Identifying changes in the drivers of ecosystem services: Socioeconomic changes underlie reduced provision of pollination service

Pedro Joaquim Bergamo; Kã Tia F Rito; Kayna Agostini; Felipe Deodato da Silva E Silva; Mã Rcia M MauÃ S; AndrÃ R Rech; Lucas A Garibaldi; Eimear Nic Lughadha; Antonio M Saraiva; Rodrigo Y Tsukahara; Blandina F Viana; Grasiela Casas; Edenise Garcia; Mã Rcia C M Marques; Pietro K Maruyama; Alice R de Moraes; Paulo E Oliveira; Alberto K Oppata; Nirvia Ravena; Leandro R Tambosi; Isabela G Varassin; Marina Wolowski; Leandro Freitas

doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2024.123466

Identifying changes in the drivers of ecosystem services: Socioeconomic changes underlie reduced provision of pollination service

J Environ Manage. 2024 Dec 3:373:123466. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2024.123466. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Pedro Joaquim Bergamo¹, Kã Tia F Rito², Kayna Agostini³, Felipe Deodato da Silva E Silva⁴, Mã Rcia M MauÃ S⁵, AndrÃ R Rech⁶, Lucas A Garibaldi⁷, Eimear Nic Lughadha⁸, Antonio M Saraiva⁹, Rodrigo Y Tsukahara¹⁰, Blandina F Viana¹¹, Grasiela Casas¹², Edenise Garcia¹³, Mã Rcia C M Marques¹², Pietro K Maruyama¹⁴, Alice R de Moraes¹⁵, Paulo E Oliveira¹⁶, Alberto K Oppata¹⁷, Nirvia Ravena¹⁸, Leandro R Tambosi¹⁹, Isabela G Varassin²⁰, Marina Wolowski²¹, Leandro Freitas²²

Affiliations

¹ Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden, Rio de Janeiro, 22460-030, Brazil; SÃ£o Paulo State University (UNESP), Institute of Biosciences, Rio Claro, 13506-900, Brazil. Electronic address: pedro.bergamo@unesp.br.
² Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden, Rio de Janeiro, 22460-030, Brazil; Universidad Michoacana de San NicolÃ¡s de Hidalgo, 580-000, Mexico.
³ Department of Natural Science, Mathematics and Education, Federal University of SÃ£o Carlos, Araras, 13600-970, Brazil.
⁴ Federal Institute of Mato Grosso, Barra do GarÃ§as, 78607-899, Brazil.
⁶ Centre of Advanced Studies on Functioning of Ecological Systems and Interactions (CAFESIN-MULTIFLOR), Federal University of the Jequitinhonha and Mucuri Valleys, Diamantina, 39100-000, Brazil.
⁷ Instituto de Investigaciones en Recursos Naturales, AgroecologÃ-a y Desarrollo Rural, Universidad Nacional de RÃ-o Negro, San Carlos de Bariloche, 8400, Argentina; Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientÃ-ficas y TÃ©cnicas, Instituto de Investigaciones en Recursos Naturales, AgroecologÃ-a y Desarrollo Rural, San Carlos de Bariloche, 8400, Argentina.
⁸ Conservation Science Department, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, TW9 3AE, UK.
⁹ Polythecnic School, University of SÃ£o Paulo, SÃ£o Paulo, 05508-010, Brazil.
¹⁰ FundaÃ§Ã£o ABC Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento AgropecuÃ¡rio, Castro, 84165-700, Brazil.
¹¹ National Institute of Science and Technology in Interdisciplinary and Transdisciplinary Studies in Ecology and Evolution, Institute of Biology, Federal University of Bahia, Salvador, 40170-210, Brazil.
¹² Botany Department, Federal University of ParanÃ¡, Curitiba, 81531-980, Brazil.
¹³ Instituto de ConservaÃ§Ã£o Ambiental the Nature Conservancy Brasil, SÃ£o Paulo, 01311-936, Brazil.
¹⁴ Centre for Ecological Synthesis and Conservation, Department of Genetics, Ecology and Evolution, Federal University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, 31270-901, Brazil.
¹⁵ Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden, Rio de Janeiro, 22460-030, Brazil; University of Campinas, 13083-790, Brazil.
¹⁶ Institute of Biology, Federal University of UberlÃ¢ndia, UberlÃ¢ndia, 38405-302, Brazil.
¹⁸ Centre of Amazonian Studies, Federal University of ParÃ¡, BelÃ©m, 66075-110, Brazil de Altos Estudos AmazÃ´nicos, Brazil.
²⁰ LaboratÃ³rio de InteraÃ§Ãµes e Biologia Reprodutiva, Federal University of ParanÃ¡, Curitiba, 81531-980, Brazil.
²¹ Institute of Natural Sciences, Federal University of Alfenas, Alfenas, 37130-001, Brazil.
²² Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden, Rio de Janeiro, 22460-030, Brazil.

PMID: 39632312
DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2024.123466

Abstract

The impact of land use changes on ecosystem services (ES) or Nature's Contributions to People (NCP) is relatively well-known, but the influence of socioeconomic changes on ES remains less clear, especially at larger spatial scales. Multiple socioeconomic factors influence the demand for a service (i.e. higher economic income and human development can increase demand for ES) and the provision of such service (i.e. environmental policies and cultural relationships with nature may enhance access to ES). Such complex relationships require a multidimensional approach to understand the socioeconomic drivers of change of ES. We investigated how socioeconomic drivers affect demand, diversity and provision of crop pollination service. Our Brazil-wide assessment spans a decade (2006-17) and encompasses a period of rapid land use intensification and concentration of land ownership. Our results revealed that the replacement of small and diverse pollinator-dependent farming systems by large pollinator-dependent monocultures has led to deficits in crop pollination services, with demand increasing by 3.3% while diversity and provision have decreased by 16.1 and 22.5%, respectively. These changes are linked to increased wealth concentration and social inequality, as regions that presented concentrated land ownership and limited access to credit were associated with reduced pollination provision. Our study provided a country-wide quantitative assessment of socioeconomic drivers of change in ES to reveal an association between social inequality and reduced ES provision.

Keywords: Agricultural production; Biodiversity valuation; Environmental management; Nature's contributions to people; Pollination service; Socio-ecological systems.