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

生物多样性支撑着许多生态系统服务--人们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令人满意的环境。然而，科学上对生物多样性影响不同服务的方式了解很少，特别是在考虑现实世界而不是小规模研究时。低地农业景观是特别的“紧要关头”，在气候变化的背景下，粮食安全需要与提供其他生态系统服务相平衡。这些服务中的许多都存在冲突，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，对其生物多样性以及服务的提供和恢复能力造成了影响。Wessex-Bess项目将解决Bess项目的根本挑战，即将生物多样性变化与整个景观和未来生态系统服务的提供联系起来。我们将通过整合Wessex Chalk景观中存在的大规模生物多样性和环境梯度的实验来实现这一点。这包括耕地、草原和河流生态系统，并提供了一个独特的机会，以利用大规模的‘自然实验’。具体地说，索尔兹伯里平原拥有大片完整的半自然栖息地，与周围集约农田的地形和更深的白垩土相同，这使得比较成为可能。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纵的实验平台。为了能够广泛描述生物多样性-生态系统服务关系的特点，并为其他研究人员提供一个框架，研究将包括：从陆地到淡水的广泛生态系统；从细菌到鸟类的分类群；从遗传和物种多样性到景观异质性的多种生物多样性衡量标准；以及管理、供应和文化服务。与使用此环境的其他计划进行协作(包括NERC“大量营养素循环”、Defra“测试集水区”、自然英格兰“自然改善区”)将增加科学价值和影响，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财团。项目伙伴将确保科学成果影响最佳做法和政策。合作方法(与参与生态系统服务提供的合作伙伴)是了解生物多样性-服务关系规模的一种具有成本效益的方式。韦塞克斯白垩区是未来可能的绝佳试验场，因为它面临着来自气候和土地利用变化(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。我们将把重点放在作物生产、气候调节、水质和文化服务等方面。

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.