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Establishment of a comprehensive indicator system for the assessment of biodiversity and ecosystem services

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Abstract

Context

Common indicators are needed to monitor biodiversity loss and the implications for the sustainable provision of ecosystem services (ES). A plethora of different sets of indicators may hinder the identification of major endpoints for large-scale assessments of biodiversity and ecosystem services (BES).

Objectives

We aim to describe the main challenges of indicators for BES assessment and provide suggestions for establishing a comprehensive indicator system.

Methods

An extensive literature review was conducted in this study. We review the main challenges of indicators for BES assessment and propose corresponding improvements from our perspectives of theory and practical applications.

Results

The main theoretical challenges of existing indicators include inconsistent definitions and classifications of ES, misunderstanding of linkages among biodiversity, ecosystem structure, functions and services, and practical problems relate to such issues as indicator representativeness, data availability, and uncertainty. Our suggested improvements include clarifying the main terms, concepts and classification of indicators, establishing a robust conceptual framework with clear interactions among different components and indicators, selecting indicators based on ecosystem properties, streaming existing data into one platform, and strengthening validation of proxies. The steps for constructing a comprehensive indicator system for BES assessment are summarized.

Conclusions

Clear definitions of key terms are indispensable to classify indicators and construct a conceptual framework. Improved understanding of the relations among indicators of biodiversity, ecosystem functions, and ES across multiple scales can guide the development of the indicator system. The integrated indicator system is an important tool for BES assessment to support decision making for sustainable development.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 41230745 and 31361140360) and the Science and Technology Service Network Initiative of Chinese Academy of Sciences (No. KFJ-EW-STS-021-01).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences (RCEES), Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100085, China

    Dandan Yu, Nan Lu & Bojie Fu

  2. Joint Center for Global Change Studies, Beijing, 100875, China

    Dandan Yu, Nan Lu & Bojie Fu

Authors
  1. Dandan Yu
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  2. Nan Lu
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  3. Bojie Fu
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Correspondence to Nan Lu.

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Yu, D., Lu, N. & Fu, B. Establishment of a comprehensive indicator system for the assessment of biodiversity and ecosystem services. Landscape Ecol 32, 1563–1579 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-017-0549-0

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