The economic value of grassland species for carbon storage

Hungate, Bruce A.; Barbier, Edward B.; Ando, Amy W.; Marks, Samuel P.; Reich, Peter B.; van Gestel, Natasja; Tilman, David; Knops, Johannes M.  H.; Hooper, David U.; Butterfield, Bradley J.; Cardinale, Bradley J.

doi:10.1126/sciadv.1601880

Title: The economic value of grassland species for carbon storage

Journal Article · Sat Apr 01 00:00:00 EDT 2017 · Science Advances

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.1601880· OSTI ID:1425607

^[1];

^[2];

^[3]; Marks, Samuel P. ^[4];

^[5]; van Gestel, Natasja ^[4]; Tilman, David ^[6]; Knops, Johannes M. H. ^[7]; Hooper, David U. ^[8]; Butterfield, Bradley J. ^[1];

^[9]

Northern Arizona Univ., Flagstaff, AZ (United States). Center for Ecosystem Science and Society; Northern Arizona Univ., Flagstaff, AZ (United States). Dept. of Biological Sciences
Univ. of Wyoming, Laramie, WY (United States). Dept. of Economics and Finance
Univ. of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, IL (United States). Dept. of Agricultural and Consumer Economics
Northern Arizona Univ., Flagstaff, AZ (United States). Center for Ecosystem Science and Society
Univ. of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN (United States). Dept. of f Forest Resources; Western Sydney Univ., Penrith, NSW (Australia). Hawkesbury Inst. for the Environment
Univ. of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN (United States). Dept. of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior
Univ. of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE (United States). School of Biological Sciences
Western Washington Univ., Bellingham, WA (United States). Dept. of Biology
Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States). School of Natural Resources and Environment

Carbon storage by ecosystems is valuable for climate protection. Biodiversity conservation may help increase carbon storage, but the value of this influence has been difficult to assess. We use plant, soil, and ecosystem carbon storage data from two grassland biodiversity experiments to show that greater species richness increases economic value: Increasing species richness from 1 to 10 had twice the economic value of increasing species richness from 1 to 2. The marginal value of each additional species declined as species accumulated, reflecting the nonlinear relationship between species richness and plant biomass production. Here, our demonstration of the economic value of biodiversity for enhancing carbon storage provides a foundation for assessing the value of biodiversity for decisions about land management. Combining carbon storage with other ecosystem services affected by biodiversity may well enhance the economic arguments for conservation even further.

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Research Organization:: Univ. of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN (United States); Michigan Technological Univ., Houghton, MI (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER)

Grant/Contract Number:: FG02-96ER62291; FC02-06ER64158

OSTI ID:: 1425607

Journal Information:: Science Advances, Vol. 3, Issue 4; ISSN 2375-2548

Publisher:: AAASCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 43 works

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