From myopia to clarity: sharpening the focus of ecosystem management through the lens of palaeoecology.
Maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem services in a changing environment requires a temporal perspective that informs realistic restoration and management targets. Such targets need to be dynamic, adaptive, and responsive to changing boundary conditions. However, the application of long-term data from palaeoecology is often hindered as the management and policy implications are not made explicit, and because data sets are often not accessible or amenable to stakeholders. Focussing on this translation gap, we explore how a palaeoecological perspective can change the focus of biodiversity management and conservation policy. We embed a long-term perspective (decades to millennia) into current adaptive management and policy frameworks, with the aim of encouraging better integration between palaeoecology, conservation management, and mainstreaming viable provision of ecosystem services.
Plant Conservation Unit, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Cape Town, Private Bag X3, Rondebosch 7701, South Africa. Electronic address: Lindsey.Gillson@uct.ac.za.
Lindsey
L
Gillson
York Institute for Tropical Ecosystems, Environment Department, University of York, Heslington, York, YO10 5DD, UK.
Rob
R
Marchant
D044822:Biodiversity; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources / Q000379:methods*; D055669:Ecological and Environmental Phenomena; D004463:Ecology; D017753:Ecosystem; D006664:History; D010163:Paleontology
Future Earth; adaptive management; ecosystem services; fire; forest management; restoration; savannahs; thresholds; thresholds of potential concern