Special Section
Why geodiversity matters in valuing nature’s stage Jan Hjort,∗ John E. Gordon,† Murray Gray,‡ and Malcolm L. Hunter JR.§ ∗
Department of Geography, University of Oulu, P.O. Box 3000, 90014 Oulu, Finland, email [email protected] †School of Geography & Geosciences, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, Fife KY16 9AL, United Kingdom ‡School of Geography, Queen Mary, University of London, Mile End Road, London, E1 4NS, United Kingdom §Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Conservation Biology, University of Maine, Orono, ME 04469, U.S.A.
Abstract: Geodiversity—the variability of Earth’s surface materials, forms, and physical processes—is an integral part of nature and crucial for sustaining ecosystems and their services. It provides the substrates, landform mosaics, and dynamic physical processes for habitat development and maintenance. By determining the heterogeneity of the physical environment in conjunction with climate interactions, geodiversity has a crucial influence on biodiversity across a wide range of scales. From a literature review, we identified the diverse values of geodiversity; examined examples of the dependencies of biodiversity on geodiversity at a site-specific scale (for geosites
Why geodiversity matters in valuing nature’s stage Jan Hjort,∗ John E. Gordon,† Murray Gray,‡ and Malcolm L. Hunter JR.§ ∗
Department of Geography, University of Oulu, P.O. Box 3000, 90014 Oulu, Finland, email [email protected] †School of Geography & Geosciences, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, Fife KY16 9AL, United Kingdom ‡School of Geography, Queen Mary, University of London, Mile End Road, London, E1 4NS, United Kingdom §Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Conservation Biology, University of Maine, Orono, ME 04469, U.S.A.
Abstract: Geodiversity—the variability of Earth’s surface materials, forms, and physical processes—is an integral part of nature and crucial for sustaining ecosystems and their services. It provides the substrates, landform mosaics, and dynamic physical processes for habitat development and maintenance. By determining the heterogeneity of the physical environment in conjunction with climate interactions, geodiversity has a crucial influence on biodiversity across a wide range of scales. From a literature review, we identified the diverse values of geodiversity; examined examples of the dependencies of biodiversity on geodiversity at a site-specific scale (for geosites
