Approaches to defining a planetary boundary for biodiversity
Approaches to defining a planetary boundary for biodiversity
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DOI：
10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2014.07.009
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发表时间：
2014-09-01
影响因子：
8.9
通讯作者：
Woodward, Guy
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Mace, Georgina M.;Reyers, Belinda;Woodward, Guy
存在一套可识别的界限的想法，超过了这一界限，人为变化将使地球系统处于人类安全的活动空间之外，这一想法正在吸引科学界的兴趣，并在环境政策领域获得支持。Rockstrom等人。(2009)确定九条这样的边界，并强调生物多样性的丧失是目前灭绝速度使地球系统最远离安全作业空间的唯一边界。在这里，我们回顾了支持基于灭绝速度的边界的证据，并找出了这一指标的弱点及其对人类需求的影响。虽然生物多样性的变化具有无可争辩的重要性，但我们表明，灭绝速度和物种丰富度都是衡量这一目标的薄弱指标，而且它们不能很好地从地方到区域或全球层面进行衡量。我们开发了确定生物多样性丧失边界的替代方法，并扩展了我们的分析，以考虑地球系统中可能影响其对复杂人类社会的适宜性的大规模反应，而复杂的人类社会反过来又是由生物圈调节的。我们建议生物多样性的三个方面可以作为界限的基础：生命的基因库；功能类型多样性；以及生物群的条件和范围。对于其中的每一个，我们都探索了所需的科学，以表明如何衡量它，以及变化将如何影响人类社会。除了这三个方面，我们还展示了生物多样性在支持人类安全作业空间方面的作用可能主要在于它与其他边界的相互作用，这表明了科学家和政策制定者直接关注的领域。(C)2014年提交人。爱思唯尔有限公司出版。
The idea that there is an identifiable set of boundaries, beyond which anthropogenic change will put the Earth system outside a safe operating space for humanity, is attracting interest in the scientific community and gaining support in the environmental policy world. Rockstrom et al. (2009) identify nine such boundaries and highlight biodiversity loss as being the single boundary where current rates of extinction put the Earth system furthest outside the safe operating space. Here we review the evidence to support a boundary based on extinction rates and identify weaknesses with this metric and its bearing on humanity's needs. While changes to biodiversity are of undisputed importance, we show that both extinction rate and species richness are weak metrics for this purpose, and they do not scale well from local to regional or global levels. We develop alternative approaches to determine biodiversity loss boundaries and extend our analysis to consider large-scale responses in the Earth system that could affect its suitability for complex human societies which in turn are mediated by the biosphere. We suggest three facets of biodiversity on which a boundary could be based: the genetic library of life; functional type diversity; and biome condition and extent. For each of these we explore the science needed to indicate how it might be measured and how changes would affect human societies. In addition to these three facets, we show how biodiversity's role in supporting a safe operating space for humanity may lie primarily in its interactions with other boundaries, suggesting an immediate area of focus for scientists and policymakers. (C) 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.