A postdoctoral researcher at the University of Oregon has shown that linking pollen records to plant traits works to reconstruct the benefits ecosystems provide for humans.
A postdoctoral researcher at the University of Oregon has shown that linking pollen records to plant traits works to reconstruct the benefits ecosystems provide for humans.
It’s an approach that can now be used confidently to examine how the benefits, or services an ecosystem provides, have responded to disturbances over the past 21,000 years, said Thomas Brussel, a researcher in the Department of Geography.
In an invited paper published online as part of a special issue in the journal Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, Brussel and a University of Utah colleague describe how they merged two major databases. The combined data can provide a snapshot of, and help guide, conservation measures.
Data for a given site, he said, can provide a snapshot of an ecosystem’s health and show whether plants had withstood past disruptions, such as a changing climate, droughts or fires, and maintained their benefits. That, Brussel said, can inform choices about what management techniques protect existing services, such as protecting hillsides from erosion or purifying water, during new disruptions.
Read more at University of Oregon
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