19 April 2019
Predicting and Preventing Ecosystem Decline
Researchers are developing a framework to help predict and prevent the approach of rapid, harmful and difficult-to-reverse changes in ecosystems.
The inventory of research outputs and resources can be found here:
This research is Completed
Overview Te Tirohanga Whānui
In this project, led by Professor Jason Tylianakis of the University of Canterbury, researchers are aiming to reverse degradation across a range of ecosystems and nudge these systems towards a healthy, self-reinforcing state.
Once an ecosystem reaches a tipping point, it can be costly or unfeasible to reverse – for example the loss of peat-forming species in wetlands, and the loss of soil structure and quality following intensive agriculture.
A key aspect of this BioHeritage Challenge project is understanding the processes leading to these tipping points in socio-ecological systems, and using that knowledge to develop generic, widely applicable tools to proactively manage and sustain healthy ecosystems.
Mātauranga Māori (Māori knowledge) is critical to the project which is contributing to BioHeritage’s goal of creating resilient and thriving ecosystems that New Zealanders are proud of.
Research is being co-designed with key Ngāi Tahu staff members who are using their indigenous knowledge of restoring populations and sustaining harvests of mahinga kai (food gathering) to help shape the research priorities.
Specifically, research on the restoration of īnanga (whitebait) and black swan egg harvests is being co-developed with Māori knowledge-holders as part of this work and another BioHeritage Challenge project – taking a biocultural approach to restoring New Zealand’s biodiversity.
Highlights Ngā Mahi Whakahirahira
The project team has distilled complex concepts around tipping points into a policy brief that outlines approaches that can help regional and central government to manage tipping points and drive positive ecosystem change.
Addressing cutting-edge problems in ecological tipping points has led to publication of the team’s research in international ecological journals such as Ecology Letters and the Journal of Ecology.
The team’s research has been integrated with a Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment Endeavour Project: Our lakes’ health: past, present and future, Kia whakatōmuri te haere whakamua.
In addition, lake sediment samples and analytical techniques have been shared with the Lakes380 team, and researchers have conducted a collaborative analysis of ecological tipping points in lakes.
Looking for more information?
If you’re looking for any outputs (papers, data etc) from this project that you don’t see on this page please visit our data repository.
Team Members Ngā kaimahi
- Jason Tylianakis ; University of Canterbury
Related News
Resource outputs from this programme
Publication
Shouldering the burden: social-ecological scale mismatches in wetland ecosystem management in Aotearoa New Zealand
Social-ecological mismatches in scale limit the recovery of ecosystems from environmental degradation, severely impacting the diverse groups who rely on them. Identifying scale mismatches across…
Publication
Evaluating the Role of Social Norms in Fostering Pro-Environmental Behaviors
Human activity is changing the biosphere in unprecedented ways, and addressing this challenge will require changes in individual and community patterns of behavior. One approach…
Publication
Diatom nutrient requirements change with lake nutrient limitation and enrichment in New Zealand dune lakes.
Nutrients are important determinants of diatom growth in lakes, and diatoms are considered reliable indicators of changing lake nutrient concentrations and eutrophication. However, diatom ecologies…
Publication
Social–ecological connections across land, water, and sea demand a reprioritization of environmental management
Despite many sectors of society striving for sustainability in environmental management, humans often fail to identify and act on the connections and processes responsible for…
Publication
Indigenous Pacific Approaches to Climate Change, Aotearoa/New Zealand
Situating Māori Ecological Knowledge (MEK) within traditional environmental knowledge (TEK) frameworks, this book recognizes that indigenous ecological knowledge contributes to our understanding of how we…
Publication
Biocultural Hysteresis Inhibits Adaptation to Environmental Change
Indigenous peoples and local communities (IPLC) often use natural resources as both a reason and mechanism for environmental management, yet a number of environmental, social,…
Publication
Building biocultural approaches into Aotearoa – New Zealand’s conservation future
Indigenous peoples’ roles in conservation are important because they offer alternate perspectives and knowledge centred on the quality of the human–environment relationship. Here, we present…
Publication
Influences of fire–vegetation feedbacks and post‐fire recovery rates on forest landscape vulnerability to altered fire regimes
In the context of ongoing climatic warming, forest landscapes face increasing risk of conversion to non‐forest vegetation through alteration of their fire regimes and their…
Publication
Symmetric assembly and disassembly processes in an ecological network
The processes whereby ecological networks emerge, persist and decay throughout ecosystem development are largely unknown. Here we study networks of plant and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal…
Policy Briefing
Vulnerability of freshwater ecosystems to tipping points
Identifying ecosystem characteristics that underpin vulnerability will facilitate more directed management and better policy to protect against tipping points. University of Canterbury Professor of Freshwater…
Policy Briefing
Planning for tipping points and enhancing resilience in production landscapes.
KEY MESSAGES 1. A social-ecological system, which emerges when people interact with the natural environment, can cross a tipping point to a self-reinforcing degraded state,…
Publication
Ecological Networks Across Environmental Gradients
Ecological networks have a long history in ecology, and a recent increase in network analyses across environmental gradients has revealed important changes in their structure,…
Publication
Positive feedbacks to fire-driven deforestation following human colonization of the South Island of New Zealand
We show that the burning of beech forests initiates a positive feedback cycle whereby the loss of microclimatic amelioration under the dense forest canopy and…
Publication
Landowners’ Perspectives on Coordinated, Landscape-Level Invasive Species Control: The Role of Social and Ecological Context
We conducted in person and mail surveys of 68 landowners in and adjacent to the area of a proposed invasive predator control program in New…
Publication
Indigenous peoples: Conservation paradox
The customs and culture of indigenous peoples often reflect a deep knowledge of local biodiversity that leads to ecologically responsible behavior. As a result, conservationists…
Publication
Fire–vegetation feedbacks and alternative states: common mechanisms of temperate forest vulnerability to fire in southern South America and New Zealand
For two regions, we address the following questions: 1. What are the major plant species, physiognomic types and functional types characteristic of pyrophytic versus pyrophobic…