An Overview of Ecosystem Service Studies in a Tropical Biodiversity Hotspot, Sri Lanka: Key Perspectives for Future Research

Forests

IreshaLakmali Wijerathne¹  Sriyani Wickramasinghe¹  SasithTharanga Aluthwattha²  Chaya Sarathchandra³  Zhiyun Ouyang³  YirgaAlemu Abebe⁴ 

[1] Department of Biological Science, Faculty of Applied Sciences, Rajarata University of Sri Lanka, Mihintale 50300, Sri Lanka;Guangxi Key Laboratory of Forest Ecology and Conservation, College of Forestry, Guangxi University, Daxuedonglu 100, Nanning 530004, China;Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China;State Key Laboratory of Super Lattices and Microstructures, Institute of Semiconductors, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100083, China;

关键词: ecosystem services;    biodiversity hotspot;    Sri Lanka;    forest;    coastal ecosystems;    management;   

DOI  :  10.3390/f12050540

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Tropical island countries are often highly populated and deliver immense ecosystem service benefits. As human wellbeing depends on these ecosystems, proper management is crucial in the resource-rich tropical lands where there is less related research. Though ecosystem service and biodiversity studies are a promising path to inform the ecosystem management for these mostly developing countries, published evidence of using ecosystem service studies in decision making is lacking. The purpose of this study is to provide an overview of ecosystem services and related research in Sri Lanka, examining trends and gaps in how these studies are conceptualized. Out of the considered 220 peer-reviewed articles, the majority of articles (48.2%) were terrestrial and forest related while coastal ecosystems were considered in 33.2% of studies. In most studies, the ecosystem service category studied was provisioning (31.5%) followed by regulatory service (28.7%). Studies investigating and quantifying ecosystem services, pressures on ecosystems, and their management were fewer compared to studies related to biodiversity or species introduction. Moreover, studies investigating the value of ecosystem services and biodiversity to the communities or involvement of stakeholders in the development of management actions regarding the ecosystem services were rare in Sri Lanka, and an intense focus from future studies in these aspects is timely and necessary.

【 授权许可】

Unknown