Rationalising Biodiversity Conservation in Dynamic Ecosystems (RUBICODE)
– a new EU Coordination Action project (www.rubicode.net)

A key problem in developing policies to stop biodiversity loss is translating threats into a tangible factor for decision-making. RUBICODE will contribute to solving this by examining what biodiversity does for us. Biodiversity provides many services from which humans benefit, such as the provision of food, fibre and fuel, regulation of air and water quality, flood protection, pollination, control of pests, recreation and ecotourism. RUBICODE will define and evaluate those components of biodiversity which provide specific services to society. This will increase our understanding of the value of biodiversity services and, consequently, of the cost of losing them.  This will give decision-makers a more rational base and will help the understanding of the need for adequate conservation policies.

The development of flexible and effective conservation strategies and their implementation will be essential in order to halt the loss of biodiversity. These should concentrate on managing dynamic ecosystems for maintaining their capacity to undergo disturbance, while retaining their functions, services and control mechanisms (ecological resilience). RUBICODE will concentrate on assessing the ecological resilience of those components of biological diversity essential for maintaining ecosystem services.  There are seven specific project objectives: 

1. To develop concepts of dynamic ecosystems and their services, covering terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems.
2. To explore relationships between service-providing populations, ecosystem resilience, function and health, and socio-economic and environmental drivers of biodiversity change.
3. To improve and test indicators for monitoring habitat ecological quality.
4. To characterise biological traits that lead to a population becoming threatened, rare or invasive.
5. To develop habitat management strategies that take account of drivers of biodiversity change in order to maintain threatened populations or assist populations to adapt.
6. To suggest priorities for conservation policy on the basis of dynamic ecosystems and the services they provide.
7. To identify gaps in knowledge and propose a plan for future research that is required to develop innovative pan-European conservation strategies for terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems.