Journal Article

Positive biodiversity-productivity relationship predominant in global forests

Baraloto, Christopher, McGuire, A. David, Tavani, Rebecca, Alvarez-Loayza, Patricia, Oleksyn, Jacek, Kitahara, Fumiaki, Lewis, Simon L., Jucker, Tommaso, Schmid, Bernhard, Wortel, Verginia, O'Brien, Timothy, Pfautsch, Sebastian, Schall, Peter, Valencia, Renato, Hérault, Bruno, Bałazy, Radomir, Tchebakova, Nadja, Schelhaas, Mart-Jan, Bussotti, Filippo, Neldner, Victor J., Verbyla, David, Scherer-Lorenzen, Michael, Watson, James V., Vayreda, Jordi, Pretzsch, Hans, Jagodzinski, Andrzej M., Ngugi, Michael R., Bozzato, Fabio, de-Miguel, Sergio, Searle, Eric B., Zhu, Jun, Odeke, David E., Nabuurs, Gert-Jan, Valladares, Fernando, Liang, Jingjing, Brandl, Susanne, Crowther, Thomas W., Coomes, David A., Viana, Helder, Glick, Henry B., Zhou, Mo, Alberti, Giorgio, Fischer, Markus, Gourlet-Fleury, Sylvie, Mortier, Frédéric, Picard, Nicolas, Jaroszewicz, Bogdan, Schulze, Ernst-Detlef, Reich, Peter B., Ammer, Christian, Wiser, Susan, Barrett, Christopher B., Lei, Xiangdong, Piotto, Daniel, Sunderland, Terry, Sonké, Bonaventura, Engone-Obiang, Nestor L., Lee, Boknam, Hengeveld, Geerten M., Paquette, Alain, Zawiła-Nied

2016

Overview

The relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem productivity has been explored in detail in herbaceous vegetation, but patterns in forests are far less well understood. Liang et al. have amassed a global forest data set from >770,000 sample plots in 44 countries. A positive and consistent relationship can be discerned between tree diversity and ecosystem productivity at landscape, country, and ecoregion scales. On average, a 10% loss in biodiversity leads to a 3% loss in productivity. This means that the economic value of maintaining biodiversity for the sake of global forest productivity is more than fivefold greater than global conservation costs. Science , this issue p. 196 Global forest inventory records suggest that biodiversity loss would result in a decline in forest productivity worldwide. The biodiversity-productivity relationship (BPR) is foundational to our understanding of the global extinction crisis and its impacts on ecosystem functioning. Understanding BPR is critical for the accurate valuation and effective conservation of biodiversity. Using ground-sourced data from 777,126 permanent plots, spanning 44 countries and most terrestrial biomes, we reveal a globally consistent positive concave-down BPR, showing that continued biodiversity loss would result in an accelerating decline in forest productivity worldwide. The value of biodiversity in maintaining commercial forest productivity alone—US$166 billion to 490 billion per year according to our estimation—is more than twice what it would cost to implement effective global conservation. This highlights the need for a worldwide reassessment of biodiversity values, forest management strategies, and conservation priorities.

• Publisher: American Association for the Advancement of Science,American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
• Subject: Alterra - Vegetatie, bos- en landschapsecologie / Alterra - Vegetation, forest and landscape ecology / Biodiversity / Biometris / Biometris (PPO/PRI) / Bos- en Natuurbeleid / Bosecologie en Bosbeheer / Centre for Crop Systems Analysis / Climate Change / Conservation of Natural Resources / Ecosystems / Educatie- en competentiestudies / Education and Competence Studies / Education and Learning Sciences / Extinction / Extinction, Biological / Forest and Nature Conservation Policy / Forest Ecology and Forest Management / Forest management / Forests / Leerstoelgroep Bos- en natuurbeleid / Leerstoelgroep Bosecologie en bosbeheer / Life Sciences / Onderwijs- en leerwetenschappen / PE&RC / Productivity / RESEARCH ARTICLE SUMMARY / Strategy / Trees - physiology / Vegetatie, Bos- en Landschapsecologie / Vegetation, Forest and Landscape Ecology / Wildlife conservation