The role of forest biodiversity in the

sustainable use of ecosystem goods and

services in agriculture, agro-forestry, and

forestry

Ian Thompson (et al.)

Canadian Forest Service

Great lakes Forest Research Centre

December, 2010

Some background

information

• this presentation is from an OECD

funded symposium held in Tokyo,

April 2010

• organizers:

- Dr. Kimiko Okabe, Japanese

Forest and Forest Products

Research Institute (FFPRI), and

- Dr. Ian Thompson, Canadian

Forest Service

• 18 presentations over 2 days

• >200 attendees

• published as an FFPRI research

report and on their website

• summary paper ready for

submission to BioScience

Ecosystem goods and services – from the MEA

Sustainable vs. unsustainable management

and the concept of thresholds

Resilience is the capacity of an ecosystem

to recover after major disturbance

Stable mature

forest state

Disturbance

Reorganization

of functional

species

Stability of an ecosystem is a concept

related to resistance to change

Stability within bounds = no

recognizable major changes in

vegetation community over time

time

Ec

os

ys

tem

sta

te

System is resistant

to change over time

Resilience is an emergent ecosystem property

• resilience of a system is a function of biodiversity at many scales: genes, species, and regional diversity among ecosystems

• biodiversity underpins ecosystem resilience and the ecological goods and services from ecosystems

• loss of biodiversity may alter the ecosystem resilience and will result in reduced goods and services

• loss of resilience means increased uncertainty about future ecosystem condition

Thresholds exist where the resilience capacity is

overcome and the system moves to a new state that

will differ in appearance and services

• e.g., if a forest becomes dry, it loses species, is

subject to increased frequency of fire, and moves to a

savannah or grassland state

• this new state is stable and will require considerable

change to move to another state

• the forest biodiversity has been lost and so have

most of the goods and services from the ecosystem

Tropical dry forest savannah Drier climate

Removing invasive acacia

forest in California

Invasive black wattle (Acacia

mearnsii) in South Africa - a very

stable and resilient system

Two examples of invasive species forming highly

resilient but highly degraded ecosystems

Biodiversity continues to be lost: we

did not meet the CBD 2010 target

MSA = mean species abundance

11

Change of Land Use (area coverage)

across all biomes – Global Total (TEEB, 2010)

Actual 2000 2050 Difference

Area

million

km2

million

km2 2000 to 2050

Natural areas 65.5 58.0 -11%

Bare natural 3.3 3.0 -9%

Forest managed 4.2 7.0 67%

Extensive agriculture 5.0 3.0 -40%

Intensive agriculture 11.0 15.8 44%

Woody biofuels 0.1 0.5 400%

Cultivated grazing 19.1 20.8 9%

Artificial surfaces 0.2 0.2 0%

World Total 108.4 108.4

Natural areas loss is 7.5m M km2 - broadly equivalent to the area of the Australia.

Losses: natural, bare natural areas & extensive agriculture broadly equals the USA

Biodiversity and ecosystem functioning

Literature summaries of studies on the effect

of biodiversity loss on ecosystem function:

• various ecosystems, various measures

• shapes of curves differ among response variables (primary

production, C storage, transpiration, etc.)

• depended on number of species removed

• effects are strongest at the community level

+ effect 19/23 108/108 485/771 30/35

No effect 4/23 0/108 286/771 5/25

Schlapfer and

Schmid 1999

Cardinale et

al. 2006

Balvanera et

al. 2006

Thompson et

al. 2009

Functional species in ecosystems

• functional species play disproportionately important roles

in ecosystem

• pollination: many insects, some birds, some bats

• pest reduction: many birds, many bats, predatory insects

• decomposition: insects, fungi, micro-organisms

Functional redundancy - insurance hypothesis

• from: Walker (1995); Yachi and Loreau (1999); others

• hypothesis: multiple species perform the same function in

many ecosystems

• loss of one species results in the role filled by another with

no change in goods and services

• that is….biodiversity enables the system to be resilient to

some level of species loss

• evidence clear that diversity supports stability in ecosystems

- exact mechanism is unclear

(populations, food webs, etc.)

Many biodiversity-related ecosystem

services are not recognized as important

• role of biodiversity in:

• mitigating climate change

• prevention of disease and pest outbreaks

• crop production (e.g., pollination, soil processes)

• water flow and purification

• ecosystem resilience and stability

• complexity that is overlooked by managing single

resources rather than considering ecosystem effects

Loss of function

• Functional niche complementarity among

pumpkin pollinators in Indonesia.

Hoehn, Tscharntke, Tylianakis & Steffan-Dewenter (2008) Proc. Roy. Soc. Lond. B

Taki et al （submitted）

Forest ecosystem near an agricultural field contributes

crop production – an example of native pollinators

Plantation (Jpn cedar)

Secondary forest (deciduous)

Nu

mb

ers

of in

div

idu

als（p

er

tra

p）

Maleque et al （2010）

Stand age（years after clear cutting）

Parasitoids: biological control

• Biodiversity loss can reduce ecosystem process rates,

particularly in natural environments.

Loss of function

Tylianakis, Rand, Kahmen, Klein, Buchmann, Perner & Tscharntke (2008) PLoS Biol.

Loss of plant diversity correlated with insect diversity

Tylianakis, Klein, Lozada & Tscharntke (2006) J. Biogeogr.

Bees: F1,77.6 = 23.09,

P < 0.0001

Wasps: F1,67.0 =10.46,

P < 0.002

Agroforestry

Agroforest intensification: shade-sun grown

From: Tylianakis, Tokyo,

April 2010

Agroforestry: positive effects of pollination

• Cacao intensification reduces bee biodiversity in

Sulawesi = reduced crop

Tscharntke et al. (2008) Ecology

High Med Low Forest

Cacao Management Intensity

Bee d

ivers

ity

A AB

AB

B

Cacao agroforest intensification

Bos, Tylianakis, Steffan-Dewenter & Tscharntke (2008) Biological Invasions

Probability of crazy ants being

present Effects on other ant species

Forest spp.

Other spp.

The yellow crazy ant Anoplolepis

gracilipes in cacao agroforests in

Sulawesi.

Many examples of how biodiversity has

positive effects on ecosystem services

• increase natural forest in agro-forest systems to

increase pollination and natural control of pest species

• increase landscape heterogeneity to increase richness

of pollinator community, decrease pests, and increase

stability in biological communities

• reducing monocultures on a landscape will improve total

goods and services

• reforestation and recovery in tropical systems is fully

possible

• improving plantations for multiple values can result in

greater value to local communities

Change in

Economic

Value

International

Policies

Change

in

Land use,

Climate,

Pollution,

Water use

OECD

Baseline

scenario

Change

In

Ecosystem

Services

Change

in

Biodiversity

Change

in

Ecosystem

functions

Change in

Economic

Value

International

Policies

Change

in

Land use,

Climate,

Pollution,

Water use

OECD

Baseline

scenario

Change

In

Ecosystem

Services

Change

in

Biodiversity

Change

in

Ecosystem

functions

Change in

Economic

Value

International

Policies

Change

in

Land use,

Climate,

Pollution,

Water use

OECD

Baseline

scenario

Change

In

Ecosystem

Services

Change

in

Biodiversity

Change

in

Ecosystem

functions (Kumar, TEEB, Tokyo , 2010)

Basis for evaluating ecosystem

services (TEEB, 2010)

• TEEB estimates that G&S from global tropical forests

are worth US$ 11 Trillion ($6000/ha)

Failure by scientists to enable policy

makers/politicians/public to understand issues

• indicators:

• forest loss continues at a rate of 13 million ha/year

• 61% of Japanese and EU public do not know the word

„biodiversity‟

• climate change continues unabated

• many foresters still consider biodiversity to be a forest product,

instead of actually being the forest

• continued clearing of forest near agricultural lands

• SFM criticized as an excuse to conduct „business as usual‟

• biodiversity often considered as a preservation issue rather than a

sustainability issue

• emphasis is still on non-declining, even flow of limited goods

Problems faced by scientists

• few believe that ecology issues are urgent – translates to

funding

• need to embrace other points of view and other methods

• no training in public communications and dealing with the

media

• „biodiversity‟ is often referred to as an „ecosystem service‟

• not everyone has the same expectations

• “monoculture of the mind”

Improving biodiversity considerations in decision

making and policy: the role for scientists

• improve the understanding of mechanisms by which

biodiversity supports ecosystem goods and services

• identify and improve valuation of these services

• improve communication with policy makers and convey key

messages on how biodiversity improves ecosystem function

• enabling the capacity to manage sustainably, instead of

making mistakes and then having to react

• indicators may be useful, but not in the absence of

thresholds and meaningful quantifiable values

• communicate better: lose the jargon

Key science messages from Tokyo

OECD-funded symposium • biodiversity supports ecosystem functioning and enhances resilience

• biodiversity is higher in natural forests >secondary forests

>plantations

• increasing biodiversity increases goods and services

• diversity in pollinators increases crop yields

• diversity in landscapes that include natural forests (at close

distances to crops) increases pollinators and reduces pest species

• on the other hand: intensifying land use drives extinctions

• loss of biodiversity means huge economic losses; unrecognized until

after the damage is done

• consider/manage the ecosystem, not individual resources

• valuation of ecosystem services can be a strong tool for influencing

policy