Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services Associated with Remnant Native Vegetation in an Agricultural Floodplain Landscape

Abstract

Biodiversity, ecosystem service provision and human well-being are inextricably linked. The current rate of biodiversity loss worldwide is impacting on ecosystem service provision with negative implications for human well-being. Little quantitative information is available about the provision of most ecosystem services by most ecosystems, the effect of management on the ability of vegetation to provide services, or trade-offs in service provision with land use. This information is particularly important in agricultural landscapes where the extent of landscape change is affecting biodiversity and ecosystem service provision substantially and thus agricultural sustainability. This study quantified the provision of carbon storage, erosion mitigation and biodiversity conservation services by five vegetation communities (river red gum 'Eucalyptus camaldulensis' riparian forests, coolibah 'E. coolabah' woodlands and open-woodlands, myall 'Acacia pendula' tall shrublands and tall open-shrublands, black box 'E. largiflorens' woodland and open-woodland, and mixed grassland – low open-chenopod shrubland) common on the lower Namoi floodplain in northern New South Wales, Australia. Sites represented the full range of structural and compositional variants encountered within each vegetation type over the 7100 km² study region, from heavily grazed derived grasslands to old-growth woodland or forest evidently little affected by anthropogenic disturbance.