Implications of agricultural transitions and urbanization for ecosystem services

Graeme S. Cumming (), Andreas Buerkert, Ellen M. Hoffmann, Eva Schlecht, Stephan von Cramon-Taubadel and Teja Tscharntke
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Graeme S. Cumming: Percy FitzPatrick Institute, DST/NRF Centre of Excellence, University of Cape Town
Andreas Buerkert: Organic Plant Production and Agroecosystems Research in the Tropics and Subtropics, Universität Kassel
Ellen M. Hoffmann: Organic Plant Production and Agroecosystems Research in the Tropics and Subtropics, Universität Kassel
Eva Schlecht: Animal Husbandry in the Tropics and Subtropics, Universität Kassel and Georg-August-Universität Göttingen
Teja Tscharntke: Agroecology, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen

Nature, 2014, vol. 515, issue 7525, 50-57

Abstract: Abstract Historically, farmers and hunter-gatherers relied directly on ecosystem services, which they both exploited and enjoyed. Urban populations still rely on ecosystems, but prioritize non-ecosystem services (socioeconomic). Population growth and densification increase the scale and change the nature of both ecosystem- and non-ecosystem-service supply and demand, weakening direct feedbacks between ecosystems and societies and potentially pushing social–ecological systems into traps that can lead to collapse. The interacting and mutually reinforcing processes of technological change, population growth and urbanization contribute to over-exploitation of ecosystems through complex feedbacks that have important implications for sustainable resource use.

Date: 2014
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DOI: 10.1038/nature13945

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