A function-based typology for Earth’s ecosystems

David A. Keith*, José R. Ferrer-Paris, Emily Nicholson, Melanie J. Bishop, Beth A. Polidoro, Eva Ramirez-Llodra, Mark G. Tozer, Jeanne L. Nel, Ralph Mac Nally, Edward J. Gregr, Kate E. Watermeyer, Franz Essl, Don Faber-Langendoen, Janet Franklin, Caroline E.R. Lehmann, Andrés Etter, Dirk J. Roux, Jonathan S. Stark, Jessica A. Rowland, Neil A. BrummittUlla C. Fernandez-Arcaya, Iain M. Suthers, Susan K. Wiser, Ian Donohue, Leland J. Jackson, R. Toby Pennington, Thomas M. Iliffe, Vasilis Gerovasileiou, Paul Giller, Belinda J. Robson, Nathalie Pettorelli, Angela Andrade, Arild Lindgaard, Teemu Tahvanainen, Aleks Terauds, Michael A. Chadwick, Nicholas J. Murray, Justin Moat, Patricio Pliscoff, Irene Zager, Richard T. Kingsford

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

132 Scopus citations

Abstract

As the United Nations develops a post-2020 global biodiversity framework for the Convention on Biological Diversity, attention is focusing on how new goals and targets for ecosystem conservation might serve its vision of ‘living in harmony with nature’1,2. Advancing dual imperatives to conserve biodiversity and sustain ecosystem services requires reliable and resilient generalizations and predictions about ecosystem responses to environmental change and management3. Ecosystems vary in their biota4, service provision5 and relative exposure to risks6, yet there is no globally consistent classification of ecosystems that reflects functional responses to change and management. This hampers progress on developing conservation targets and sustainability goals. Here we present the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Global Ecosystem Typology, a conceptually robust, scalable, spatially explicit approach for generalizations and predictions about functions, biota, risks and management remedies across the entire biosphere. The outcome of a major cross-disciplinary collaboration, this novel framework places all of Earth’s ecosystems into a unifying theoretical context to guide the transformation of ecosystem policy and management from global to local scales. This new information infrastructure will support knowledge transfer for ecosystem-specific management and restoration, globally standardized ecosystem risk assessments, natural capital accounting and progress on the post-2020 global biodiversity framework.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)513-518
Number of pages6
JournalNature
Volume610
Issue number7932
DOIs
StatePublished - 20 Oct 2022
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022, The Author(s).

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