Current Research
Photo: Alex Tran (http://www.alextranphotography.com/)
Research in the Bennett lab centers around questions about ecosystem services, the things people get from ecosystems. Humanity has always depended on the services provided by ecosystems, including products such as food, freshwater, and fiber, (provisioning ecosystem services, ES), non-material benefits such as places for recreation and inspiration (cultural ES) and benefits obtained by regulation of ecosystem processes, such as flood control and climate regulation (regulating ES, MA 2005). A growing body of evidence indicates that most ecosystem management, which attempts to maximize one ecosystem service (ES) at a time, actually makes ecosystems vulnerable to substantial declines in other services. For this reason, recent studies have called for increased attention to managing multiple ES together. However, effective management of multiple ES is impeded by inadequate understanding of the interactions among ES and the slowly changing variables that appear to regulate these interactions. We are interested in how the types of ecosystem services interact across the landscape and how we can manage landscapes to provide multiple ecosystem services.
Check out a write-up by the open access journal International Innovation. Access the publication here.
Check out a write-up by the open access journal International Innovation. Access the publication here.
Human impact on P cycling at large scales
Phosphorus (P) is a key pollutant responsible for eutrophication of aquatic ecosystems. Excessive P in lakes can lead to symptoms such as noxious algal blooms, increased aquatic plant growth, foul odors and oxygen depletion. These symptoms can lead to loss of the economic, ecological and aesthetic value of lakes by restricting use for drinking water, fisheries, and recreation. P can accumulate in soils due to fertilizer or manure use. High soil P concentrations may set the stage for decades or even centuries of eutrophication and affecting system resilience. We undertake studies to learn how people change P cycles through farming, trade, and other activities, and how this, in turn impacts water quality. Lab projects in this topic include examining the impact of increased meat consumption on increased demand for P over the past decades; calculating a planetary boundary for P that takes freshwater eutrophication into account; mapping spatially-explicit global P budgets; and determining eutrophication risk around the world based on human use of P and high quality hydrologic models. This work is funded primarily by an NSERC Discovery grant. Collaborators on various projects include Steve Carpenter, Jim Elser, Navin Ramankutty, and Simon Donner.
Communities managing multiple ecosystem services
Brianna Levenstein and Rebekah Kipp taking water samples
Communities worldwide rely on biodiversity and ecosystems for their livelihoods and well-being. We have changed landscapes to maximize certain ecosystem services of immediate importance, such as a reliable and inexpensive supply of food. Yet changes to the landscape, even those that seem small, can have major effects on biodiversity and ecosystem services. For example, the restoration of trees and other vegetation alongside a stream can reduce pollution and greatly improve water quality. Managing the landscape with a focus on a few services can inadvertently lead to declines in other important ecosystem services and biodiversity. Although there is a rich history of research on biodiversity and ecosystems, our understanding of the linkages between ecosystem services, biodiversity, and land use is still incomplete. This presents a challenge for decision makers who seek to manage the landscape in their region to ensure a sustainable future. As the human population continues to grow and as we confront new challenges such as climate change, decision makers at all levels will need reliable scientific information about how to manage the landscape to ensure the maintenance of biodiversity and ecosystem services. The over-arching goal of our projects in this area is to deepen our understanding of the link between biodiversity and ecosystem services. Our research will reveal how biodiversity change alters ecosystem function and the supply of services ecosystems provide to society. This research will help managers improve decision-making by providing the tools and information they need to maintain the biodiversity required for healthy ecosystems. For more on these projects, please see the Montérégie Connection website. This work is funded by an NSERC Strategic Project grant, as well funding from the Ouranos Consortium, and from the Max Bell Foundation. Collaborators include Jeff Cardille, Jeanine Rhemtulla, Andy Gonzalez, and Marty Lechowicz.
Food security and ecosystem services
Food (in)security is both the result of the state of the food system and the state of the provision of multiple ecosystem services. We are trying to understand the interactions among the services provided and food security, especially for smallholder farms. We have projects in this topic in Guatemala and Kenya. In Guatemala, we focus on the ecosystem services and food security outcomes of differing production systems (broccoli for export versus maize for family consumption). In Kenya, we are focusing on
the role of agronomic and
biophysical factors influencing the adoption of practices that enhance
household food security.
The work in Kenya is sponsored by a grant from the
IDRC (International
Development Research Centre).
Collaborators include Nicolas Kosoy, Gordon Hickey, and Jim Fyles.
Ecosystem services in the Albemarle-Pamlico basin
We are working with local stakeholders in the Albemarle-Pamlico basin (in North Carolina and Virginia) to
conceptualize, quantify, and map delivery of key aquatic ecosystem services in
the Albemarle-Pamlico basin (APB) and to analyze spatial linkages among
conservation actions, delivery of aquatic ecosystem services, and human
well-being (HWB).
Last spring, we held a workshop to engage with local stakeholders to develop scenarios about the future provision of ecosystem services services in this region. This work is funded by the USGS (US Geological Survey). Collaborators include Paul Angermeier.
