PAGES Focus 4 Biodiversity Theme Workshop
PAGES Focus 4 Biodiversity Theme and the Biodiversity Institute of the University of Oxford
Conservation of biological diversity and the provision of ecosystem services are now widely recognised as important goals in landscape planning. However, the landscape planning process is complex and requires an understanding of the dynamics of biodiversity and ecosystem service provision with respect to environmental change.
Predictions of future changes, generally in the form of scenarios, tend to be based on knowledge of ecosystem dynamics over short time periods (i.e. less than 50 years) due to a paucity of longer-term observational data. Palaeoecological data have traditionally been overlooked in global and regional ecosystem assessments, yet recent studies have shown that these data provide important insight into the long-term dynamics of ecosystem functioning and services that are relevant for landscape planning.
The PAGES Focus 4 Biodiversity Theme and the Biodiversity Institute of the University of Oxford are convening this Workshop in order to bring together palaeoecologists whose research has contributed to our understanding of the dynamics over time and space of biodiversity and ecosystem service provision. The aim is to discuss cutting-edge long-term research into these dynamics as well as to consider new analytical and modelling techniques that will make palaeoecological data more accessible to those conducting ecosystem assessments and managing complex ecosystems.