Sentences with phrase «key ecosystems»

They say the ability of biodiversity in these areas to support key ecosystem functions such as growth of living organisms and nutrient cycling has become increasingly uncertain.

The process will include a strong focus on ensuring that the new standard delivers on key ecosystem conservation outcomes.

«It's been our experience that, once you have offshore oil and gas or shipping or fishing, it becomes much more difficult to protect key ecosystems,» she says.

This can both spread diseases to humans and damage key ecosystems such as coral reefs and fisheries.

Climate change impacts on fire regimes and key ecosystem services in Rocky Mountain forests.

The study of climate - induced changes in key ecosystem processes (Scholze et al., 2005) considers the distribution of outcomes within three sets of model runs grouped according to the amount of global warming they simulate: < 2 °C, 2 - 3 °C and > 3 °C.

While record - breaking warming is being felt on land, most of the extra heat energy being trapped in our atmosphere is being stored deep into our oceans causing rapid changes and the decline of key ecosystems.

There are more herbivores and creatures that parasitise other animals, but the detritivores — the creatures that consume carrion, excrement and decomposing plants — seem to be on the way down, with, the scientists say, potential implications for key ecosystem processes such as decomposition, nutrient cycling and primary productivity.

The situation has not been ameliorated by a new UN-backed report, The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity, which highlighted the huge economic benefits for all from conserving key ecosystems.

Now building on a large scale, the answer is a global Earth observatory, consisting of 1,000 or more well - equipped ground stations around the world that track environments and key ecosystems fully and continuously.

After all, there is a high risk that more sensitive species will continue to be harmed by the substance, jeopardizing key ecosystem functions in the long run.

Babbitt hopes that such basic research will lead to earlier interventions to save key ecosystems before individual species reach the brink of extinction, avoiding what he describes as «environmental and economic train wrecks».

Biodiversity used in food and agriculture (e.g., pest control and pollination) includes the components of biological diversity that are essential to human feeding and to improve quality of life, such as the variety of ecosystems, animals, plants and micro-organisms, at the genetic level, specific and needed ecosystems to sustain human life, as well as maintaining key ecosystem functions (FAO, 2011).

Pedro Jordano, of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) said: «Not only are we facing the loss of charismatic animals, but we are facing the loss of interactions that maintain the proper functioning and key ecosystem services such as carbon storage.»

«The paper lays out in gory detail how much damage a single marine heat wave can [wreak] on key ecosystems.»

«This disease has taken out the key ecosystem architects,» says David Smith of the University of Essex in Colchester, UK.

With this new understanding of the nature of the interactions between microorganisms in the polar ocean and the careful balance of competitive and cooperative behaviors that exist in this key ecosystem, Allen noted, researchers can work towards predicting how these relationships might change in the future.

It explains the key ecosystem services supplied by our seas and identifies the main threats to them while offering an overview of current marine policy at regional and transnational level and shows how conservation and sustainable use of our oceans can be reconciled in future.

The study says that massive sponges like this one provide «key ecosystem services such as filtering large amounts of seawater, as well as providing important habitat to a myriad of invertebrate and microbial species.»

Our study demonstrated that accelerated thinning can improve surface water runoff, a key ecosystem function, and provided indirect evidence of benefits for soil moisture and productivity.

The model results presented here clearly demonstrate the need for increased understanding of the multifaceted dynamics of this key ecosystem property.

A significant component of this key ecosystem characteristic is dependent on relatively slow processes such as rates of recuitment, mortality, and changes in vegetation composition.