Essential Biodiversity Change Indicators for Evaluating the Effects of Anthropocene in Ecosystems at a Global Scale

Abstract

Understanding and predicting the impact of global change drivers on biodiversity, the basis of the delivery of goods and services to humans, is a critical task in the Anthropocene Era. This has led to the development of international monitoring networks and frameworks to evaluate changes in biodiversity, the Essential Biodiversity Variables, though still somewhat ineffective. Biodiversity drivers have changed their relative importance in time and space, e.g. due to policies to combat air pollution, the increasing nitrogen pollution or climate change. Hence, to monitor their impact on biodiversity in space and time, we need appropriate Biodiversity Change Indicators and Surrogates, measured through distinct metrics. In this chapter, we propose a conceptual model to select the most cost-effective metrics of biodiversity-change based on both the type and intensity of the drivers that limit or impact biodiversity, and the nature of the Essential Biodiversity Variables which may be affected in each case. We propose ecophysiology-based metrics for low intensity limiting/impacting drivers, affecting organisms’ individual performance; trait-based metrics for medium intensity drivers, affecting the ecological performance of sensitive species before tolerant ones, changing species abundance and community functional traits; taxonomic-based metrics for high driver intensities which may culminate in species loss. We further discuss the utility of remote sensing data to measure some of these indicators or surrogates, allowing to upscale and/or generalize spatial and temporal information.