From status to service Stretching the WFD. Isabelle Durance Sustainable Places Research Institute Cardiff School of Biosciences

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1 + From status to service Stretching the WFD Isabelle Durance Sustainable Places Research Institute Cardiff School of Biosciences

2 + Overview The case for ecosystem services The missing link Coping with change Tackling the big challenges-a role for WFD?

3 + Diversity in upland rivers for ecosystem service sustainability

4 + The case for ecosystem services

5 + The lifeblood of our lands Throughout history, they have shaped our landscapes and our livelihoods, and our towns and cities have been designed around them

6 + Despite their importance, many freshwaters are still recovering from past problems

7 + UK NEA National Ecosystem Assessment There are more than 389,000 km of rivers in the UK No completely pristine freshwaters remain in the UK Rivers are fragmented and disconnected from their catchment

8 So what is an ecosystem service? Reduce public costs from degraded natural services Resources for basic survival Management for services with high market value Functioning Failing ecosystem Contribution to good health Social, cultural and educational benefits Reduce risks from failing natural systems Protection from hazards Support for a strong economy Increase quantity, quality or resilience of services

9 + Not without challenges The notion of service varies between individuals, between communities, between generations. Valuation and consequent trade-offs. But also but also many opportunities

10 + For example, opportunities for better landscape management, for sustainability Positive landscape management Support organisms and processes Ecosystem Service value + Ecosystem sustainability Demonstrate the role of biodiversity in river ecosystem services

11 + Do we really need river biodiversity to ensure ecosystem services? Biodiversity to ecosystem services, the missing link

12 + What we know Increased evidence of biodiversity as a regulator of ecosystem function: Cardinale et al 2012 Nature

13 Ecosystem services + What we need to know Biodiversity measure

14 + A focus on the service Energy flows Ecosystem service Biodiversity Gene to foodweb Quantity, quality and resilience of key ES

15 + What aspects of diversity are linked to quantity and quality of ecosystem services keystone species, abundance of resources, efficiency of resource partitioning, functional traits, trophic linkages?

16 + With WFD monitoring data? keystone species abundance of resources efficiency of resource partitioning functional traits trophic linkages Limited by family level data, or semi-quantitative data

17 + Coping with change

18 + Significant changes in catchment land-use and climate likely We need to know whether there are biodiversity thresholds under which a service cannot be delivered or is compromised We also need to know which aspects of biodiversity influence resilience in service delivery.

19 What we are starting to know about thresholds The level and stability of ecosystem functions tend to improve with increasing biodiversity (e.g. Hooper et al 2005, Ecological Monographs, work presented by Nigel) Cleland Nature Education 2011

20 Deciduous woodland Assessment of long term trends in 30 y data sets Moorland From Leuven R.S.E.W. and Poudevigne I Freshwater Biology More generally, higher complexity/energy = higher resilience/metastability

21 And if you experimentally transform a simple, low energy system into a higher energy system, You could increase complexity (e.g. more complex food web)

22 + Which aspects of biodiversity influence resilience in service delivery? Likely candidates include: Resource abundance genetic diversity phenotypic plasticity complexity in food web organisation

23 + Tackling the big societal challenges

24 + Integrated projects across natural and social sciences

25 Upland UK sites: more than 400 catchments across the UK uplands Historical sites: Set of 99 sites across Wales with historical biotic and abiotic data for resilience analysis At a range of scales and in situ Extensive food web sites: A subset of 50 sites across upland Wales along a gradient of water quality and land use Intensive food web sites: A subset of 20 sites for detailed biota analysis Dynamic sites: A subset of 8 sites to test the resilience of biota Experimental sites: A subset of 6 replicate streams Historical sites Extensive foodweb sites Intensive foodweb sites

26 + Across levels of organisation and trophic levels Organisms: river microbes (biofilm, Cryptosporidium), invertebrates, fish and river birds Levels of organisation: from genes to whole food webs

27 Despite inherent difficulties, the ES approach Shifts focus from biodiversity or habitat to service engages both natural and social scientists with it s holistic, real life, large scale dimension is ideally suited to tackling problems with no apparent boundaries is well suited to providing integrated solutions to future challenges + Current environmental challenges need out of the ordinary approaches

28 + A case of throwing the baby out with the water? Evolving Coarse resolution - but large scale long term data, for large scale processes Role to play as part of a multi-scale approach Engendering community support, focus for action Contributing to valuing nature

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