Mountains are hotspots of biodiversity. Yet, evaluating their importance in global biodiversity inventories requires the adoption of a pertinent definition of mountains. Here, we first compare the ...well-established WCMC and GMBA definitions, which both use geographical information systems. We show that the WCMC approach arrives at twice the global mountain area and much higher human population numbers than the GMBA one, which is explained by the inclusion of (mostly) low latitude hill country below 600 m elevation. We then present an inventory of the world’s mountains based on the GMBA definition. In this inventory, each of the 1003 entries corresponds to a polygon drawn around a mountain or a mountain range and includes the name of the delineated object, the area of mountainous terrain it covers stratified into different bioclimatic belts (all at 2.5′ resolution), and demographic information. Taken together, the 1003 polygons cover 13.8 Mio km
2
of mountain terrain, of which 3.3 Mio km
2
are in the alpine and nival belts. This corresponds to 83.7% of the global mountain area sensu GMBA, and 94% of the alpine/nival area. The 386 Mio people inhabiting mountainous terrain within polygons represent 75% of the people globally inhabiting mountains sensu GMBA. This inventory offers a robust framework for the integration of mountain biota in regional and larger scale biodiversity assessments, for biogeography, bioclimatology, macroecology, and conservation research, and for the exploration of a multitude of socio-ecological and climate change-related research questions in mountain biota, including the potential pressure on alpine ecosystems.
•The world's mountains host immense biodiversity and hundreds of millions of people.•Mountains provide ecosystem services for billions of people, also in the lowland.•Mountain ecosystems are ...particularly affected by climate and land-use change.•These changes affect mountain biodiversity in complex and interacting ways.•Changing mountain biodiversity and ecosystem services affects human well-being.
Mountains worldwide host very rich biodiversity, are home to hundreds of millions of people, and provide billions of upland and lowland inhabitants with vital ecosystem services. By altering mountain ecosystems and their biodiversity, global change modifies this picture substantially. We concisely review current knowledge and knowledge gaps on mountain biodiversity, ecosystem services, and human well-being under global change. We argue that our ability to understand, predict, and sustainably manage mountain biodiversity and to support human well-being requires concerted research efforts in natural and social sciences and comparative analyses of biological and social–ecological systems within and across mountain ranges. Specific examples illustrate how the Global Mountain Biodiversity Assessment will continue to support these efforts in the future.
This is the first quantitative attempt at a global areal definition of ‘alpine’ and ‘montane’ terrain by combining geographical information systems for topography with bioclimatic criteria ...(temperature) subdividing the life zones along elevational gradients. The mountain definition adopted here refrains from any truncation by low elevation thresholds, and defines the world’s mountains by a common ruggedness threshold (>200 m difference in elevation within a 2.5′ cell, 0.5′ resolution), arriving at 16.5 Mio km2 or 12.3% of all terrestrial land area outside Antartica being mountains. The model employed accounts for criteria of “mountainous terrain” for biological analysis, and thus arrives at a smaller land area fraction than hydrologically oriented approaches, and by its 2.5′ resolution, it includes less unstructured terrain (such as large plateaus, very wide valleys or basins) than earlier approaches. The thermal delineation of the alpine and nival biogeographic region by the climatic tree limit (the lower boundary of the alpine belt) arrives at 2.6% or 3.55 Mio km2 of the global land area outside Antarctica (21.5% of all mountain terrain). Seven climate-defined life zones in mountains facilitate large-scale (global) comparisons of biodiversity information as used in the new electronic ‘Mountain Biodiversity Portal’ of the Global Mountain Biodiversity Assessment (GMBA).
Mountains are facing growing environmental, social, and economic challenges. Accordingly, effective policies and management approaches are needed to safeguard their inhabitants, their ecosystems, ...their biodiversity, and the livelihoods they support. The formulation and implementation of such policies and approaches requires a thorough understanding of, and extensive knowledge about, the interactions between nature and people particular to mountain social–ecological systems. Here, we applied the conceptual framework of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services to assess and compare the contents of 631 abstracts on the interactions among biodiversity, ecosystem services, human wellbeing, and drivers of change, and formulate a set of research recommendations. Our comparative assessment of literature pertained to the Andes, the East African mountains, the European Alps, and the Hindu Kush Himalaya. It revealed interesting differences between mountain systems, in particular in the relative importance given in the literature to individual drivers of change and to the ecosystem services delivered along elevational gradients. Based on our analysis and with reference to alternative conceptual frameworks of mountain social–ecological systems, we propose future research directions and options. In particular, we recommend improving biodiversity information, generating spatially explicit knowledge on ecosystem services, integrating knowledge and action along elevational gradients, generating knowledge on interacting effects of global change drivers, delivering knowledge that is relevant for transformative action toward sustainable mountain development, and using comprehensive concepts and codesigned approaches to effectively address knowledge gaps.
A standardized delineation of the world's mountains has many applications in research, education, and the science-policy interface. Here we provide a new inventory of 8616 mountain ranges developed ...under the auspices of the Global Mountain Biodiversity Assessment (GMBA). Building on an earlier compilation, the presented geospatial database uses a further advanced and generalized mountain definition and a semi-automated method to enable globally standardized, transparent delineations of mountain ranges worldwide. The inventory is presented on EarthEnv at various hierarchical levels and allows users to select their preferred level of regional aggregation from continents to small subranges according to their needs and the scale of their analyses. The clearly defined, globally consistent and hierarchical nature of the presented mountain inventory offers a standardized resource for referencing and addressing mountains across basic and applied natural as well as social sciences and a range of other uses in science communication and education.
Through complementary use of canopy space in mixtures, aboveground niche separation has the potential to promote species coexistence and increase productivity of mixtures as compared to monocultures. ...We set up an experiment with five perennial grass species which differed in height and their ability to compete for light to test whether plants partition light under conditions where it is a limiting resource, and if this resource partitioning leads to increased biomass production in mixtures (using relative yield-based methods). Further, we present the first application of a new model of light competition in plant communities. We show that under conditions where biomass production was high and light a limiting resource, only a minority of mixtures outperformed monocultures and overyielding was slight. The observed overyielding could not be explained by species differences in canopy structure and height in monoculture and was also not related to changes in the canopy traits of species when grown in mixture rather than monoculture. However, where overyielding occurred, it was associated with higher biomass density and light interception. In the new model of competition for light, greater light use complementarity was related to increased total energy absorption. Future work should address whether greater canopy space-filling is a cause or consequence of overyielding.
Biodiversity is the manifestation of life on our planet and provides manifold benefits for humans. Yet we destroy ecosystems and drive species to extinction. We submit that anthropogenic biodiversity ...loss does not yet receive sufficient public attention, although biodiversity conservation and its sustainable use are key to mitigate global crises. Effective communication of biodiversity-related knowledge with diverse audiences is therefore crucial and should contribute to ensuring that evidence guides environmental decision-making. In this context, it is essential to stimulate multi-directional dialogues between science, policy, and society. Here, we suggest Dos and Don’ts that can guide science communication for scientists working in biodiversity research and beyond. Moreover, we emphasize the role of science journalism and other institutions specialized in science communication in critically mediating the complexity of scientific knowledge.
The loss of plant species from terrestrial ecosystems may cause changes in soil decomposer communities and indecomposition of organic material with potential further consequences for other ecosystem ...processes. This was tested in experimental communities of 1, 2, 4, 8, 32 plant species and of 1, 2 or 3 functional groups (grasses, legumes and non-leguminous forbs). As plant species richness was reduced from the highest species richness to monocultures, mean aboveground plant biomass decreased by 150%, but microbial biomass (measured by substrate induced respiration) decreased by only 15% (P = 0.05). Irrespective of plant species richness, the absence of legumes (across diversity levels) caused microbial biomass to decrease by 15% (P = 0.02). No effect of plant species richness or composition was detected on the microbial metabolic quotient (qCO₂) and no plant species richness effect was found on feeding activity of the mesofauna (assessed with a bait-lamina-test). Decomposition of cellulose and birchwood sticks was also not affected by plant species richness, but when legumes were absent, cellulose samples were decomposed more slowly (16% in 1996, 27% in 1997, P = 0.006). A significant decrease in earthworm population density of 63% and in total earthworm biomass by 84% was the single most prominent response to the reduction of plant species richness, largely due to a 50% reduction in biomass of the dominant 'anecie' earthworms. Voles (Arvicola terrestris L.) also had a clear preference for high-diversity plots. Soil moisture during the growing season was unaffected by plant species richness or the number of functional groups present. In contrast, soil temperature was 2 K higher in monocultures compared with the most diverse mixtures on a bright day at peak season. We conclude that the lower abundance and activity of decomposers with reduced plant species richness was related to altered substrate quantity, a signal which is not reflected in rates of decomposition of standard test material. The presence of nitrogen fixers seemed to be the most important component of the plant diversity manipulation for soil heterotrophs. The reduction in plant biomass due to the simulated loss of plant species had more pronounced effects on voles and earthworms than on microbes, suggesting that higher trophic levels are more strongly affected than lower trophic levels.
Introduction: Mountains of Our Future Earth—Perth 2015 Price, Martin F; Greenwood, Gregory B; Spehn, Eva M
Mountain research and development,
2016-November, 20161101, 2016-11-00, 2016-11-01, Letnik:
36, Številka:
4
Journal Article
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...many mountain ecosystems are moving along trajectories that couple high rates of environmental change with strong economic changes. ...Gleeson et al present an analysis of the presentations and ...participants at the Perth III conference, and outline a proposal for future mountain research.
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