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Water and Wellbeing

Conserving biodiversity within the MDB

Bernd Gruber, Carlos Gonzalez-Orozco, Peter Unmack, Angelica Lopez, Arthur Georges

Institute for Applied

Ecology

Four questions to be answered

Why?

What?

Where?

How?

Conserving biodiversity within the MDB

Why?

Human centered arguments

• Well-being is linked to the state of the natural and physical environment

• Ecosystem services de-salinisation, water purification, erosion prevention, pollination, pest control

• Future values medicine, crop resistance

• Recreational values

Environmental centered arguments

• Ecosystem functioning

• Existence/spiritual value

Conserving biodiversity within the MDB

What? & Where? & How? Recipe 1. Measure biodiversity (or index) 2. Map them across the area 3. Protect identified hotspots

Conserving biodiversity within the MDB

What? Species diversity / richness as a proxy?

Species groups combined

Conserving biodiversity within the MDB

What? Phylogenetic diversity Diversity = Amount of branch length in an area

Conserving biodiversity within the MDB

What? Phylogenetic diversity Diversity = Amount of branch length in an area

Example: Species 2, 8, 6, 10 occur in a cell PD = 28

Conserving biodiversity within the MDB

What? Phylogenetic diversity

Species groups combined

Conserving biodiversity within the MDB

What? Based on rarity

Conserving biodiversity within the MDB

• Species endemism (number of rare species in a cell)

• Phylogenetic endemism (amount of unique branches in a cell)

Important refugias in the MDB Conserving biodiversity within the MDB

MDB phylo-geographic regionalisation across multiple taxonomic groups.

The colors represent different phylogenetic bioregions of unique combinations of phylogenetic endemism and diversity across Acacia, eucalypts, plant genera, frogs and fish.

Bioregionalisation in the MDB

Conserving biodiversity within the MDB

MDB phylo-geographic regionalisation across multiple taxonomic groups.

The colors represent different phylogenetic bioregions of unique combinations of phylogenetic endemism and diversity across Acacia, eucalypts, plant genera, frogs and fish.

Bioregionalisation in the MDB

Conserving biodiversity within the MDB

• Biodiversity and ecosystem services are important for human well-being (why)

• Recent methodological advances allow us to identify important areas of biodiversity within the MDB (what, where and how) taking phylogenetic relationships into account

Summary

Conserving biodiversity within the MDB

Water and Wellbeing

Conserving biodiversity within the MDB

Contact Dr Bernd Gruber for more information at bernd.gruber@canberra.edu.au Or phone (02) 6206 3804

Institute for Applied

Ecology