Integrating ecological engineering and ecological intensification from management practices to ecosystem services into a generic framework: a review

Abstract

There are many management approaches proposed to link practices and ecosystem services. Their common aim is to improve the levels of specific ecosystem services by driving key ecosystem functions. However, an operational common grid of analysis is needed. Among these approaches, scientists have recently put forward ecological engineering and ecological intensification which provide relevant examples for building and testing a common grid. Here, we propose to integrate ecological engineering and ecological intensification into a generic framework from management practices to ecosystem services. The novelty of this framework is to consider management practices as gradients of inputs to ecosystems. Specifically, management actions are defined according to the type and level of inputs, characterized along a gradient from endogenous to exogenous inputs, and from biological to artificial inputs. Our framework highlights the importance of the interactions between management practices and natural capital properties. These interactions determine the ecosystem functions that will sustain target ecosystem services. We then show how ecological engineering and ecological intensification can be distinguished and unified within our framework. To illustrate this, we use four ecological engineering and ecological intensification case studies representing different types and levels of inputs. Our proposed framework should thus help (1) researchers to make improved assessments of the links between practices, ecosystem structure and functions, and ultimately services, and to foster improved meta-, costbenefit-and life-cycle analyses and evaluations of ecosystem management approaches; (2) project designers by improving the adequacy of their action to the specified target; and (3) managers to establish the specifications of the ecosystem management adapted to their objective.

Tropical grasslands: A pivotal place for a more multi-functional agriculture

“…The principles of sustainable intensification remain often quite broad and diverse and are mostly less concrete than those of ecological intensification. Ecological intensification implies additional keywords like ''resource use efficiency'', ''ecological processes and ecosystem services'' (Dore et al 2011;Rey et al 2015). The practices proposed in the literature, to operationalize a sustainable or ecological intensification, are quite similar (Wezel et al 2015).…”

Agroecological engineering

“…It considers traditional agroecosystems as a source of inspiration, in line with many authors (Malezieux 2012;Kremen et al 2012;Vandermeer and Perfecto 2013). Rey et al (2015) analyse the differences between ecological engineering and ecological intensification of agriculture, in terms of primary target ecosystem services-regulation versus provisioning-and the use of different kinds of inputs. The authors note the convergence of the two approaches with the diversification of target ecosystem services and the search for a sustainable support of underlying functions in each case.…”

Reconciling Environment and Production in Managed Ecosystems: Is Ecological Intensification a Solution?

“…By nature, EI is closely related to biodiversity, which can directly or indirectly support production and other ESs through functional processes (Bommarco et al 2013;Gaba et al 2014). Although to date it has for the most part been mentioned in discussions on crop systems in agriculture, with some adjustments it can be generalized to other managed ecosystems dedicated to production (Rey et al 2015). For instance, in forest science, concepts such as close-to-nature forestry, which explicitly integrates the reduction of inputs using natural processes, can fall under EI (Bauhus et al 2013).…”

“…Second, the efficiency of new practices or scenarios based on such EI principles is not always rigorously assessed or monitored, which impedes continuous learning through adaptive management approaches (Williams 2011;Duru et al 2015). Finally, the qualitative and quantitative relationships between ESs and the way they are modulated by management actions are usually partially assessed, calling for more conceptual or integrated studies (Bennett et al 2009;Gaba et al 2015;Rey et al 2015).…”

“…The final aim of this special issue is to stimulate research on the relationship between practices and their effect on production, biodiversity, and ESs, either using the EI concept or other frameworks specifying the cascading effects from practices to ecosystem functions and ultimately to ESs (Rey et al 2015).…”