Around 30% of European agricultural landscapes are classified as high nature value (HNV) farmlands. Current policies emphasize the multifunctionality of these landscapes, but little is known about the positive and negative associations of multiple ecosystem services within HNV farmland.
ObjectivesThis study aims to identify perceived ecosystem services synergies, trade-offs, and bundles in agricultural landscapes of HNV from a socio-cultural perspective.
MethodsWe performed a participatory mapping survey of 10 ecosystem services categories among 2301 rural residents in 13 European sites. We analyzed bivariate synergies and trade-offs between perceived ecosystem services through nonparametric correlation analyses. Spatial bundles of perceived ecosystem services were identified through hierarchical cluster analysis. Multinomial logit models were used to assess the influence of land cover on generating associations of ecosystem services.
ResultsWe find two strong and 16 moderate synergies of perceived ecosystem services (out of 46 possible ecosystem services pairs), mainly among different cultural ecosystem services. We do not reveal moderate or strong trade-offs. We identify five spatial bundles of ecosystem services, termed “Ecosystem services coldspots”, “Wild harvesting ranges”, “Nature areas”, “Recreational spaces”, and “Ecosystem services hotspots”. Of all land-cover co-variates, natural areas, urban areas, and roads have the strongest explanatory power.
ConclusionsOur study complements prevailing biophysical and economic analyses of ecosystem services synergies, trade-offs and bundles by a spatially explicit, socio-cultural perspective. We conclude that socio-cultural mapping of ecosystem services is useful for understanding the perceived multifunctionality of a landscape.
相似文献We describe how large landscape-scale conservation initiatives involving local communities, NGOs and resource managers have engaged with landscape scientists with the goal of achieving landscape sustainability. We focus on two landscapes where local people, practitioners and landscape ecologists have co-produced knowledge to design conservation interventions.
ObjectiveWe seek to understand how landscape ecology can engage with practical landscape management to contribute to managing landscapes sustainably.
MethodsWe focus on two large tropical landscapes: the Sangha Tri-National landscape (Cameroon, Republic of Congo and the Central African Republic) and the Batéké-Léfini Landscape (Gabon and Republic of Congo). We evaluate (1) a participatory method used in the Sangha Tri-National landscape that embeds interdisciplinary researchers and practitioners within a landscape to apply transdisciplinary learning to landscape conservation and (2) a participatory landscape zoning method where interdisciplinary teams of conservation practitioners analyse local land and resource use in the Batéké-Léfini landscape.
ResultsWe find that landscape ecology’s tradition of understanding the historical context of resource use can inform landscape conservation practice and natural resource mapping. We also find that the Sangha Group provides an example for landscape ecology on how to integrate local people and their knowledge to better understand and influence landscape processes.
ConclusionsPlace-based engagement as well as the uptake of co-produced knowledge by policy makers are key in enabling sustainable landscapes. Success occurs when researchers, local communities and resource managers engage directly with landscape processes.
相似文献Two approaches to study landscape change have been exploited: one that tries to study the developments that have happened in the past, and another that tries to foresee future.
ObjectivesWe analyse how this dual approach can help understanding landscape change, how people relate to it in general, what their expectations and preferences are. We also discuss the usefulness of path dependency theory, cultural sustainability, and cultural ecosystem services approaches in understanding the management of a historical cultural landscape.
MethodsFirst, we revisit a 1999 scenario study that outlined the possible trajectories of change prior Estonian accession to the European Union in 2004. Then, through series of studies we track the wider context of the landscape changes, analysing the results from the interviews and combining those with the visible results. We seek to answer whether or not the landscape changes that occurred followed any of the past scenarios, and if people’s preferences changed.
ResultsThe dynamics of realisation of different scenarios was not straightforward. However, people showed clear preference towards landscapes that carried signs of the continuation of rural life. What was not foreseen when designing the scenarios was the upsurge of local identity creating the links with the past.
ConclusionsIn this Estonian traditional cultural landscape, stewardship, culture and cultural ecosystem services, or nature’s contribution to people as IPBES prefers to call this now, define what caring for the landscape involves.
相似文献Land-use legacies play an important role in shaping contemporary species distributions. However, land-use legacies are rarely considered in species distribution models (SDMs) that aim to model present-day species distributions across the landscape, even though they can lead to a species absence in suitable areas. SDMs that do not account for land-use legacies will likely result in biased predictions of species distributions.
ObjectiveWe examine the importance of land-use legacies for modeling present-day distributions of tree species at a regional scale, assessing how the addition of land-use legacy variables improves predictive power of SDMs.
MethodsWe generated land-use legacy variables using raster layers of reconstructed historical agricultural land use and 3310 inventory plots. SDMs were developed for six forest tree species based on climatic, edaphic, and topographic variables, and with (SDMLU) and without (SDMBase) land-use legacy variables. We compared the predictive power between SDMLU and SDMBase models and then quantified the local importance of land-use legacy variables relative to other abiotic variables.
ResultsOur results show that the importance of land-use legacy variables for present-day species distributions and the improvement on the predictive power of SDMs is species-specific. The inclusion of land-use legacy variables improved SDMs primarily by lowering errors of commission and increasing the overall accuracy of prediction.
ConclusionThe influence of land-use legacies on SDMs suggests that, for some tree species, incorporating land-use legacies can accurately identify suitable areas that are not occupied by the species due to land-use legacies, and advance our understanding of their present-day distributions.
相似文献With underrepresentation of habitats in publicly protected areas, attention has focused on the function of alternative land conservation mechanisms. Private conservation easements (CEs) have proliferated in the United States, yet assessing landscape-level function is confounded by varying extent, resolution, and temporal scale.
ObjectivesWe developed and tested an assessment tool to evaluate interacting spatial, social, and environmental attributes of easements relative to the degree of human modification (HM). We hypothesized that on both private and public conservation properties HM would be lower than on non-conserved parcels, and that for fine-scale features (most CEs), the level of HM would be driven by the variables used to create the coarser scale HM measure.
MethodsVariation in HM between private, public, and non-conserved was tested via pairwise parcel sampling. Composition was evaluated using multiple geographic bounds and edge characteristics. We assessed both environmental and social predictors using multinomial logistic regression.
ResultsPrivately conserved lands did not differ significantly from non-conserved lands. Publicly conserved lands had lower HM than both privately conserved and non-conserved lands. Edge contrast was similar between private and matched non-conserved patches. The level of HM was not driven by distance to roads, or by elevation in this mixed-use setting.
ConclusionsVariation in tests for differences, land characteristics, and HM variables confirmed the significantly lower HM of publicly protected lands, and opens the question as to naturalness of easements in some contexts. CEs in this location may be representative of the mixed rural-forested landscape instead of more natural land cover.
相似文献Humans continually transform landscapes, affecting the ecosystem services (ES) they provide. Thus, the spatial relationships among services vary across landscapes. Managers and decision makers have access to a variety of tools for mapping landscapes and analyzing their capacity to provide multiple ES.
ObjectivesThis paper characterizes and maps ES bundles across transformed landscapes in southeast Spain incorporating both the ecological and social perspectives. Our specific goals were to: (1) quantify ES biophysical supply, (2) identify public awareness, (3) map ES bundles, and (4) characterize types of ES bundles based on their social-ecological dimensions.
MethodsBiophysical models and face-to-face social surveys were used to quantify and map ES bundles and explore the public awareness in a highly transformed Mediterranean region. Then, we classified ES bundles into four types using a matrix crossing the degree of biophysical ES supply and the degree of social awareness.
ResultsResults mapped seven ES bundles types representing diverse social-ecological dynamics. ES bundles mapped at the municipality level showed mismatches between their biophysical provision and the public awareness, which has important implications for operationalizing the bundles concept for landscape planning and management. ES bundles characterization identified four types of bundles scenarios.
ConclusionsWe propose an ES bundles classification that incorporates both their social and ecological dimensions. Our findings can be used by land managers to identify areas in which ES are declining as well as priority areas for maximizing ES provision and can help to identify conflicts associated with new management and planning practices.
相似文献In the Andalusia region (Spain), olive grove agro-systems cover a wide area, forming social-ecological landscapes. Recent socioeconomic changes have increased the vulnerability of these landscapes, resulting in the abandonment and intensification of farms. The provision of the main ecosystem services of these landscapes have thus been degraded.
ObjectivesTo analyse the sustainability of an olive grove social-ecological landscape in Andalusia. Specifically, to develop a quantitative model proposing land planning and management scenarios, considering abandonment, production and economic benefits of olive crops in different conditions of erosion and management.
MethodsWe applied a dynamic model using agronomic and economic data, to evaluate different types of olive management. We considered different levels of erosion, the loss of production related to this erosion, and useful life spans for each type of management. We simulated scenarios for the long-term assessment of dynamics of crops, abandonment rate, production and benefits.
Results(a) There was a loss of productive lands and benefits in the medium term in the more intensive crops. (b) Scenarios that partially incorporated ecological management proved to be more sustainable without economic subsidies. (c) The spatial combination of integrated, intensive and ecological plots was sustainable, and was well balanced from an economic, productive and ecological point of view.
ConclusionsScenarios that partially incorporate ecological management allowed the best economic and environmental balance. However, to ensure the sustainability of olive landscapes, farmers should be financially rewarded for their role in the conservation of ecosystem services through landscape stewardship and direct environmental payments.
相似文献Climate and land-use change have led to disturbance regimes in many ecosystems without a historical analog, leading to uncertainty about how species adapted to past conditions will respond to novel post-disturbance landscapes.
ObjectivesWe examined habitat selection by spotted owls in a post-fire landscape. We tested whether selection or avoidance of severely burned areas could be explained by patch size or configuration, and whether variation in selection among individuals could be explained by differences in habitat availability.
MethodsWe applied mixed-effects models to GPS data from 20 spotted owls in the Sierra Nevada, California, USA, with individual owls occupying home ranges spanning a broad range of post-fire conditions after the 2014 King Fire.
ResultsIndividual spotted owls whose home ranges experienced less severe fire (<?5% of home range severely burned) tended to select severely burned forest, but owls avoided severely burned forest when more of their home range was affected (~ 5–40%). Owls also tended to select severe fire patches that were smaller in size and more complex in shape, and rarely traveled?>?100-m into severe fire patches. Spotted owls avoided areas that had experienced post-fire salvage logging but the interpretation of this effect was nuanced. Owls also avoided areas that were classified as open and/or young forest prior to the fire.
ConclusionsOur results support the hypothesis that spotted owls are adapted to historical fire regimes characterized by small severe fire patches in this region. Shifts in disturbance regimes that produce novel landscape patterns characterized by large, homogeneous patches of high-severity fire may negatively affect this species.
相似文献Human appropriation of net primary productivity (HANPP) is employed as a measure of human pressures on biodiversity, though largely at global and national scales rather than landscape to regional scales where many conservation decisions take place. Though gaining in familiarity, HANPP is not widely utilized by conservation professionals.
ObjectivesThis study, encompassing the US side of the Great Lakes basin, examines how regional distributions of HANPP relate to landscape-based biodiversity proxy metrics used by conservation professionals. Our objectives were (1) to quantify the HANPP of managed lands at the county scale; and (2) to assess spatial patterns of HANPP in comparison to landscape diversity and local habitat connectedness to determine if the metric can provide useful information to conservation professionals.
MethodsWe aggregated forest and cropland NPP data between 2005 and 2015 and coupled it with previously published potential vegetation maps to quantify the HANPP of each county in the study region. We mapped the outputs at 500 m resolution to analyze spatial relationships between HANPP and landscape metrics of biodiversity potential.
ResultsArea-weighted HANPP across our study region averaged 45% of NPP, down to 4.9% in forest-dominated counties. Greater HANPP correlated with reduced landscape diversity (p?<?0.001, r2?=?0.28) and reduced local habitat connectedness (p?<?0.001, r2?=?0.36).
ConclusionHANPP could be used as an additional tool for conservation professionals during regional-scale land use planning or conservation decision-making, particularly in mixed-use landscapes that both support important biodiversity and have high levels of primary production harvest.
相似文献Achieving sustainable development as an inclusive societal process, and securing sustainability and resilience of human societies as well as the natural environment are wicked problems. Realising sustainable forest management (SFM) policy in local landscapes is one example.
ObjectivesUsing the European Union as a case study for the implementation of SFM policy across multiple governance levels in different contexts, we discuss the benefits of adopting an integrated landscape approach with place and space, partnership and sustainability as three pillars.
MethodsWe map the institutional frameworks for implementing SFM policy within all EU member states. Next, we analyse whether or not there is EU-level forest governance, and how power is distributed among EU, member state and operational levels.
ResultsMechanisms to steer a centralized forest governance approach towards SFM in the EU are marginal. Instead, there is a polycentric forest governance with 90 national and sub-national governments, which create and implement own and EU-wide SFM-related policies. Additionally, both among and within regional governance units there is a large variation in governance arrangements linked to land ownership at the operational level.
ConclusionsTo effectively translate EU-wide SFM and SFM-related policies into action in local landscapes, it is crucial to acknowledge that there are different land ownership structures, landscape histories and alternative value chains based on multiple ecosystem services. Therefore regionally adapted landscape approaches engaging multiple stakeholders and actors through evidence-based landscape governance and stewardship towards sustainable forest landscape management are needed. Model Forest, Long-Term Socio-Ecological Research platform and Biosphere Reserve are three of many examples.
相似文献Context
One of the key challenges for landscape planners is to reframe the meaning of ecosystem services. In this context, alternative concepts such as ecologies have potential to complement ecosystem services when applied to human–nature relationships in changing landscapes.Objectives
The objectives of this article are: (1) to review how landscape planners use major critical approaches to translate the meaning of ecosystem services and (2) to introduce why ecologies provides helpful insights to complement ecosystem services.Methods
A conceptual framework examines how landscape planners use critique to reframe the meaning of ecosystem services. This framework is then revised as a scenario to reframe the meanings of ecologies and ecosystem services.Results
Landscape planners use three critical approaches to reframe the meaning of ecosystem services to advance the understanding of human–nature relationships in changing landscapes. Yet, they identify some important issues and gaps that emerge when it is applied. These issues and gaps are part of the rationale for why landscape planning is at a crossroads with ecosystem services. This rationale is then extended to create a scenario for why a revised conceptual framework is needed for landscape planners to reframe the meanings of ecologies and ecosystem services.Conclusion
The translational challenge of ecologies and ecosystem services is an example of the key role that landscape planners play in developing a deeper understanding of human–nature relationships.With the expansion in urbanization, understanding how biodiversity responds to the altered landscape becomes a major concern. Most studies focus on habitat effects on biodiversity, yet much less attention has been paid to surrounding landscape matrices and their joint effects.
ObjectiveWe investigated how habitat and landscape matrices affect waterbird diversity across scales in the Yangtze River Floodplain, a typical area with high biodiversity and severe human-wildlife conflict.
MethodsThe compositional and structural features of the landscape were calculated at fine and coarse scales. The ordinary least squares regression model was adopted, following a test showing no significant spatial autocorrelation in the spatial lag and spatial error models, to estimate the relationship between landscape metrics and waterbird diversity.
ResultsWell-connected grassland and shrub surrounded by isolated and regular-shaped developed area maintained higher waterbird diversity at fine scales. Regular-shaped developed area and cropland, irregular-shaped forest, and aggregated distribution of wetland and shrub positively affected waterbird diversity at coarse scales.
ConclusionsHabitat and landscape matrices jointly affected waterbird diversity. Regular-shaped developed area facilitated higher waterbird diversity and showed the most pronounced effect at coarse scales. The conservation efforts should not only focus on habitat quality and capacity, but also habitat connectivity and complexity when formulating development plans. We suggest planners minimize the expansion of the developed area into critical habitats and leave buffers to maintain habitat connectivity and shape complexity to reduce the disturbance to birds. Our findings provide important insights and practical measures to protect biodiversity in human-dominated landscapes.
相似文献Global pollinator decline has motivated much research to understand the underlying mechanisms. Among the multiple pressures threatening pollinators, habitat loss has been suggested as a key-contributing factor. While habitat destruction is often associated with immediate negative impacts, pollinators can also exhibit delayed responses over time.
ObjectivesWe used a trait-based approach to investigate how past and current land use at both local and landscape levels impact plant and wild bee communities in grasslands through a functional lens.
MethodsWe measured flower and bee morphological traits that mediate plant–bee trophic linkage in 66 grasslands. Using an extensive database of 20 years of land-use records, we tested the legacy effects of the landscape-level conversion of grassland to crop on flower and bee trait diversity.
ResultsLand-use history was a strong driver of flower and bee trait diversity in grasslands. Particularly, bee trait diversity was lower in landscapes where much of the land was converted from grassland to crop long ago. Bee trait diversity was also strongly driven by plant trait diversity computed with flower traits. However, this relationship was not observed in landscapes with a long history of grassland-to-crop conversion. The effects of land-use history on bee communities were as strong as those of current land use, such as grassland or mass-flowering crop cover in the landscape.
ConclusionsHabitat loss that occurred long ago in agricultural landscapes alters the relationship between plants and bees over time. The retention of permanent grassland sanctuaries within intensive agricultural landscapes can offset bee decline.
相似文献Landscape and local habitat traits moderate wild bee communities. However, whether landscape effects differ between local habitat types is largely unknown.
ObjectivesWe explored the way that wild bee communities in three distinct habitats are shaped by landscape composition and the availability of flowering plants by evaluating divergences in response patterns between habitats.
MethodsIn a large-scale monitoring project across 20 research areas, wild bee data were collected on three habitats: near-natural grassland, established flower plantings and residual habitats (e.g. field margins). Additionally, landscape composition was mapped around the research areas.
ResultsOur monitoring produced a dataset of 27,650 bees belonging to 324 species. Bee communities on all three habitats reacted similarly to local flower availability. Intensively managed grassland in the surrounding landscape had an overall negative effect on the studied habitats. Other landscape variables produced diverging response patterns that were particularly pronounced during early and late season. Bee communities in near-natural grassland showed a strong positive response to ruderal areas. Flower plantings and residual habitats such as field margins showed a pronounced positive response to extensively managed grassland and woodland edges. Response patterns regarding bee abundance were consistent with those found for species richness.
ConclusionWe advise the consideration of local habitat type and seasonality when assessing the effect of landscape context on bee communities. A reduction in the intensity of grassland management enhances bee diversity in a broad range of habitats. Moreover, wild bee communities are promoted by habitat types such as ruderal areas or woodland edges.
相似文献Context
Landscape-scale studies of ecosystem services (ES) have increased, but few consider land-use history. Historical land use may be especially important in cultural landscapes, producing legacies that influence ecosystem structure, function, and biota that in turn affect ES supply.Objectives
Our goal was to generate a conceptual framework for understanding when land-use legacies matter for ES supply in well-studied agricultural, urban, and exurban US landscapes.Methods
We synthesized illustrative examples from published literature in which landscape legacies were demonstrated or are likely to influence ES.Results
We suggest three related conditions in which land-use legacies are important for understanding current ES supply. (1) Intrinsically slow ecological processes govern ES supply, illustrated for soil-based and hydrologic services impaired by slowly processed pollutants. (2) Time lags between land-use change and ecosystem responses delay effects on ES supply, illustrated for biodiversity-based services that may experience an ES debt. (3) Threshold relationships exist, such that changes in ES are difficult to reverse, and legacy lock-in disconnects contemporary landscapes from ES supply, illustrated by hydrologic services. Mismatches between contemporary landscape patterns and mechanisms underpinning ES supply yield unexpected patterns of ES.Conclusions
Today’s land-use decisions will generate tomorrow’s legacies, and ES will be affected if processes underpinning ES are affected by land-use legacies. Research priorities include understanding effects of urban abandonment, new contaminants, and interactions of land-use legacies and climate change. Improved understanding of historical effects will improve management of contemporary ES, and aid in decision-making as new challenges to sustaining cultural landscapes arise.African production landscapes are diverse, with multiple cassava cultivars grown in small patches amongst a diversity of other crops. Studies on how diverse smallholder landscapes impact herbivore pest outbreak risk have not been carried out in sub-Saharan Africa.
ObjectivesBemisia tabaci is a cryptic pest species complex that cause damage to cassava through feeding and vectoring plant-virus diseases and are known to reach very high densities in certain contexts. However, the factors driving this phenomenon are unclear.
MethodsBemisia density data in cassava across a large number of sites representing a geographic gradient across Uganda, Tanzania and Malawi were collected. We tested whether in-field or landscape factors associated with land-use patterns underpinned Bemisia density variability and parasitism.
ResultsWe found the B. tabaci SSA1 species dominated our study sites, although other species were also common in some cassava fields. Factors associated with the surrounding landscape were unimportant for explaining variability in adult density, but the in-field variables of cassava age and cultivar were very important. The density of nymphs and the parasitism of nymphs was heavily influenced by a diversity of landscape factors surrounding the field, including the size of focal cassava field, and area of cassava in the landscape. However, unlike the trend from many other studies on drivers of natural enemy populations, this pattern was not solely related to the amount of non-crop vegetation, or the diversity of crops grown in the landscape.
ConclusionsOur findings provide management options to reduce whitefly abundance, including describing the characteristics of landscapes with high parasitism. The choice of cassava cultivar by the farmer is critical to reduce whitefly outbreak risk at the landscape-scale.
相似文献