terised by particular medical achievements which have. not yet been investigated - likethe immune system ofthe East African Dwarf Mongoose (Helogale par¬vula)
which is able to survivethe bite ofthe African Puff Adder unharmed, an experience that would be fatal for. humans. Another form of “applying ingredients” is thepopular traditional use of extracts fromthe organs of various predators and ungulates to increase male potency or female fertility. Its medical effectiveness has. not been proven to this day but, just asinthe case of many medicinal plants,the relevant species have become seriously endangered due to intensive poaching,ruthless exploitation and excessive harvesting. Knowledge aboutthe (medicinal) effects of biodiversity often. only existsinthe form of traditional knowledge within. individual ethnic groups; but access to this local expertise isthe precondition for using these products. Consequently, fair remuneration for producer countries and. their ethnic groups, particularly developing countries, is. one ofthe major themesinthe use of ecosystem goods. when private companies, state or non-state organisations wish to utilise this knowledge or export organisms. or parts of organisms for pharmaceutical research (c. F. “biopiracy”).
Active agents and natural products derived from. microorganisms. Microorganismsare arich source of natural productsand active agents as well as biochemical processes that. have evolved into adaptations for processing specifc. raw materials or as adefence against unwelcome competition or natural enemies. Recently, incredible examples of survivalin hostile environments, likethe hot. ventsinthe deep sea, have been discovered again and. again. But other habitats, from large and small bodies. of water to soil, also provide interesting insights. One. ofthe felds of work atthe Leibniz Institute of Marine. Sciences (IFM-GEOMAR) at
By comparison with chemical, synthetic ingredients,natural products havethe advantage that they have. been optimised for their “task” by millions of years. of evolution. These kinds of products or biochemical. processesare of particular interestin connection withthe gentle removal of environmentally harmful substances (tar, oil). The combination of natural product. research with infection biology - an approach that is. being taken atthe Leibniz Institute for Natural Product. Research and Infection Biology (Hans Knöll Institute) inJena, for example - seems to have great potential for. fghting pathogens (antibiotics, antifungals). Againstthe backdrop of continually evolving resistance, thedevelopment of ever more natural therapeutic products. is essential.
Pathogens, carriers (vectors) and controlling them(pest control)
Pathogensare one ofthe elements of biodiversity that, at. frst sight, appear at best superfluous, at worst positively. harmful. Inthe last few decades, however, evolutionary. theory, ecology and infection research have come to see. that pathogens have acomplex role. Pathogensarea. driving forcein evolution that have produced selection. pressure to develop highly effective, effcient agents and. innumerable other adaptationsin host organisms which. we now,in turn, value as ecosystem goods. Pathogens. probably also contributed tothe speciation of host organisms, an issue that has only been touched on so far.
Andin many species of plants and animals theyare also. responsible for limiting and regulating stocks and indirectly facilitatethe coexistence of many similar speciesinthe same habitat.
Enormous species splitting amongst host organisms(including carriers of pathogens) has meant that, inmost cases,the action of pathogens is extremely species-specifc. As aresult,the species richnessin natural. ecosystems has produced barriers which limitthe proliferation of pathogens and which only afew pathogens. manage to break down. Exactly how these limitations. function is being investigatedin numerous places; theHeinrich Pette Institute for Experimental Virology and. Immunology (HPI)in Hamburg has received international acclaim for its work on (zoonotic) pathogens that. can be transmitted to humans, as well as on human. pathogens.
One example ofthe dreaded exceptions isthe rabies virus and related lyssaviruses which cause rabiesin nearly. all mammals. But even these dangerous pathogens - and. others likethe Ebola virus which to this day cause incurable, usually fatal diseases -are not invincible. There are. certain species of mammals thatare able to survive theinfection completely unharmed:the African Soft-Furred. Rat (Praomys natalensis) can cope with rabies, while. three types of fruit bats from
remain unaffected bythe Ebola virus. We do not as yet. know how their immune systems function. An acute issue that has not so far been understood and. that poses immensely important public health problems15
isthe rapid riseinthe number of new pathogens, theincreasein their dissemination andthe host-changing. that has been observed between wild animals, useful and domestic animals andthe human population.
Cutting-edge researchin this feld is being conducted atthe Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine(BNI)in
Apart from increasing. population density andthe growthinthe total stocks of useful animals, factors like global climate change andthe degradation of natural habitats certainly play aroleinthe disappearance ofthe pathogen carriers’ natural. enemies.
The one-sided focus on fghting pathogens and their. carriers (vectors) has led to eradication programmes. with consequences which illustratethe phrase “the road to hell is paved with good intentions. ”inthe 1970sand 1980s, for example,the EU fnanced acampaign to eradicatethe Tsetse flyin Southern and Eastern
Different pathogens have developed effcient proliferation, packaging and infltration techniques for genetic. material which is already frequently being usedin medical research.
Bionics and other ecosystem goods. Natural organismsare becoming ever more frequent. objects of investigation. Their natural products, construction principles and effcient production techniquesare examinedin order to generate new ideas and models for new materials or solutions to technical problems.
This academic discipline, which is known as bionics or. biomimetics, usesthe almost inexhaustible innovative. potential of evolution for applicationsin technology.
Impressive examples includethe aerodynamic and hydrodynamic optimisation of body surfaces during movement (ships, submarines, vehicles, aeroplanes, rockets),the famous Lotus Effect, whereby specially prepared. surfaces repel dirt and water; or building techniques. that borrow fromthe principles on whichthe bones of mammals and bodies of insectsare constructed.
Some species supply special kinds of ecosystem goodsinthe form of highly specialised services for human beings. This is particularly true ofthe highly developed. sensory systems of some species whose performance. is even better than that of comparable technical equipment or - and this is particularly important for developing countries - can be provided much cheaper as An appropriate technology. Traditionally, for example,the sensory capabilities of canaries were used down. mines to test forthe presence of carbon monoxide.
The sudden death ofthe canaries warnedthe miners thatthe atmosphere was being infltrated by thedreaded respiratory poison. The African Giant Pouched. Rat (Cricetomys gambianus) was successfully trained to detect landminesin
The examples of ecosystem goods derived from bionics. or special organismic servicesare legion, and we cannot. begin to imagine what treasuresare yet to be uncoveredinthe species that have not even been discovered. yet. The kind of schemes to protect species and biodiversity thatare being developed and driven forward at. numerous Leibniz institutes make adecisive contribution to ensuring that this inexhaustible potential will beconserved for future generations***
No less important than ecosystem goods, but far less well researched and understoodarethe numerous general services we have biodiversity to thank for. Theyarethe great unknowns inbiodiversity research because weare actually only just. beginning to realise how dependent weare on theseecosystem services - pollination, pest control, health,abatement of natural and anthropogenic environmental changes, cycles of materialsare but afew examples. of an almost endless list.
Cycles of materials. Allthe major, vital cycles of materials, like those of carbon, water, nitrogen and phosphorusare signifcantly. influenced bythe biosphere. Today, for example, almost 600 Gt (gigatonnes = billion tonnes) of carbonare storedin vegetation, that is almost as much as inthe entire atmosphere with its carbon reservoir of some. 4
Ecosystem Services. 750 GtC. Furthermore, every year, vegetation absorbs. roughly 110 Gt of carbon fromthe atmosphere by. photosynthesis so that,in effect,in less than ten yearsthe atmosphere’s entire carbon reservoir is channelled. through vegetation.
However, anyone who thinks thatthe carbon cycle - which also meansthe cycle of one ofthe most important greenhouse gases - is aknown quantity, has got it. wrong. Today, we still do not knowthe fnal destination. of allthe additional carbon emitted by human beings. every year, which totals some 7 Gt: just under half is. storedinthe atmosphere, another partinthe oceans,but what exactly happens tothe other 1-2 Gt of carbon. emitted annually is still something of amystery - it maybe that plants and soils play acentral rolein this. We. know, for example, that many plants conduct photosynthesis and thus also carbon absorption and growth. subject tothe climate, water availability andthe concentration of CO2inthe atmosphere.
If it were all as simple as that …in qualitative terms,the case is fairly clear: plants influencethe carbon cycle and hencethe climate.
The earth’s atmosphere(© Katrin Schulze,Pixelio.de)17
Quantifying complex systems. This example is paradigmatic: we have alot of basicand qualitative knowledge about ecosystems and biodiversity services; butin order to capitalise on it sustainably and consistently, to valorise and thus to harness it. for developing management strategies, we simply do. not have aquantitative understanding ofthe system,i.
E.comprehensive knowledge of allthe process relationships. The water cycle is apertinent example. indensely forested regions alarge proportion of local precipitation is caused by plant evaporation;inthe Amazon. Basinthe fgure is 50%. As aresult, forest clearance has. a signifcant influence onthe regional water cycle, theformation of clouds,the regeneration of groundwater,as well as on soils, erosion and temperature. Furthermore, so-called teleconnections mean thatthe effects. may be feltin distant regions and other continents. So. far, quantitative modelling and prediction of all thesecomplex consequences of clearing large areas of forest. have proved to be an impossible challeng***
As such, it has also been diffcult to evaluatethe ecoservices provided by forests. We know that forests are. important, but we do not know how important they. are. However, more ofthe pieces ofthe puzzle are. beginning to be found. The importance of soil and. its organisms, for instance, is still seriously underestimated - after all, soil organismsare responsible for 2/3
of entire on-shore biomass conversion. And evidence. is increasing to suggest that forests could really be an. important producer of methane, another ofthe important greenhouse gases, as well as organic molecules. that impact on climate. Furthermore, one forest is notthe same as another: ecosystem services, onthe other. hand, depend onthe structure and composition of theforest - allin all, complexities we have hardly begun to comprehend.
It is precisely at this point that several Leibniz institutes. have pitched their investigations. The Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), for example,uses global and regional approaches to investigate theinteractions between terrestrial ecosystems andthe climate system. By including economic and social scientifc.components theyare also trying to recordthe changesin ecosystem services brought about by climate change- with no small success; they recently achieved an important breakthrough, publishing astudy which recordsthe potential consequences for Europe of various different climate change scenarios.
No end of services yet to be understoodinthe fnal analysis,the problems illustrated by cycles of materials and forests apply to all ecosystemsinthe same. sense:in many cases, we have asolid qualitative basic understanding ofthe complexity and functioning of habitats and ecosystems, butare stillinthe dark when. it comes to acomprehensive quantitative understanding ofthe process. Consequently, we have not been. able to achieve reliable assessments or benchmarks for. ecosystem services so far. However, this is where we. will fnd one ofthe keys to containingthe current loss. of biodiversity, because not all ecosystem services canbe provided free of charge for everyone and bypass. market activity altogether. The appropriate evaluation. of ecosystem services is one ofthe domains addressed. bythe Kiel Institute forthe World Economy (IfW), theLeibniz
One ofthe major challenges facing biodiversity research is, therefore, to achieve better understanding. ofthe manifold ecosystem services provided by thevarious habitats and their (ecological and economic)
relevance.
A whole host of Leibniz institutesare leadingthe way intackling this enormous task worldwide andinthe most. diverse habitats. The research institutes and museumsin
heat wave on biodiversityinthe agricultural. landscape of
of forest, savannah and grassland ecosystems from theTropics to polar latitudes. The Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB) conducts thesame research with reference to lakes and rivers. Andinthe marine sector,the Leibniz Institute for
The services they investigateare no less diverse. Cycles. of materials,the quality of environmental goods like. air, water and soil, fsh yields or pollination (whether. by insects or bats) all belongin this category, together. with coastal protection, pest control, health and stability of ecosystemsin relation to anthropogenic or natural “interference factors”. Here, too, many questions. still remain unanswered. If we look atthe service “ecosystem stability,” for example, it is thought that onlya. structured and diverse natural community can act asa. buffer against allthe different impacts and attacks onthe ecosystem and thus guarantee its stabilityin thecontext ofthe biological timeline. But there is, as yet,no frm evidence for ageneral rule of this kind. A number of partial fndings suggest thatin most cases this. assumption does hold truein practice even though, as. far back as 1973, it was shown that on purely theoretical groundsthe stability of ecosystems is not necessarily. increased by species diversity itself. One of these fndings confrmsthe increased stability of natural, nutrientpoor, species-rich mown meadows by comparison with. fertilised, nutrient-rich, species-poor meadows.
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