Journal article

Developing a standardized definition of ecosystem collapse for risk assessment

Lucie M Bland, Jessica A Rowland, Tracey J Regan, David A Keith, Nicholas J Murray, Rebecca E Lester, Matt Linn, Jon Paul Rodriguez, Emily Nicholson

FRONTIERS IN ECOLOGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT | WILEY | Published : 2018

Abstract

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Ecosystems is a powerful tool for classifying threatened ecosystems, informing ecosystem management, and assessing the risk of ecosystem collapse (that is, the endpoint of ecosystem degradation). These risk assessments require explicit definitions of ecosystem collapse, which are currently challenging to implement. To bridge the gap between theory and practice, we systematically review evidence for ecosystem collapses reported in two contrasting biomes – marine pelagic ecosystems and terrestrial forests. Most studies define states of ecosystem collapse quantitatively, but few studies adequately describe initial ecosystem s..

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Grants

Awarded by Australian Research Council


Funding Acknowledgements

This work was supported by Australian Research Council Linkage Project (LP130100435). EN and LMB acknowledge the support of Veski and the Victorian Government through an Inspiring Women Fellowship. JAR was supported by a Deakin University Postgraduate Research Scholarship. We thank R Ferrari for coral reef photos.