Biodiversity and the provision of multiple ecosystem services in current and future lowland multifunctional landscapes

生物多样性是许多生态系统服务的基础--人类从自然界获得的好处，如清洁的水、温室气体的储存、作物授粉以及令人愉快和满意的环境。然而，人们对生物多样性影响不同服务的方式在科学上了解甚少，特别是在考虑真实的世界而不是小规模研究时。低地农业景观是特别的“关键”点，在气候变化的背景下，粮食安全需要与其他生态系统服务的提供相平衡。其中许多服务是相互冲突的，如作物生产、气候调节和文化服务。农业景观已经显示出退化的迹象，其生物多样性以及服务的提供和恢复能力受到影响。“Wessex-BESS”项目将解决BESS计划的根本挑战，将生物多样性变化与跨景观和未来的生态系统服务的提供联系起来。我们将通过将实验与威塞克斯白垩景观中存在的大规模生物多样性和环境梯度相结合来做到这一点。这包括耕地，草地和河流生态系统，并提供了一个独特的机会，利用大规模的“自然实验”。具体而言，索尔兹伯里平原包含大面积的完整的半自然栖息地，并分享周围密集农田的地形和更深的白垩土，使比较成为可能。此外，该地区包含许多生态恢复计划，我们将利用这些计划作为大规模生物多样性操作的实验平台。为了广泛描述生物多样性与生态系统服务的关系，并为其他研究人员提供一个可供利用的框架，研究将包括：从陆地到淡水的各种生态系统;从细菌到鸟类的分类群体;从遗传和物种多样性到景观异质性的多种生物多样性措施;以及调节、供应和文化服务。与利用这一格局的其他倡议的合作（包括NERC“宏量营养素循环”、Defra“试验集水区”、Natural England“自然改善区”）将增加科学价值和影响力，与大量保护和土地/水管理组织的合作将确保研究和发现具有应用性和政策相关性。我们有一个由生物多样性和生态系统服务研究领域的国际领导者组成的联盟。项目伙伴将确保科学成果影响最佳做法和政策。协作方法（与参与提供生态系统服务的伙伴）是了解生物多样性与服务关系的规模的一种具有成本效益的方法。Wessex Chalk地区是一个很好的未来测试平台，因为它面临着气候和土地使用变化（例如农业集约化）的迫在眉睫的威胁，这些威胁已经通过大规模恢复得到解决。我们将重点关注作物生产，气候调节，水质和文化服务的对比服务。

Biodiversity underpins many ecosystem services - the benefits that people gain from the natural world, such as clean water, storage of greenhouse gases, crop pollination, and a pleasant and fulfilling environment. Yet the way in which biodiversity affects different services is poorly understood scientifically, especially when considering the real world rather than small-scale studies. Lowland agricultural landscapes are particular 'crunch' points, where food security needs to be balanced with the provision of other ecosystem services against the backdrop of a changing climate. Many of these services are in conflict, such as crop production, climate regulation and cultural services. Already, agricultural landscapes show signs of degradation, with consequences for their biodiversity and the provisioning and resilience of services.The 'Wessex-BESS' project will address the fundamental challenge of the BESS program in linking biodiversity change with the delivery of ecosystem services across landscapes and into the future. We will do this by integrating experiments with large-scale biodiversity and environmental gradients existing in the Wessex Chalk landscape. This contains arable, grassland and riverine ecosystems, and offers a unique opportunity to exploit large-scale 'natural experiments'. Specifically, Salisbury Plain contains large areas of unfragmented semi-natural habitat and shares the topography and deeper chalk soils of surrounding intensive farmland, making comparisons possible. Furthermore, the area contains many ecological restoration programmes that we will use as experimental platforms for large-scale biodiversity manipulations. To allow the broad characterisation of biodiversity-ecosystem service relationships, and a framework for other researchers to exploit, research will encompass: a wide range of ecosystems from terrestrial to freshwater; taxonomic groups from bacteria to birds; multiple biodiversity measures from genetic and species diversity to landscape heterogeneity; and regulating, provisioning and cultural services. Collaboration with other initiatives using this landscape (incl. NERC 'Macronutrients Cycle', Defra 'Test Catchments', Natural England 'Nature Improvement Areas') will add scientific value and impact, and partnership with a large number of conservation and land/water management organisations will ensure the research and findings have applied and policy relevance.We have a consortium comprising international leaders in biodiversity and ecosystem service research. Project partners will ensure that scientific outcomes influence best practice and policy. The collaborative approach (with partners involved in ecosystem service provision) represents a cost-effective way to understand the scaling of biodiversity-service relationships. The Wessex Chalk Area is an excellent test bed for possible futures as it faces imminent threats from both climate and land use change (e.g. agricultural intensification), which are already being addressed using large-scale restoration. We will focus on the contrasting services of crop production, climate regulation, water quality, and cultural services.