Conservation programmes and protected areas. Allthe institutions mentionedare heavily involved indeveloping conservation programmes and protected. areas. At European level examples includethe EU Water Framework Directive,the Natura 2000 Directive,the national parks and biosphere reserves. And, internationally, too, Leibniz institutesare playing an acEcosystem services. fromthe depths.
(© Hennie Kissling,Fotolia.com)
Post-mining landscapes have specifc. problems but also. considerable potential for developing. biodiversity - this is. whythe Stiebsdorfer. See, alakein theSchlabendorfer Felder area of
tive rolein major international conservation initiativesin
Just how important conservation programmes and. protected areasare was made eminently clear at the9th UN conference ofthe parties tothe Convention on. Biological Diversityin Bonn. If theyare well planned. strategically, these measures facilitatethe conservation. of agiven biodiversity andthe preservation of important services of particular regional or global signifcance.
But this will not solve allthe problems related to thecurrent loss of biodiversity, because human beings particularly need ecosystem servicesin their own habitats,the towns, agricultural and cultural landscapes.
Anthropogenic habitats and cultural landscapesthe extent to which anthropogenic habitatsare directly. shaped by humankind varies, but here weare much. more immediately dependent on ecosystem services. like pollination, air, water and soil quality or regional. climate, which themselvesare subject to particular. changes brought about bythe dynamic impact of humankind. The sustainable use and development of these anthropogenic habitatsinthe sense of improving. quality of life is an important feature ofthe research. portfolio at several institutions such asthe Leibniz Institute for Regional Development and Structural Planning(IRS)in Erkner,the Leibniz Institute of Ecological and. Regional Development (IOER)in Dresden,the Leibniz. Institute of Agricultural Developmentin Central and. Eastern Europe (IAMO)in
A seminal feature of this kind of research on biodiversity and ecosystem servicesin habitats dominated by. humankind is that it integrates aspects of planning,agriculture, economics and social science. It isin theseareas thatthe key tothe future development of our. nutrition and quality of life is to be found. Strikinga. “balance between economy and ecology” is aparticular. challengein which recording and evaluating ecosystem. services may have an important role to play.
Ecosystem services and climate change. Without doubt, ecosystem servicesare essential, not. only for our quality of life but also for our survival as. human beings. These services arein danger. What is especially threatening aboutthe rapid loss of biodiversity. isthe fact that we hardly even understandthe function. of these speciesin their habitats. Climate change creates an additional problem because it causes considerable species shifts. Every decade, many thermophile. speciesare currently extending their area
Perennial garden. [Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and. Crop Plant Research(IPK)]20
TThe sections presented so far reveal that even our essential is it to preventthe loss of biodiversity? he seminal question posed atthe outset was: How. current state of knowledge makes it unequivocally clear. that humankind is extremely dependent on biodiversity- and thatthe “value” of biodiversity as aresource for. human purposes is enormous. These sections also demonstrate that we still do not know anything like enough. about biodiversity, ecosystem goods andthe effects of ecosystem services to be able to value, conserve and. use them sustainably forthe good of us all. Our lack. of knowledge poses major challenges to research, society and policy-makers. The research issues immediately. seeking to be addressed focus on fve aspects of biodiversity: knowledge, understanding, evaluation/value,use and managemen***
Knowledge to this day, we have still not establishedthe basic. principles of biodiversity research: classifcations of preferably all species (on easy open access) and their. interaction, or at least alist of all known species; then. documentation onthe availability and accessibility of reference examples (holotypes), ideally including specifcations ofthe biological properties of each species:special features (e. g. adaptationsin behaviour, bauplan,physiology, particular ingredients), life history, biotopes,habitat claims, distribution, total population, relations. 5
The Major Challenges. with other species as well as matter cycling and matter. flows;in addition, adefnition of potential as an ecosystem good and contribution tothe effects of ecosystem. services; furthermore, key information onthe state ofthe respective population and its predicted development as well as adefnition ofthe factors particularly. endangering or enhancingthe sustainable development. of apopulation. A database of this kind would allow us to extrapolate comprehensive knowledge about particularly important species, habitats, ecosystem goodsandthe effects of ecosystem services and identify those. thatare worthy of protection. This isthe realm of taxonomy and systematics, functional morphology, ecological and genomic physiology, behavioural ecology,immune genetics, reproductive biology, reproductiveand wild animal medicine and drug research.
Understanding. Withthe exception of artifcial, microcosmic experimental ecosystems (chemostats) we do not havea. single natural ecosystem that has been fully classifed. either theoretically-analytically, by modelling or empiricallyin respect of its biotic community, food chains,pathogen-host dynamics, matter flows, resilience to natural or anthropogenic disturbance, that is,in respect. of its entire constituent parts and process dynamics.
However, only when we have this will it be possible to predict accuratelythe consequences of biodiversity loss,meaningthe removal of certain species (building bric***
and their interactions and functions fromthe statistics. ofthe ecosystem (building).
It is, therefore, essential to classifythe vulnerability. of individual species (building bricks) andthe quality,degree and type of networking with other speciesin An ecosystem as well asthe wayin which they impact. on each other. This requisite is closely followed by theneed to develop an understanding ofthe processes. involvedinthe dynamics of species communities and. ecosystems over short or longer biological (and geological) timelines. The starting point is an understanding. of how to predictthe degree of threat to populations,species and habitats as afunction of clearly identifed. anthropogenic factors like loss of habitat, environmental pollution and climate change, extraction (harvesting,gathering, fshing, hunting), introduction of invasive.competitors (neobiota), and pathogens. Ideally, all this. should flow into aproperly substantiated “stress theory” encompassing evolutionary, ecological and physiological factors, i.
E. a theory that can predictthe ability of organisms and species to meet these challenges. through specifc adaptations.
The Iberian lynx (Lynx. pardinus) isthe world’s. most threatened species of wild cat. Less. than 200are still to befoundinthe wild inSouthern
Apart from perspective centring onthe organism, if weare to understandthe dynamics of biotic communities,it is important to have an understanding of global and. local matter cycles and matter flows. To this day, they. have not been satisfactorily explained; similarly,the degree to which local and regional habitatsare dependent. on matter input from and interactions with other regions ofthe planet (teleconnections) is still unclea***
Evaluation/value An appropriate, fair evaluation of ecosystem goods and. ecosystem services comprises social, political and economic (both private and public) perspectives, takes account of producer countries’ particular interests, managesthe tension caused bythe fact thatthe effects of ecosystem services transgress national borders, and.comparesthe conflicts of interest alongthe value chain. in this context, important aspects include changes and. losses,the costs of alternative “ways of production”,the goal to achieve sustainable developmentin developing, emerging and industrialised countries, and theideal scenarioin which agricultural and industrial policy. is oriented both towards ecological sustainability and. economic success.
To this day, there is not one single ecosystem good. or ecosystem service which has been appropriately. evaluatedin this way. And this is not just because ofthe immensity ofthe challenges ascientifcally-based. evaluation of ecosystem goods and ecosystem services. poses for spatial sciences, social science, economics and. political scienc***
Use. Ideally, wise use of ecosystem goods and services is. ecologically sustainable, meaning that they can beused without endangering species diversity, noticeably restricting their functioninginthe ecosystem or. substantially changing materials cycles. In most cases. we neither know what goods and servicesare actually available, nor whatthe optimum proportion wouldbe to ensure sustainable harvesting. The massive dropin world fsh stocks is acasein point. It illustrates just. how complex it can be to align particular local and. national fshing interests withthe vision of moderate,sustainable long-term use which is forced to transcend. national boundaries if it is going to be successful. thechallenge here is to develop stable, successful institutions and governance approaches.
Fromthe point of view of rapidly increasing biodiversity. loss,the most important factor is habitat and biosphere.destruction, transformation and degradation. The conservation of biodiversity, its goods and services is thusin competition withthe other land-use demands. Landuse competition andthe conflicts which arise from itare one ofthe seminal themesin biodiversity researchinthe broadest sense. It encompassesthe research and.development of institutions and governance approaches to solve conflicts of use as well asthe development. of alternative negotiating options. Examples include. modelling and analysing land-use competitionin connection with bioenergy, or safeguarding biodiversity. during conservation planning procedures or NATURA. 2000 areasin case of land-use conflicts.
Management. Sincethe impact of humankind onthe planet has. now become all-embracing, eventhe largest primary. habitats and ecosystemsare no longer untouched by. anthropogenic influences. So evenin natural habitats,preserving biodiversity requires more than just asign. saying “Keep off”; rather, it means positive action to prevent, minimise and - as far as possible - compensate forthe loss of biodiversity.
Activated sludgein abiogas reactor,one ofthe many. ecosystem goods. [Leibniz Institute for. Agricultural Engineering Potsdam-Bornim(ATB)]22the frst step on this path is to develop appropriate. tools. These include models reproducing local, regional. or global changesin biodiversity, land-use and climate. which can help to set management priorities to avoid. or minimisethe losses predicted. Tools of this kind can. also be of usein political consultancy. However, withthe exception of climate change models, theyare stillin their infancy. And even today’s state-of-the-art climate system modelsare not able to factorinthe defned feedback effects between biodiversity and global,regional or local climatein their entirety.
When dealing with threatened species of animals and. plants as well as ecosystem goods and ecosystem services that have come under pressure, short-term emergency action and long-term safeguardsare essential.
This initially means setting-up and extending gene. banks and continues with tissue banks (with reproductive organs, gametes and sperm) andthe extension of biological collections. Then comesthe development of assisted reproduction for threatened species of wild. animals and scientifc support for zoos and botanical. gardens to expedite their development into nature conservation and breeding centres. One important aspect. of research isthe issue of whether spatial sciences can. provide suitable tools for conserving and re-establishing ahigh level of biodiversity. Examples include theway we deal with urban fallow land or develop tools. for proactive local environmental planning that championsthe conservation of biodiversityin agricultural. landscapes.
Biodiversity research - anational and international responsibility. Againstthe backdrop ofthe global threat to biodiversityand its central importance forthe future of humankind,international as well as national effortsare required.
Safeguards and economic approaches to fair access and. beneft sharingare not suffcient; rather, we urgently. need abroadly-based research initiative to closethe fatal gapsin our knowledge. It is true that anumber of important research programmes do already exist, such. asthe major international DIVER¬SITAS, ESSP (Earth. System Science Partnership), and GTI (Global Taxonomic Initiative) programmes;the ALARM Network at. European level andthe German national “DIVERSITAS.deutschland” orthe Biodiversity Exploratories funded. bythe German Research Foundation (DFG). These projectsare important and good but they all have their own. focus, andin terms of scope and theme do not really. addressthe breadth and signifcance ofthe biodiversity. issue as described here. Inthe infghting for publicity. between environmental policy and nature conservation,biodiversity research has not yet receivedthe attention. it deservesinthe interests of us all.
4D scan of aliving. Rhesus Monkey(Macaca mulatta)
foetus. [Leibniz. Institute for Zoo and. Wildlife Research(IZW)]. Picture right:Biodiversity and. evolution exhibition. [Berlin Museum. of Natural History(MfN)]23Tofthe areas shapingthe profle ofthe institu he following overview presents frstlythe Leibniz institutes at which biodiversity research is onetion. This is followed by short profles ofthe institutes. which also conduct biodiversity research, though not. as ahigh-profle focus area. The overview is based onthe institutes’ own updated profles and includes thenames ofthe people to contact about biodiversity re-6
The Biodiversity Research Themes at. Individual Leibniz Institutes. search. The list is not restricted to institutes that conduct research into biodiversityinthe narrow, traditional. sense, i.
E. classifying species, their adaptation and interaction with other species, but also includes institutes. that addressthe evaluation orthe effects of biodiversityin political, social and economic terms or for which biodiversity formsthe basis of their research activity - inconnection with natural products, for example.
Leibniz institutes at which biodiversity shapes theprofle of research w. 24.computer-generated. 3D image ofa. dolphin foetus inthe uterus [Leibniz. Institute for Zoo and. Wildlife Research(IZW)]25
Leibniz Institute for Farm Animal Biology. Dummerstorf (FBN)
Institute profle. Farm animal biology; functional biodiversity; animal. breeding; resource- and eco-friendly animal reproduction; animal health; animal behaviour; food production. Rolein biodiversity research. Conservingthe biological diversity of farm animals has. enormous potential for ensuring long-term global nutrition. Genome analysis shows that evenin high-performance populations of farm animals quite different. genome regionsare responsible for one andthe same. high performance. Elucidatingthe functional genomic. aspects of farm animal biodiversity is an important precondition for conservingthe biodiversity of farm animals as “raw material” for breeding and for designing. livestock-friendly keeping conditions. Conserving thebiodiversity of our farm animals holdsthe greatest potential for effcient future use ofthe biological resource. “useful animal”inthe context ofthe new demands. placed on farm animalsin relation to nutrition, landscape management andthe development of rural areas. under changing environmental and production conditions.
Forschungsinstitut für die Biologie landwirtschaftlicher Nutztiere Dummerstorf (FBN)
Wilhelm-Stahl-Allee 28196 Dummerstorf
http://www.**n-dummerstorf.de
Contact on biodiversity
Prof. Dr. Manfred Schwerin.
Tel: +49 (0)38208 68***
schwerin**[ta]**-dummerstorf.de
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