SUBJECT: Biodiversity assessment and human adaptation
AUTHOR: Anne Larigauderie
DATE: 10th April 2003

KEYWORDS: Biodiversity assessment, multidisciplinary integration, human adaptation.

SUMMARY: Research priorities include the assessment of current biodiversity including links with ecosystem functioning and structure and ecosystem services. Another consideration is the link between environmental changes and human responses or adaptation.

Knowing what main biological resources we need is a very difficult task since about 90 percent of the species on Earth are unknown. Therefore assessing current biodiversity, and documenting the functional role in the ecosystem of newly discovered organisms remains a priority.

Our efforts must continue to document the link between biological diversity and ecosystem structure and functioning, if we are to understand the impact of biodiversity changes (loss, invasive species, etc). This work must now be expanded to larger spatial and temporal scales, and include additional trophic levels.

A new dimension to the work described above must also be developed. To understand the risks to humans associated with biodiversity changes, we must become able to make a link between biodiversity loss and ecosystem structure and functioning on one hand and ecosystem services, on the other hand (eg predation, productivity, carbon sequestration). The notion of ecosystem services represents a key way to synthesize our knowledge to assess biodiversity. Determining how ecosystem services relate to changes in species composition and ecosystem processes requires integrating population and community ecology, ecosystem dynamics and economics.

One last key consideration is the consideration of human adaptation to changes in environmental services. As an integral part of the biosphere, humans trigger biodiversity losses and affect the quantity and quality of services provided by the environment. In the face of such changes, humans adapt to their new conditions by modifying their behaviour. For example, the loss of a local source of drinking water may be replaced by importing bottled water from another location. A reduction in a fish stock might cause the fishing sector to adopt more advanced fishing technologies, to start fishing another more abundant or less valued species, or to develop harvest-sharing rules that promote conservation of the stock. After the local loss of indigenous bee species, fruit growers may choose to leave the industry, purchase bees or pollinate flowers by hand.

Changes in environmental services trigger human responses. Describing the process of human adaptation to changes in environmental services, assessing its costs (and sometimes its benefits), efficiency and equity losses is key to an integrated understanding of the risks associated with biodiversity changes and loss are is being addressed in the context of the Core Project 2 of DIVERSITAS.


A contribution by:

Anne Larigauderie
DIVERSITAS
51 Boulevard de Montmorency
75016 Paris
France