Alamgir, Mohammed, Turton, Stephen M., and Pert, Petina L. (2014) Where are the hot spots of ecosystem services? In: [Presented at the 51st Annual Meeting of of the Association of Tropical Biology Conservation]. From: ATBC 2014: 51st Annual Meeting of the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation, 20-24 July 2014, Cairns, QLD, Australia.

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Abstract

Ecosystem services (ES) are the bridge between nature and society, and are essential elements of any community's wellbeing. Australia is a place of diverse climates with a narrow band of wet tropics in Far North Queensland. The Wet Tropics is environmentally diverse, iconic in biodiversity, and supplies numerous ES influencing community wellbeing of this region, Australian national economy, and global climate change mitigation efforts. However ES in the Wet Tropics have rarely been assessed. We dealt with two questions: i) how are ES spatially distributed across the Wet Tropics, ii) where are the hot spots of ES production. We have classified the Wet Tropics forests into four types: coastal eucalypt forests and wood lands, coastal rainforests, eucalypts hills and ranges, and wet highland rainforests. Vegetation data metrics have been collected from 70 plots of 0.05 ha each located from coast to more than 1000m above msl. We have spatially assessed the ES in these forest types. We have found spatial congruence and differences of ES production across the forest types. Different forests types have produced different ES in higher quantity. Our study has revealed that hot spots of ES production are widely distributed across the different forests types in the Wet Tropics. Disturbance regimes (cyclones, forest fire) and conservation priority in management options have also influenced the usual spatial trend of ES production. This study shall be useful for decision makers to incorporate ES into their natural resource management planning, and for practitioners to evaluate areas identified with ES significance.

Item ID:	53372
Item Type:	Conference Item (Presentation)
Related URLs:	Organisation
Date Deposited:	18 Sep 2018 00:58
FoR Codes:	05 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES > 0501 Ecological Applications > 050104 Landscape Ecology @ 50% 07 AGRICULTURAL AND VETERINARY SCIENCES > 0705 Forestry Sciences > 070504 Forestry Management and Environment @ 25% 05 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES > 0502 Environmental Science and Management > 050202 Conservation and Biodiversity @ 25%
SEO Codes:	96 ENVIRONMENT > 9605 Ecosystem Assessment and Management > 960505 Ecosystem Assessment and Management of Forest and Woodlands Environments @ 50% 96 ENVIRONMENT > 9609 Land and Water Management > 960906 Forest and Woodlands Land Management @ 50%
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