107-823: Alpe-Adria is a bioregion in Central Europe , embracing all of Slovenia , the Austrian states of Carinthia and Styria , and the Italian regions of Friuli-Venezia-Giulia and Veneto . As of 2004, it is the subject of a proposal to create the world's first organic bioregion. Italy and Austria were the pioneers in organic farming and are today leading the field, with Austria having over 23% and Italy 15% organic agriculture as of 2017. Slovenia has been gradually catching up since its independence in 1991. Its organic sector grew from being less than 0.1% of Slovenian agriculture in 1998, to reaching 10% as of 2017, surpassing
214-421: A farm can stabilize and enhance the provision of pollination services. The presence of such ecosystem elements functions almost like an insurance policy for farmers. Coastal and estuarine ecosystems act as buffer zones against natural hazards and environmental disturbances, such as floods, cyclones, tidal surges and storms. The role they play is to "[absorb] a portion of the impact and thus [lessen] its effect on
321-495: A Bayesian decision support system to both model the uncertainty in the scientific information Bayes Nets and to assist collecting and fusing the input from stakeholders. This study was about siting wave energy devices off the Oregon Coast, but presents a general method for managing uncertain spatial science and stakeholder information in a decision making environment. Remote sensing data and analyses can be used to assess
428-432: A broader set of definitions to encompass a range of macroecological phenomena. The term bioregion as it relates to bioregionalism is credited to Allen Van Newkirk, a Canadian poet and biogeographer. In this field, the idea of "bioregion" probably goes back much earlier than published material suggests, being floated in early published small press zines by Newkirk, and in conversational dialogue. This can be exemplified by
535-423: A community. Mapping a bioregion is considered a specific type of bioregional map, in which many layers are brought together to map a "whole life place", and is considered an 'optimal zone of interconnection for a species to thrive', i.e. for humans, or a specific species such as salmon, and uses many different layers to see what boundaries "emerge" and make sense as frameworks of stewardship. A good example of this
642-448: A definition of a bioregion. Helping refine this definition, Author Kirkpatrick Sale wrote in 1974 that "A bioregion is a part of the earth's surface whose rough boundaries are determined by natural rather than human dictates, distinguishable from other areas by attributes of flora, fauna, water, climate, soils and landforms, and human settlements and cultures those attributes give rise to. Several other marine biology papers picked up
749-434: A history of 13 biogeographical concepts in "On Biotas and their names". A recent review of scholarly literature finds 20 unique biotic methods to define bioregions -- based on populations of specific plant and animals species or species assemblages. These range from global and continental scales to sub-continental and regional scales to sub-regional and local scales. In addition, 5 abiotic methods have been utilized to inform
856-452: A human and cultural lens to the strictly ecological idea. A year later, in 1975 A. Van Newkirk published a paper entitled "Bioregions: Towards Bioregional Strategy for Human Cultures" in which he advocates for the incorporation of human activity ("occupying populations of the culture-bearing animal") within bioregional definitions. Bioregion as a term comes from the Greek bios (life), and
963-407: A key role for how a bioregion is defined. A bioregion is defined along watershed and hydrological boundaries, and uses a combination of bioregional layers, beginning with the oldest "hard" lines; geology , topography , tectonics , wind , fracture zones and continental divides , working its way through the "soft" lines: living systems such as soil , ecosystems , climate , marine life, and
1070-665: A local ecosystem. The mixture of fresh water and salt water ( brackish water ) in estuaries provides many nutrients for marine life . Salt marshes , mangroves and beaches also support a diversity of plants, animals and insects crucial to the food chain . The high level of biodiversity creates a high level of biological activity, which has attracted human activity for thousands of years. Coasts also create essential material for organisms to live by, including estuaries, wetland , seagrass , coral reefs , and mangroves. Coasts provide habitats for migratory birds , sea turtles, marine mammals, and coral reefs. There are questions regarding
1177-533: A lot of tourists also travel to resorts close to the sea or rivers or lakes to be able to experience these activities, and relax near the water. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 14 also has targets aimed at enhancing the use of ecosystem services for sustainable tourism especially in Small Island Developing States . Estuarine and marine coastal ecosystems are both marine ecosystems . Together, these ecosystems perform
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#17327978318401284-491: A nutritional resource is not limited to low- and middle-income countries; more than 100 million people in the European Union (EU) regularly consume wild food. Some 2.4 billion people – in both urban and rural settings – use wood-based energy for cooking. Regulating services are the "benefits obtained from the regulation of ecosystem processes". These include: An example for water purification as an ecosystem service
1391-484: A place’s life. Peter Berg defined a bioregion at the Symposium on Biodiversity of Northwestern California, October 28–30, 1991: A bioregion can be determined initially by the use of climatology, physiography, animal and plant geography, natural history and other descriptive natural sciences. The final boundaries of a bioregion are best described by the people who have lived within it, through human recognition of
1498-545: A sense different from the biotic provinces of Raymond Dasmann (1973) or the biogeographical province of Miklos Udvardy. The term refers both to geographical terrain and a terrain of consciousness—to a place and the ideas that have developed about how to live in that place. Within a bioregion, the conditions that influence life are similar, and these, in turn, have influenced human occupancy." This article defined bioregions as distinct from biogeographical and biotic provinces that ecologists and geographers had been developing by adding
1605-494: A survey of damaged lands and unsolved social ills? What underutilized potentials can be put to work to help achieve sustainability? The atlas can become a focus for discussions setting a proactive plan for positive change.” Mapping a Bioregion consists of: Your final map will generally help demarcate a bioregion, or life place. While references to bioregions (or biogeographical regions) have become increasingly common in scholarly literature related to life sciences, "...there
1712-429: A watershed) plus the cultural values that humans have developed for living in harmony with these natural systems. Because it is a cultural idea, the description of a specific bioregion uses information from both the natural sciences and other sources. Each bioregion is a whole “life-place” with unique requirements for human inhabitation so that it will not be disrupted and injured. People are counted as an integral aspect of
1819-403: Is a cultural idea, the description of a specific bioregion is drawn using information from not only the natural sciences but also many other sources. It is a geographic terrain and a terrain of consciousness. Anthropological studies, historical accounts, social developments, customs, traditions, and arts can all play a part. Bioregionalism utilizes them to accomplish three main goals: The latter
1926-412: Is a part of the earth's surface whose rough boundaries are determined by natural and human dictates, distinguishable from other areas by attributes of flora, fauna, water, climate, soils and land-forms, and human settlements and cultures those attributes give rise to. The borders between such areas are usually not rigid – nature works with more flexibility and fluidity than that – but the general contours of
2033-500: Is accomplished through proactive projects, employment and education, as well as by engaging in protests against the destruction of natural elements in a life-place. Bioregional goals play out in a spectrum of different ways for different places. In North America, for example, restoring native prairie grasses is a basic ecosystem-rebuilding activity for reinhabitants of the Kansas Area Watershed Bioregion in
2140-661: Is as follows: In New York City , where the quality of drinking water had fallen below standards required by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) , authorities opted to restore the polluted Catskill Watershed that had previously provided the city with the ecosystem service of water purification. Once the input of sewage and pesticides to the watershed area was reduced, natural abiotic processes such as soil absorption and filtration of chemicals, together with biotic recycling via root systems and soil microorganisms , water quality improved to levels that met government standards. The cost of this investment in natural capital
2247-548: Is bioregional mapping. Instructions for how to map a bioregion were first laid out in a book Mapping for Local Empowerment, written by University of British Columbia by Douglas Aberley in 1993, followed by the mapping handbook Giving the Land a Voice in 1994. This grew from the Tsleil-Waututh First Nation , Nisga'a , Tsilhqotʼin , Wetʼsuwetʼen first nations who used Bioregional Mapping to create some of
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#17327978318402354-538: Is expected to cause a 9% decline in ecosystem services on average at global scale by 2100 Ecosystem-based adaptation (EBA or EbA) encompasses a broad set of approaches to adapt to climate change . They all involve the management of ecosystems and their services to reduce the vulnerability of human communities to the impacts of climate change . The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) defines EBA as "the use of biodiversity and ecosystem services as part of an overall adaptation strategy to help people to adapt to
2461-541: Is infinite, so having debate about what is the total value of nature is actually pointless because we can't live without it'. As of 2012, many companies were not fully aware of the extent of their dependence and impact on ecosystems and the possible ramifications. Likewise, environmental management systems and environmental due diligence tools are more suited to handle "traditional" issues of pollution and natural resource consumption . Most focus on environmental impacts , not dependence. Several tools and methodologies can help
2568-547: Is little agreement on how to best classify and name such regions, with several conceptually related terms being used, often interchangeably." Bioregions can take many forms and operate at many scales – from very small ecosystems or 'biotopes' to ecoregions (which can be nested at different scales) to continent-scale distributions of plants and animals, like biomes or realms. All of them, technically, can be considered types of bioregions sensu lato and are often referred to as such in academic literature. In 2014, J. Marrone documented
2675-584: Is otherwise difficult to present is clearly depicted. The community learns about itself in the process of making decisions about its future." Sheila Harrington, in the introduction to Islands of the Salish Sea: A Community Atlas goes one step further, noting that: “The atlas should be used as a jumping off place for decision making about the future. From the holistic image of place that the maps collectively communicate, what actions could be adopted to achieve sustainable prosperity? What priorities emerge from
2782-410: Is presented as a technical process of identifying “biogeographically interpreted culture areas…called bioregions”. Within these territories, resident human populations would “restore plant and animal diversity,” “aid in the conservation and restoration of wild eco-systems,” and “discover regional models for new and relatively non-arbitrary scales of human activity in relation to the biological realities of
2889-486: Is said to provide substantial ecosystem services to local communities, including benefits to carbon storage, resiliency to climate, and endangered species habitat. As of 2020, the Eglin Air Force Base is said to provide about $ 110 million in ecosystem services per year, $ 40 million more than if no base was present. Although monetary pricing continues with respect to the valuation of ecosystem services,
2996-754: Is the Cascadia Bioregion , located along the Northwestern rim of North America. The Cascadia bioregion contains 75 distinct ecoregions, and extends for more than 2,500 miles (4,000 km) from the Copper River in Southern Alaska, to Cape Mendocino , approximately 200 miles north of San Francisco , and east as far as the Yellowstone Caldera and continental divide. Ecosystem service Ecosystem services are
3103-714: Is the Salmon Nation bioregion, which is the Pacific Northwest and northwest rim of the Pacific ocean as defined through the historic and current range of the salmon, as well as the people and ecosystem which have evolved over millennia to depend on them. This style of bioregional mapping can also be found in the works of Henry David Thoreau who when hired to make maps by the United States government, chose instead to create maps "that charts and delineates
3210-722: Is usually assumed that humans benefit from a combination of these services. The services offered by diverse types of ecosystems (forests, seas, coral reefs, mangroves, etc.) differ in nature and in consequence. In fact, some services directly affect the livelihood of neighboring human populations (such as fresh water, food or aesthetic value, etc.) while other services affect general environmental conditions by which humans are indirectly impacted (such as climate change , erosion regulation or natural hazard regulation, etc.). The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment report 2005 defined ecosystem services as benefits people obtain from ecosystems and distinguishes four categories of ecosystem services, where
3317-586: The European Union average of 7%. This agriculture article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Bioregion A bioregion is a geographical area, on land or at sea, defined not by administrative boundaries but by distinct characteristics such as plant and animal species, ecological systems, soils and landforms, human settlements and cultures those attributes give rise to, and topographic features such as watersheds. The idea of bioregions were adopted and popularized in
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3424-423: The European Union , just 60% of the yearly forest growth is harvested. Forests also provide non-wood forest products, including fodder, aromatic and medicinal plants, and wild foods. Worldwide, around 1 billion people depend to some extent on wild foods such as wild meat, edible insects, edible plant products, mushrooms and fish, which often contain high levels of key micronutrients. The value of forest foods as
3531-503: The Smithsonian Institution . Working with Peter Berg , and also contemporary with Allen Van Newkirk, Dasmann was one of the pioneers in developing the definition for the term "Bioregion", as well as conservation concepts of " Eco-development " and " biological diversity ," and identified the crucial importance of recognizing indigenous peoples and their cultures in efforts to conserve natural landscapes. Because it
3638-539: The flora and fauna , and lastly the "human" lines: human geography , energy , transportation , agriculture , food , music , language , history , indigenous cultures , and ways of living within the context set into a place, and it's limits to determine the final edges and boundaries. This is summed up well by David McCloskey, author of the Cascadia Bioregion map: "An bioregion may be analyzed on physical, biological, and cultural levels. First, we map
3745-1112: The 1990s is the marketing of ecosystem services protection. Payment and trading of services is an emerging worldwide small-scale solution where one can acquire credits for activities such as sponsoring the protection of carbon sequestration sources or the restoration of ecosystem service providers. In some cases, banks for handling such credits have been established and conservation companies have even gone public on stock exchanges, defining an evermore parallel link with economic endeavors and opportunities for tying into social perceptions. However, crucial for implementation are clearly defined land rights , which are often lacking in many developing countries . In particular, many forest-rich developing countries suffering deforestation experience conflict between different forest stakeholders. In addition, concerns for such global transactions include inconsistent compensation for services or resources sacrificed elsewhere and misconceived warrants for irresponsible use. As of 2001, another approach focused on protecting ecosystem service biodiversity hotspots . Recognition that
3852-617: The 1999 cyclone that hit India. Villages that were surrounded with mangrove forests encountered less damages than other villages that were not protected by mangroves. Supporting services are the services that allow for the other ecosystem services to be present. They have indirect impacts on humans that last over a long period of time. Several services can be considered as being both supporting services and regulating/cultural/provisioning services. Supporting services include for example nutrient cycling , primary production , soil formation , habitat provision. These services make it possible for
3959-662: The Biodiversity of the Klamath-Siskiyou Ecoregion, researchers found that North America contains 116 ecoregions nested within 10 major habitat types. The TEOW framework originally delineated 867 terrestrial ecoregions nested into 14 major biomes, contained with the world's 8 major biogeographical realms. Subsequent regional papers by the co-authors covering Africa, Indo-Pacific, and Latin America differentiate between ecoregions and bioregions, referring to
4066-585: The French region (region), itself from the Latin regia (territory) and earlier regere (to rule or govern). Etymologically, bioregion means life territory or place-of-life. Bioregions became a foundational concept within the philosophical system called Bioregionalism . A key difference between an ecoregions and biogeography and the term bioregion, is that while ecoregions are based on general biophysical and ecosystem data, human settlement and cultural patterns play
4173-727: The Human Environment . In the 1970s he worked with UNESCO where he initiated the Man and the Biosphere Programme (MAB), an international research and conservation program. During the same period he was Senior Ecologist for the International Union for Conservation of Nature in Switzerland, initiating global conservation programs which earned him the highest honors awarded by The Wildlife Society , and
4280-584: The Mediterranean. It was not until the late 1940s that three key authors— Henry Fairfield Osborn, Jr , William Vogt , and Aldo Leopold —promoted recognition of human dependence on the environment. In 1956, Paul Sears drew attention to the critical role of the ecosystem in processing wastes and recycling nutrients. In 1970, Paul Ehrlich and Rosa Weigert called attention to "ecological systems" in their environmental science textbook and "the most subtle and dangerous threat to man's existence ...
4387-469: The Middle Rio Grande basin of New Mexico. This study focused on modeling the stakeholder inputs across a spatial decision, but ignored uncertainty. Another study used Monte Carlo methods to exercise econometric models of landowner decisions in a study of the effects of land-use change . Here the stakeholder inputs were modeled as random effects to reflect the uncertainty. A third study used
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4494-680: The Midwest, whereas bringing back salmon runs has a high priority for Shasta Bioregion in northern California. Using geothermal and wind as a renewable energy source fits Cascadia Bioregion in the rainy Pacific Northwest. Less cloudy skies in the Southwest's sparsely vegetated Sonoran Desert Bioregion make direct solar energy a more plentiful alternative there. Education about local natural characteristics and conditions varies diversely from place to place, along with bioregionally significant social and political issues. An important part of bioregionalism
4601-493: The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment lumped all of these together as ecosystem services . Four different types of ecosystem services have been distinguished by the scientific body: regulating services, provisioning services, cultural services and supporting services. An ecosystem does not necessarily offer all four types of services simultaneously; but given the intricate nature of any ecosystem, it
4708-626: The Planet Drum foundation, and become a leading proponent of "bioregions" learned of the term in 1971 while Judy Goldhaft and Peter Berg were staying with Allen Van Newkirk, before Berg attended the first United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm during June 1972. Berg would go on to found the Planet Drum Foundation in 1973, and they published their first Bioregional Bundle in that year, that also included
4815-542: The United nations World Charter for Nature, and historian of the Hudson River Valley was also deeply rooted in the bioregional movement, and helping bioregionalism spread to the east coast of North America. He defined a Bioregion as: A bioregion is simply an indenfidable geographic area whose life systems are self-contained, self- sustaining and self renewing. A bioregion you might say, is a basic unit within
4922-432: The adverse effects of climate change ". Ecosystem services decisions require making complex choices at the intersection of ecology , technology , society , and the economy . The process of making ecosystem services decisions must consider the interaction of many types of information, honor all stakeholder viewpoints, including regulatory agencies , proposal proponents, decision makers, residents, NGOs , and measure
5029-481: The basis of all food webs. Further, it generates oxygen (O2), a molecule necessary to sustain animals and humans. On average, a human consumes about 550 liter of oxygen per day, whereas plants produce 1,5 liter of oxygen per 10 grams of growth. Cultural services relate to the non-material world, as they benefit the benefit recreational, aesthetic, cognitive and spiritual activities, which are not easily quantifiable in monetary terms. They include: As of 2012, there
5136-411: The best grassland management solution for concrete grassland. It will look holistically at the processes in the countryside and help to find best grassland management solutions by taking into account both natural and socioeconomic factors of the particular site. While the notion of human dependence on Earth's ecosystems reaches to the start of Homo sapiens ' existence, the term 'natural capital'
5243-688: The challenges in policy implementation and management are significant and considerable. The administration of common pool resources has been a subject of extensive academic pursuit. From defining the problems to finding solutions that can be applied in practical and sustainable ways, there is much to overcome. Considering options must balance present and future human needs, and decision-makers must frequently work from valid but incomplete information. Existing legal policies are often considered insufficient since they typically pertain to human health-based standards that are mismatched with necessary means to protect ecosystem health and services. In 2000, to improve
5350-477: The concept of cultural ecosystem services that builds on three arguments: The Common International Classification of Ecosystem Services (CICES) is a classification scheme developed to accounting systems (like National counts etc.), in order to avoid double-counting of Supporting Services with others Provisioning and Regulating Services. Sea sports are very popular among coastal populations: surfing, snorkeling, whale watching, kayaking, recreational fishing ...
5457-481: The conservation of many ecosystem services aligns with more traditional conservation goals (i.e. biodiversity ) has led to the suggested merging of objectives for maximizing their mutual success. This may be particularly strategic when employing networks that permit the flow of services across landscapes , and might also facilitate securing the financial means to protect services through a diversification of investors. For example, as of 2013, there had been interest in
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#17327978318405564-625: The context of bioregionalism, bioregions can be socially constructed by modern-day communities for the purposes of better understanding a place "... with the aim to live in that place sustainably and respectfully." Bioregions have practical applications in the study of Biology , Biocultural Anthropology , Biogeography , Biodiversity , Bioeconomics , Bioregionalism , Bioregional Financing Facilities , Bioregional Mapping , Community Health , Ecology , Environmental history , Environmental science , Foodsheds , Geography , Natural Resource Management , Urban Ecology, Urban Planning . References to
5671-437: The continental-scale and ultimately the biosphere. Within the life sciences, there are numerous methods used to define the physical limits of a bioregion based on the spatial extent of mapped ecological phenomena -- from Species Distributions and hydrological systems (i.e. Watersheds ) to topographic features (e.g. Landforms ) and climate zones (e.g. Köppen Classification ). Bioregions also provide an effective framework in
5778-854: The control of climate and disease. Supporting services , such as nutrient cycles and oxygen production. And finally there are cultural services , such as spiritual and recreational benefits. Evaluations of ecosystem services may include assigning an economic value to them. For example, estuarine and coastal ecosystems are marine ecosystems that perform the four categories of ecosystem services in several ways. Firstly, their provisioning services include marine resources and genetic resources . Secondly, their supporting services include nutrient cycling and primary production . Thirdly, their regulating services include carbon sequestration (which helps with climate change mitigation ) and flood control. Lastly, their cultural services include recreation and tourism . The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) in
5885-405: The culture-bearing animal (aka humans)....Towards this end a group of projects relating to bioregions or themes of applied human biogeography is envisaged. . For Newkirk, the term Bioregion was a way to combine human culture with earlier work done on Biotic Provinces, and were seen "to be distinguished from biotic provinces", and instead he called this new field "regional human biogeography" and
5992-465: The definition of bioregion., Peter Berg and Judy Goldhaft founded the Planet Drum foundation in 1973, located in San Francisco and which just celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2023. Planet Drum, from their website, defines a bioregion as: A bioregion is a geographical area with coherent and interconnected plant and animal communities, and other natural characteristics (often defined by
6099-665: The delineation of biogeographical extents. Ecoregions are one of the primary building blocks of bioregions, which are made up of "clusters of biotically related ecoregions". An Ecoregion ( ecological region ) is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than a bioregion, which in turn is smaller than a biogeographic realm . Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of land or water, and contain characteristic, geographically distinct assemblages of natural communities and species . They can include geology physiography, vegetation, climate, hydrology, terrestrial and aquatic fanua, and soils, and may or may not include
6206-419: The dynamics of ecological processes relative to ecosystem services is essential in aiding economic decisions. Weighting factors such as a service's irreplaceability or bundled services can also allocate economic value such that goal attainment becomes more efficient. The economic valuation of ecosystem services also involves social communication and information, areas that remain particularly challenging and are
6313-511: The early 2000s has made this concept better known. Ecosystem services or eco-services are defined as the goods and services provided by ecosystems to humans. Per the 2006 Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA), ecosystem services are "the benefits people obtain from ecosystems". The MA also delineated the four categories of ecosystem services into provisioning, regulating, supporting, and cultural. By 2010, there had evolved various working definitions and descriptions of ecosystem services in
6420-425: The ecosystems to continue providing services such as food supply, flood regulation, and water purification. Nutrient cycling is the movement of nutrients through an ecosystem by biotic and abiotic processes. The ocean is a vast storage pool for these nutrients, such as carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus. The nutrients are absorbed by the basic organisms of the marine food web and are thus transferred from one organism to
6527-400: The environmental and economic values of ecosystem services. Some people may be unaware of the environment in general and humanity's interrelatedness with the natural environment, which may cause misconceptions. Although environmental awareness is rapidly improving in our contemporary world, ecosystem capital and its flow are still poorly understood, threats continue to impose, and we suffer from
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#17327978318406634-591: The fact that Newkirk had met Peter Berg (another early scholar on Bioregionalism) in San Francisco in 1969 and again in Nova Scotia in 1971 where he shared the idea with Berg. He would go on to found the Institute for Bioregional Research and issued a series of short papers using the term bioregion as early as 1970, which would start to circulate the idea of "bioregion". Peter Berg, who would go on to found
6741-464: The field of Environmental history , which seeks to use "river systems, ecozones, or mountain ranges as the basis for understanding the place of human history within a clearly delineated environmental context". A bioregion can also have a distinct cultural identity defined, for example, by Indigenous Peoples whose historical, mythological and biocultural connections to their lands and waters shape an understanding of place and territorial extent. Within
6848-620: The first bioregional atlases as part of court cases to defend their sovereignty in the 1980's and 1990's, one such example being the Tsilhqotʼin Nation v British Columbia . In these resources, there are two types of maps: Bioregional Maps and maps of Bioregions, which both include physical, ecological and human lines. A bioregional map can be any scale, and is a community and participatory process to map what people care about. Bioregional maps and atlases can be considered tools and jumping off points for helping guide regenerative activities of
6955-449: The first two levels. " A bioregion is defined as the largest physical boundaries where connections based on that place will make sense. The basic units of a bioregion are watersheds and hydrological basins, and a bioregion will always maintain the natural continuity and full extent of a watershed. While a bioregion may stretch across many watersheds, it will never divide or separate a water basin. As conceived by Van Newkirk, bioregionalism
7062-602: The focus of many researchers. In general, the idea is that although individuals make decisions for any variety of reasons, trends reveal the aggregated preferences of a society, from which the economic value of services can be inferred and assigned. The six major methods for valuing ecosystem services in monetary terms are: A peer-reviewed study published in 1997 estimated the value of the world's ecosystem services and natural capital to be between US$ 16 and $ 54 trillion per year, with an average of US$ 33 trillion per year. However, Salles (2011) indicated 'The total value of biodiversity
7169-696: The four categories of ecosystem services in a variety of ways: The provisioning services include forest products, marine products, fresh water , raw materials, biochemical and genetic resources. Regulating services include carbon sequestration (contributing to climate change mitigation ) as well as waste treatment and disease regulation and buffer zones. Supporting services of coastal ecosystems include nutrient cycling , biologically mediated habitats and primary production . Cultural services of coastal ecosystems include inspirational aspects, recreation and tourism , science and education. Coasts and their adjacent areas on and offshore are an important part of
7276-705: The goals of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), in particular the goal of ecosystem representation in Protected Area networks, the most widely used bioregional delineations include the Resolve Ecoregions and the IUCN Global Ecosystem Typology. In bioregionalism, an ecoregion can also use geography, ecology, and culture as part of its definition. One example of a bioregion
7383-502: The health and extent of land cover classes that provide ecosystem services, which aids in planning, management, monitoring of stakeholders' actions, and communication between stakeholders. In Baltic countries scientists, nature conservationists and local authorities are implementing integrated planning approach for grassland ecosystems. They are developing an integrated planning tool based on GIS (geographic information system) technology and put online that will help for planners to choose
7490-415: The impacts of human activity (e.g. land use patterns, vegetation changes etc). The biodiversity of flora , fauna and ecosystems that characterize an ecoregion tends to be distinct from that of other ecoregions. The phrase "ecological region" was widely used throughout the 20th century by biologists and zoologists to define specific geographic areas in research. In the early 1970s the term 'ecoregion'
7597-411: The impacts on all four parts of the intersection. These decisions are usually spatial , always multi-objective , and based on uncertain data, models, and estimates. Often it is the combination of the best science combined with the stakeholder values, estimates and opinions that drive the process. One analytical study modeled the stakeholders as agents to support water resource management decisions in
7704-543: The information available, the implementation of an Ecosystem Services Framework has been suggested (ESF ), which integrates the biophysical and socio-economic dimensions of protecting the environment and is designed to guide institutions through multidisciplinary information and jargon, helping to direct strategic choices. As of 2005 Local to regional collective management efforts were considered appropriate for services like crop pollination or resources like water. Another approach that has become increasingly popular during
7811-407: The land". Wetlands (which include saltwater swamps , salt marshes , ...) and the vegetation it supports – trees, root mats, etc. – retain large amounts of water (surface water, snowmelt, rain, groundwater) and then slowly releases them back, decreasing the likeliness of floods. Mangrove forests protect coastal shorelines from tidal erosion or erosion by currents; a process that was studied after
7918-401: The landforms, geology, climate, and hydrology, and how these environmental factors work together to create a common template for life in that particular place. Second, we map the flora and fauna, especially the characteristic vegetative communities, and link them to their habitats. Third, we look at native peoples, western settlement, and current land-use patterns and problems, in interaction with
8025-497: The latter as "geographic clusters of ecoregions that may span several habitat types, but have strong biogeographic affinities, particularly at taxonomic levels higher than the species level (genus, family)". In 2007, a comparable set of Marine Ecoregions of the World (MEOW) was published, led by M. Spalding, and in 2008 a set of Freshwater Ecoregions of the World (FEOW) was published, led by R. Abell. In 2017, an updated version of
8132-552: The legendary wildlife biologist Aldo Leopold , and earned his Ph.D. in zoology in 1954. He began his academic career at Humboldt State University, where he was a professor of natural resources from 1954 until 1965. During the 1960s, he worked at the Conservation Foundation in Washington, D.C., as Director of International Programs and was also a consultant on the development of the 1972 Stockholm Conference on
8239-477: The list of "ecosystem engineers"—organisms that physically, biologically or chemically modify the environment around them in ways that influence the health of other organisms. Many of the ecological functions and processes performed or affected by shellfish contribute to human well-being by providing a stream of valuable ecosystem services over time by filtering out particulate materials and potentially mitigating water quality issues by controlling excess nutrients in
8346-611: The literature. To prevent double-counting in ecosystem services audits, for instance, The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) replaced "Supporting Services" in the MA with "Habitat Services" and "ecosystem functions", defined as "a subset of the interactions between ecosystem structure and processes that underpin the capacity of an ecosystem to provide goods and services". While Gretchen Daily 's original definition distinguished between ecosystem goods and ecosystem services , Robert Costanza and colleagues' later work and that of
8453-467: The local ecology and its natural history as well as its intersection with a human community". This type of mapping is consistent with, and aligns with an indigenous and western worldview. This is put well by Douglas Aberley and chief Michael George noting that: "Once the bioregional map atlas is completed it becomes the common foundation of knowledge from which planning scenarios can be prepared, and decisions ultimately made. Complex information that
8560-475: The main wood-based product groups ranged from 1 percent (woodbased panels) to 5 percent (industrial roundwood). The fastest growth occurred in the Asia-Pacific, Northern American and European regions, likely due to positive economic growth in these areas. Over 40% of the territory in the European Union is covered by forests. This region has grown via afforestation by roughly 0.4% year in recent decades. In
8667-416: The mid-1970s by a school of philosophy called Bioregionalism , which includes the concept that human culture, in practice, can influence bioregional definitions. Bioregions are part of a nested series of ecological scales, generally starting with local watersheds, growing into larger river systems, then Level III or IV Ecoregions (or regional ecosystems), bioregions, then biogeographical Realm , followed by
8774-681: The natural landscape”. His first published article in a mainstream magazine was in 1975 in his article Bioregions: Towards Bioregional Strategy in Environmental Conservation . In the article, Allen Van Newkirk defines a bioregion as: “Bioregions are tentatively defined as biologically significant areas of the Earth’s surface which can be mapped and discussed as distinct existing patterns of plant, animal, and habitat distributions as related to range patterns and… deformations, attributed to one or more successive occupying populations of
8881-459: The natural system of earth. Another way to define a bioregion is in terms of watersheds. Bioregions must develop human populations that accord with their natural context. The human is not exempt from being part of the basic inventory in a bioregion. Kirkpatrick Sale another early pioneer of the idea of bioregions, defined it in his book Dwellers in the Land: A bioregional vision that: A bioregion
8988-557: The other and from one ecosystem to the other. Nutrients are recycled through the life cycle of organisms as they die and decompose, releasing the nutrients into the neighboring environment. "The service of nutrient cycling eventually impacts all other ecosystem services as all living things require a constant supply of nutrients to survive". Primary production refers to the production of organic matter, i.e., chemically bound energy, through processes such as photosynthesis and chemosynthesis. The organic matter produced by primary producers forms
9095-452: The potential destruction, by man's own activities, of those ecological systems upon which the very existence of the human species depends". The term environmental services was introduced in a 1970 report of the Study of Critical Environmental Problems , which listed services including insect pollination, fisheries , climate regulation and flood control. In following years, variations of
9202-665: The private sector value and assess ecosystem services, including Our Ecosystem, the 2008 Corporate Ecosystem Services Review, the Artificial Intelligence for Environment & Sustainability (ARIES) project from 2007, the Natural Value Initiative (2012) and InVEST (Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services & Tradeoffs, 2012) To provide an example of a cost comparison: The land of the United States Department of Defense
9309-549: The production of timber, forestry activities may also result in products that undergo little processing, such as fire wood, charcoal, wood chips and roundwood used in an unprocessed form. Global production and trade of all major wood-based products recorded their highest ever values in 2018. Production, imports and exports of roundwood, sawnwood, wood-based panels, wood pulp, wood charcoal and pellets reached their maximum quantities since 1947 when FAO started reporting global forest product statistics. In 2018, growth in production of
9416-461: The realities of living-in-place. All life on the planet is interconnected in a few obvious ways, and in many more that remain barely explored. But there is a distinct resonance among living things and the factors which influence them that occurs specifically within each separate place on the planet. Discovering and describing that resonance is a way to describe a bioregion. Thomas Berry , an educator, environmentalist, activist and priest, who authored
9523-400: The regions themselves are not hard to identify, and indeed will probably be felt, understood, sensed or in some way known to many inhabitants, and particularly those still rooted in the land. One of the other early proponents of bioregionalism, and who helped define what a bioregion is, was American biologist and environmental scientist Raymond F. Dasmann . Dasmann studied at UC Berkeley under
9630-507: The so-called ' tragedy of the commons '. Many efforts to inform decision-makers of current versus future costs and benefits now involve organizing and translating scientific knowledge to economics , which articulate the consequences of our choices in comparable units of impact on human well-being. An especially challenging aspect of this process is that interpreting ecological information collected from one spatial-temporal scale does not necessarily mean it can be applied at another; understanding
9737-462: The so-called supporting services are regarded as the basis for the services of the other three categories. Provisioning services consist of all "the products obtained from ecosystems". The following services are also known as ecosystem goods : Forests and forest management produce a large type and variety of timber products, including roundwood, sawnwood, panels, and engineered wood, e.g., cross-laminated timber, as well as pulp and paper. Besides
9844-402: The term "bioregion" in academic literature was by E. Jarowski in a 1971, a marine biologist studying the blue crab populations of Louisiana. The author used the term sensu stricto to refer to a "biological region" -- the area within which a crab can be provided with all the resources needed throughout its entire life cycle. The term was quickly adopted by other biologists, but eventually took on
9951-433: The term "bioregion" in scholarly literature have grown exponentially since the introduction of the term -- from a single research paper in 1971 to approximately 65,000 journal articles and books published to date. Governments and multilateral institutions have utilized bioregions in mapping Ecosystem Services and tracking progress towards conservation objectives, such as ecosystem representation. The first confirmed use of
10058-499: The term bioregion in a strictly ecological sense, which separated humans from the ecosystems they lived in, specifically naming that Biotic Provinces of the World Map, was not a map of bioregions. Peter Berg and ecologist Raymond Dasmann said in their 1977 article "Reinhabiting California": "Reinhabitation involves developing a bioregional identity, something most North Americans have lost or have never possessed. We define bioregion in
10165-414: The term were used, but eventually 'ecosystem services' became the standard in scientific literature. The ecosystem services concept has continued to expand and includes socio-economic and conservation objectives. [REDACTED] This article incorporates text from a free content work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO ( license statement/permission ). Text taken from The State of
10272-632: The term, and in 1974 the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) published its first global-scale biogeogpraphical map entitled ‘Biotic Provinces of the World’. However, director of the IUCN and founder of the Man and Biosphere project Raymond Dasmann in an article in 1977 named "Reinhabiting California", with Peter Berg pushed back against these global bodies that were attempting to use
10379-542: The terrestrial ecoregions dataset was released in the paper "An Ecoregion-Based Approach to Protecting Half the Terrestrial Realm" led by E. Dinerstein with 48 co-authors. Using recent advances in satellite imagery the ecoregion perimeters were refined and the total number reduced to 846 (and later 844), which can be explored on a web application developed by Resolve and Google Earth Engine. For conservation practitioners and organizations monitoring progress towards
10486-782: The two approaches are related, the Bailey ecoregions (nested in four levels) give more importance to ecological criteria and climate zones, while the WWF ecoregions give more importance to biogeography, that is, the distribution of distinct species assemblages. Ecoregions can change gradually, and have soft transition areas known as ecotones. Because of this, there can be some variation in how ecoregions are defined. The US Environmental Protection Agency has four ranking systems they use, which lists there being 12 type one ecoregions, and 187 type III ecoregions in North America while another study on
10593-453: The valuation of ecosystem services provided by shellfish production and restoration. A keystone species, low in the food chain, bivalve shellfish such as oysters support a complex community of species by performing a number of functions essential to the diverse array of species that surround them. There is also increasing recognition that some shellfish species may impact or control many ecological processes; so much so that they are included on
10700-426: The various benefits that humans derive from healthy ecosystems . These ecosystems, when functioning well, offer such things as provision of food, natural pollination of crops, clean air and water, decomposition of wastes, or flood control . Ecosystem services are grouped into four broad categories of services. There are provisioning services , such as the production of food and water. Regulating services , such as
10807-653: The water. As of 2018, the concept of ecosystem services had not been properly implemented into international and regional legislation yet. Notwithstanding, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 15 has a target to ensure the conservation, restoration, and sustainable use of ecosystem services. An estimated $ 125 trillion to $ 140 trillion is added to the economy each year by all ecosystem services. However, many of these services are at risk due to climate and other anthropogenic impacts. Climate-driven shifts in biome ranges
10914-407: Was a discussion as to how the concept of cultural ecosystem services could be operationalized, how landscape aesthetics, cultural heritage, outdoor recreation, and spiritual significance to define can fit into the ecosystem services approach. who vote for models that explicitly link ecological structures and functions with cultural values and benefits. Likewise, there has been a fundamental critique of
11021-476: Was estimated at $ 1–1.5 billion, which contrasted dramatically with the estimated $ 6–8 billion cost of constructing a water filtration plant plus the $ 300 million annual running costs. Pollination of crops by bees is required for 15–30% of U.S. food production ; most large-scale farmers import non-native honey bees to provide this service. A 2005 study reported that in California's agricultural region, it
11128-476: Was first coined by E. F. Schumacher in 1973 in his book Small is Beautiful . Recognition of how ecosystems could provide complex services to humankind date back to at least Plato (c. 400 BC) who understood that deforestation could lead to soil erosion and the drying of springs. Modern ideas of ecosystem services probably began when Marsh challenged in 1864 the idea that Earth's natural resources are unbounded by pointing out changes in soil fertility in
11235-480: Was found that wild bees alone could provide partial or complete pollination services or enhance the services provided by honey bees through behavioral interactions. However, intensified agricultural practices can quickly erode pollination services through the loss of species. The remaining species are unable to compensate this. The results of this study also indicate that the proportion of chaparral and oak-woodland habitat available for wild bees within 1–2 km of
11342-458: Was introduced (short for ecological region), and R.G. Bailey published the first comprehensive map of U.S. ecoregions in 1976. The term was used widely in scholarly literature in the 1980s and 1990s, and in 2001 scientists at the U.S. conservation organization World Wildlife Fund (WWF) codified and published the first global-scale map of Terrestrial Ecoregions of the World (TEOW), led by D. Olsen, E. Dinerstein, E. Wikramanayake, and N. Burgess. While
11449-400: Was the first to use terms such as "bioregional strategies" and "bioregional framework" for adapting human cultures into a place. This idea was carried forward and developed by ecologist Raymond Dasmann and Peter Berg in article they co-authored called Reinhabiting California in 1977, which rebuked earlier ecologist efforts to only use biotic provinces, and biogeography which excluded humans from
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