A growing body of evidence from research in terrestrial, aquatic, and marine systems indicates that a crucial part of maintaining ecosystem services may depend on promoting natural biological diversity. In “Managing for ocean biodiversity to sustain marine ecosystem services”, a paper published in the June 2009 issue of Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, Stephen Palumbi, a Professor in the Department of Biology at Stanford University, and his coauthors argue that ecosystem-based approaches to ocean management would be more effective if they were based on the protection of marine biodiversity as a whole – in order to maintain a multitude of ecosystem services – instead of concentrating on the preservation of services individually. In this month’s installment of Beyond the Frontier, Dr. Palumbi discusses the important role that biodiversity should play in marine resource management and how protecting marine species diversity can help to ensure the persistence of the many beneficial services that the oceans provide.

A Sea Change in Ocean Management Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Are closed-canopy forests truly less susceptible to invasion by exotic plant species as compared with disturbed forests, or has the “biotic resistance” of these intact communities been overstated? In “Why forests appear resistant to exotic plant invasions: intentional introductions, stand dynamics, and the role of shade tolerance”, a paper published in the April issue of Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, Patrick Martin and his coauthors Charles Canham and Peter Marks suggest that the apparent resistance of established forests to exotic invasion may indeed be largely illusory. Noting that invasion ecology has largely concentrated on early-successional, disturbance-adapted species, the authors point out that research on late-successional, shade-tolerant invasive plants – many deliberately introduced by humans – has largely been overlooked. In this month’s edition of Beyond the Frontier, Dr. Martin discusses the theory behind forest invasions by exotic plant species, the roles that shade tolerance and horticultural practices play in the process of understory invasion, and the challenges associated with invasive management within forest ecosystems.

Made in the Shade [ 15:11 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download