than the deliberate design of integrated environmental science-economics research programs. Our results suggest that compared to environmental science research effort economic valuation is devoted to a smaller, less diverse set of ecosystem services but a broader, more diverse, set of ecosystem types. The two domains differed more with respect to the ecosystem services that are the major focus of research effort than they did with respect to the ecosystem types of principal research interest. For example, carbon sequestration, erosion regulation, and nutrient cycling receive more relative research effort in the environmental sciences; air quality regulation in economic valuations. For both domains, cultivated areas, wetlands, and urban/semi-urban ecosystem types received relatively large research effort, while arctic and mountain tundra, cave and subterranean, cryosphere, intertidal/littoral zone, and kelp forest ecosystem types received negligible research effort. We suggest ways and means by which the field of sustainability science may be improved by the design and implementation of a searchable database of environmental science and economic valuation literature as well as a global ecosystem service research network and repository that explicitly links research on the estimation and prediction of biophysical ecosystem functions with that of the social sciences and other knowledge systems. These suggestions would, at least in principle, facilitate a more efficient research agenda between economists and environmental scientists and aid management, regulatory and judicial decision-makers.

Building a transnational biodiversity geo-database of the protected areas in the Adriatic-Ionian Macro-Region: approaches and results from the IMPRECO Project.

BackgroundThe main objective of the project Common strategies and best practices to IMprove the transnational PRotection of ECOsystem integrity and services - IMPRECO is to enhance the safeguarding of ecosystems and ecosystem services. Additionally, the aim of this project is to tackle their environmental vulnerability by strengthening the potential of the Protected Areas in biodiversity, ecosystems and ecosystem services conservation. This is expected to be addressed by maintaining it through their transnational networking located in the European Adriatic-Ionian Macro-Region.New informationThe aim of this research is: 1) to characterise the habitats and ecosystems involved in the coastal-marine protected areas considered; 2) to set a biodiversity baseline; 3) to understand what current ecosystems’ conditions are; 4) to build up a transnational biomonitoring programme of target species and habitats and 5) to assess their response to pilot actions. To do so, a transnational inventory of species, habitats, ecosystems and ecosystem services was established, starting with the seven coastal-marine protected areas involved in the project. Data collection was carried out using different sources of information: scientific literature, officially available data from NATURA 2000 Standard Data Forms, checklists from local biomonitoring programmes, personal observations and citizen science, historical maps and data from new in-field analyses. Data were filled in the transnational biodiversity geo-databases according to the NATURA 2000 standards about habitat features, species protection level and species features. The presence of alien species (non-indigenous species, NIS) was also acknowledged and references about data collection were provided in the databases according to the Darwin Core standards.

Linking Taxonomic, Phylogenetic and Functional Plant Diversity with Ecosystem Services of Cliffs and Screes in Greece.

Sparsely vegetated habitats of cliffs and screes act as refugia for many regional and local endemic specialized plant taxa most of which have evolved precisely for that type of habitat. The interplay between taxonomic, phylogenetic, and functional plant diversity on rock and scree habitats of extreme environmental conditions, enlightens the relations of plant communities and ecosystems and facilitates management planning for the conservation of biodiversity and ecosystem services. The identification of biodiversity patterns and hotspots (taxonomic, phylogenetic, and functional) contributes to the integration of the ecosystem services (ES) approach for the mapping and assessment of ecosystems and their services (MAES) implementation in Greece and the creation of thematic maps based on the MAES reporting format. The overlap among the protected areas’ network revealed that almost all areas of cliffs and screes of medium, high, and very high taxonomic and phylogenetic plant endemism are included in the Natura 2000 area network. The results of this study provide the baseline information for ES assessments at sparsely vegetated land of cliffs and screes. Our results contribute to the implementation of certain indicators of the national set of MAES indicators in Greece such as (a) floristic diversity and (b) microrefugia of endemic diversity and support of decision-making.

Climate change and elevated CO&amp;lt;sub&amp;gt;2&amp;lt;/sub&amp;gt; favor forest over savanna under different future scenarios in South Asia

Abstract. South Asian vegetation provides essential ecosystem services to the 1.7 billion inhabitants living in the region. However, biodiversity and ecosystem services are threatened by climate and land-use change. Understanding and assessing how ecosystems respond to simultaneous increases in atmospheric CO2 and future climate change is of vital importance to avoid undesired ecosystem change. Failed reaction to increasing CO2 and climate change will likely have severe consequences for biodiversity and humankind. Here, we used the adaptive dynamic global vegetation model version 2 (aDGVM2) to simulate vegetation dynamics in South Asia under RCP4.5 and RCP8.5, and we explored how the presence or absence of CO2 fertilization influences vegetation responses to climate change. Simulated vegetation under both representative concentration pathways (RCPs) without CO2 fertilization effects showed a decrease in tree dominance and biomass, whereas simulations with CO2 fertilization showed an increase in biomass, canopy cover, and tree height and a decrease in biome-specific evapotranspiration by the end of the 21st century. The predicted changes in aboveground biomass and canopy cover triggered transition towards tree-dominated biomes. We found that savanna regions are at high risk of woody encroachment and transitioning into forest. We also found transitions of deciduous forest to evergreen forest in the mountain regions. Vegetation types using C3 photosynthetic pathway were not saturated at current CO2 concentrations, and the model simulated a strong CO2 fertilization effect with the rising CO2. Hence, vegetation in the region has the potential to remain a carbon sink. Projections showed that the bioclimatic envelopes of biomes need adjustments to account for shifts caused by climate change and elevated CO2. The results of our study help to understand the regional climate–vegetation interactions and can support the development of regional strategies to preserve ecosystem services and biodiversity under elevated CO2 and climate change.

Labor as a Linchpin in Ecosystem Services Conservation: Appropriating Value from Collective Institutions?

ABSTRACT The role of labor in value production for neoliberal conservation arrangements is a topic that has only recently begun to receive attention from scholars. Engaging with Marx’s labor theory of value, this article analyzes the interaction of a water fund Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) program with labor institutions in the Ecuadorian Andes. Data from participant observation, key actor interviews, and textual materials support an empirical case study of the model water fund, Fondo para la protección del agua – FONAG. Despite neoliberal discourse promoting financial and material incentives as the main driver of conservation action, this article demonstrates how PES agreements interact with pre-existing labor and land use regimes to generate and circulate value beyond the contractual arrangement between the target community and PES promoters. This article furthermore highlights how value produced from pre-existing labor institutions may constitute an overlooked component of “green grabbing” as it may be unacknowledged and susceptible to appropriation by international organizations.