Upscaling biodiversity - ecosystem functioning research using intertidal forests as a model system (BEF-SCALE)

升级生物多样性 - 使用潮间带森林作为模型系统的生态系统功能研究（BEF-SCALE）

• 批准号: NE/W006650/1
• 负责人: John Griffin
• 金额: $ 83.08万
• 依托单位: Swansea University
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2022 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=NE%2FW006650%2F1
• 关键词: Upscaling; biodiversity; ecosystem; functioning; research

Human activities have already raised global species extinction rates a thousand-fold and have pushed an additional million species towards extinction. Biodiversity is also rapidly changing on more local scales as climate change drives the redistribution of species, and pressures such as overharvesting and habitat fragmentation intensify in many areas. Understanding how biodiversity influences ecosystem functions, such as carbon capture and fisheries productivity, is a crucial challenge directly relevant to meeting the UN sustainable development goals, and UK policy imperatives of harnessing biodiversity to achieve sustainable economic growth and using nature-based solutions to help meet 'net-zero' emissions by 2050.Since the mid- 1990s, several hundred experiments have tested how changes in biodiversity influence ecosystem functions and services, with many studies indicating that biodiversity loss does not reduce functioning as long as the single best-performing species is retained. However, these studies have focused on local-scale interactions between species in small habitat units such as grassland plots, field enclosures, or aquarium tanks; we therefore lack studies that consider BEF relationships on the larger landscape-, regional- or even national- scales most relevant to the public, ecosystem managers, and policy makers. Ecological theory suggests that biodiversity is more important for ecosystem services as scale increases due to greater environmental variation, but it cannot currently be evaluated in real ecosystems because we lack BEF studies across scales and environmental gradients. In this project we aim to bridge the gap between experiments and relevant larger scales by using Great Britain's intertidal forests as a model system. These highly productive and valuable ecosystems occur extensively around the GB's varied and complex coastlines and are formed by a manageable suite of seaweed species which can be easily manipulated across multiple distinct environmental gradients. To meet our overall aim, we will incorporate multiple environmental factors into experiments, observations and models delivered across three inter-linked work packages which together provide a generalised approach and scaling relationships for BEF. Our first work package uses a 100km stretch of the south Wales coastline - which incorporates gradients in wave exposure and turbidity - as an accessible template to experimentally test the causal effect of intertidal forest biodiversity on ecosystem functioning from small patches to the whole coastline. Our second package combines a network of standardised observations in intertidal forests around GB, with satellite remote sensing and statistical modelling, to test how BEF relationships scale-up -- from 1 m to 1000km scales -- in naturally assembled communities. The third and final work package uses the new experimental and observational data to inform dynamic models, allowing us to test how species traits such as dispersal and environmental tolerances interacts with environmental variability to determine BEF relationships across scales. A key innovation here is the explicit - and empirically informed - integration of spatial environmental variability in multiple environmental factors. These will be generalised to represent how the environment varies in a range of different ecosystems from forests, to agricultural landscapes, and to coral reefs. The advancement of our project aim will deliver a revised appreciation of the role of diversity in ecosystems and demonstrate a generalizable approach for upscaling biodiversity - ecosystem functioning relationships. We anticipate that this will feed into predictions for how biodiversity changes will influence ecosystem functioning and services on large, relevant- scales, in intertidal forests and beyond, with a range of applications from natural capital models, to the design of large-scale ecosystem restoration projects.

人类活动已经使全球物种灭绝速度提高了千倍，并导致另外一百万个物种濒临灭绝。随着气候变化推动物种重新分布，以及许多地区过度捕捞和栖息地破碎化等压力加剧，生物多样性也在更局部范围内迅速发生变化。了解生物多样性如何影响生态系统功能，例如碳捕获和渔业生产力，是与实现联合国可持续发展目标直接相关的一项关键挑战，也是英国利用生物多样性实现可持续经济增长和使用基于自然的解决方案帮助实现可持续发展目标的政策要求。到 2050 年实现“净零”排放。自 20 世纪 90 年代中期以来，数百项实验测试了生物多样性的变化如何影响生态系统的功能和服务，许多研究表明，只要单一表现最佳的物种仍然存在，生物多样性的丧失就不会降低其功能。是保留。然而，这些研究重点关注小型栖息地单元（例如草地、围场或水族馆）中物种之间的局部相互作用；因此，我们缺乏考虑与公众、生态系统管理者和政策制定者最相关的更大景观、区域甚至国家尺度上的 BEF 关系的研究。生态理论表明，由于环境变化较大，规模越大，生物多样性对于生态系统服务越重要，但目前无法在真实的生态系统中对其进行评估，因为我们缺乏跨尺度和环境梯度的 BEF 研究。在这个项目中，我们的目标是通过使用英国的潮间带森林作为模型系统来缩小实验与相关更大尺度之间的差距。这些高产且有价值的生态系统广泛存在于英国多样化且复杂的海岸线周围，由一组可管理的海藻物种组成，这些海藻物种可以在多个不同的环境梯度中轻松操纵。为了实现我们的总体目标，我们将把多种环境因素纳入通过三个相互关联的工作包提供的实验、观察和模型中，这些工作包共同为 BEF 提供了通用方法和扩展关系。我们的第一个工作包使用南威尔士海岸线 100 公里长的一段（其中包含波浪暴露和浊度的梯度）作为一个易于使用的模板，通过实验测试潮间带森林生物多样性对从小块到整个海岸线的生态系统功能的因果影响。我们的第二个软件包将英国周围潮间带森林的标准化观测网络与卫星遥感和统计模型结合起来，以测试 BEF 关系如何在自然聚集的群落中扩大规模（从 1 m 到 1000 km）。第三个也是最后一个工作包使用新的实验和观测数据为动态模型提供信息，使我们能够测试分散和环境耐受性等物种特征如何与环境变异性相互作用，以确定跨尺度的 BEF 关系。这里的一个关键创新是对多种环境因素中的空间环境变异性进行明确的、基于经验的整合。这些将被概括为代表从森林到农业景观和珊瑚礁的一系列不同生态系统中环境的变化。我们项目目标的推进将重新认识生态系统中多样性的作用，并展示一种扩大生物多样性与生态系统功能关系的通用方法。我们预计，这将有助于预测生物多样性变化将如何影响潮间带森林及其他地区的大规模相关规模的生态系统功能和服务，并具有从自然资本模型到大规模生态系统恢复设计的一系列应用项目。

项目成果

Topographic heterogeneity triggers multiple complementary cascades to exert cornerstone effects on ecosystem multifunctionality

地形异质性触发多重互补级联，对生态系统多功能性产生基石效应

• DOI: http://dx.10.22541/au.169893815.52639550/v1
• 发表时间: 2023
• 作者: Fairchild T