SP 1: Biodiversity and the supply of regulating NCP

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A major gap exists in understanding how biodiversity underpins the supply of regulating nature’s contributions to people (NCP). This is especially true in Africa where both biodiversity and NCP are poorly understood and undergoing degradation. In Kili-SES SP1, we will calculate measures of the supply of all major regulating NCP on Kilimanjaro by combining the comprehensive KiLi 1 data with new data collected on the original 65 plots. These NCP are: habitat creation and maintenance, pollination and dispersal of seeds, regulation of detrimental organisms and biological processes, the protection and decontamination of soils and sediments, regulation of climate via CO2 and other greenhouse gases, regulation of hazards including landslides, extreme heat and fire, and regulation of freshwater quantity, quality, location and timing. Where direct measurements of NCP are not feasible, we will support the assessment by model-based evaluation (e.g. for groundwater related NCP). We will also measure the components of biodiversity hypothesized to underpin these NCP, including measures of individual species, their functional traits and aggregate measures of functional diversity. Through the assessment of the supply of regulating NCP to people on Kilimanjaro, we will 1. explore how these NCP vary across climate and land-use gradients, 2. identify which components of biodiversity underpin the supply of NCP, 3. analyse how these NCP are related to each other and to material and non-material NCP, and identify potential synergies and trade-offs among them, and 4. ask how anthropogenic drivers influence these relationships. Our project will provide the foundations for key components of Kili-SES, e.g. in terms of the supply and demand of NCP on Kilimanjaro and its consequences for human well-being, and will give a unique insight into the role that biodiversity plays in the supply of regulating NCP on tropical mountains.