Work Package 1.3: Biodiversity and Ecosystems

This Work Package addresses the challenge of protecting and restoring our natural capital – our biodiversity and ecosystems - by combining information on ecosystem function, delivery of benefits, resilience, and management practices.

It links basic understanding of the ways in which ecosystems function – and how such functions relate to different components of an ecosystem’s biodiversity – to the development of techniques for addressing and monitoring some of Scotland’s major current conservation challenges. The Work Package’s Research Deliverables (RDs) address different aspects of this chain from fundamental understanding to the development of practical management options (Fig. 1), each focusing on particular Theme 1 Research Questions:

• RD 1.3.1 Biodiversity and ecosystem functions – What underpins a healthy ecosystem?
• RD 1.3.2 Ecosystem services supply – How do systems provide services, and can we rebuild "lost" services through good management?
• RD 1.3.3 Resilience of ecosystems and biodiversity – What makes a system resilient, and how can we manage for resilience?
• RD 1.3.4 Biodiversity management – Providing a knowledge base for key biodiversity-management actions.

The research within this Work Package is highly relevant to a wide range of Scottish Government policies and strategies, in particular the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy and the Land Use Strategy.

We are committed to this WP operating in close partnership with key stakeholders from a wide range of backgrounds, including Scottish Government, agencies such as SNH and SEPA, NGOs such as RSPB and Nourish Scotland, and industry-orientated organisations.