Special issue on Networking Biodiversity Knowledge

How to effectively inform decision-making on biodiversity and ecosystem services?

This Special Issue of Biodiversity and Conservation brings together nine papers that analyse the possibility of creating a biodiversity-consultation mechanism at EU level that activates knowledge holders and brings them together for targeted knowledge synthesis activities: the so-called Network of Knowledge.

These papers showcase new ways of knowledge synthesis that have the potential to complement and strengthen existing ones across scales and sectors, thus supporting an improved management of biodiversity and ecosystem services.

The SI includes three papers co-authored by members of the Spatial Ecology Group:

Neßhöver et al. 2016. The Network of Knowledge approach – improving the science and society dialogue on biodiversity and ecosystem services in Europe. Biodiversity & Conservation 25: 1215-1233. DOI: 10.1007/s10531-016-1127-5

Schindler et al. 2016. The network BiodiversityKnowledge in practice: insights from three trial assessments. Biodiversity & Conservation 25: 1301-1318. DOI: 10.1007/s10531-016-1128-4

Pullin et al. 2016. Selecting appropriate methods of knowledge synthesis to inform biodiversity policy. Biodiversity & Conservation 25: 1285-1300. DOI: 10.1007/s10531-016-1131-9

Herbivory under water

 
At the end of the past century, aquatic plants were considered as virtually free of control by herbivores. In the last two decades, however, empirical evidence showed that herbivory is  actually 5 to 10 times greater than in terrestrial ecosystems.

This review, discussing the effects of herbivores on aquatic plant abundance and composition, ecosystem functioning and services, and future responses to climate change is therefore a highly timely one.

The review, led by researchers with many years of experience in the study of aquatic systems, provides a unified treatment of freshwater and marine systems that we have been missing for all too long.

Bakker L, Wood K, Pages JF, Veen C, Christianen M, Santamaria L, Nolet BA, Hilt S. 2016. Herbivory on freshwater and marine macrophytes: a review and perspective. Aquatic Botany 135: 18-36.