**2. Linking biodiversity to ecosystem services**

the system. This is generally associated with increased human population pressure. Under‐ standing this complex relationship in a particular ecosystem or related ecosystems is most important and should be an integral component of the planning of ecosystem management.

Service

Direct (e.g. wood Service•Economic

•Indirect (e.g. ecosystem productivity) •Direct (e.g. wood

**Figure 1.** The links between natural ecosystems and human well-being adapted from Haines-Young et al. [7].

A global synthesis reveals that biodiversity loss is a major driver of ecosystem change [6, 8]. There are numbers of causes of biodiversity loss and differences across ecosystems, including: land-use change, climate change, nitrogen deposition, biotic exchanges, and atmospheric carbon dioxide changes [9]. Land-use change has been shown to be one of the leading causes of biodiversity loss in terrestrial ecosystems [3, 10, 11]. An increasing global population and greater demand for food, fodder, fibre and fuel has led to rapid changes in land-use patterns. Areas of low production value, once considered impervious to human activity, have increas‐

There is growing evidence of disconnection or opposition between environmental conserva‐ tion and socio-economic development. In 2005, The Millennium Assessment showed that changes to ecosystems have contributed to human well-being and economic development, but this has been achieved at the expense of many ecosystem services, and increased poverty for some groups of people [1]. Furthermore, the degradation of ecosystem services could escalate

A global study, The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB, more information at http://www.teebweb.org/), recently revealed the global economic benefit of biodiversity and made the case for better natural resources management [10]. As part of the process, an Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES, www.ipbes.net) has been established as a follow-up initiative to the Millenium Ecosystem Assessment [1]. Since then, there has been significant interest in converting the concept of ecosystem services into practice, both as a rationale for conservation of biological diversity and

fuel)

Prioritising Land-Use Decisions

Emily S. Weeks1, Norm Mason2 , Anne-Gaelle

Over the past 50 years, ecosystems have Considerable portions of the world's thirteen ecosystems [2]. Such a high degree of conversion ecological processes, which results in the diminishing

Estimates of current extinction rates are several Some biologists suggest that a sixth mass extinction rates [5]. Recently, however, there and regional level. Studies have shown that function and resilience [6], and is altering key

Biodiversity is considered to provide a range functioning of both their individual components

functional ecological systems (Figure 1) .The can contribute significantly depending on type the demands on most ecosystem services provided generally decreases with increasing degradation population pressure. Understanding this complex important and should be an integral component

Figure 1. The links between natural ecosystems and

of biodiversity loss and differences across ecosystems

ingly become susceptible to intensive land-use changes [2, 12, 13].

A global synthesis reveals that biodiversity

1National Land Resource Centre

New Zealand

New Zealand

2Landcare Research

1. Introduction

human populations [3].

2 Biodiversity - The Dynamic Balance of the Planet

•Biophysical structure

Ecosystem and Biodiversity

during the first half of this century.

or process •Function

•Species diversity

Biodiversity Protection in Productive

Decisions for the Optimal Delivery of Ecosystem

Ecosystem Services and

human history [1]. ecologically diverse

biological diversity and

biodiversity composition and

through geological time [4]. in estimates of global of species at the local simplification of ecosystem of Earth's ecosystems.

associated with the normal

population increases so do

have changed more rapidly than at any other period of thirteen terrestrial biomes are being converted to less e conversion is leading to extensive changes in biodiversity diminishing of the ecosystem services that help sustain biological

several magnitudes above average extinction rates through extinction is underway, but there is large uncertainty in there has been considerable evidence for widespread loss of that the loss of biodiversity at this level has led to the simplification key process important to productivity and sustainability of

range of services of varying values to humanity [7] associated components and different combinations of these components The type and level of service inevitably varies among ecosystem type and their degree of intactness. As the human population provided by indigenous ecosystems, but their ability to provide

degradation of the system. This is generally associated with complex relationship in a particular ecosystem or related

and human well-being adapted from Haines-Young et al. [7].

Human Well-being

 loss is a major driver of ecosystem change [6, 8]. There are ecosystems, including: land-use change, climate change,

component of the planning of ecosystem management.

•Social

Gaelle E. Ausseil2 and Alexander Herzig2

Productive Landscapes

are numbers of causes nitrogen deposition, Although there are good estimates of society's willingness to pay for various non-marketed ecosystem services, as yet there is no universally accepted framework for assigning values to biological diversity. One of the most useful frameworks to value biodiversity divides direct and indirect use values. Direct-use values can be readily calculated by observing the activities of representative groups of people, by monitoring collection points for natural production, and by examining import and export statistics. Indirect-use values are harder to measure. They are based on the indirect benefits people gain from biological diversity such as ecosystem productivity, water purification, climate regulation, eco-tourism, and recreation [16].

> The role of biodiversity in ecosystem function and services is widely debated. Most theoretical and empirical work on measuring this relationship has focused on the congruence between species richness and ecological function. Some studies have found a strong link between the two [8, 17], while others have found little evidence supporting these findings [19]. A review of existing studies illustrates that only a few empirical studies demonstrate improved function with high level of species richness [19]. This suggests changes in species evenness (relative abundance) may deserve greater attention than species richness [20]. Species evenness has a more immediate impact on ecosystems and in most services few dominant species play a major role [6]. In most cases many species are critical for a range of ecosystem functions.

> Recent studies have found that certain biodiversity facets co-occur with ecosystem services [21–25]. Large ecosystems, e.g. grasslands, show a high overlap along with ecosystems that provide a range of services that could be used to justify conservation action [21]. There is also a positive relationship between many ecosystem services and high species richness illustrated in several studies that reveal a positive relationship between species richness and productivity [17, 25–27]. However, with some services, such as soil services, the relationship with species

diversity is not clear, indicating no single biodiversity measure could be used as a substitute for ecosystem services, and vice versa.

flora and fauna [39–41] and provide land corridors for a range of wildlife [42]. These frag‐ mented landscapes are also of great importance for the establishment of studies related both to species preservation in the long term (including the re-introduction and translocation of species) and to the genetic health of isolated populations. Remaining riparian habitats can also play a major role for both humans and nature in productive landscapes [35] by providing habitat for wildlife and maintaining important ecosystem services (such as clean water) that

Prioritising Land-Use Decisions for the Optimal Delivery of Ecosystem Services and Biodiversity Protection in…

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/58255

5

In addition to contributing to biodiversity protection, productive landscapes are interrelated to a range of ecosystems services that are associated with biological conservation. Such landscapes receive services such as pollination, soil fertility, and water retention from sur‐ rounding natural systems but also contribute to services such as soil retentions and food production. The approach adopted for managing productive landscapes can have significant impact on the services on which it depends or provides. Water quality, pollination and nutrient cycling, soil retention, carbon sequestration, and biodiversity conservation are all highly vulnerable to changes in management practices. Some relationships are easy to identify, while others are much more difficult to measure [43]. For example, the relationship between the number of pollinators, crop yields, and the use of pesticides is easy to identity (pollinators will directly increase with crop yield and decrease with increased use of insecticides), while the benefits of wetlands are much more indirect (wetlands reduce the load of nitrogen in surface

Another important ecosystem service that has been associated with biodiversity is natural pest control [32, 44, 45]. Natural pest control provides environmental and economic benefits. Although productive landscapes with networks of natural habitat can provide refuge for a range of pests [46], there is evidence that multiple non-productive habitat types may also favour natural pest control (e.g. grassland, herbaceous wooden habitats and wetlands) [44, 47, 48]. Spatial scale and the distribution of natural habitat may influence the natural pest control function. For example, diverse small-scale landscapes provide better conditions for natural pest control than do large-scale landscapes [49]. Overall, there is a need for more studies to quantify the effects of landscape composition on natural pest control, and further investigation into the benefits biodiversity restoration programmes may offer to productive landscapes.

There is an increasing expectation that productive (i.e. agricultural) landscapes should be managed to preserve or enhance biodiversity (e.g. [50]). Often, the impacts of pressures associated with productive landscapes (and management interventions aimed at mitigating them) are assessed using local measures, such as native species richness or dominance. However, it is questionable how relevant such measures are for national-scale conservation priorities, since they may merely reflect changes in the occurrence and abundance of common, unthreatened indigenous species [50]. Ideally, any attempts to enhance biodiversity in productive landscapes should contribute to national conservation objectives. Integrated

are important for productivity.

water resulting from agricultural fields).

**3.2. Integrated conservation planning in productive landscapes**

conservation planning [51] provides an obvious means for achieving this.

Global efforts to conserve biological diversity have the potential to deliver economic benefits to people [28]. Whether biodiversity conservation could be justified on economic grounds depends on the scale over which benefits are measured [29] or the policy context [30]. A recent study [29] found that at local and global scales conservation benefits outweigh the benefits offered by development, but the balance changes when assessing economic benefits at the national level. For example, the strong positive correlations between species richness and productivity might be interpreted as a win-win for economic growth and the protection of species; however, the economic benefit of conserving high value land at the national scale is limited, and conservation is more likely through smaller scale reserve selection, which would likely benefit only a few species.

Greater diversity in terms of numbers of species may be linked to greater system productivity [19]. For example, decreased local diversity can lead to lower ecosystem productivity, lower use of limiting resources, and lower temporal stability. This is of potential relevance to economists because it provides evidence of the direct value of biodiversity to ecosystem function and the services provided to society by ecosystems. However, there are a number of ecosystem services that are not adequately represented by productivity measures, such as pollination and control of pests. This presents an on-going joint challenge between economists and ecologists – how to quantify these services in a way that can be valued by tools of economists.
