Trends in Ecology & Evolution
Ecology for transformation
Introduction
Ecology has become a global science over the 20 years since the inaugural issue of TREE1, 2. Massive assessment projects, such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (http://www.ipcc.ch/), have evolved as processes for bringing scientific information into political discussions (see Glossary). Such assessments aim to summarize scientific consensus (on widely confirmed results as well as on uncertainties and areas of disagreement) in a form that is relevant to, but does not prescribe policy.
Ecology is the centerpiece of the most recent synthesis of this kind, the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA, http://www.MAweb.org), which focuses on ecosystem services (Box 1)3, 4, 5, 6. According to the MA framework [7], these include provisioning services (e.g. food, fiber and fresh water), regulating services (e.g. water and air purification, climate regulation and soil development), cultural services (e.g. educational, recreational or spiritual values of ecosystems) and supporting services (e.g. primary production and nutrient cycling). Underpinning all of these is species, ecosystem and landscape biodiversity [7]. However, the findings of the MA show that 14 out of 24 identified ecosystem services are in decline. Only four ecosystem services are increasing: production from crops, livestock and aquaculture, and carbon sequestration in terrestrial ecosystems. Moreover, degradation caused by land-use change, nutrient mobilization and other drivers is intensifying 7, 8, 9. These adverse changes coincide with an increasing demand for ecosystem services, which is set to increase further as the human population, economic activities and per-capita consumption grow over the coming decades. The social, economic and ecological drivers behind those changes are complex and interwoven in the global system 7, 8, 9, 10, 11.
As well as the clear warnings of adverse trends, the MA offers hope. Research has identified characteristics of social–ecological systems that seem to be resilient and capable of ongoing renewal (Figure 1), and environmentally sound technology might reduce adverse impacts of agriculture on biodiversity and water quality, for example [9]. Improvements in construction practices and energy technology also offer opportunities to mitigate human-caused environmental change [7]. Most ecosystem services are not marketed, even though economic studies propose that properly constructed markets would support strong conservation measures [7]. Certain institutional and political frameworks, collectively known as adaptive governance 12, 13, align property rights of resource users to evoke sustainable use of ecosystem services and appear to be successful in managing ecosystem services [7]. The frameworks also distribute authority among institutions nested across a range of spatial scales, similar to the multiple scales of ecosystem processes [13]. They preserve and use memories of past crises to address present ones, synthesize diverse forms of knowledge (e.g. technical and traditional knowledge), and seek innovative approaches [13]. Diverse ecosystems, culture and livelihoods seem to be a necessary background condition for environmentally sound technology (including markets) and adaptive governance.
If these characteristics of resilient social–ecological systems could be implemented more widely, the situation could improve, although such a global transformation is an enormous challenge [14]. Here, we offer suggestions for how ecologists can contribute to such a transformation. An expanded role for ecology will require changes in the way that we conduct science as most of the necessary research on ecosystem services involves interdisciplinary collaboration among ecologists and social scientists. To address the condition and future of ecosystem services, ecologists must acknowledge the human dimension of ecosystem dynamics and consider social and economic driving forces and their interaction with changes in ecosystems 15, 16.
Section snippets
Improve approaches for assessing ecosystem services
To manage ecosystem services, one must know what they are, as well as their location, abundance, rates of renewal and resilience. The basic science of identifying, quantifying and forecasting ecosystem services is thus an important challenge for interdisciplinary research 16, 17, 18, 19, 20. The need for such information is likely to increase if more ecosystem services are traded in markets. Participants in a market for ecosystem services (e.g. forest products, potable fresh water or
Role of ecology in natural disasters
Ecosystem degradation can exacerbate the human consequences of natural disasters [7]. The role of ecosystem changes, such as wetland loss, deforestation, canalization of rivers and loss of coral reefs, was evident during the 2004 Asian tsunami and the 2005 hurricane in New Orleans, USA [30]. The capacity of ecosystems to mitigate natural hazards such as floods, droughts, storms and tsunamis appears to be decreasing, although there is considerable variability among regions [7].
Whereas some
Understand the resilience of ecosystem services
Resilience is the capacity of a system to renew and sustain specified conditions or processes in spite of exogenous disturbances or changes in driving forces 15, 31, 32, 33. From its origins in ecology 23, 34, resilience has been extended to interdependent social–ecological systems 15, 31, 32. Because it is related to the distance of a system from a critical threshold, resilience changes over time and can therefore be managed [31]. In ecosystems, it is often related to slowly-changing
Contribute to adaptive governance
Because the relationship between ecosystems and society is changing continuously, it is difficult to predict the consequences of management actions; therefore, it is misleading to view ecosystem management as the solution to a problem 42, 43, 44. Instead, management actions should be viewed as experiments that can improve knowledge of social–ecological dynamics if the outcome is monitored and appropriately analyzed 45, 46. Adaptive environmental management (AEM) is a formal process for
Develop positive visions for the future
There is no lack of information in our current globalized society. Overwhelming information flow makes it difficult for people to grasp the broader situation. Thus there is risk that people, particularly in urban areas (approaching half of the human population [7]), will become alienated from their dependence on ecosystem services. This problem cannot be overcome by more information alone. Instead, we need integrated information in the form of visions for positive change in the approaches of
Conclusions
The role of ecology in policy-relevant research is evolving rapidly. Here, we have focused on two exciting and important research areas: innovation of environmentally friendly technology, including markets for ecosystem services, and adaptive governance. In both of these areas, ecological expertise is needed to identify and quantify ecosystem services, to understand how they might change in the future, and to help envision more resilient social–ecological systems. The transformation to
Acknowledgements
We thank colleagues in the Beijer Institute for Ecological Economics, Millennium Ecosystem Assessment and Resilience Alliance for many stimulating discussions, J. Clark, R. Costanza and two anonymous referees for helpful comments, Pille Bunnell for the artwork in Box 2 and D. Karns for help with the article. This work was supported by the McDonnell Foundation, US NSF, and by the Swedish Research Council for Environment, Agricultural Sciences and Spatial Planning (FORMAS).
Glossary
- Adaptive governance:
- institutional and political frameworks designed to adapt to changing relationships between society and ecosystems in ways that sustain ecosystem services; expands the focus from adaptive management of ecosystems to address the broader social contexts that enable ecosystem-based management [12,13]. [12][13]
- Adaptive management:
- a systematic process for continually adjusting policies and practices by learning from the outcome of previously used policies and practices [60]. In
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