Why geodiversity matters in valuing nature's stage

Landform and lithospheric development contribute to the assembly of mountain floras in China

Although it is well documented that mountains tend to exhibit high biodiversity, how geological processes affect the assemblage of montane floras is a matter of ongoing research. Here, we explore landform-specific differences among montane floras based on a dataset comprising 17,576 angiosperm species representing 140 Chinese mountain floras, which we define as the collection of all angiosperm species growing on a specific mountain. Our results show that igneous bedrock (granitic and karst-granitic landforms) is correlated with higher species richness and phylogenetic overdispersion, while the opposite is true for sedimentary bedrock (karst, Danxia, and desert landforms), which is correlated with phylogenetic clustering. Furthermore, we show that landform type was the primary determinant of the assembly of evolutionarily older species within floras, while climate was a greater determinant for younger species. Our study indicates that landform type not only affects montane species richness, but also contributes to the composition of montane floras. To explain the assembly and differentiation of mountain floras, we propose the 'floristic geo-lithology hypothesis', which highlights the role of bedrock and landform processes in montane floristic assembly and provides insights for future research on speciation, migration, and biodiversity in montane regions.

Agreeing that maps can disagree: Moving away from map confusion in conservation

Deciding where to implement actions for biodiversity conservation remains challenging for many reasons, including the increase in maps aimed at prioritizing locations for conservation efforts. Although a growing numbers of maps can create the perception of uncertainty and competing science, a shared set of principles underlie many mapping initiatives. We overlaid the priority areas identified by a subset of maps to assess the extent to which they agree. The comparison suggests that when maps are used without understanding their origin, confusion seems justified: The union of all maps covers 73% of the contiguous United States, whereas the intersection of all maps is at least 3.5%. Our findings support the need to place a strong focus on the principles and premises underpinning the maps and the end users' intentions. We recommend developing a science-based guidance to aid scientists, policymakers, and managers in selecting and applying maps for supporting on-the-ground decisions addressing biodiversity loss and its interconnected crises.

A test of Conserving Nature's Stage: protecting a diversity of geophysical traits can also support a diversity of species at a landscape scale

Conserving Nature's Stage (CNS) is a concept from conservation planning that promotes the protection of areas encompassing a broad range of enduring geophysical traits to provide long-term habitat for diverse species. The efficacy of using enduring geophysical characteristics as surrogates for biodiversity, independent of non-geophysical features and when considering finer resolution area selections, has yet to be investigated. Here, we evaluated CNS using 33 fine-scale inventories of vascular plant, non-vascular plant, invertebrate or vertebrate species from 13 areas across three continents. For each inventory, we estimated a continuous multidimensional surrogate defined from topographic and soil estimates of the surveyed plots. We assessed surrogate effectiveness by comparing the species representation of surrogate selected plots to the representation from plots picked randomly and using species information. We then used correlation coefficients to assess the link between the performance and qualities of the inventories, surroundings and surrogates. The CNS surrogate showed positive performance for 24 of the 33 inventories, and among these tests, represented 28 more species than random and 83% of the total number of species on average. We also found a small number of weak correlations between performance and environmental variability, as well as qualities of the surrogate. Our study demonstrates that prioritizing areas for a variety of geophysical characteristics will, in most cases, promote the representation of species. Our findings also point to areas for future research that might enhance CNS surrogacy. This article is part of the Theo Murphy meeting issue 'Geodiversity for science and society'.

ML, Larwood J, Lausch A, Monge-Ganuzas M, Miller S, van Ree D, Seijmonsbergen AC, Zarnetske PL, Daniel Kissling W. The status and future of essential geodiversity variables

Rapid environmental change, natural resource overconsumption and increasing concerns about ecological sustainability have led to the development of 'Essential Variables' (EVs). EVs are harmonized data products to inform policy and to enable effective management of natural resources by monitoring global changes. Recent years have seen the instigation of new EVs beyond those established for climate, oceans and biodiversity (ECVs, EOVs and EBVs), including Essential Geodiversity Variables (EGVs). EGVs aim to consistently quantify and monitor heterogeneity of Earth-surface and subsurface abiotic features, including geology, geomorphology, hydrology and pedology. Here we assess the status and future development of EGVs to better incorporate geodiversity into policy and sustainable management of natural resources. Getting EGVs operational requires better consensus on defining geodiversity, investments into a governance structure and open platform for curating the development of EGVs, advances in harmonizing in situ measurements and linking heterogeneous databases, and development of open and accessible computational workflows for global digital mapping using machine-learning techniques. Cross-disciplinary collaboration and partnerships with governmental and private organizations are needed to ensure the successful development and uptake of EGVs across science and policy. This article is part of the Theo Murphy meeting issue 'Geodiversity for science and society'.

Towards a taxonomy of geodiversity

Geodiversity is a topical concept in earth and environmental sciences. Geodiversity information is needed to conserve nature, use ecosystem services and achieve sustainable development goals. Despite the increasing demand for geodiversity data, there exists no comprehensive system for categorizing geodiversity. Here, we present a hierarchically structured taxonomy that is potentially applicable in mapping and quantifying geodiversity across different regions, environments and scales. In this taxonomy, the main components of geodiversity are geology, geomorphology, hydrology and pedology. We propose a six-level hierarchical system where the components of geodiversity are classified at progressively lower taxonomic levels based on their genesis, physical-chemical properties and morphology. This comprehensive taxonomy can be used to compile geodiversity information for scientific research and various applications of value to society and nature conservation. Ultimately, this hierarchical system is the first step towards developing a global geodiversity taxonomy. This article is part of the Theo Murphy meeting issue 'Geodiversity for science and society'.

Geodiversity data for Europe

Geodiversity is an essential part of nature's diversity. However, geodiversity is insufficiently understood in terms of its spatial distribution and its relationship to biodiversity over large spatial extents. Here, we present European geodiversity data at resolutions of 1 km and 10 km. We assess terrestrial geodiversity quantitatively as a richness variable (georichness) using a commonly employed grid-based approach. The data incorporate aspects of geological, pedological, geomorphological and hydrological diversity, which are also available as separate richness variables. To evaluate the data, we correlated European georichness with empirically tested national georichness data from Finland, revealing a positive correlation at both 1 km (rp = 0.37, p < 0.001) and 10 km (rp = 0.59, p < 0.001) resolutions. We also demonstrate potential uses of the European data by correlating georichness with vascular plant species richness in two contrasting example areas: Finland and Switzerland. The positive correlations between georichness and species richness in Finland (rp = 0.34, p < 0.001) and Switzerland (rp = 0.26, p < 0.001) further support the use of our data in geodiversity-biodiversity research. Moreover, there is great potential beyond geodiversity-biodiversity questions, as the data can be exploited across different regions, ecosystems and scales. These geodiversity data provide an insight on abiotic diversity in Europe and establish a quantitative large-scale geodiversity assessment method applicable worldwide. This article is part of the Theo Murphy meeting issue 'Geodiversity for science and society'.

Geodiversity in the Amazon drainage basin

The Amazon is the largest drainage basin on Earth and contains a wide variety of abiotic landscape features. In spite of this, the geodiversity in this basin has not yet been objectively evaluated. We address this knowledge gap by combining a meta-analysis of an existing global geodiversity map and its components with a systematic literature review, to identify the key characteristics of geodiversity in the Amazon drainage basin (ADB). We also evaluate how these global geodiversity component maps, that are based on the geology, geomorphology, soils and hydrology, could be refined to better reflect geodiversity in the basin. Our review shows that geology-through lithological diversity and geological structures-and hydrology-through hydrological processes that influence geomorphology and soil diversity-are the main determinants of geodiversity. Based on these features, the ADB can be subdivided into three principal regions: (i) the Andean orogenic belt and western Amazon, (ii) the cratons and eastern Amazon, and (iii) the Solimões-Amazon river system. Additional methods to map geomorphological and hydrological diversity have been identified. Future research should focus on investigating the relationship between the geodiversity components and assess their relationship with biodiversity. Such knowledge can enhance conservation plans for the ADB. This article is part of the Theo Murphy meeting issue 'Geodiversity for science and society'.

The dilemma of valuing geodiversity: geoconservation versus geotourism

Geodiversity and geosystem services are confronting global threats. However, the majority of conservation strategies tend to overlook the geological component within ecosystems. The existing literature centres on biodiversity, ecosystem services and their economic valuation. In this paper, we conduct a systematic literature review to identify the gap in the assessment of geological diversity, pinpointing areas where scientific contributions are needed to safeguard geological resources. Our findings reveal a concentration of studies assessing geodiversity in European and Asian countries. While the majority of the reviewed papers emphasizes the recreational features and associated values of geological resources, promoting geotourism and recognizing its potential for economic growth, there is a significant oversight concerning the impact of tourism on geological resources. Existing assessments predominantly focus on visitors' perceptions and preferences, sidelining the inhabitants' perspective and their crucial roles in the conservation of geodiversity. This article is part of the Theo Murphy meeting issue 'Geodiversity for science and society'.

Boundary of ecosystem services: A response to

Chen et al. (2023) have proposed a scheme to define which services should be included as ecosystem services and which should be excluded so as to avoid "an all-encompassing metaphor that captures any benefit". We discuss the proposals, drawing attention in particular to definitions of 'natural capital' and 'ecosystems', the complexities of separating biotic from abiotic flows, and the importance of geodiversity and geosystem services in delivering societal benefits. We conclude that rather than trying to separate out bits of nature in order to draw the boundary of ecosystem services, it is perhaps time to avoid using 'nature' and 'biodiversity' as synonyms and think instead of a more holistic and integrated approach involving 'environmental', 'natural' or 'nature's services', in which the role of abiotic nature is fully recognised in both ecosystem services and non-ecosystem domains.

Understanding trait diversity: the role of geodiversity

Geodiversity - the abiotic heterogeneity of Earth's (sub)surface - is gaining recognition for its ecological links to biodiversity. However, theoretical and conceptual knowledge of geodiversity-trait diversity relationships is currently lacking and can improve understanding of abiotic drivers of community assembly. Here we synthesise the state of knowledge of these relationships. We find that some components of geodiversity (e.g., topographic heterogeneity) elicit strong trait responses, whereas other components (e.g., substrate heterogeneity) have marginal effects in driving trait distributions. However, current knowledge is lacking in key aspects, including geodiversity's effect on trait-specific diversity and intraspecific variation. We call for the explicit inclusion of geodiversity when relating environmental drivers to trait diversity, taking advantage of the increasing availability of trait and geodiversity data.

Quantitative Assessment of Geodiversity in Ecuadorian Amazon—Case Study: Napo Sumaco Aspiring UNESCO Geopark

Geodiversity is considered the abiotic equivalent of biodiversity; it can be explained in three main fields such as scientific, educational, and tourism. In sixteen geosites of Napo Sumaco Geopark, a quantitative assessment of geodiversity was carried out using the methodology proposed by Brilha (Brilha, Geoheritage 8:119–134, 2016). This work has a field data collection phase in the geosites Shunku Rumi and Pungarayacu Quarry, where for the first time a geological sketch and stratigraphic columns were made. Regarding the quantitative assessment, it was found that the geosites Sumaco Volcano and Guagua Sumaco Lagoon and Outlook have a high scientific value, the geosite Pungarayacu Quarry has a high potential for educational use, and the Puerto Misahualli’s Bookcase has a high potential touristic use. In terms of degradation risk assessment, Pungarayacu Quarry and Hollin River geosites have a high and moderate degradation risk respectively. The remaining fourteen geosites show a low risk of degradation because there are no activities that cause degradation, and are protected by the people of communities and local guides. Finally, this work shows the need for more scientific research, improvement in the security conditions, promotion of the geosites, and development of didactic material.

Acknowledging geodiversity in safeguarding biodiversity and human health

Our existence on Earth is founded on a vital nature, which supports human physical and mental health. However, nature is often depicted only through biodiversity, whereas geodiversity-the diversity of non-living nature-has so far been neglected. Geodiversity consists of assemblages, structures, and systems of geological, geomorphological, soil, and hydrological components that fundamentally underlie biodiversity. Biodiversity can support overall human health only with the foundation of geodiversity. Landscape characteristics, such as varying topography or bodies of water, promote aesthetic and sensory experiences and are also a product of geodiversity. In this Personal View, we introduce the concept of geodiversity as a driver for planetary health, describe its functions and services, and outline the intricate relationships between geodiversity, biodiversity, and human health. We also propose an agenda for acknowledging the importance of geodiversity in health-related research and decision making. Geodiversity is an emerging topic with untapped potential for ensuring ecosystem functionality and good living conditions for people in a time of changing environments.

The Role and Practice of Geodiversity in Serving Ecosystems in China

This paper demonstrates how geodiversity interconnects with the particular ecosystems and practices within China. As an essential component of natural diversity, geodiversity can provide the necessary services and products to ecosystems and humans. In current Chinese research, theories and methods of geodiversity in China are relatively lacking. We use the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment classification as a basis for four categories: provisioning, regulating, supporting, and cultural services. In so doing we present the products and services associated with geodiversity in China. In practice, we found that China, especially in light of its geological survey, already has a working basis for maintaining and enhancing the quality of its geodiversity and geosystem. To better advance the theory and practice of geodiversity in China, we suggest making geodiversity and biodiversity the object of geological surveys to understand its natural processes and distribution. This will ensure that nature as a whole can be appropriately managed and protected, that geodiversity indicators in ecosystem assessments can be clarified, and that equally essential elements of nature policy to promote geodiversity and biodiversity can be added.

Lonar Impact Crater, India: the Best-Preserved Terrestrial Hypervelocity Impact Crater in a Basaltic Terrain as a Potential Global Geopark

Lonar Impact Crater is a simple meteorite impact crater carved out on the ~ 65 Ma old Deccan tholeiitic flood basalts. The crater, though scoured in a basaltic terrain, is still preserved in its most pristine form, with a central crater lake. The geomorphology, geochemistry, geochronology, hydrology, geophysical parameters, and structural aspects of Lonar Crater have been explored in detail, but still continue to contribute valid scientific insights into the geology of terrestrial impact craters. Lonar serves as a potential analog site for studying impact cratering on planetary surfaces with basaltic terrains such as the Moon and Mars. Besides being a highly recognizable impact crater in India, the Lonar crater and its hinterland stand out with its archeological relevance and spiritual influence among the people. The numerous temples in and around the crater premises uphold the cultural significance of the region. The crater and adjacent areas are rich in flora and fauna representing a diverse ecosystem in the vastness of the arid Deccan Flood Basalts. Hence, the astrobleme and its surrounding is declared a Ramsar site and is also a protected wildlife sanctuary. The Indian Government has also declared the crater a National Geological Monument as well as an archaeological monument. Furthermore, the astrobleme is a unique site with socio-cultural and economic significance. With these plethoras of importance, combined with the geological and socio-cultural aspects in its hinterland, together with the most acclaimed UNESCO world heritage centers Ajantha and Ellora caves in the neighborhood, it stands as the right candidate for a UNESCO Global Geopark. However, the crater and its ecosystem are not preserved well enough, and the uniqueness of the crater is diminishing. But after selection as a Ramsar site, the area shows increased vegetation growth. The SWOT analysis conducted in this study accounts for Lonar Crater and its adjoining areas as a potential global geopark. Thus, through this study, we try to propagate the vivid and myriad importance of the Lonar crater and the necessity of protecting this geological monument from both anthropogenic and natural processes and to appraise the necessity for nominating this area as a UNESCO Global Geopark.

Biodiversity and ecosystem functions depend on environmental conditions and resources rather than the geodiversity of a tropical biodiversity hotspot

Biodiversity and ecosystem functions are highly threatened by global change. It has been proposed that geodiversity can be used as an easy-to-measure surrogate of biodiversity to guide conservation management. However, so far, there is mixed evidence to what extent geodiversity can predict biodiversity and ecosystem functions at the regional scale relevant for conservation planning. Here, we analyse how geodiversity computed as a compound index is suited to predict the diversity of four taxa and associated ecosystem functions in a tropical mountain hotspot of biodiversity and compare the results with the predictive power of environmental conditions and resources (climate, habitat, soil). We show that combinations of these environmental variables better explain species diversity and ecosystem functions than a geodiversity index and identified climate variables as more important predictors than habitat and soil variables, although the best predictors differ between taxa and functions. We conclude that a compound geodiversity index cannot be used as a single surrogate predictor for species diversity and ecosystem functions in tropical mountain rain forest ecosystems and is thus little suited to facilitate conservation management at the regional scale. Instead, both the selection and the combination of environmental variables are essential to guide conservation efforts to safeguard biodiversity and ecosystem functions.

Diversity of European habitat types is correlated with geography more than climate and human pressure

Habitat richness, that is, the diversity of ecosystem types, is a complex, spatially explicit aspect of biodiversity, which is affected by bioclimatic, geographic, and anthropogenic variables. The distribution of habitat types is a key component for understanding broad-scale biodiversity and for developing conservation strategies. We used data on the distribution of European Union (EU) habitats to answer the following questions: (i) how do bioclimatic, geographic, and anthropogenic variables affect habitat richness? (ii) Which of those factors is the most important? (iii) How do interactions among these variables influence habitat richness and which combinations produce the strongest interactions? The distribution maps of 222 terrestrial habitat types as defined by the Natura 2000 network were used to calculate habitat richness for the 10 km × 10 km EU grid map. We then investigated how environmental variables affect habitat richness, using generalized linear models, generalized additive models, and boosted regression trees. The main factors associated with habitat richness were geographic variables, with negative relationships observed for both latitude and longitude, and a positive relationship for terrain ruggedness. Bioclimatic variables played a secondary role, with habitat richness increasing slightly with annual mean temperature and overall annual precipitation. We also found an interaction between anthropogenic variables, with the combination of increased landscape fragmentation and increased population density strongly decreasing habitat richness. This is the first attempt to disentangle spatial patterns of habitat richness at the continental scale, as a key tool for protecting biodiversity. The number of European habitats is related to geography more than climate and human pressure, reflecting a major component of biogeographical patterns similar to the drivers observed at the species level. The interaction between anthropogenic variables highlights the need for coordinated, continental-scale management plans for biodiversity conservation.

Morphological Significance and Relation of Ecosystems of Submarine Canyons off SW Taiwan

There are four shelf-incising submarine canyons off SW Taiwan. They are distributed along the active continental margin, which is periodically flushed by gravity flows. Shelf-incising canyons, such as Kaoping Canyon, may not only be affected by oceanographic conditions but also by extreme climate change due to the direct input of river sediment. In the canyons along the SW margin of Taiwan, strong sedimentary flows are reflected in highly abundant nutrient input and physical disturbances. The Kaoping Canyon possesses habitats that promote biodiversity but that are sensitive to environmental change. The aims of this study are to review the canyons along the SW margin of Taiwan and to present their geomorphological features and associated ecosystems.

Recent State Policy and Its Impact on Geopark Establishment and Operation in Slovakia

The geological evolution and structure of the territory of Slovakia plays a key role in the current geodiversity of the country. The importance of this key element of the environment is widely and most effectively represented in geoparks. This paper is devoted to the state policy of geopark establishment and operation in Slovakia. Despite the relatively well-established concept of geoparks in the world, its position is not entirely clear in Slovak legislation. So, both bottom-up initiatives and top-down strategies are not quite successful in geopark operations, especially when considering the sustainability of Slovak geoparks. The possible future position of geoparks in Slovakia, in terms of state policies, may be found (as discussed in this paper) in adopting specific legislation which will effectively support the development of these potential (geo)tourist areas, contributing to both sustainable tourism development and nature protection.

Geodiversity impacts plant community structure in a semi-arid region

Geodiversity refers to the variety of geological and physical elements as well as to geomorphological processes of the earth surface. Heterogeneity of the physical environment has an impact on plant diversity. In recent years, the relations between geodiversity and biodiversity has gained attention in conservation biology, especially in the context of climate change. In this study, we assessed the spatial and temporal change in plant's community structure in a semi-arid region, Sayeret Shaked Long Term Ecosystem Research (LTER) station, Israel. Vegetation surveys were conducted on different hillslopes, either with or without rock covers in order to study the spatial trends of hillslope geodiversity. The surveys were conducted for two consecutive years (2016 and 2017), of which the second year was drier and hotter and therefore permitted to investigate the temporal change of plant's community structure. The results of the spatial trends show that (1) geodiversity increases vegetation biodiversity and promotes perennial plants and those of the temporal change show that (2) the positive effect of geodiversity on plants' community structure and species richness is greater in the drier year than that in a wetter year. The main insight is that in these drylands, hillslopes with higher geodiversity appear to buffer the effect of drier years, and supported a more diverse plant community than lower geodiversity hillslopes.

Geology-dependent impacts of forest conversion on stream fish diversity

Forest conversion is one of the greatest global threats to biodiversity, and land-use change and subsequent biodiversity declines sometimes occur over a variety of underlying geologies. However, how forest conversion and underlying geology interact to alter biodiversity is underappreciated, although spatial variability in geology is considered an integral part of sustaining ecosystems. We aimed to examine the effects of forest conversion to farmland, the underlying geology, and their interaction on the stream fishes' diversity, evenness, and abundance in northeastern Japan. We disentangled complex pathways between abiotic and biotic factors with structural equation modeling. Species diversity of stream fishes was indirectly shaped by the interaction of land use and underlying geology. Diversity declined due to nutrient enrichment associated with farmlands, which was mainly the result of changes in evenness rather than by changes in species richness. This impact was strongest in streams with volcanic geology with coarse substrates probably because of the differential responses of abundant stream fishes to nutrient enrichment (i.e., dominance) and the high dependency of these fishes on large streambed materials during their life cycles. Our findings suggest that remediation of deforested or degraded forest landscapes would be more efficient if the interaction between land use and underlying geology was considered. For example, the negative impacts of farmland on evenness were larger in streams with volcanic geology than in other stream types, suggesting that riparian forest restoration along such streams would efficiently provide restoration benefits to stream fishes. Our results also suggest that land clearing around such streams should be avoided to conserve species evenness of stream fishes.

Managing Groundwater to Ensure Ecosystem Function

Groundwater is a critical resource not only for human communities but also for many terrestrial, riparian, and aquatic ecosystems and species. Yet groundwater planning and management decisions frequently ignore or inadequately address the needs of these natural systems. As a consequence, ecosystems dependent on groundwater have been threatened, degraded, or eliminated, especially in arid regions. There is growing acknowledgment that governmental protections for these ecological resources are necessary, but current legal, regulatory and voluntary provisions are often inadequate. Groundwater management premised on "safe yield," which aims to balance human withdrawals with natural recharge rates, typically provides little to no consideration for water needed by ecosystems. Alternatively, the "sustainable yield" concept aims to integrate social, economic and environmental needs for groundwater, but the complexity of groundwater systems creates substantial uncertainty about the impact that current or future groundwater withdrawals will have on ecosystems. Regardless of the legal or regulatory framework, guidance is needed to help ensure environmental water needs will be met, especially in the face of pressure to increase human uses of groundwater resources. In this paper, we describe minimum provisions for planning, managing, and monitoring groundwater that collectively can lower the risk of harm to groundwater-dependent ecosystems and species, with a special emphasis on arid systems, where ecosystems and species may be especially reliant upon and sensitive to groundwater dynamics.

Brief Notes on Geodiversity and Geoheritage Perception by the Lay Public

Geodiversity has an irreplaceable significance for both biodiversity and for human society as it has numerous functions and offers various benefits and services. These have been already recognized and assessed by using numerous approaches and methods (e.g., geosite assessment methods, geodiversity indexes, and evaluation of geodiversity functions within the concept of ecosystem services). Nearly all these procedures were elaborated by professionals in the Earth sciences or related domains. The assessment of geodiversity functions and services within nature conservation by the public was not the subject of detailed research yet (with an exception of geotourist assessment). This communication presents the results of a pilot research that is focused on the analysis and interpretation of the public opinion on geodiversity and geoconservation. The data were collected by using the semi-structured questionnaire, and based on them, the interpretation was done and comparison or confrontation with original hypotheses was undertaken.

Geodiversity Assessment with Crowdsourced Data and Spatial Multicriteria Analysis

This paper presents an approach to geodiversity assessment based on spatial multicriteria analysis. Instead of relying solely on weighted linear combination (WLC) for aggregating factor ratings and weights to compute a synthetic measure of geodiversity, the approach employs WLC in concert with its local version called L-WLC to provide a more comprehensive assessment approach. As part of the approach, the assessment input data comprised of geodiversity factor ratings and weights were obtained through crowdsourcing. A geoinformation crowdsourcing tool called the geo-questionnaire was used to obtain data from 57 Earth science researchers worldwide. These data served as the bases for a group assessment of geodiversity. The reliability of assessment was evaluated by means of spatially explicit uncertainty analysis. The results showed the efficacy of local spatial multicriteria analysis techniques (L-WLC) used in concert with a global technique (WLC) on the example of geodiversity assessment for Karkonosze National Park in southwestern Poland.

Methodological Proposal for the Inventory and Assessment of Geomorphosites: An Integrated Approach focused on Territorial Management and Geoconservation

Geoconservation has been growing in importance within the environmental management context. The conservation of geological heritage is being more and more recognised as an essential issue in nature conservation. Inventories of geosites are considered basic steps in geoconservation strategies and constitute a tool to support management considering the sites' values, use potential and risks of degradation. There are dozens of proposed methods to create inventories and to perform qualitative and quantitative evaluations of the sites and there are still discussions concerning the issues of how to select and evaluate sites and provide management guidelines. Geomorphosites are geosites with geomorphological nature and it is a category that presents some peculiarities highlighted in the literature. This work aimed at proposing a method for inventorying and assessing geomorphosites designed for territorial management focused on the use potential of the sites, divided into scientific, educational and geotouristic uses, the promotion conditions and the risks of degradation. The method was applied to the southeast coast of Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil, which has a high geomorphological diversity. The result was the creation of an inventory of geomorphosites in which all sites were described and quantitatively assessed, creating a product that can be easily applied in the management of the sites. The objective of this work was to contribute to the methodological discussions and to strengthen the insertion of geoconservation on territorial management.

Geoheritage and Geotourism Contribution to Tourism Development in Protected Areas of Slovakia—Theoretical Considerations

Slovakia is renowned for its remarkable and rare natural beauty, abundant in natural resources with several noteworthy geological features. However, the protection of nature has primarily been understood as the protection of biodiversity in Slovakia. For the conservation of geological diversity and landforms, very little has been done. Geoconservation or the protection of geodiversity is being applied to specific places known as geosites, where significant earth elements (geological, paleontological, geomorphological, hydrological and pedological) are protected, preserved and managed. Most geosites benefit from existing protected areas. Their protection is random and does not result from the recognition of their values. As discussed in the paper, geotourism related activities can undoubtedly contribute to promoting the protection of geosites in protected areas. Besides, through a geotourism approach, geodiversity can obtain public attention and positively influence the state of protected areas by its activities. Such initiatives not only can improve the protection of geological sites but also can play a crucial role in sustainable tourism development.

Old Processes, New Movements: The Inclusion of Geodiversity in Biological and Ecological Discourse

There exists substantial variation in the qualitative and quantitative interpretations of the concept of geodiversity and its embedded elements and values. The resulting divergence and ambiguity in applications of the term constrain its present use as an operationalized concept in nature conservation research and discourse, unlike its seemingly analogous biotic term, ‘biodiversity’. This paper presents findings from a critical literature review of 299 academic journal articles and texts that define geodiversity values, or otherwise incorporate geodiversity or its derived elements and values as components of conservation. Contrary to previous suggestions, we have found that most geoscientists have united behind a single definition of geodiversity and applied it frequently in their primary and applied, geotouristic, research. Qualitative elements of geodiversity, including system support values and aesthetic appeals within nature conservation, have been largely confined to geoconservation and geoscientific literature and are nearly absent from biological discourse. Encouragingly, however, we have observed a more recent increase in research pertaining to quantitative interpretations of abiotic geodiversity elements and their relationship with the spatial distribution and abundance of species. Although the inclusion of geodiversity elements (quantitative and qualitative) in conservation assessment and biodiversity research has been and remains far less universal than for biodiversity elements, there is strong potential for further unification of these two concepts, especially though collaborative quantitative research. The more that geodiversity is discussed outside of geographic and geoscientific disciplines, broader recognition and validated use of the concept of geodiversity will be used in the understanding, interpretation, and protection of patterns and processes at the landscape scale.

Quantifying Ecological Integrity of Terrestrial Systems to Inform Management of Multiple-Use Public Lands in the United States

The concept of ecological integrity has been applied widely to management of aquatic systems, but still is considered by many to be too vague and difficult to quantify to be useful for managing terrestrial systems, particularly across broad areas. Extensive public lands in the western United States are managed for diverse uses such as timber harvest, livestock grazing, energy development, and wildlife conservation, some of which may degrade ecological integrity. We propose a method for assessing ecological integrity on multiple-use lands that identifies the components of integrity and levels in the ecological hierarchy where the assessment will focus, and considers existing policies and management objectives. Both natural reference and societally desired environmental conditions are relevant comparison points. We applied the method to evaluate the ecological integrity of shrublands in Nevada, yielding an assessment based on six indicators of ecosystem structure, function, and composition, including resource- and stressor-based indicators measured at multiple scales. Results varied spatially and among indicators. Invasive plant cover and surface development were highest in shrublands in northwest and southeast Nevada. Departure from reference conditions of shrubland area, composition, patch size, and connectivity was highest in central and northern Nevada. Results may inform efforts to control invasive species and restore shrublands on federal lands in Nevada. We suggest that ecological integrity assessments for multiple-use lands be grounded in existing policies and monitoring programs, incorporate resource- and stressor-based metrics, rely on publicly available data collected at multiple spatial scales, and quantify both natural reference and societally desired resource conditions.

Geodiversity Hotspots: Concept, Method and Cartographic Application for Geoconservation Purposes at a Regional Scale

As a parallel to the "biodiversity hotspot" concept used in conservation biology, "geodiversity hotspots" can be defined as geographic areas that harbor very high levels of geodiversity while being threatened by human activities. Identifying geodiversity hotspots may offer a powerful way to set geoconservation priorities, but numerical methods integrating both geodiversity values and threats are still lacking. Here we propose for the first time an integrated approach using GIS and geoprocessing to map geodiversity hotspots at a regional scale, with a cartographic application to the Ceará State (Northeastern Brazil). The method is based on the quantification and mapping of two numerical indices: a geodiversity index (GI) and a threat index (TI). On one hand, the GI is calculated as the sum of four sub-indexes representing the main components of geodiversity, i.e., geological diversity (rocks, minerals, fossils), geomorphodiversity (topography and landforms), pedodiversity (soils and palaeosoils) and hydrodiversity (surface and underground waters). On the other hand, the TI is calculated as the sum of three sub-indexes including the level of environmental protection, the degree of land degradation and the type of land use. Mapping and delineation of geodiversity hotspots are automatically obtained from a combination of GI and TI, i.e., in areas where higher geodiversity indexes coincide with higher threat indexes. In the study area, results show the spatial delimitation of five geodiversity hotspots, including the Araripe basin (to the South), partly recognized as a UNESCO Global Geopark since 2006, and the Fortaleza metropolitan region (to the North), both faced with severe threats to geodiversity. In addition to a tool for geoconservation, geodiversity hotspots could also provide useful support for biodiversity research and action programs, given the structural and functional links between geodiversity and biodiversity.

Geodiversity and geoheritage: Detecting scientific and geographic biases and gaps through a bibliometric study

Many scientists have recognized that there is diversity in nature, including biodiversity, geodiversity, and pedodiversity. Studies in biodiversity date back as far as the 1700s, but geodiversity and pedodiversity studies are much more recent, dating to the late 1970s to early 1980s. Given that we are now approaching 40 years of geodiversity and geoheritage work, this study was undertaken to determine areas that have been well addressed and where current gaps are. This was accomplished by reviewing the publications in the journal "Geoheritage", the Scopus and Google Scholar databases, and established geoparks according to UNESCO records. It was found that geodiversity studies typically do not include the findings or utilize the techniques of biodiversity and pedodiversity research, despite the fact that common definitions of geodiversity include soils. Including the findings and techniques of bio- and pedodiversity would expand geodiversity work. Likewise, geoheritage preservation sites are not geographically balanced, with European countries, Brazil, Australia, and China creating the large majority. The European and East Asian countries, especially China, have dominated in the establishment of geoparks. The most pressing need in future studies is more balanced geographic distribution, as the current strong slant towards a limited portion of the world cannot adequately capture (on the research front) and preserve (on the geoparks front) global geodiversity. Finally, there is a need investigate whether the spatial patterns of biodiversity are idiosyncratic or are also a characteristic of abiotic resources, permitting the standardization of diversity research methods. This review contends that there are intriguing similarities in biodiversity, geodiversity, and pedodiversity patterns that should be explored, something that would benefit all of these research areas.

Models of upland species' distributions are improved by accounting for geodiversity

CONTEXT

Recent research suggests that novel geodiversity data on landforms, hydrology and surface materials can improve biodiversity models at the landscape scale by quantifying abiotic variability more effectively than commonly used measures of spatial heterogeneity. However, few studies consider whether these variables can account for, and improve our understanding of, species' distributions.

OBJECTIVES

Assess the role of geodiversity components as macro-scale controls of plant species' distributions in a montane landscape.

METHODS

We used an innovative approach to quantifying a landscape, creating an ecologically meaningful geodiversity dataset that accounted for hydrology, morphometry (landforms derived from geomorphometric techniques), and soil parent material (data from expert sources). We compared models with geodiversity to those just using topographic metrics (e.g. slope and elevation) and climate data. Species distribution models (SDMs) were produced for 'rare' (N = 76) and 'common' (N = 505) plant species at 1 km2 resolution for the Cairngorms National Park, Scotland.

RESULTS

The addition of automatically produced landform geodiversity data and hydrological features to a basic SDM (climate, elevation, and slope) resulted in a significant improvement in model fit across all common species' distribution models. Adding further geodiversity data on surface materials resulted in a less consistent statistical improvement, but added considerable conceptual value to many individual rare and common SDMs.

CONCLUSIONS

The geodiversity data used here helped us capture the abiotic environment's heterogeneity and allowed for explicit links between the geophysical landscape and species' ecology. It is encouraging that relatively simple and easily produced geodiversity data have the potential to improve SDMs. Our findings have important implications for applied conservation and support the need to consider geodiversity in management.

Tailoring Signs to Engage Two Distinct Types of Geotourists to Geological Sites

Interpretive signs are the silent ambassadors of geosites and serve a diverse audience. The primary aim of this study is to develop signs for geosites targeted at two unique groups of geotourists. A conceptual multidisciplinary geotourist typology is formulated to identify two main classes of geotourists comprising the audience. Latent and archetypal geotourists inhabit various roles at geotourism sites depending on their expectations for the event, affecting the visitor experience via fluid contextual factors. Principally, latent geotourists arrive seeking novel touristic experiences while archetypal geotourists seek knowledge-building opportunities. Because signs represent one fragment of the multi-dimensional visitor experience, an approach that offers a palette of options is advocated. After the unified typology to identify the audience is presented, a multi-layered technique that offers both interpretation and a link to augmented information on signs is suggested. Some best practices in sign design are described and preliminary plans for testing are shared. The author’s overriding goal is to refine the mechanics and format of signs to garner maximum attracting and holding power, ensuring that the message is read and the target outcome is achieved. By providing tools to visitors to geological sites that enable them to create narratives that are compatible with their expectations, we facilitate a multi-dimensional constructive experience that engages everyone.

Soil parent material-A major driver of plant nutrient limitations in terrestrial ecosystems

Because the capability of terrestrial ecosystems to fix carbon is constrained by nutrient availability, understanding how nutrients limit plant growth is a key contemporary question. However, what drives nutrient limitations at global scale remains to be clarified. Using global data on plant growth, plant nutritive status, and soil fertility, we investigated to which extent soil parent materials explain nutrient limitations. We found that N limitation was not linked to soil parent materials, but was best explained by climate: ecosystems under harsh (i.e., cold and or dry) climates were more N-limited than ecosystems under more favourable climates. Contrary to N limitation, P limitation was not driven by climate, but by soil parent materials. The influence of soil parent materials was the result of the tight link between actual P pools of soils and physical-chemical properties (acidity, P richness) of soil parent materials. Some other ground-related factors (i.e., soil weathering stage, landform) had a noticeable influence on P limitation, but their role appeared to be relatively smaller than that of geology. The relative importance of N limitation versus P limitation was explained by a combination of climate and soil parent material: at global scale, N limitation became prominent with increasing climatic constraints, but this global trend was modulated at lower scales by the effect of parent materials on P limitation, particularly under climates favourable to biological activity. As compared with soil parent materials, atmospheric deposition had only a weak influence on the global distribution of actual nutrient limitation. Our work advances our understanding of the distribution of nutrient limitation at global scale. In particular, it stresses the need to take soil parent materials into account when investigating plant growth response to environment changes.

The spatial scales of species coexistence

Understanding how species diversity is maintained is a foundational problem in ecology and an essential requirement for the discipline to be effective as an applied science. Ecologists' understanding of this problem has rapidly matured, but this has exposed profound uncertainty about the spatial scales required to maintain species diversity. Here we define and develop this frontier by proposing the coexistence-area relationship-a real relationship in nature that can be used to understand the determinants of the scale-dependence of diversity maintenance. The coexistence-area relationship motivates new empirical techniques for addressing important, unresolved problems about the influence of demographic stochasticity, environmental heterogeneity and dispersal on scale-dependent patterns of diversity. In so doing, this framework substantially reframes current approaches to spatial community ecology. Quantifying the spatial scales of species coexistence will permit the next important advance in our understanding of the maintenance of diversity in nature, and should improve the contribution of community ecology to biodiversity conservation.

Combining geodiversity with climate and topography to account for threatened species richness

Understanding threatened species diversity is important for long-term conservation planning. Geodiversity-the diversity of Earth surface materials, forms, and processes-may be a useful biodiversity surrogate for conservation and have conservation value itself. Geodiversity and species richness relationships have been demonstrated; establishing whether geodiversity relates to threatened species' diversity and distribution pattern is a logical next step for conservation. We used 4 geodiversity variables (rock-type and soil-type richness, geomorphological diversity, and hydrological feature diversity) and 4 climatic and topographic variables to model threatened species diversity across 31 of Finland's national parks. We also analyzed rarity-weighted richness (a measure of site complementarity) of threatened vascular plants, fungi, bryophytes, and all species combined. Our 1-km² resolution data set included 271 threatened species from 16 major taxa. We modeled threatened species richness (raw and rarity weighted) with boosted regression trees. Climatic variables, especially the annual temperature sum above 5 °C, dominated our models, which is consistent with the critical role of temperature in this boreal environment. Geodiversity added significant explanatory power. High geodiversity values were consistently associated with high threatened species richness across taxa. The combined effect of geodiversity variables was even more pronounced in the rarity-weighted richness analyses (except for fungi) than in those for species richness. Geodiversity measures correlated most strongly with species richness (raw and rarity weighted) of threatened vascular plants and bryophytes and were weakest for molluscs, lichens, and mammals. Although simple measures of topography improve biodiversity modeling, our results suggest that geodiversity data relating to geology, landforms, and hydrology are also worth including. This reinforces recent arguments that conserving nature's stage is an important principle in conservation.

Species-free species distribution models describe macroecological properties of protected area networks

Among the greatest challenges facing the conservation of plants and animal species in protected areas are threats from a rapidly changing climate. An altered climate creates both challenges and opportunities for improving the management of protected areas in networks. Increasingly, quantitative tools like species distribution modeling are used to assess the performance of protected areas and predict potential responses to changing climates for groups of species, within a predictive framework. At larger geographic domains and scales, protected area network units have spatial geoclimatic properties that can be described in the gap analysis typically used to measure or aggregate the geographic distributions of species (stacked species distribution models, or S-SDM). We extend the use of species distribution modeling techniques in order to model the climate envelope (or “footprint”) of individual protected areas within a network of protected areas distributed across the 48 conterminous United States and managed by the US National Park System. In our approach we treat each protected area as the geographic range of a hypothetical endemic species, then use MaxEnt and 5 uncorrelated BioClim variables to model the geographic distribution of the climatic envelope associated with each protected area unit (modeling the geographic area of park units as the range of a species). We describe the individual and aggregated climate envelopes predicted by a large network of 163 protected areas and briefly illustrate how macroecological measures of geodiversity can be derived from our analysis of the landscape ecological context of protected areas. To estimate trajectories of change in the temporal distribution of climatic features within a protected area network, we projected the climate envelopes of protected areas in current conditions onto a dataset of predicted future climatic conditions. Our results suggest that the climate envelopes of some parks may be locally unique or have narrow geographic distributions, and are thus prone to future shifts away from the climatic conditions in these parks in current climates. In other cases, some parks are broadly similar to large geographic regions surrounding the park or have climatic envelopes that may persist into near-term climate change. Larger parks predict larger climatic envelopes, in current conditions, but on average the predicted area of climate envelopes are smaller in our single future conditions scenario. Individual units in a protected area network may vary in the potential for climate adaptation, and adaptive management strategies for the network should account for the landscape contexts of the geodiversity or climate diversity within individual units. Conservation strategies, including maintaining connectivity, assessing the feasibility of assisted migration and other landscape restoration or enhancements can be optimized using analysis methods to assess the spatial properties of protected area networks in biogeographic and macroecological contexts.

Natural environments, nature relatedness and the ecological theater: connecting satellites and sequencing to shinrin-yoku

Recent advances in research concerning the public health value of natural environments have been remarkable. The growing interest in this topic (often housed under terms such as green and/or blue space) has been occurring in parallel with the microbiome revolution and an increased use of remote sensing technology in public health. In the context of biodiversity loss, rapid urbanization, and alarming rates of global non-communicable diseases (many associated with chronic, low-grade inflammation), discussions of natural vis-a-vis built environments are not merely fodder for intellectual curiosity. Here, we argue for increased interdisciplinary collaboration with the aim of better understanding the mechanisms—including aerobiological and epigenetic—that might help explain some of the noted positive health outcomes. It is our contention that some of these mechanisms are related to ecodiversity (i.e., the sum of biodiversity and geodiversity, including biotic and abiotic constituents). We also encourage researchers to more closely examine individual nature relatedness and how it might influence many outcomes that are at the interface of lifestyle habits and contact with ecodiversity.