Towards an integrated model of socioeconomic biodiversity drivers, pressures and impacts. A feasibility study based on three European long-term socio-ecological research platforms

Effective policies to slow the rate of anthropogenic biodiversity loss should reduce socioeconomic pressures on biodiversity, either directly or by modifying their underlying socioeconomic driving forces. The design of such policies is currently hampered by the limited understanding of socioeconomic drivers of and pressures on biodiversity as well as by lacking data, indicators and models. In order to improve understanding of these issues we here propose a conceptual model of socioeconomic biodiversity drivers and pressures. The model is based on the drivers-pressures-impacts-states-responses (DPSIR) scheme and on the socioeconomic metabolism approach. The aim of the model is to guide research aimed at improving our understanding of socioeconomic biodiversity pressures and drivers and to serve as a basis for the development of formal, quantitative models in that field. Based on three European long-term socio-ecological research (LTSER) platforms, we analyze the model's applicability and suitability as well as data availability and research needs. These platforms are the Danube Delta Wetland System in Romania, the Doana in Spain and the Eisenwurzen in Austria. An empirical analysis of the relationship between the human appropriation of net primary production (HANPP) and breeding bird richness in the Eisenwurzen demonstrates the ability of HANPP to provide a link between socioeconomic pressures/drivers and biodiversity. The analysis of the case studies underlines the potential utility of the conceptual model to guide future research into socioeconomic biodiversity drivers and pressures. However, considerable investments in monitoring and reconstruction of past trajectories as well as in model development will be required before mathematical (computer) models of the interrelation processes between society and ecosystems can be successfully deployed.

[1]  F. J. J. Nievaa,et al.  Ecophysiology of tidal and non-tidal populations of the invading cordgrass Spartina densiflora: seasonal and diurnal patterns in a Mediterranean climate , 2003 .

[2]  J. Grimalt,et al.  The mine tailing accident in Aznalcollar. , 1999, The Science of the total environment.

[3]  S. Dullinger,et al.  Assessing the Long-Term Dynamics of Endemic Plants at Summit Habitats , 2003 .

[4]  Norbert Sauberer,et al.  Human appropriation of net primary production and species diversity in agricultural landscapes , 2003 .

[5]  G. E. Hutchinson,et al.  Homage to Santa Rosalia or Why Are There So Many Kinds of Animals? , 1959, The American Naturalist.

[6]  H. Haberl,et al.  Quantifying and mapping the human appropriation of net primary production in earth's terrestrial ecosystems , 2007, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

[7]  F. Chapin,et al.  Consequences of changing biodiversity , 2000, Nature.

[8]  D. Tyteca.  Sustainability Indicators at the Firm Level , 1998 .

[9]  Peter Daniels,et al.  Approaches for Quantifying the Metabolism of Physical Economies: A Comparative Survey: Part II: Review of Individual Approaches , 2002 .

[10]  Anthony J. Davy,et al.  Lower limits of Spartina densiflora and S. maritima in a Mediterranean salt marsh determined by different ecophysiological tolerances , 2000 .

[11]  R. Kasperson,et al.  Sustainability Science , 2019, Critical Skills for Environmental Professionals.

[12]  W. Junk,et al.  Biodiversity in wetlands: assessment, function and conservation. Vol. 2 , 2000 .

[13]  Robert Costanza,et al.  The economics of nature and the nature of economics. , 2001 .

[14]  M. Adamescu,et al.  Past and Future Management of Lower Danube Wetlands System: A Bioeconomic Appraisal , 2003 .

[15]  G. Grabherr,et al.  Climate effects on mountain plants , 1994, Nature.

[16]  S. Dullinger,et al.  Modelling climate change‐driven treeline shifts: relative effects of temperature increase, dispersal and invasibility , 2004 .

[17]  J. Connell,et al.  The Ecological Regulation of Species Diversity , 1964, The American Naturalist.

[18]  Helmut Haberl,et al.  The Energetic Metabolism of the European Union and the United States: Decadal Energy Input Time‐Series with an Emphasis on Biomass , 2006 .

[19]  H. Haberl,et al.  Human appropriation of net primary production (HANPP) as indicator for pressures on biodiversity , 2007 .

[20]  H. Mooney,et al.  Human Domination of Earth’s Ecosystems , 1997, Renewable Energy.

[21]  C. S. Holling,et al.  Adaptive Inference for Distinguishing Credible from Incredible Patterns in Nature , 2002, Ecosystems.

[22]  M. Fischer-Kowalski,et al.  Society's Metabolism , 1998 .

[23]  Helmut Haberl,et al.  Progress towards sustainability? What the conceptual framework of material and energy flow accounting (MEFA) can offer , 2004 .

[24]  Fridolin Krausmann,et al.  Land use and industrial modernization: an empirical analysis of human influence on the functioning of ecosystems in Austria 1830–1995 , 2001 .

[25]  D J Pain,et al.  The Doñana ecological disaster: contamination of a world heritage estuarine marsh ecosystem with acidified pyrite mine waste. , 1998, The Science of the total environment.

[26]  Helmut Haberl,et al.  Resource flows and land use in Austria 1950–2000: using the MEFA framework to monitor society–nature interaction for sustainability , 2004 .

[27]  Bedřich Moldan,et al.  Sustainability indicators : a scientific assessment , 2007 .

[28]  武彦 福島.  持続可能性(Sustainability)の要件 , 2006 .

[29]  Helmut Haberl,et al.  Human appropriation of net primary production as determinant of avifauna diversity in Austria , 2005 .

[30]  Robert U. Ayres,et al.  Industrial Metabolism: Restructuring for Sustainable Development , 1994 .

[31]  J McGlade,et al.  The European Environment: State and Outlook 2005 , 2005 .

[32]  F. Chapin,et al.  Global Biodiversity in a Changing Environment , 2001, Ecological Studies.

[33]  H. Haberl,et al.  Scaling issues in long-term socio-ecological biodiversity research: a review of European cases , 2008 .

[34]  A. Vădineanu.  THE ECOSYSTEM APPROACH APPLIED TO THE MANAGEMENT OF THE COASTAL SOCIO-ECOLOGICAL SYSTEMS , 2007 .

[35]  Stefan Dullinger,et al.  Habitat distribution models, spatial autocorrelation, functional traits and dispersal capacity of alpine plant species , 2004 .

[36]  Cornelia Ohl,et al.  Towards an understanding of long-term ecosystem dynamics by merging socio-economic and environmental research: Criteria for long-term socio-ecological research sites selection , 2007 .

[37]  Osvaldo E. Sala,et al.  Global biodiversity in a changing environment : scenarios for the 21st century , 2002 .

[38]  Kai N. Lee.  Compass and Gyroscope: Integrating Science and Politics for the Environment, Kai N. Lee. 1993. Island Press, Washington, DC. 290 pages. ISBN: 1-59963-197-X. $25.00 , 1993 .

[39]  K. Hülber,et al.  Assessing airborne pollution effects on bryophytes: lessons learned through long-term integrated monitoring in Austria. , 2007, Environmental pollution.

[40]  Gene Bazan.  Our Ecological Footprint: Reducing Human Impact on the Earth , 1997 .

[41]  William R. Freudenburg,et al.  From LTER to LTSER: Conceptualizing the Socioeconomic Dimension of Long-term Socioecological Research , 2006 .

[42]  D. Wright,et al.  Human impacts on energy flow through natural ecosystems, and implications for species endangerment. , 1990 .

[43]  H. Hasenauer,et al.  Multifunctional land use: The Eisenwurzen region of the Austrian Alps , 2007 .

[44]  Helmut Haberl,et al.  The energetic metabolism of the EU-15 and the USA. Decadal energy input time- series with an emphasis on biomass , 2006 .

[45]  Elmar Schwarzlmüller,et al.  Human Appropriation of Net Primary Production , 2008 .

[46]  G. Kitagawa,et al.  Akaike Information Criterion Statistics , 1988 .

[47]  F. Novo,et al.  Doñana : Water and Biosphere , 2006 .

[48]  Helmut Haberl,et al.  The Energetic Metabolism of Societies Part I: Accounting Concepts , 2001 .

[49]  Ricardo Díaz-Delgado,et al.  Monitoring and Evaluation the key to the Doñana 2005 Restoration Project , 2005 .

[50]  Helga Weisz,et al.  The physical economy of the European Union: Cross-country comparison and determinants of material consumption , 2006 .

[51]  A. Magurran.  Ecological Diversity and Its Measurement , 1988, Springer Netherlands.

[52]  Raymond L. Lindeman.  The trophic-dynamic aspect of ecology , 1942 .

[53]  Karl-Heinz Erb,et al.  Actual land demand of Austria 1926–2000: a variation on Ecological Footprint assessments , 2004 .

[54]  N. Patriche,et al.  Environmental studies and recovery actions for sturgeon in the Lower Danube River system , 1999 .

[55]  M. Llamas,et al.  Influence of groundwater development on the Doñana National Park ecosystems (Spain) , 1993 .

[56]  David H. Wright,et al.  Species-energy theory: an extension of species-area theory , 1983 .

[57]  Joachim H. Spangenberg,et al.  Biodiversity pressure and the driving forces behind , 2007 .

[58]  H. Haberl,et al.  Linking pattern and process in cultural landscapes. An empirical study based on spatially explicit indicators , 2004 .

[59]  Francisco García-Novo,et al.  The restoration of El Partido stream watershed (Doñana Natural Park): A multiscale, interdisciplinary approach , 2007 .

[60]  K. Hülber,et al.  Effetcs of nitrogen and sulphur deposition on forests and forest diversity. Austrian Integrated Monitoring Zöbelboden , 2007 .

[61]  Helga Weisz,et al.  SOCIETY AS HYBRID BETWEEN MATERIAL AND SYMBOLIC REALMS : TOWARD A THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK OF SOCIETY-NATURE INTERACTION , 2006 .

[62]  Emilio Custodio,et al.  Aquifer overexploitation: what does it mean? , 2002 .

[63]  W. Clark,et al.  Sustainability science: The emerging research program , 2003, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[64]  Raymond L. Lindeman.  The trophic-dynamic aspect of ecology , 1942 .

[65]  Unced.  Rio Declaration on Environment and Development , 1992 .

[66]  Peter Daniels,et al.  Approaches for Quantifying the Metabolism of Physical Economies: Part I: Methodological Overview , 2001 .

[67]  Tom Evans,et al.  Agent-based modeling of deforestation in southern Yucatán, Mexico, and reforestation in the Midwest United States , 2007, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

[68]  V. Heywood,et al.  Global Biodiversity Assessment , 1996 .

[69]  R. Biggs,et al.  A biodiversity intactness index , 2005, Nature.

[70]  S. Harrison.  Review of 'The Economics of Nature and the Nature of Economics' eds. Cleveland, C.J., Stern, D.I. & Costanza, R., Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, UK. 293 , 2002 .

[71]  Helmut Haberl,et al.  The Energetic Metabolism of Societies: Part II: Empirical Examples , 2001 .

[72]  Helmut Haberl,et al.  Changes in ecosystem processes induced by land use: Human appropriation of aboveground NPP and its influence on standing crop in Austria , 2001 .

[73]  B. Martín‐López,et al.  The non-economic motives behind the willingness to pay for biodiversity conservation , 2007 .

[74]  Juliet B. Schor,et al.  Sustainable Consumption and Worktime Reduction , 2005 .

[75]  R. B. Jackson,et al.  Global biodiversity scenarios for the year 2100. , 2000, Science.