Assessing the effects of land use change for biodiversity

摘要: Land use is a determining factor in many environmental processes like biodiversity, erosion and flooding at the watershed level, and processes such as climate change at the global level. This paper focuses on the influence of land use change on biodiversity. Land use change is an important driver of biodiversity change. Land use influences biodiversity directly through habitat loss and fragmentation, but also indirectly through climate change. Land use change research within the CLUE (Conversion of Land Use and its Effects) modelling framework focuses on the spatial dimensions of land use change for different scenario conditions. Scenarios can include economic and demographic developments, but also more specific, management related conditions such as agricultural management practices or nature reserves. For these scenario conditions land use changes and their spatial distribution can be modelled and visualized. An example of CLUE is given for a case study for Sibuyan Island, the Philippines. Land use as such is not normative and therefore cannot be used to evaluate the consequences of different scenarios for biodiversity. To come to a normative criterion, an assessment of the impact of land use change on the functioning of biodiversity has to be made, so that a distinction can be made between more and less desirable options. To make the link between biodiversity and land use change, information about the biodiversity in different land use types, which form the different habitats, is necessary. In addition, the relation between the size of a habitat and biodiversity is important, as well as the effects of fragmentation of habitats. CLUE …