Maintenance Of Biodiversity Research Articles

Can traditional management practices help mountain livestock farms in the Spanish Pyrenees cope with climate change?

Livestock grazing systems constitute a traditional activity in mountain areas. They are adapted to vegetation growth cycles in meadows, forests and grasslands, and deliver ecosystem services such as open landscapes, wildfires prevention, biodiversity maintenance and quality products. Climate change poses a new challenge on mountain grazing systems by impacting on its natural resource base. We used the model NODRIZA to evaluate the potential impact of three scenarios of altered pasture quality and quantity due to climate change (optimistic, medium and worst) and a business-as-usual scenario (BAU) on four beef farms representative of the existing grazing systems in the Spanish Pyrenees. We explored the role of traditional management practices (e.g. modifying the grazing season and early weaning) to cope with these changes. Cow body condition score, feed self-sufficiency and gross margin were the indicators of farms functioning. The optimistic scenario improved all farming indicators during most of the modelled period and then declined—still above BAU levels—in the long term. The medium scenario resulted in an initial improvement of farming indicators and a decline to BAU levels in the long run. The worst scenario declined all indicators below BAU levels. The four case studies were impacted in the same direction but to different extent, farms oriented to fattened calves suffered higher impacts than those focused on weaned calves. Traditional adaptation actions succeeded to maintain cow body condition score steady, but they came at the expense of lower feed self-sufficiency and gross margin, becoming impractical to face climate change.

Monitoring Net Land Take in a Metropolitan Region—Portugal

This study seeks to contribute to the definition of a “no net land take” policy by 2050 for Portugal’s second-largest metropolitan region (AMP, Porto Metropolitan Area) while sensitising those involved in regional and local planning to the European target. Based on an assessment of land use changes in AMP and its municipalities during 2007–2018, soil sealing levels in 2018 and population evolution, the study quantifies the processes that may impart achievement of the 2050 objective and identifies the regional drivers of net land take, to support the definition of both interventions to decrease land take and soil sealing and related targets. The main contribution of the research is the exploration of new indicators in terms of soil sealing and population data to identify the potential for implementing interventions proposed by the EU Soil Strategy that do not jeopardise the maintenance of biodiversity in urban areas. The land take rate in the AMP was the highest among mainland Portugal regions. Its main drivers were the development of transport networks, industrial and commercial units and dispersed housing. The reuse and re-naturalisation of artificial land have seen little use in the region. Accordingly, the daily net land taken in the AMP (0.59 ha/day) still needs to decrease until 2050. While artificial land increased across the AMP, most of its municipalities lost population. To reverse this trend, the AMP should implement tighter control mechanisms that ensure that infrastructure and housing needs are fully met through the reuse of urban areas that are already sealed. However, given that the share of impermeable soil in most urban areas is already significantly high, there will have to be a careful choice of locations where intensifying land use will cause less environmental damage. It is concluded that the degree of soil sealing within urban areas is fundamental for deciding on the interventions to be carried out to reduce net land take and for defining a policy towards meeting the 2050 target.

Seagrass diversity in Pulau Banyak, Aceh Singkil District, Indonesia

Abstract. Erniati, Andika Y, Imanullah, Imamshadiqin, Erlangga, Rahmad, Tauladan TA, Siregar FR, Fitri A, Ritonga GH. 2023. Seagrass diversity in Pulau Banyak, Aceh Singkil District, Indonesia. Biodiversitas 24: 6621-6628. Seagrass is a high-level plant where life activities are submerged in seawater. Currently, the seagrass ecosystem is threatened with destruction and disappearance. The extent of seagrass ecosystems globally was estimated to have declined by about 58%. The solution to this problem is to balance local communities' utilization of biological resources and biodiversity maintenance. The biodiversity aspect of seagrass is key to the sustainability of seagrass ecosystems. Banyak Island is one of the sub-districts in Aceh Singkil Regency, which consists of a cluster of small islands and has rich fisheries and marine potential, one of them is seagrass, where station 1 is Balong Island, Stasion 2 is Balong Island, Stasion 3 is Lamun Island and Stasion 4 is Rago-Rago Island. This study aimed to assess the diversity of seagrass beds, including seagrass species composition, density, percentage cover, and water quality that affect the existence of seagrass ecosystems. This study used a purposive sampling method with 3 transect lines spaced 50 m perpendicular from the shoreline to the sea. Each transect line has 5 plots with a distance of 10 meters measuring 50 x 50 cm2, and the water quality parameters were measured in situ. This research found 5 seagrass species, namely T. hemprichii, C. rotundata, E. acroides, S. isoetifolium, and H. ovalis. C. rotundata is the species with the highest density on Matahari Island, but seagrass diversity is low, and no species were dominant in the groups. The results of PCA analysis showed that the environmental factors that most influenced the pattern of seagrass distribution and density were nitrate, phosphate, and substrate. The conclusion revealed that seagrass diversity on Banyak Islands is relatively low.

Homogenization of bacterial plastisphere community in soil: a continental-scale microcosm study.

Microplastics alter niches of soil microbiota by providing trillions of artificial microhabitats, termed the "plastisphere." Because of the ever-increasing accumulation of microplastics in ecosystems, it is urgent to understand the ecology of microbes associated with the plastisphere. Here, we present a continental-scale study of the bacterial plastisphere on polyethylene microplastics compared with adjacent soil communities across 99 sites collected from across China through microcosm experiments. In comparison with the soil bacterial communities, we found that plastispheres had a greater proportion of Actinomycetota and Bacillota, but lower proportions of Pseudomonadota, Acidobacteriota, Gemmatimonadota, and Bacteroidota. The spatial dispersion and the dissimilarity among plastisphere communities were less variable than those among the soil bacterial communities, suggesting highly homogenized bacterial communities on microplastics. The relative importance of homogeneous selection in plastispheres was greater than that in soil samples, possibly because of the more uniform properties of polyethylene microplastics compared with the surrounding soil. Importantly, we found that the degree to which plastisphere and soil bacterial communities differed was negatively correlated with the soil pH and carbon content and positively related to the mean annual temperature of sampling sites. Our work provides a more comprehensive continental-scale perspective on the microbial communities that form in the plastisphere and highlights the potential impacts of microplastics on the maintenance of microbial biodiversity and ecosystem functioning.

Preliminary Study on Hourly Dynamics of a Ground-Dwelling Invertebrate Community in a Farmland Vineyard.

We evaluated the hourly dynamics of ground-dwelling invertebrate communities in farmland using infrared camera traps between August and September 2022. No significant variations within 24 h nor between any two time points of each day were observed in the taxonomic richness and abundance of the entire community. However, the periods from 4:00 to 7:00 and 13:00 to 20:00 showed relatively high taxonomic richness, while those from 2:00 to 6:00 and 16:00 to 21:00 showed relatively high abundance. Millipede abundance varied significantly in a 24 h period, with higher abundance from 3:00 to 4:00 and 1:00 to 2:00. Additionally, slug, beetle, and grasshopper abundances were significantly higher from 22:00 to 23:00, 17:00 to 18:00, and 23:00 to 24:00, respectively. The abundance of other taxa did not show significant variations between any two time points of a day. Predominant generalist predators showed positive correlation in their activity times. These results suggest that significant variations within each 24 h period are uncommon at either community or taxa (except for millipedes) levels in farmland ground-dwelling invertebrates. Further, while most taxa had significantly preferred active hours, the total community did not. Therefore, hourly dynamics should be considered to understand biodiversity maintenance.

Inter-kingdom communication and the sympoietic way of life.

Organisms are now seen as holobionts, consortia of several species that interact metabolically such that they sustain and scaffold each other's existence and propagation. Sympoiesis, the development of the symbiotic relationships that form holobionts, is critical for our understanding the origins and maintenance of biodiversity. Rather than being the read-out of a single genome, development has been found to be sympoietic, based on multigenomic interactions between zygote-derived cells and symbiotic microbes. These symbiotic and sympoietic interactions are predicated on the ability of cells from different kingdoms of life (e.g., bacteria and animals) to communicate with one another and to have their chemical signals interpreted in a manner that facilitates development. Sympoiesis, the creation of an entity by the interactions of other entities, is commonly seen in embryogenesis (e.g., the creation of lenses and retinas through the interaction of brain and epidermal compartments). In holobiont sympoiesis, interactions between partners of different domains of life interact to form organs and biofilms, wherein each of these domains acts as the environment for the other. If evolution is forged by changes in development, and if symbionts are routinely involved in our development, then changes in sympoiesis can constitute an important factor in evolution.

Spatiotemporal variability in the structure and diversity of understory faunal assemblages associated with the kelp Eisenia cokeri (Laminariales) in Peru

Kelp species function as foundation organisms in coastal marine ecosystems, where they alter environmental conditions and promote local biodiversity by providing complex biogenic habitat for an array of associated organisms. The structure and functioning of kelp forest ecosystems in some regions, such as along the Peruvian coastline, remain critically understudied. We quantified the structure and diversity of faunal assemblages within both holdfast and understory reef habitats within Eisenia cokeri forests. We sampled both habitat types within four subtidal kelp forests on multiple occasions between 2016 and 2020, and quantified fauna at a fine taxonomic level (mostly species). We recorded a total of ~ 55,000 individuals representing 183 taxa across the study, with holdfast assemblages typically exhibiting higher richness, abundance and biomass values compared with understory reef-associated assemblages. Holdfast assemblages were structurally and functionally dissimilar to those on reef surfaces and were less variable and consistent across sites and sampling events. Even so, assemblages associated with both habitat types varied significantly between sites and sampling events, with variation in upwelling strength, ocean currents, and grazing pressure among potential drivers of this ecological variability. Overall, E. cokeri supports diverse and abundant holdfast assemblages and functions as a foundation organism in Peru. Given that no other habitat-forming kelp species persist at the low latitudes of E. cokeri in mid-to-north Peru, the lack of functional redundancy suggests that effective management and conservation of this species is vital for wider ecosystem processes and biodiversity maintenance.

First Cryorepository for Coral Larvae: Safeguarding Corals for Future Generations

Research on the development of innovative cryobanking techniques can aid coral restoration and conservation. This study applied a customized freezing device and “cryojig” along with vitrification and laser warming techniques to create the first cryorepository for pelagic‐phase larvae of the corals Seriatopora caliendrum, Pocillopora verrucosa, Stylophora pistillata, and Pocillopora acuta. Three vitrification solutions (VSs) were prepared, with each composed of two of four cryoprotective agents. These included VS1: 2 M ethylene glycol (EG) and 1 M propylene glycol; VS2: 2 M EG and 1 M glycerol; VS3: 2 M dimethyl sulfoxide and 1 M EG. Larvae were then mixed with the VSs, 40% (w/v) Ficoll, and 10% (v/v) gold nanoparticles (GNPs) at a final concentration of 1.2 × 1018 particles/m3 and using our customized device for vitrification and laser warming. Over a thousand coral larvae (576 S. caliendrum, 376 P. verrucosa, 238 S. pistillata, and 524 P. acuta) were successfully stored in the cryorepository and the proportions of coral larvae that were noted to be actively swimming or settled after vitrification and laser warming. This is the first project to establish a coral larvae cryorepository, and the methods applied could represent a critical tool for reef restoration and maintenance of marine biodiversity.

Cut stumps vs broken stumps: Does it make any difference in the maintenance of plant and lichen biodiversity in Central European mountain forests?

Excessive forest exploitation significantly contributes to land degradation and the creation of human-made deadwood. Stumps are sometimes ignored in studies on the biodiversity of coarse woody debris. We investigated whether the type of stump, i.e. broken stumps (naturally created) and cut stumps (formed during forestry operations) had an impact on the species composition and species diversity as well as due to this fact they can be characterized by plant indicators. The research covered 728 spruce stumps (287 broken and 441 cut stumps) that were inhabited by lichens, liverworts, mosses and vascular plants in mountain forest belt (Karkonosze Mts., Poland). The following types of microhabitats were included in the research: the upper surface and the lateral surface of a stump with both bark and wood. There are statistically significant compositional differences between the two types of stumps, which was demonstrated by ordination analyses and indicator species analysis. According to the generalized linear models, the probability of occurrence increases in cut stumps in case of liverworts and vascular plants and also along the decomposition stages. The generalized linear mixed-effects model showed that there was a higher species richness of liverworts, mosses and vascular plants on the cut stumps and less drier but the reverse situation was in lichens. The generalized additive models for their cover showed similar trends. Almost all of the taxonomic groups were affected by altitude both in terms of species composition and total cover on the stumps. We concluded that cut stumps are an important type of deadwood for biodiversity and provide a convenient habitat, especially for many lichens and bryophytes.

Marine ecological restoration strategies of coastal nuclear power plants in China

Low-carbon and green development model is the choice for responding to climate change. Under the dilemma between ever-growing energy demand and the associated environmental issues, nuclear power is one of the low-carbon and high-efficient energy options which compared to wind power and solar power. It is the only stable power source that can replace fossil energy on a large scale at present and even in the future. This paper briefly describes the operational risks of coastal nuclear power plants (CNPPs) and the upgrade process of nuclear reactors, systematically analyzes and summarizes the ecological environment problems, risk problems and ecological restoration and protection strategies in the construction and operation of CNPPs, including coastal wetland ecological environment, marine ecological environment, and the risk prevention measures for cooling water source. The results show that ecosystem restoration by human does not make up for the weakening of the ecological carrying capacity and ecosystem away from its baseline, nonetheless, the restoration of important wetland habitats is conducive to the improvement of the functions of key marine ecosystems and the maintenance of marine biodiversity.

Short-term responses of littoral phytoplankton in a large shallow subtropical lake.

The littoral zone is an essential compartment for lake biota because of its high productivity and diversity. Moreover, phytoplankton is expected to have non-equilibrium dynamics on it. The study's aimed to explore phytoplankton in the littoral zone of a shallow lake over a short-term scale. Daily sampling was conducted for 25 consecutive summer days in 2016, at two marginal points of a continuously warm, polymictic, and oligo-mesotrophic subtropical lake (Lake Mangueira, Brazil). Cyanobacteria and Chlorophyta contributed 86% of total biomass. We observed high variability in phytoplankton structure, with species turnover over diel cycles. Redundancy analysis indicated spatial differentiation for phytoplankton structure in relation to abiotic conditions. Nutrient dynamics and humic substances were significant drivers for phytoplankton variability. Phytoplankton was positively correlated with SRP and negatively with humic substances. Our results showed a non- equilibrium state for the littoral phytoplankton of Lake Mangueira, given the high variability of abiotic conditions, even at short distances. Due to its high temporal and spatial variability, the littoralzone seems to contribute to the recruitment and maintenance of phytoplankton biodiversity in shallow lakes. Further studies should consider the functional attributes of species and the complex biological interactions of phytoplankton and macrophytes along the littoral zone.

The effect of urbanization on species composition and trophic guilds of bats (Mammalia, Chiroptera) in the Brazilian Savanna.

Urban environments present less environmental heterogeneity in relation to the natural ones, affecting the biodiversity of bats and the ecological processes in which they participate. In this way, we will identify how urbanization influences the structure of bat communities in the municipality of Goiânia, Goiás, Brazil. We compared species composition, guilds and bat richness in a gradient that crossed urban, semi-urban and natural areas in the municipality of Goiânia, contained in the Cerrado biome. We captured a total of 775 bats of 16 species distributed in three families. Urban areas had a higher species abundance, while semi-urban areas had a higher species richness. The three types of environments have different compositions, the urban one being more homogeneous, the fauna in these areas is composed of generalist species, which benefit from this process. The diversity present in semi-urban areas is a consequence of the intersection between urban and natural fauna, which is why urban expansion needs to occur in a planned manner to minimize the impacts of this process and ensure the maintenance of biodiversity.

Study on the Value Evaluation of Biodiversity Maintenance Services at Xiamen Xiatanwei Coastal Wetland Park Using Contingent Valuation Method (CVM)

Ecological diversity maintenance services are a part of ecosystem support services, referring to the ecosystem's ability to provide essential services such as spawning, habitat, wintering, and refuge for biological populations. Taking Xiamen Xiatanwei Coastal Wetland Park as a case study, this paper identifies its ecological service functions, conducts a survey among local residents to assess their willingness to pay for biodiversity conservation, and employs the Contingent Valuation Method to evaluate the value of its biodiversity maintenance services. The results indicate that in 2023, the average household willingness to pay for biodiversity maintenance services at Xiamen Xiatanwei Coastal Wetland Park is 387.59 RMB per year, with an individual willingness to pay of 102.27 RMB per year. Using the Contingent Valuation Method, the value of biodiversity maintenance services at Xiamen Xiatanwei Coastal Wetland Park in 2023 is estimated to be 543 million RMB. The findings of this study can provide a scientific basis for the establishment of cost-effective protection policies such as ecological damage compensation for Xiamen Xiatanwei Coastal Wetland Park in the future.

Sustaining forest biodiversity: Exploring the effect of long-term natural disturbance dynamics on contemporary lichen communities in primary forest ecosystems

In this era of biodiversity loss and climate change, quantifying the impacts of natural disturbance on forest communities is imperative to improve biodiversity conservation efforts. Epiphytic and epixylic lichens are effective forest quality bioindicators, as they are generally long-lived organisms supported by continuity of specific forest structures and their associated microclimatic features. However, how lichen communities respond to the effects of fluctuating historical disturbances remains unclear. Using a dendrochronological approach, this study investigates how natural disturbance dynamics indirectly influence various lichen community metrics in some of Europe's best-preserved primary mixed-beech forests. Mixed modelling revealed that natural historical disturbance processes have decades-long effects on forest structural attributes, which had both congruent and divergent impacts on lichen community richness and composition. Total species richness indirectly benefited from both historical and recent higher-severity disturbances via increased standing dead tree basal area and canopy openness respectively - likely through the presence of both pioneer and late-successional species associated with these conditions. Red-listed species richness showed a dependence on habitat continuity (old trees), and increased with disturbance-related structures (standing dead trees) whilst simultaneously benefiting from periods without severe disturbance events (old trees and reduced deadwood volume). However, if the disturbance occurred over a century in the past, no substantial effect on forest structure was detected. Therefore, while disturbance-mediated forest structures can promote overall richness, threatened species appear vulnerable to more severe disturbance events – a concern, as disturbances are predicted to intensify with climate change. Additionally, the high number of threatened species found reinforce the critical role of primary forest structural attributes for biodiversity maintenance. Hence, we recommend a landscape-scale conservation approach encompassing forest patches in different successional stages to support diverse lichen communities, and the consideration of long-term disturbance dynamics in forest conservation efforts, as they provide critical insights for safeguarding biodiversity in our changing world.

Relationship Between Cultivable Bacterial Abundance and Soil C, N, And P Contents Across A Land Use Gradient in The Brazilian Cerrado

Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate how soil bacterial abundance relates to soil C, N and P contents along land use change gradient in the Cerrado landscape. Method/design/approach: Land use categories were classified according to the succession stage of natural vegetation and agricultural activity. Soil physicochemical analyzes and plate counts of cellulolytic, amylolytic, free-living diazotrophic, phosphate solubilizing and actinobacteria were carried out. Linear regression analysis was used to investigate the interaction between the abundance of bacterial cultivable groups and soil C, N and P contents. Redundancy analysis (RDA) was used to determine the influence of environmental variables. Land use change affected how bacterial cultivable abundance interacts to soil C, N and P dynamics. Results and conclusion: The regression analysis revealed 27 significant interactions between bacterial cultivable abundance (BCA) and soil C, N and P contents. In general, the increase of BCA is related to higher soil C, N and P rates. The influence of BCA in soil nutrient cycling seems to be more expressive in stressful environments such as intermediate succession area and agricultural lands. Nitrogen was the most affected nutrient and actinobacteria are the microbial group that can most enhance soil fertility. RDA showed that K, Mg and Ca contents were the main environmental factors acting on bacterial abundance. Research implications: Conservation of natural resources and maintenance of biodiversity. Originality/value: Soil bacterial functional groups and actinobacteria are directly involved in biogeochemical cycling being key factors for ecosystem conservation.

Effects of precipitation and temperature on the species composition and pollinator efficiency of ocimum kilimandscharicum flower visitors in Kakamega forest ecosystem

Pollination, a critical ecosystem service in the maintenance of biodiversity is on the decline due to several factors including habitat loss, exotic pest invasions, pollution, overharvesting, climate, and land use changes. This study analyzed flower visitors’ activity of Ocimum kilimandscharicum in the Kakamega forest. Specifically, the study sought to: (i) assess the effects of temperature and precipitation on flower visitors’ diversity and (ii) identify the most efficient flower visitor using seed set analysis. Data on pollinators were collected through direct observation and sweep-netting and the bagging method in which, flowers were covered using a pollinator bag pre-anthesis and allowed a single visit from a flower visitor. Seed sets from the flowers were collected and counted. Six study sites were identified along two transects each 2.5 km long and labeled A to F. Sampling was done from 7:30 am to 4:00 pm, three days a week for five months consecutively. Secondary data on bee species and their characteristics were used in identification. There were no significant correlations between temperature and diversity (r = -0.509, p = 0.3810), precipitation and diversity (r = 0.377; p = 0.531), temperature and species abundance (r = -0.00618; p = 0.9921), species abundance and precipitation (r = -0.248; p = 0.688), temperature and the species richness of flower-visiting insects (r = -0.729 p = 0.1623) and between precipitation and species richness (r = 0.824; p = 0.08592). The highest number of seed sets, 12,944 was collected under the Apis mellifera making this species, the most efficient pollinator. This study clearly shows that Ocimum kilimandscharicum flower visitors are important in pollination where the higher number of visits translates into higher numbers of seeds set.

Integrating several analytical methods to assess strength of ecological processes behind metacommunity assembly

Understanding processes and mechanisms of how species assemble in a metacommunity is crucial for illuminating the factors that contribute to the maintenance of biodiversity and developing management decisions. Ecologists have proposed a number of analytical methods for identifying the effects of various ecological processes, but there is no consensus on the best approach. Our study extends the existing framework which synthesizes multiple analytical methods and incorporates community data across space and time to understand the underlying ecological processes. We extended this framework by 1) including null‐model‐based analytical methods; 2) defining metacommunity archetypes that illustrate extreme cases of metacommunities, to observe how well they can be distinguished by different summary statistics, 3) applying the extended framework to real‐world vegetation data from a subtropical forest and interpreting the results, and 4) discussing the potential advantages, limitations, and future directions of applying this framework. We used a process‐based metacommunity simulation model to generate a simulated community dataset and applied random forest (RF) approach to estimate the strength of ecological processes in the process‐based model by considering the summary statistics calculated by the analytical methods as predictors. We also quantified the performance of the trained RF and applied it to estimate the strength of ecological processes in Fushan Forest Dynamics Plot. Our results demonstrate the framework's flexibility in incorporating different analytical methods and its generality to be applied to different community systems. We highlight its theoretical values in evaluating the performance of different statistics or indices in identifying ecological processes and its practical values in assessing the strength of ecological processes underlying real‐world metacommunities. Future improvements should focus on synthesizing statistics that capture specific signals of ecological processes and evaluating the robustness of estimation against dataset complexity and incompleteness.

Iron and aluminum ore mining pollution induce oxidative and tissue damage on fruit-eating bats from the Atlantic Forest

Mining, a vital industry for economic growth, poses significant environmental pollution challenges. Failures in tailings dam containment have caused environmental contamination and raised concerns about preserving the globally significant biodiversity in the Atlantic Forest, which is under severe threat. Fruit-eating bats are key for forest regeneration as essential seed dispersers and pollinators. This study focuses on two keystone species, Artibeus lituratus and Sturnira lilium, exploring the effects of iron ore mining area (FEOA) and aluminum ore mining area (ALOA) on these bats, respectively, and comparing to individuals from a preserved Atlantic Forest fragment (FFA). Bats from FEOA showed higher Aluminum (Al), Calcium (Ca), Iron (Fe) and Barium (Ba) liver accumulation, as well as Ca and Fe muscle accumulation. These animals also showed higher liver and kidney oxidative damage associated with liver fibrosis and kidney inflammation. Brain and muscle also showed oxidative stress. Bats from ALOA showed higher Ca and Ba liver accumulation and Ca, Zinc (Zn), and Ba muscle accumulation, along with higher brain oxidative stress, liver fibrosis, and kidney inflammation. Our findings indicate that iron and aluminum ore mining activities cause adverse effects on bat tissues, posing a potential threat to biodiversity maintenance in the Atlantic Forest.

Balance™ methodology – converting carbon finance to biodiversity creation

ABSTRACT This paper addresses two interlinked problems in sustainable development and suggests a methodology to resolve them. The first is the reduction of atmospheric greenhouse gas emissions, especially carbon dioxide. The second is the maintenance of biodiversity. Current carbon financing and environmental stewardship mechanisms underwhelm, often diluting intended positive effects. Most existing carbon credits do not have protection after 40 years, placing projects substantially beneath the C02 radiative forcing cycle. This paper presents the ‘Balance’ approach to sustainable development, including contractual principles ensuring C02 reduction, biodiversity enhancement and financial accountability. We describe two novel measures: a carbon calculator for commercial entities, and a new metric, the Balance Unit, combining biodiversity creation with carbon credits. A case study, spanning over 20 years at the Forest of Marston Vale, is then presented. It finds an increase in tree cover, CO2 sequestration, reduction in agricultural GHG emissions, sulphur dioxide and particulate matter absorption, and annual local economic benefits totalling £UK12.83 million. Expository detail regarding the ‘Planting Principles’ practised at Marston Vale is also provided. We argue that the Balance methodology, especially the Balance Unit, enables greater measurement reliability and long-term efficacy for maintaining biodiversity and reducing GHG emissions than current carbon financing approaches.

An Estimation of Ecosystem Service Value of Rice Paddy Wetland in Korea Using Contingent Valuation Method

Agricultural land is an important ecosystem that is essential for human life, and rice paddies, in particular, provide many ecosystem services such as food production and the maintenance of biodiversity. Although the value of rice paddy wetlands is high, they are rapidly disappearing due to urbanization and development. This study aims to estimate the monetary value of the rice paddy wetland ecosystem and investigate the proportion of benefits for each rice paddy wetland function to provide policy implications for rice paddy wetland management. To this end, this study conducted a survey with 988 South Korean citizens regarding rice paddy wetlands and adopted the contingent valuation method (CVM) with various approaches (double-bounded dichotomous choice pooled model, double-bounded dichotomous choice panel model, pseudo referendum model, open-ended question model, etc.). Considering the characteristics of each approach, the present value of the total willingness to pay (WTP) per household was estimated to range from 327 to 347 USD. When extrapolated to the entire country, the total WTP of all households in South Korea is estimated from 6.7 to 7.1 billion USD. This study also finds that households have an average WTP distribution ratio by paddy wetlands function as follows: food supply 33.8%, biodiversity 27.2%, disaster and pollution control 24.2%, and cultural services 14.8%. These findings have policy implications by providing valuable insights for decision-making in determining the priority and allocation levels of financial resources in the future design of policies related to paddy wetlands.