Grand challenges in biodiversity–ecosystem functioning research in the era of science–policy platforms require explicit consideration of feedbacks

Abstract

Feedbacks are an essential feature of resilient socio-economic systems, yet the feedbacks between biodiversity, ecosystem services and human wellbeing are not fully accounted for in global policy efforts that consider future scenarios for human activities and their consequences for nature. Failure to integrate feedbacks in our knowledge frameworks exacerbates uncertainty in future projections and potentially prevents us from realizing the full benefits of actions we can take to enhance sustainability. We identify six scientific research challenges that, if addressed, could allow future policy, conservation and monitoring efforts to quantitatively account for ecosystem and societal consequences of biodiversity change. Placing feedbacks prominently in our frameworks would lead to (i) coordinated observation of biodiversity change, ecosystem functions and human actions, (ii) joint experiment and observation programmes, (iii) more effective use of emerging technologies in biodiversity science and policy, and (iv) a more inclusive and integrated global community of biodiversity observers. To meet these challenges, we outline a five-point action plan for collaboration and connection among scientists and policymakers that emphasizes diversity, inclusion and open access. Efforts to protect biodiversity require the best possible scientific understanding of human activities, biodiversity trends, ecosystem functions and—critically—the feedbacks among them.

Making sense of multivariate community responses in global change experiments

“…Gaining insights into how biodiversity is impacted by global change is a top research priority (O'Connor et al, 2021), and numerous studies have pointed to the necessity of including both species identity and their abundances in our attempts to understand community changes (Gotelli & Colwell, 2001; Heip et al, 1998; Hill, 1973; Wilsey et al, 2005). Experiments are an important tool for studying global change (Schlesinger, 2006), and here, we compare and integrate two different methods for studying multivariate community compositional differences between control and treated replicates—dissimilarity metrics (and their ordinations) (Anderson et al, 2006; Bray & Curtis, 1957) and RACs (Avolio et al, 2019; Foster & Dunstan, 2010).…”

A framework for the detection and attribution of biodiversity change

“…As has been done with climate change and its impacts, we can extend the detection and attribution workflow to the ecosystem impacts arising from the observed change in biodiversity (figure 2b ). For example, we can estimate how changes in the rate of compositional turnover, or the rate of species loss, impacts measures of ecosystem functioning and stability, and how in turn they influence ecosystem services that determine outcomes for people and their livelihoods [20,100,[114][115][116]. Advances in monitoring ecosystem services following the detection and attribution framework are needed [117].…”

Perspective: sustainability challenges, opportunities and solutions for long-term ecosystem observations

“…For example, while coastal shores are receiving attention in the context of ocean-based climate interventions and mitigations (as described later), the consequences of these interventions on deep-sea ecosystems are largely unknown, highlighting the need for data to support evidence-based policy-making [76]. Note that, despite the expansion of international networks and initiatives aimed at monitoring biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, data gaps remain a significant obstacle to understanding feedbacks between these system components [77][78][79]. These gaps exist not only in terms of observations of organisms, but also in understanding their contributions to ecosystem functioning and services.…”