Futures Forum: Putting a cash price on the environmental services provided by nature
Futures Forum: Valuing Nature >>> What does nature do for us? >>> "managing and valuing ecosystem services"
Futures Forum: Environmental Economics
And being able to rely on these services is a matter of 'food security':
Futures Forum: Food sovereignty in the UK
Futures Forum: The Water, Energy and Food Nexus
Futures Forum: "Little over half of our food needs will be produced here at home within 25 years."
The EDW blog reports on a disturbing piece of research just out:
“WILDLIFE INCREASINGLY FRAGILE”
10 DEC 2015
“Britain’s wildlife is in an increasingly fragile state, with animals carrying out vital jobs for farmers being lost more rapidly than others, say scientists.
Species that pollinate crops or fight pests are at risk of disappearing, putting food production in jeopardy, according to the team.
The research brings together millions of wildlife records spanning 40 years.
The picture that emerges is of an increasingly fragile system, particularly in species that do vital jobs for humans. …
” … Unless efforts are made to reverse some of these declines, we face a future where we will be less confident that we can effectively grow our food.”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-35039662
One thought on ““Wildlife increasingly fragile””
Jenna-Victoria Carpenter says:10 Dec 2015 at 8:31am
We all know the solution to this and all our problems is to build, build and build. Tourists to Devon of the future will be queuing up to visit our vast housing estates and concreted over fields. As for our insects and wildlife, they will just have to move elsewhere but probably not in England as very little countryside will be left. What a wonderful future we will all have to endure!!!
“Wildlife increasingly fragile” | East Devon Watch
State of Britain's wildlife 'increasingly fragile'
By Helen BriggsBBC News
8 December 2015
From the section Science & Environment
8 December 2015
From the section Science & Environment
Image copyright Tom Oliver
The dark green fritillary butterfly is in decline in parts of England
Britain's wildlife is in an increasingly fragile state, with animals carrying out vital jobs for farmers being lost more rapidly than others, say scientists. Species that pollinate crops or fight pests are at risk of disappearing, putting food production in jeopardy, according to the team. The research brings together millions of wildlife records spanning 40 years. It suggests conservation efforts should focus on certain areas, they add.
Dr Tom Oliver of the University of Reading, who led the research, said it was the biggest and most comprehensive report ever assembled for any country in the world. "By standardising records from an army of amateur biologists across the country, we have amassed an impressive array of data, giving us our most complete picture yet of the state of Britain's wildlife," he told BBC News. "The picture that emerges is of an increasingly fragile system, particularly in species that do vital jobs for humans. Unless efforts are made to reverse some of these declines, we face a future where we will be less confident that we can effectively grow our food."
Benefits from nature
The researchers looked at records of the changing fortunes of more than 4,000 types of plant and animal living in England, Wales and Scotland between 1970 and 2009. Species such as bees, dragonflies, grasshoppers, ladybirds, plants and mosses were put into groups based on the role they play in nature.
Britain's wildlife is in an increasingly fragile state, with animals carrying out vital jobs for farmers being lost more rapidly than others, say scientists. Species that pollinate crops or fight pests are at risk of disappearing, putting food production in jeopardy, according to the team. The research brings together millions of wildlife records spanning 40 years. It suggests conservation efforts should focus on certain areas, they add.
Dr Tom Oliver of the University of Reading, who led the research, said it was the biggest and most comprehensive report ever assembled for any country in the world. "By standardising records from an army of amateur biologists across the country, we have amassed an impressive array of data, giving us our most complete picture yet of the state of Britain's wildlife," he told BBC News. "The picture that emerges is of an increasingly fragile system, particularly in species that do vital jobs for humans. Unless efforts are made to reverse some of these declines, we face a future where we will be less confident that we can effectively grow our food."
Benefits from nature
The researchers looked at records of the changing fortunes of more than 4,000 types of plant and animal living in England, Wales and Scotland between 1970 and 2009. Species such as bees, dragonflies, grasshoppers, ladybirds, plants and mosses were put into groups based on the role they play in nature.
Image copyright Nadine Mitschunas
Hedgehogs are regarded as being culturally important
Groups providing pollination and pest control benefits had undergone declines while those involved in functions such as decay or mopping up carbon emissions were more stable. Plants and animals regarded as of cultural importance to humans, such as birds, butterflies and hedgehogs, also fared badly.
Prof James Bullock, of the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology in Oxfordshire, a co-researcher on the study, said conservation efforts should focus on the areas where there was strong evidence of declining fortunes. "Conservation actions, such as wildlife friendly farming, can avoid the loss of biodiversity and the resulting erosion of the pollination, pest control and other benefits we derive from nature," he said.
And Dr Oliver said there were a number of measures that individuals could take to help to improve the future for wildlife in the British Isles.
They include:
Making gardens wildlife friendly
Purchasing food grown in a sustainable way to wildlife
Helping to collect data on wildlife.
The study is published in the journal Nature Communications.
State of Britain's wildlife 'increasingly fragile' - BBC News
Declining resilience of ecosystem functions under biodiversity loss
08 December 2015
The composition of species communities is changing rapidly through drivers such as habitat loss and climate change, with potentially serious consequences for the resilience of ecosystem functions on which humans depend.
The composition of species communities is changing rapidly through drivers such as habitat loss and climate change, with potentially serious consequences for the resilience of ecosystem functions on which humans depend.
To assess such changes in resilience, we analyse trends in the frequency of species in Great Britain that provide key ecosystem functions—specifically decomposition, carbon sequestration, pollination, pest control and cultural values.
For 4,424 species over four decades, there have been significant net declines among animal species that provide pollination, pest control and cultural values.
Groups providing decomposition and carbon sequestration remain relatively stable, as fewer species are in decline and these are offset by large numbers of new arrivals into Great Britain.
While there is general concern about degradation of a wide range of ecosystem functions, our results suggest actions should focus on particular functions for which there is evidence of substantial erosion of their resilience.
Declining resilience of ecosystem functions under biodiversity loss : Nature Communications : Nature Publishing Group
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