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AGRICULTURE AND

BIODIVERSITY:
INTERACTIONS AT THE
BOUNDARIES
By
Jeffrey A. McNeely
Chief Scientist
IUCN-The World Conservation Union

email: jam@hq.iucn.org

The Sperling Biodiversity Lecture


Salt Lake City, 6-8 November 2005
A post-petroleum future?
What are the causes of decline and loss?
Habitat destruction and associated degradation and fragmentation
New ways of thinking
Ecosystem Services: the benefits people
obtain from ecosystems

Provisioning Regulating Cultural


Goods produced or Benefits obtained Non-material benefits
provided by from regulation of from ecosystems
ecosystems ecosystem processes • spiritual
• food • climate regulation • recreational
• fresh water • disease regulation • aesthetic
• fuel wood • flood regulation • inspirational
• genetic resources • educational

Supporting
Services necessary for production of other ecosystem services
• Soil formation
• Nutrient cycling
• Primary production
Linkages among Biodiversity,
Ecosystem Services, and
Human Well-Being
• IUCN Photo library

IUCN Photo Library © Jim Thorsell


IUCN Photo Library © Jim Thorsell
IUCN Photo Library © Jim Thorsell
Wilderness may be the only hope for the world’s
large predators, essential elements of biodiversity
Wilderness also
offers habitat for
wild relatives of
domestic plants
and animals
The main threats to biodiversity
Biodiversity will help farmers adapt
to climate change
SOILS

One of last great


frontiers in biological
research
 Soil biodiversity:
contribution to
ecosystem services
– Nutrient cycling
– Mites & earthworms
 Vulnerability of soil
biodiversity & services
 Optimizing soil
biodiversity for human
well-being
Bacteria
Taxa in
Soil

No human eye has ever


blinked at them through a
microscope, and most human
minds have never spent a
moment reflecting on them.
Yet the sobering fact is: they
don’t need us, but we need
Draft them (Wilson 1987).
Tree of
Life
Science: 13
June 2003
Ecosystem Activities
PRIMARY PRODUCERS
TREES SHRUBS GRASSES GROUND COVER
ETC.

SERVICE PROVIDERS
•DECOMPOSERS
•ECOSYSTEM ENGINEERS
•ELEMENTAL TRANSFORMERS PRIMARY REGULATORS
•POLLINATORS (90% of plants)
Soil biota play •HERBIVORES
some role in every •PARASITES
ecosystem service •MICRO-SYMBIONTS
with a biological
component
(Wardle et al.
2004)
Source: Swift et al. 2004;
SECONDARY REGULATORS
van der Heijden et al. 1998; HYPER-PARASITES PREDATORS
De Deyn et al. 2003
Soil formation EARTHWORMS:
•Up to 1000/m2
Nutrient cycling
•Process up to 10 tonnes
of soil /ha/ yr.

Plant production

Water movement
Source: Kroetsch; Hendrix & Bohlen 2002; Lee 1985; Lavelle
Sheikalmudi Tea
plantation
Tamil Nadu

Biological Management of
Soil Ecosystems
•Lower fossil fuel input
•Enhanced water storage
Vermiculture beds
•Soil biodiversity maintained
•Biocontrol maintained
•Pathogens & parasites
reduced
•Nutrients maintained in soil

Source: Senapati et al. 2003; Anderson 2004; World


Soil Resources Report 2003
SCOPE
Soil Biodiversity Human Health
Initiative
Geospatial
frameworks
GEF-UNEP Production
project Safe food
below-ground
biodiversity Molecular &
morphological
Soil Soil
tools
Health Biodiversity
Biological Diversity
& Ecosystem
Function in Soils

Water
Taxonomy Ecosystem
Quality
as large-scale Health
International
science Source: Fox & Macdonald 2003; World Soil
Resources Report 2003, Wheeler et al. 2004
Soils and Sediments are Not Only Habitats for Microbes

Animals of
many kinds live
in or on the
surface of soils
& sediments

10 tenets of soil ecology


From Wall et al., 2004
Soil and Sediment Biodiversity: Food sources for vertebrates, invertebrates,
protozoa and microbes Above and belowsurface.

Services: PROVISION OF NUTRIENTS TO FOODWEBS

65 BIRD species
- 27 threatened Many INVERTEBRATE species
- 63 protected (e.g. > 100 Carabidae sp.)

17 MAMMAL species 13 REPTILE species


- 6 threatened - 13 threatened
- 11 protected - 13 protected

19 batracian species
- 18 threatened
- 19 protected

Slide courtesy of Decaëns et al., in press; Granval 1988; Fiers 1997


Soil and Sediment Biodiversity: Food sources for animals above-surface.
Services: Provision of economic base

EARTHWORMS
& Compost

Fishing bait
Food for animals

Primack 2000
IBOY group;
Manure piles for Courtesy of
Decaëns et al.
compost production in press
Soil and Sediment Biodiversity: Food sources for humans.
Services: Provision of economic base

• More than 2000 invertebrate species


• 32 Amazonian ethnic groups consume
>100 soil invertebrate species
• High nutritional value

Edible ants (Atta sp.) Fire smoked

Ramos-Elorduy 1997, Paoletti 2000, 2002; Courtesy of Decaëns et al. in press


What happens when soils and sediment and
organisms are damaged?

Change in habitat above - decreases animal


diversity below.
Species richness 7
6
R2= 0.69*
5
4
3
2
1
0
0.00 0.10 0.20 0.30 0.40 0.50 0.60 0.70

Intensification of habitat change

Courtesy of Decaëns et al., in press; Decaëns & Jiménez, 2002


Soils and Sediments

Soils and sediments are not isolated. The


belowsurface foodwebs are linked.

Soils
Lake

Soils Freshwater
Ocean Sediments

Groundwater
Marine
Sediments

Wall, 2004

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