I urval från Stockholms universitets publikationsdatabas

• Exploring local perceptions on sustaining positive outcomes in a marine protected area: example from the Cabo Pulmo National Park, Mexico

  Felicity Pike (et al.).

  Läs mer om Exploring local perceptions on sustaining positive outcomes in a marine protected area: example from the Cabo Pulmo National Park, Mexico

• Effects on biodiversity in semi-natural pastures of giving the grazing animals access to additional nutrient sources: a systematic review

  2024. Simon Jakobsson (et al.). Environmental Evidence 13

  Artikel

  Background  Traditionally managed semi-natural pastures are recognised for their high biodiversity. One drawback is that these pastures are often low in fodder production and hence rather unprofitable, which may lead to abandonment. Two ways to increase production and profitability and maintain grazing are to (i) offer the grazers supplementary feed, or (ii) co-enclose the semi-natural pasture with an improved pasture. Both practices may transfer nutrients to the semi-natural pasture, with potential negative effects on biodiversity. This systematic review aimed to analyse the available evidence concerning the following primary question: “What is the effect of giving grazers access to additional nutrient sources on biodiversity in semi-natural pastures?” (Q1). We also used two supporting questions: “What is the effect of giving grazers access to additional nutrient sources on nutrient status of the soils of semi-natural pastures?” (Q2) and “How do the grazers of semi-natural pastures behave while having access to additional nutrient sources?” (Q3).

  Methods  Searches for peer-reviewed and grey literature were made using bibliographic databases, search engines, specialist websites, and stakeholder contacts. Literature was screened for relevance according to predefined eligibility criteria, and critical appraisal was performed using the tool CEECAT. A database of the relevant studies was compiled. Descriptive information about the evidence base is presented in tables and an interactive evidence atlas. Because of absent study setup replication, Q1 and Q2 were not analysed quantitatively. However, sample size allowed the use of mixed modelling to quantitatively analyse Q3 regarding the effects of (i) co-enclosing an improved pasture on grazers’ electivity for the improved area, and (ii) supplementary feed on the forage intake of grazers.

  Review findings  A total of 12 articles on the effects of supplementary feeding and 19 on the effects of co-enclosing an improved pasture were included, of which some targeted multiple review questions. Because of the limited literature, it is not possible to draw any conclusions concerning the effects on biodiversity (Q1) or nutritional status (Q2) in semi-natural pastures. For Q3, 28 studies fulfilled our criteria, of which 18 investigated the behaviour of grazers related to co-enclosing an improved pasture, and 10 investigated their forage intake while having access to supplementary fodder. The results show that all grazer species except goats preferred grazing in the improved areas regardless of whether they were grazing together with other grazer species or not. We found no effect of supplementary feeding on forage intake of the grazers.

  Conclusions  We detected a knowledge gap concerning the effects of the two additional nutrient sources on semi-natural pasture biodiversity (Q1) and nutrient status (Q2), which points toward further research needs. Analysis of Q3 showed that grazers prefer to graze improved compared to semi-natural pasture areas. However, how this behaviour subsequently affects nutrient transport and biodiversity is unclear and cannot be translated into management recommendations. To gain better knowledge about the primary question of our review, research focusing specifically on this question is needed. We provide suggestions for how such studies could be designed, including spatio-temporal setup, and key management and environmental conditions to consider.

  Läs mer om Effects on biodiversity in semi-natural pastures of giving the grazing animals access to additional nutrient sources

• Grazing effects on vegetation: Biodiversity, management, and restoration

  2024. Péter Török (et al.). Applied Vegetation Science 27 (3)

  Artikel

  In many regions, wild large herbivores have maintained open landscapes up to and including historic times, but, more recently, have been largely replaced by domestic livestock. By employing extensive and traditional grazing and browsing regimes, conservation actions support biodiversity and recovery in natural and degraded areas. However, grazing also plays other important ecological roles, for example, in the maintenance and/or recovery of important ecosystem services, such as biomass production and carbon sequestration. Understanding herbivore effects on plant composition and functional diversity, and ecosystem functioning and services, is essential for informing ecological theory and practice. The current Special Issue highlights that the effects of grazing on vegetation are strongly context-dependent. The articles identify at least three major factors acting in concert, which are responsible for contrasting diversity and functional patterns of vegetation subjected to herbivores: (i) herbivore identity; (ii) grazing intensity; and (iii) vegetation type. Insights from this Special Issue imply that long-term experiments across different habitat types and in underrepresented regions are needed to provide valuable information for grazing planning and management. They also demonstrate that integrating indigenous and traditional ecological knowledge, and considering socio-economic contexts, can provide opportunities for improving sustainable grazing management.

  Läs mer om Grazing effects on vegetation

• Long-term soil organic carbon changes after cropland conversion to grazed grassland in Southern Sweden

  2024. Anna Johansson (et al.). Soil use and management 40 (1)

  Artikel

  There is growing awareness of the potential value of agricultural land for climate change mitigation. In Sweden, cropland areas have decreased by approximately 30% over recent decades, creating opportunities for these former croplands to be managed for climate change mitigation by increasing soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks. One potential land-use change is conversion of cropland to grazed grasslands, but the long-term effect of such change in management is not well understood and likely varies with soil type and site-specific conditions. Through sampling of mineral and peatland soils within a 75-year chronosequence of land converted from crop production to grazed grassland, we assessed how time since conversion, catenary position, and soil depth affected SOC storage. The SOC stocks calculated at an equivalent soil or ash mass increased through time since conversion in mineral soils at all topographic positions, at a rate of ~0.65% year−1. Soils at low topographic positions gained the most carbon. Peat SOC stock gains after conversion were large, but only marginally significant and only when calculated at an equivalent ash mass. We conclude that the conversion of mineral soil to grazed grassland promotes SOC accumulation at our sites, but climate change mitigation potential would need to be evaluated through a full greenhouse gas balance.

  Läs mer om Long-term soil organic carbon changes after cropland conversion to grazed grassland in Southern Sweden

• Pathways from research to sustainable development: Insights from ten research projects in sustainability and resilience

  2024. Anna Scaini (et al.). Ambio 53, 517-533

  Artikel

  Drawing on collective experience from ten collaborative research projects focused on the Global South, we identify three major challenges that impede the translation of research on sustainability and resilience into better-informed choices by individuals and policy-makers that in turn can support transformation to a sustainable future. The three challenges comprise: (i) converting knowledge produced during research projects into successful knowledge application; (ii) scaling up knowledge in time when research projects are short-term and potential impacts are long-term; and (iii) scaling up knowledge across space, from local research sites to larger-scale or even global impact. Some potential pathways for funding agencies to overcome these challenges include providing targeted prolonged funding for dissemination and outreach, and facilitating collaboration and coordination across different sites, research teams, and partner organizations. By systematically documenting these challenges, we hope to pave the way for further innovations in the research cycle.

  Läs mer om Pathways from research to sustainable development

• Biodiversity mitigates trade-offs among species functional traits underpinning multiple ecosystem services

  2023. Emelie Waldén (et al.). Ecology Letters 26 (6), 929-941

  Artikel

  Biodiversity loss and its effects on humanity is of major global concern. While a growing body of literature confirms positive relationships between biodiversity and multiple ecological functions, the links between biodiversity, ecological functions and multiple ecosystem services is yet unclear. Studies of biodiversity-functionality relationships are mainly based on computer simulations or controlled field experiments using only few species. Here, we use a trait-based approach to integrate plant functions into an ecosystem service assessment to address impacts of restoration on species-rich grasslands over time. We found trade-offs among functions and services when analysing contributions from individual species. At the community level, these trade-offs disappeared for almost all services with time since restoration as an effect of increased species diversity and more evenly distributed species. Restoration to enhance biodiversity also in species-rich communities is therefore essential to secure higher functional redundancy towards disturbances and sustainable provision of multiple ecosystem services over time.

  Läs mer om Biodiversity mitigates trade-offs among species functional traits underpinning multiple ecosystem services

• Ecosystem services provided by semi-natural and intensified grasslands: Synergies, trade-offs and linkages to plant traits and functional richness

  2023. Regina Lindborg (et al.). Applied Vegetation Science 26 (2)

  Artikel

  Question: Semi-natural grasslands (SNG) are important for maintaining biodiversity and ecological processes in farmland. Current pasture-based livestock production mainly occurs on intensified grasslands (IG) that have been agronomically improved. Although it is documented that SNG and IG differ in terms of plant diversity, their ability to provide ecosystem services (ES) in farmland is less explored. Here, we review the role of SNG and IG in delivering ES, illustrate their trade-offs and synergies, and examine how ES can be assessed by using plant traits and functional richness.

  Results: We found that SNG generate a wider range of ES than IG. Trade-offs exist between ES that appear more pronounced in IG between high biomass production and other ES. SNG are good in providing habitat for biodiversity, supporting pollination and cultural services. SNG also have a significantly wider range of plant functional traits and a higher functional richness, suggesting that the potential to supply ES in SNG is partly driven by higher number of species and their functional diversity.

  Conclusion: Clearer trade-offs were found in IG compared with SNG, supported both by the literature and the functional richness. This suggests that functional knowledge could be a good complement to understand the mechanisms behind ES generation and could help with tailoring grassland management to sustain biodiversity, ecological functions and ES. Although both IG and SNG are likely needed for the long-term sustainability of food production, both could aim for a more balanced generation of ES, increasing biodiversity and functional redundancy at the landscape scale.

  Läs mer om Ecosystem services provided by semi-natural and intensified grasslands

• The Southern African Program on Ecosystem Change and Society: an emergent community of practice

  2023. Reinette Biggs (et al.). Ecosystems and People 19 (1)

  Artikel

  Sustainability-focused research networks and communities of practice have emerged as a key response and strategy to build capacity and knowledge to support transformation towards more sustainable, just and equitable futures. This paper synthesises insights from the development of a community of practice on social-ecological systems (SES) research in southern Africa over the past decade, linked to the international Programme on Ecosystem Change and Society (PECS). This community consists of a network of researchers who carry out place-based SES research in the southern African region. They interact through various cross-cutting working groups and also host a variety of public colloquia and student and practitioner training events. Known as the Southern African Program on Ecosystem Change and Society (SAPECS), its core objectives are to: (1) derive new approaches and empirical insights on SES dynamics in the southern African context; (2) have a tangible impact by mainstreaming knowledge into policy and practice; and (3) grow the community of practice engaged in SES research and governance, including researchers, students and practitioners. This paper reflects on experiences in building the SAPECS community, with the aim of supporting the development of similar networks elsewhere in the world, particularly in the Global South.

  Läs mer om The Southern African Program on Ecosystem Change and Society

• Mapping cumulative pressures on the grazing lands of northern Fennoscandia

  2022. Marianne Stoessel, Jon Moen, Regina Lindborg. Scientific Reports 12

  Artikel

  Traditional grazing areas in Europe have declined substantially over the last century. Specifically, in northern Fennoscandia, the grazing land is disturbed by cumulative land-use pressures. Here we analysed the configuration of the grazing land for reindeer and sheep in northern Fennoscandia in relation to the concurrent land-use pressures from tourism, road and railway networks, forestry, industrial and wind energy facilities, together with predator presence and climate change. Our results show that 85% of the region is affected by at least one land-use pressure and 60% is affected by multiple land-use pressures, co-occurring with predator presence and rising temperatures. As such, a majority of the grazing land is exposed to cumulative pressures in northern Fennoscandia. We stress that, if the expansion of cumulative pressures leads to grazing abandonment of disturbed areas and grazing intensification in other areas, it could irreversibly change northern vegetation and the Fennoscandian mountain landscape.

  Läs mer om Mapping cumulative pressures on the grazing lands of northern Fennoscandia

• Social-ecological change: insights from the Southern African Program on Ecosystem Change and Society

  2022. Reinette Biggs (et al.). Ecosystems and People 18 (1), 447-468

  Artikel

  Social-ecological systems (SES) research has emerged as an important area of sustainability science, informing and supporting pressing issues of transformation towards more sustainable, just and equitable futures. To date, much SES research has been done in or from the Global North, where the challenges and contexts for supporting sustainability transformations are substantially different from the Global South. This paper synthesises emerging insights on SES dynamics that can inform actions and advance research to support sustainability transformations specifically in the southern African context. The paper draws on work linked to members of the Southern African Program on Ecosystem Change and Society (SAPECS), a leading SES research network in the region, synthesizing key insights with respect to the five core themes of SAPECS: (i) transdisciplinary and engaged research, (ii) ecosystem services and human well-being, (iii) governance institutions and management practices, (iv) spatial relationships and cross-scale connections, and (v) regime shifts, traps and transformations. For each theme, we focus on insights that are particularly novel, interesting or important in the southern African context, and reflect on key research gaps and emerging frontiers for SES research in the region going forward. Such place-based insights are important for understanding the variation in SES dynamics around the world, and are crucial for informing a context-sensitive global agenda to foster sustainability transformations at local to global scales.

  Läs mer om Social-ecological change

• Supply and demand of ecosystem services among smallholder farmers in irrigated and rainfed farming, Kilombero, Tanzania

  2022. Edmond Alavaisha, Regina Lindborg. Ecosystems and People 18 (1), 661-671

  Artikel

  A sufficient supply of ecosystem services (ESs) in agriculture provides the basis for human sustainable development. Intensified large-scale farming has changed wetland ecosystems extensively by reducing both the resilience and capacity to support production of many ESs. Small-scale farming may also affect the generation of ESs where the impact often reflects the differences in farming practices. This paper explores the supply and demand of the ESs between management practices, irrigated and rainfed, of smallholder farmers in Kilombero wetland, Tanzania. We conducted interviews involving 30 households and two focus groups with five discussants for each practice, rainfed and irrigation. Generally, we found that the need for ES, especially food, water and flood control, in both farming practices, were exceeding the capacity to supply. In general, irrigation farming compared to rainfed farming was associated with higher levels of food production, increasing flood regulation and erosion control. However, the ES delivery and need were not uniform depending on the river discharge. The differences in supply and demand of ESs between farming practices suggest that society would benefit from investing in irrigation and regulatory infrastructures to minimize flooding risk and to build up the ecosystem’s natural capacity to produce services. Such practical policy-relevant measures could balance the gap between supply and demand of ESs in smallholder farming systems in Tanzanian wetland. 

  Läs mer om Supply and demand of ecosystem services among smallholder farmers in irrigated and rainfed farming, Kilombero, Tanzania

• Benchmarking plant diversity of Palaearctic grasslands and other open habitats

  2021. Idoia Biurrun (et al.). Journal of Vegetation Science 32 (4)

  Artikel

  Aims: Understanding fine-grain diversity patterns across large spatial extents is fundamental for macroecological research and biodiversity conservation. Using the GrassPlot database, we provide benchmarks of fine-grain richness values of Palaearctic open habitats for vascular plants, bryophytes, lichens and complete vegetation (i.e., the sum of the former three groups).

  Location: Palaearctic biogeographic realm.

  Methods: We used 126,524 plots of eight standard grain sizes from the GrassPlot database: 0.0001, 0.001, 0.01, 0.1, 1, 10, 100 and 1,000 m(2) and calculated the mean richness and standard deviations, as well as maximum, minimum, median, and first and third quartiles for each combination of grain size, taxonomic group, biome, region, vegetation type and phytosociological class.

  Results: Patterns of plant diversity in vegetation types and biomes differ across grain sizes and taxonomic groups. Overall, secondary (mostly semi-natural) grasslands and natural grasslands are the richest vegetation type. The open-access file GrassPlot Diversity Benchmarks and the web tool GrassPlot Diversity Explorer are now available online () and provide more insights into species richness patterns in the Palaearctic open habitats.

  Conclusions: The GrassPlot Diversity Benchmarks provide high-quality data on species richness in open habitat types across the Palaearctic. These benchmark data can be used in vegetation ecology, macroecology, biodiversity conservation and data quality checking. While the amount of data in the underlying GrassPlot database and their spatial coverage are smaller than in other extensive vegetation-plot databases, species recordings in GrassPlot are on average more complete, making it a valuable complementary data source in macroecology.

  Läs mer om Benchmarking plant diversity of Palaearctic grasslands and other open habitats

• Effects of Land Use Change Related to Small-Scale Irrigation Schemes in Kilombero Wetland, Tanzania

  2021. Edmond Alavaisha (et al.). Frontiers in Environmental Science 9

  Artikel

  Increasing agricultural land use intensity is one of the major land use/land cover (LULC) changes in wetland ecosystems. LULC changes have major impacts on the environment, livelihoods and nature conservation. In this study, we evaluate the impacts of investments in small-scale irrigation schemes on LULC in relation to regional development in Kilombero Valley, Tanzania. We used Remote Sensing (RS) and Geographical Information System (GIS) techniques together with interviews with Key Informants (KI) and Focus Group Discussion (FGD) with different stakeholders to assess the historical development of irrigation schemes and LULC change at local and regional scales over 3 decades. Overall, LULC differed over time and with spatial scale. The main transformation along irrigation schemes was from grassland and bushland into cultivated land. A similar pattern was also found at the regional valley scale, but here transformations from forest were more common. The rate of expansion of cultivated land was also higher where investments in irrigation infrastructure were made than in the wider valley landscape. While discussing the effects of irrigation and intensification on LULC in the valley, the KI and FGD participants expressed that local investments in intensification and smallholder irrigation may reduce pressure on natural land cover such as forest being transformed into cultivation. Such a pattern of spatially concentrated intensification of land use may provide an opportunity for nature conservation in the valley and likewise contribute positively to increased production and improve livelihoods of smallholder farmers.

  Läs mer om Effects of Land Use Change Related to Small-Scale Irrigation Schemes in Kilombero Wetland, Tanzania

• How does a wetland plant respond to increasing temperature along a latitudinal gradient?

  2021. Regina Lindborg (et al.). Ecology and Evolution 11 (22), 16228-16238

  Artikel

  Global warming affects plant fitness through changes in functional traits and thereby ecosystem function. Wetlands are declining worldwide, and hence, ecosystem functions linked to wetlands are threatened. We use Caltha palustris a common wetland plant to study whether warming affects growth and reproduction differently depending on origin of source population, potentially affecting phenotypic response to local climate. We conducted a 2-year in situ temperature manipulation experiment using clone pairs of C. palustris in four regions, along a 1300-km latitudinal gradient of Sweden. Open-top chambers were used to passively increase temperature, paired with controls. Growth and reproductive traits were measured from 320 plants (four regions x five sites x two treatments x eight plants) over two consecutive seasons to assess the effect of warming over time. We found that warming increased plant height, leaf area, number of leaves, and roots. High-latitude populations responded more strongly to warming than low-latitude populations, especially by increasing leaf area. Warming increased number of flowers in general, but only in the second year, while number of fruits increased in low-latitude populations the first year. Prolonged warming leads to an increase in both number of leaves and flowers over time. While reproduction shows varying and regional responses to warming, impacts on plant growth, especially in high-latitude populations, have more profound effects. Such effects could lead to changes in plant community composition with increased abundance of fast-growing plants with larger leaves and more clones, affecting plant competition and ecological functions such as decomposition and nutrient retention. Effects of warming were highly context dependent; thus, we encourage further use of warming experiments to predict changes in growth, reproduction, and community composition across wetland types and climate gradients targeting different plant forms.

  Läs mer om How does a wetland plant respond to increasing temperature along a latitudinal gradient?

• What is the effect of giving the grazers access to additional nutrient sources on biodiversity in semi-natural pastures? A systematic review protocol

  2021. Ida Envall (et al.). Environmental Evidence 10 (1)

  Artikel

  Background: Semi-natural pastures are unfertilized grasslands with a long history of traditional low-input grazing management. This kind of pastures are recognized for their high species richness. However, as a consequence of modernization of agriculture, many of the semi-natural pastures have been lost during the last century, leading to a serious threat to farmland biodiversity. Semi-natural pastures are relatively low in productivity. Hence, to increase profitability, farmers may want to give the grazing animals access to additional nutrient sources. This can be done either as supplementary feeding, or by fencing the semi-natural pastures into the same enclosure as improved, more nutrient-rich, pastures. These practices are, however, controversial. It is argued that since semi-natural pastures are species-rich partly because they are nutrient-poor, introducing additional nutrients into the system should be avoided. Accordingly, in Sweden, these interventions are often prohibited while receiving financial subsidies for management of semi-natural pastures. However, since many farmers are dependent on such support to maintain their pastures, these prohibitions often cause problems. The question has been raised whether giving the grazers access to additional nutrient sources really affect the biodiversity in semi-natural pastures, as is assumed. The primary aim of the proposed systematic review is to answer this question.

  Method: Peer-reviewed and grey literature will be searched for using bibliographic databases, search engines, specialist websites and stakeholder contacts. The references will be screened for relevance according to a predefined set of eligibility criteria. The criteria will be tested and clarified iteratively, until consistency in interpretations is achieved. Thereafter, the literature will be screened in two stages, first based upon title and abstract and then by examining full texts. Full text screening will be performed with blinded decisions by two independent reviewers. Each relevant study will then be critically appraised, based on a set of predefined validity criteria. A narrative synthesis will be provided, outlining the evidence base in terms of bibliographic information and study metadata. If possible, quantitative syntheses based on meta-analyses will be performed. Identified relevant knowledge gaps will be highlighted and discussed.

  Läs mer om What is the effect of giving the grazers access to additional nutrient sources on biodiversity in semi-natural pastures? A systematic review protocol

• Adaptive capacity and coping strategies of small-scale coastal fisheries to declining fish catches: Insights from Tanzanian communities

  2020. Mathew Ogalo Silas (et al.). Environmental Science and Policy 108, 67-76

  Artikel

  Small-scale fishing communities are expected to adapt to fish catch fluctuations linked to global environmental change. Notwithstanding, impacts from severe climate events and overexploitation of fisheries resources can compromise functions and resilience of ecosystems and associated species, and thereby jeopardize long-term population trend stability and fisheries productivity. To date, most assessments and vulnerability studies of fisheries-dependent populaces have focused on global, regional and national levels, while studies at village and community levels, where adaptive planning in the context of climate- and environmental changes is important, are less common. Based on data from official fishery records over a three-decadal period (1984–2016) and recent interviews with artisanal fishermen (319 fishers from eight communities) along the Tanzanian coast, we assessed small-scale fisheries with regard to (i) long-term trends in fishery landings, (ii) long-term alterations in fishing gear use, and (iii) fishers’ perceptions on how they have been coping and adapting to fluctuating fish landings. We further investigated (iv) the adaptive capacity of a wide range of coastal villages by assessing the fishers’ responses to an anticipated future scenario of a major (50 %) decline in landings from the current fisheries catch levels. The long-term trend records of fish landings showed a remarkable ∼50 % reduction in terms of both catch per vessel and catch per fisher from 1984 to 2016. According to the interviews, the majority of fishers (75 %) have changed fishing grounds from nearshore to offshore areas during the last decade, owing to a general perception that nearshore areas have suffered major reduction in fish stocks (due to overfishing and environmental changes related to extreme climate- or weather events), while offshore areas were considered still productive. The change in location of fishing grounds is probably a result of the clear switch in major gear type utilization from beach seine to ring net that occurred over the last decades. With a further progressive decline in fishery catches to a predictive level of 50 % of the current catch level, there is a general perception that artisanal fishers will continue fishing because alternative livelihoods (like crop farming, which employs more than 65 % of the population) have suffered similar negative impact. These findings highlight the need for building adaptive capacity in local coastal communities to develop alternative coping strategies for the impacts of climate- and environmental changes.

  Läs mer om Adaptive capacity and coping strategies of small-scale coastal fisheries to declining fish catches

• Contrasting multi-taxa functional diversity patterns along vegetation structure gradients of woody pastures

  2020. Simon Jakobsson (et al.). Biodiversity and Conservation 29, 3551-3572

  Artikel

  Woody pastures represent keystone habitats for biodiversity in agricultural landscapes, contributing to increased resource availability, landscape heterogeneity and structural variability. High taxonomic diversity is closely linked to vegetation structure in woody pastures, but examining functional characteristics of species assemblages can shed more light on the ecological mechanisms driving divergent responses to habitat characteristics and help guide good management practices. To this end, we use a multi-taxa approach to investigate how plant, bat and bird taxonomic and functional diversity are affected by pasture tree and shrub density, structural complexity and proximate forest cover in southern Sweden. In particular, we use a trait exclusion approach to estimate the sensitivity of diversity-environment relationships to specific traits. We found little congruence between corresponding diversity metrics across taxa. Bird species richness responded stronger to environmental variables than functional diversity metrics, whereas the functional response to the environment was stronger than the taxonomic response among plants and bats. While increasing tree densities increased the taxonomic diversity of all three taxa, a simultaneous functional response was only evident for plants. Contrasting measures of vegetation structure affected different aspects of functional diversity across taxa, driven by different traits. For plants and birds, traits linked to resource use contributed particularly to the functional response, whereas body mass had stronger influence on bat functional diversity metrics. Multi-taxa functional approaches are essential to understand the effects of woody pasture structural attributes on biodiversity, and ultimately inform management guidelines to preserve the biological values in woody pastures.

  Läs mer om Contrasting multi-taxa functional diversity patterns along vegetation structure gradients of woody pastures

• Soil Carbon, Nitrogen and Phosphorus Contents along a Gradient of Agricultural Intensity in the Kilombero Valley, Tanzania

  2020. John Livsey (et al.). Land 9 (4)

  Artikel

  The preservation of soils which provide many important services to society is a pressing global issue. This is particularly the case in countries like Tanzania, which will experience rapid population growth over coming decades. The country is also currently experiencing rapid land-use change and increasing intensification of its agricultural systems to ensure sufficient food production. However, little is known regarding what the long term effects of this land use change will be, especially concerning soil quality. Therefore, we assessed the effect of irrigation and fertilization in agricultural systems, going from low intensity smallholder to high intensity commercial production, on soil organic carbon (SOC), total nitrogen (TN), and total phosphorous (TP) concentrations and stocks. Soil sampling was conducted within Kilombero Plantations Ltd. (KPL), a high intensity commercial farm located in Kilombero, Tanzania, and also on surrounding smallholder farms, capturing a gradient of agricultural intensity. We found that irrigation had a positive effect on SOC concentrations and stocks while fertilization had a negative effect. Rain-fed non-fertilized production had no effect on soil properties when compared to native vegetation. No difference was found in concentrations of TN or TP across the intensity gradient. However, TN stocks were significantly larger in the surface soils (0-30 cm) of the most intensive production system when compared to native vegetation and smallholder production.

  Läs mer om Soil Carbon, Nitrogen and Phosphorus Contents along a Gradient of Agricultural Intensity in the Kilombero Valley, Tanzania

• Assessment of Water Quality Across Irrigation Schemes: A Case Study of Wetland Agriculture Impacts in Kilombero Valley, Tanzania

  2019. Edmond Alavaisha, Steve W. Lyon, Regina Lindborg. Water 11 (4)

  Artikel

  Coupled change in land and water use due to increased farming intensity is a main factor affecting water quality and quantity, ecological functions and biodiversity globally. Prolonging growing seasons and increasing productivity in wetlands through irrigation have been targeted for increasing food security, particularly in developing countries. Nevertheless, irrigation and drainage have often been associated with degradation of water quality through increased agrochemical and fertiliser runoff and leaching at local scales. In this study, we investigated water quality in streams used for irrigation in a wetland area in Kilombero Valley, Tanzania. We measured physical-chemical water parameters and collected macroinvertebrates with different sensitivity to water quality across several small irrigation schemes covering various conditions. Turbidity, temperature, nitrate-N, and ammonium-N were significantly higher at sampling sites downstream of irrigation compared to upstream. Macroinvertebrate diversity, richness and average score per taxa (ASPT) were higher in general in sampling sites upstream of irrigation, with more sensitive macroinvertebrates decreasing in abundance downstream. There was a positive correlation between physical-chemical parameters and macroinvertebrate indices across the sites. We demonstrate that macroinvertebrate indices can be used as a quick assessment of water quality in response to irrigation schemes in small-scale farming systems of Tanzania. This in turn can allow us to track changes affecting wetland ecosystem function and biodiversity at higher trophic levels and across larger scales, thereby providing useful early warnings to help avoid widespread degradation under widespread agricultural intensification.

  Läs mer om Assessment of Water Quality Across Irrigation Schemes

• Different agricultural practices affect soil carbon, nitrogen and phosphorous in Kilombero -Tanzania

  2019. Edmond Alavaisha, Stefano Manzoni, Regina Lindborg. Journal of Environmental Management 234, 159-166

  Artikel

  Converting natural and semi-natural vegetation to agriculture is currently the most significant land use change at global scale. This conversion leads to changes in soil nutrients and increased CO2 emissions. However, knowledge of how soil organic carbon and nutrients change under various farming management is still limited, especially for small scale farming systems. This study evaluated the effects of different farming systems on soil organic carbon (SOC), total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorous (TP) in subsistence farming at Kilombero, Tanzania. We applied an in-situ experimental setup, comparing maize and rice farming with and without irrigation and difference in fertilizers, with replicated soil sampling at five soil depths to a depth of 60 cm. The results show that irrigation had a positive effect on profile-averaged concentrations of SOC and TN, while fertilization had a positive effect on TN. Higher concentrations and stocks of TN were found in maize field soils compered to rice fields. In the vertical profile, irrigation and fertilization had positive effects on concentrations of SOC and TN of top soil layers, and the interaction between irrigation and fertilization extended the effect to deeper soil layers. Our results indicate that moderate irrigation and fertilization can help to improve carbon storage and nutrient availability (TN) in small-scale farming soils in Africa.

  Läs mer om Different agricultural practices affect soil carbon, nitrogen and phosphorous in Kilombero -Tanzania

• Do alternative irrigation strategies for rice cultivation decrease water footprints at the cost of long-term soil health?

  2019. John Livsey (et al.). Environmental Research Letters 14 (7)

  Artikel

  The availability of water is a growing concern for flooded rice production. As such, several water-saving irrigation practices have been developed to reduce water requirements. Alternate wetting and drying and mid-season drainage have been shown to potentially reduce water requirements while maintaining rice yields when compared to continuous flooding. With the removal of permanently anaerobic conditions during the growing season, water-saving irrigation can also reduce CO2 equivalent (CO2eq) emissions, helping reduce the impact of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. However, the long-term impact of water-saving irrigation on soil organic carbon (SOC)-used here as an indicator of soil health and fertility-has not been explored. We therefore conducted a meta-analysis to assess the effects of common water-saving irrigation practices (alternate wetting and drying and mid-season drainage) on (i) SOC, and (ii) GHG emissions. Despite an extensive literature search, only 12 studies were found containing data to constrain the soil C balance in both continuous flooding and water-saving irrigation plots, highlighting the still limited understanding of long-term impacts of water-saving irrigation on soil health and GHG emissions. Water-saving irrigation was found to reduce emissions of CH4 by 52.3% and increased those of CO2 by 44.8%. CO2eq emissions were thereby reduced by 18.6% but the soil-to-atmosphere carbon (C) flux increased by 25% when compared to continuous flooding. Water-saving irrigation was also found to have a negative effect on both SOC-reducing concentrations by 5.2%-and soil organic nitrogen-potentially depleting stocks by more than 100 kgN/ha per year. While negative effects of water-saving irrigation on rice yield may not be visible in short-term experiments, care should be taken when assessing the long-term sustainability of these irrigation practices because they can decrease soil fertility. Strategies need to be developed for assessing the more long-term effects of these irrigation practices by considering trade-offs between water savings and other ecosystem services.

  Läs mer om Do alternative irrigation strategies for rice cultivation decrease water footprints at the cost of long-term soil health?

• Effects of Ground Cover Management on Biotic Communities, Ecosystem Services and Disservices in Organic Deciduous Fruit Orchards in South Africa

  2019. Klaus Birkhofer (et al.). Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems 3

  Artikel

  Organic orchards may have higher biodiversity and levels of ecosystem services compared to conventionally managed orchards. However, it is not well-understood how management decisions within organic orchards alter biotic communities and ecosystem services. The simultaneous provision of individual ecosystem services and mitigation of disservices is crucial for organic growers who cannot replace natural regulatory processes by artificial inputs. This study addresses one of the major constraints for organic fruit production in South Africa, namely the availability of strategies for pest control and nutrient management in soils. Partly due to these constraints, organic certification of deciduous fruits is very uncommon in South Africa and limited our selection of study plots. A field experiment on a single farm was established to study the impact of a treatment with dead organic mulch compared to controls on the composition of biotic communities, the simultaneous provision of ecosystem services, and the mitigation of disservices in five organic deciduous fruit orchards in the Western Cape province. Mulching did not significantly reduce weed cover or alter the taxonomic composition of weed communities, but affected soil organisms. Mulched subplots had significantly higher densities of Collembola and phytophagous nematodes and lower microbial activity and woodlice numbers. Independent of mulch treatment, both orchard type (conventional: apricot and organic: apricot, peach, plum, and quince) and weed cover had pronounced effects on the composition of biotic communities and ecosystem service and disservice potentials. The community composition of plants, microbes and web-building spiders differed significantly between organically and conventionally managed plots. The composition of communities and levels of ecosystem service and disservice potentials also differed significantly between organic orchards of different fruit type. Two potential pest groups (phytophagous nematodes and arthropods) were most abundant in peach subplots with high weed cover and tree age and least abundant in conventionally managed apricot plots. These results emphasize the crucial importance to consider weed-microbe-animal interactions when developing management practices in organic orchards. Management decisions in organic orchards hold the potential to affect biotic communities to the benefit of pest control and soil nutrient services, but can also result in unexpected detrimental effects on ecosystem services.

  Läs mer om Effects of Ground Cover Management on Biotic Communities, Ecosystem Services and Disservices in Organic Deciduous Fruit Orchards in South Africa

• Exploring the effects of pasture trees on plant community patterns

  2019. Simon Jakobsson (et al.). Journal of Vegetation Science 30 (5), 809-820

  Artikel

  Questions

  We aim to answer three questions: (a) what are the effects of canopy shading of different tree species on seed germination of eight understorey grassland species? (b) how is plant species’ occurrence in understorey communities affected by differences in canopy cover and does that depend on tree species composition? and (c) are there mechanistic links between the effects of trees on species’ germination and their occurrence in the understorey plant community?

  Location

  Semi‐natural wooded pastures in the biosphere reserve Östra Vätterbranterna, southern Sweden.

  Methods

  In this study, we examined the germination of eight grassland plant species in a seed sowing experiment under natural conditions in the field. Seeds were sown beneath and outside the canopy of two tree species within 48 plots split up by four wooded pasture sites. We combined observed germination responses with a plant community survey to assess the effects of canopy cover in relation to tree species composition on plant community responses. We analysed these data in relation to species’ seed mass and vegetative shade tolerance.

  Results

  Shade‐tolerant species germinated better beneath compared to outside tree canopies, without any clear advantage of large‐seeded over small‐seeded species. As expected, species’ shade tolerance was also positively related to canopy cover within the understorey plant community. Importantly, we found strong tree species‐specific effects of canopy shading on the species’ germination response, but not on their presence within the plant community. However, optimal canopy cover conditions for germination and for the mature plants differed across grassland species and depended on tree species.

  Conclusions

  Our results show that different tree species play key ecosystem engineering roles in shaping wooded grassland plant community composition at the germination stage. Management practices favouring specific tree species may therefore be highly relevant for targeted biodiversity conservation of wooded semi‐natural grasslands.

  Läs mer om Exploring the effects of pasture trees on plant community patterns

• Grasslands-more important for ecosystem services than you might think

  2019. J. Bengtsson (et al.). Ecosphere 10 (2)

  Artikel

  Extensively managed grasslands are recognized globally for their high biodiversity and their social and cultural values. However, their capacity to deliver multiple ecosystem services (ES) as parts of agricultural systems is surprisingly understudied compared to other production systems. We undertook a comprehensive overview of ES provided by natural and semi-natural grasslands, using southern Africa (SA) and northwest Europe as case studies, respectively. We show that these grasslands can supply additional non-agricultural services, such as water supply and flow regulation, carbon storage, erosion control, climate mitigation, pollination, and cultural ES. While demand for ecosystems services seems to balance supply in natural grasslands of SA, the smaller areas of semi-natural grasslands in Europe appear to not meet the demand for many services. We identified three bundles of related ES from grasslands: water ES including fodder production, cultural ES connected to livestock production, and population-based regulating services (e.g., pollination and biological control), which also linked to biodiversity. Greenhouse gas emission mitigation seemed unrelated to the three bundles. The similarities among the bundles in SA and northwestern Europe suggest that there are generalities in ES relations among natural and semi-natural grassland areas. We assessed trade-offs and synergies among services in relation to management practices and found that although some trade-offs are inevitable, appropriate management may create synergies and avoid trade-offs among many services. We argue that ecosystem service and food security research and policy should give higher priority to how grasslands can be managed for fodder and meat production alongside other ES. By integrating grass-lands into agricultural production systems and land-use decisions locally and regionally, their potential to contribute to functional landscapes and to food security and sustainable livelihoods can be greatly enhanced.

  Läs mer om Grasslands-more important for ecosystem services than you might think

• Transferring biodiversity-ecosystem function research to the management of 'real-world' ecosystems

  2019. Peter Manning (et al.). Mechanisms underlying the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem function, 323-356

  Kapitel

  Biodiversity-ecosystem functioning (BEF) research grew rapidly following concerns that biodiversity loss would negatively affect ecosystem functions and the ecosystem services they underpin. However, despite evidence that biodiversity strongly affects ecosystem functioning, the influence of BEF research upon policy and the management of 'real-world' ecosystems, i.e., semi-natural habitats and agroecosystems, has been limited. Here, we address this issue by classifying BEF research into three clusters based on the degree of human control over species composition and the spatial scale, in terms of grain, of the study, and discussing how the research of each cluster is best suited to inform particular fields of ecosystem management. Research in the first cluster, small-grain highly controlled studies, is best able to provide general insights into mechanisms and to inform the management of species-poor and highly managed systems such as croplands, plantations, and the restoration of heavily degraded ecosystems. Research from the second cluster, small-grain observational studies, and species removal and addition studies, may allow for direct predictions of the impacts of species loss in specific semi-natural ecosystems. Research in the third cluster, large-grain uncontrolled studies, may best inform landscape-scale management and national-scale policy. We discuss barriers to transfer within each cluster and suggest how new research and knowledge exchange mechanisms may overcome these challenges. To meet the potential for BEF research to address global challenges, we recommend transdisciplinary research that goes beyond these current clusters and considers the social-ecological context of the ecosystems in which BEF knowledge is generated. This requires recognizing the social and economic value of biodiversity for ecosystem services at scales, and in units, that matter to land managers and policy makers.

  Läs mer om Transferring biodiversity-ecosystem function research to the management of 'real-world' ecosystems

• Tree density limitations within EU overlook woody pasture bird diversity

  Simon Jakobsson, Regina Lindborg.

  Läs mer om Tree density limitations within EU overlook woody pasture bird diversity

• A framework to identify indicator species for ecosystem services in agricultural landscapes

  2018. Klaus Birkhofer (et al.). Ecological Indicators 91, 278-286

  Artikel

  Improving our understanding of the relationships between biodiversity and the delivery of ecosystem services is crucial for the development of sustainable agriculture. We introduce a novel framework that is based on the identification of indicator species for single or multiple ecosystem services across taxonomic groups based on indicator species analyses. We utilize multi-species community data (unlike previous single species approaches) without giving up information about the identity of species in our framework (unlike previous species richness approaches). We compiled a comprehensive community dataset including abundances of 683 invertebrate, vertebrate and plant species to identify indicator species that were either positively or negatively related to biological control, diversity of red-listed species or crop yield in agricultural landscapes in southern Sweden. Our results demonstrate that some taxonomic groups include significantly higher percentages of indicator species for these ecosystem services. Spider communities for example included a higher percentage of significant positive indicator species for biological control than ground or rove beetle communities. Bundles of indicator species for the analysed ecosystem service potentials usually included species that could be linked to the respective ecosystem service based on their functional role in local communities. Several of these species are conspicuous enough to be monitored by trained amateurs and could be used in bundles that are either crucial for the provision of individual ecosystem services or indicate agricultural landscapes with high value for red-listed species or crop yields. The use of bundles of characteristic indicator species for the simultaneous assessment of ecosystem services may reduce the amount of labour, time and cost in future assessments. In addition, future analysis using our framework in other ecosystems or with other subsets of ecosystem services and taxonomic groups will improve our understanding of service-providing species in local communities. In any case, expert knowledge is needed to select species from the identified subsets of significant indicator species and these species should be validated by existing data or additional sampling prior to being used for ecosystem service monitoring.

  Läs mer om A framework to identify indicator species for ecosystem services in agricultural landscapes

• Facing the future for grassland restoration – What about the farmers?

  2018. Emelie Waldén, Regina Lindborg. Journal of Environmental Management 227, 305-312

  Artikel

  In line with the 2010 Aichi Convention for Biological Diversity, the European Union has a goal to restore 15% of degraded ecosystems and their services by the year 2020 (target 2, Europe 2020). This includes restoration of semi-natural grasslands (SNGs). Management of both intact and restored SNGs is dependent on people's willingness to manage them. Due to low profitability, management abandonment still occurs all over Europe, which highlights the need to raise farmers' and landowners' perspectives. In this study, we combined survey data and in-depth interviews with farmers/landowners managing previously restored SNGs, to understand how they perceive the restoration process, the outcome and future management. Survey and interview data were analysed in relation to biodiversity and Agri-environmental payments data from the restored sites. Almost all respondents considered the restoration successful and the re-inventoried restored SNGs also showed an increase in plant diversity. Nevertheless, 10% of the restored SNGs were abandoned again post-restoration and 40% of the respondents were unsure if they would continue the management in the future. Abandoned management may cause a negative trend in terms of decreased biological, cultural and aesthetic values, in the local community, as well as for the society in general. Most respondents explained a strong dependency on Agri-environmental payments, both as a restoration incentive and for post-restoration management. Also non-financial support from authorities in form of feedback and advice was requested, as well as support from the local community and society as a whole. Future management in a longer time perspective was strongly coupled to the farm economy, i.e. received Agri-environmental payments at farm-level and profit from selling agricultural products, and whether the farmers had successors. We conclude that both social and ecological factors, here farm economy, authority support and proper management, must be in place for long-term success of grassland restoration.

  Läs mer om Facing the future for grassland restoration – What about the farmers?

• How does roadside vegetation management affect the diversity of vascular plants and invertebrates? A systematic review

  2018. Simon Jakobsson (et al.). Environmental Evidence 7 (1)

  Artikel

  Background: With appropriate management, based on vegetation removal that reverses late-successional vegetation stages, roadsides can support high levels of biodiversity. However, current recommendations for roadside management to conserve or restore biodiversity are largely based on research on non-roadside grassland habitats, and much of the evidence on how roadside management practices affect biodiversity is found in non-peer-reviewed grey literature. Therefore, based on suggestions from key stakeholders and an initial systematic map that identified 97 studies on how biodiversity is affected by vegetation removal on roadsides, we conducted a full systematic review of the effects on plant and invertebrate diversity of disturbance-based maintenance of roadsides. Methods: The review was restricted to effects of non-chemical interventions such as mowing, burning, grazing and mechanical shrub removal. Studies were selected from the systematic map and from an updated search for more recent literature using a priori eligibility criteria. Relevant articles were subject to critical appraisal of clarity and susceptibility to bias, and studies with low or unclear validity were excluded from the review. Data on species richness, species diversity and abundance of functional groups were extracted together with metadata on site properties and other potential effect modifiers. Results from the 54 included studies were summarised in a narrative synthesis, and impacts of mowing practices on the total species richness and diversity of plants and on the abundance of forbs, graminoids and woody plants were quantitatively analysed using t tests of study-level effect ratios. Results: Nearly all of the 54 studies included in the review were conducted in Europe (29) or North America (24). The vast majority of studies (48) examined impacts of mowing. Effects on vascular plants were reported in 51 studies, whereas 8 of the studies reported on invertebrates. Quantitative analysis of plant species richness and species diversity showed that mowing effects were dependent on the interplay between mowing frequency and hay removal. Thus, there were no statistically significant overall effects of mowing vs. no mowing, frequency of mowing, timing of mowing or hay removal. However, species richness was higher in roadsides mowed once or twice per year with hay removal than in unmown roadsides, and positively affected by mowing twice compared to once per year. Similar, but less pronounced, effects were found for plant species diversity. In addition, mowing had a negative impact on woody plant abundance, and increased mowing frequency had a negative impact on graminoid abundance. The few studies on invertebrates showed effects that diverged across taxon groups, and there was not enough data for quantitative analysis of these results. Conclusions: The results provide evidence on the effects of mowing on plant species richness. To increase plant species richness, roadsides should be mowed each year, preferably twice per year, and hay should be removed after each cutting. The review also identifies large knowledge gaps concerning roadside management and its effects on biodiversity, especially regarding invertebrates. Hence, this systematic review provides not only a valuable basis for evidence-based management but also guidance for future research on this topic, essential to inform management of road networks for biodiversity conservation.

  Läs mer om How does roadside vegetation management affect the diversity of vascular plants and invertebrates? A systematic review

• Landscape heterogeneity correlates with recreational values: a case study from Swedish agricultural landscapes and implications for policy

  2018. Thomas Hahn, Malena Heinrup, Regina Lindborg. Landscape research 43 (5), 696-707

  Artikel

  Agri-environmental schemes are often targeted at heterogenic landscapes to support several ecosystem services besides food production. The question is whether heterogenic landscapes also support recreation values. Previous studies suggest this but statistical analysis of the relation between heterogeneity and recreation is lacking. To assess this, we used a quantitative Landscape Heterogeneity Index (LHI), developed for biodiversity conservation. We asked five different user groups to score 12 photographs of landscapes depicting different LHI. All user groups, especially conservationists and hunters, preferred the heterogeneous landscapes and this difference was statistically significant for all groups except farmers. Accessibility, in terms of roads, had no obvious impact on the recreational value conveyed by the photos. The paper provides evidence that the recreational value amplifies biodiversity-based values of heterogeneous landscapes and argues that such landscapes also provide resilience and insurance value buffering against unexpected risks. Implications for policy are discussed.

  HIGHLIGHTS

  Recreational value was positively correlated to landscape heterogeneity.

  This correlation was statistically significant for all user groups except farmers.

  Accessibility, in terms of roads, had no obvious impact on the recreational value.

  The multi-functionality of heterogeneous agricultural landscapes including resilience and the insurance value should be better acknowledged in policy.

  Läs mer om Landscape heterogeneity correlates with recreational values

• Local conditions in small habitats and surrounding landscape are important for pollination services, biological pest control and seed predation

  2018. Jessica Lindgren, Regina Lindborg, Sara A. O. Cousins. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment 251, 107-113

  Artikel

  Small semi-natural and natural habitats in agricultural landscapes are important for biodiversity. With modern and more intensive agricultural practices they have become smaller (less than 1600 m²) and more isolated study which also affects ecosystem functions. Most ecosystem function studies using field experiments focus on a single function. Here, we investigate three functions in the same landscape at the same time. We investigated how local (trees, shrubs and grass-cover in small remnant habitats) and landscape factors (amount of and distance from key habitats i.e. forest and semi-natural grasslands) affect pollination, biological pest control and seed predation. We applied a multifunctional approach using different organisms to analyze pollination success (Primula veris), predation on aphid pests (Rhopalosiphum padi) and seed predation (of Helianthus annuus). A set-up of 3 different experiments were placed in situ on 12 midfield islets. Pollination was more affected by local factors than landscape factors, although pollination success was improved by a smaller proportions of surrounding crop fields. Seed predation was higher on islets with more surrounding forest and also with more trees on the habitat, especially close to shrubs, compared to more open areas of habitat. Predation on aphids decreased on midfield islets with a larger amount of nearby forest but was positively affected by increasing local tree cover on the habitat.

  We show that managing semi-open habitats that are connected to other natural or semi-natural habitats can improve pollination success and biological pest and weed control, thus potentially increasing yield in surrounding crop fields.

  Läs mer om Local conditions in small habitats and surrounding landscape are important for pollination services, biological pest control and seed predation

• On the other side of the ditch: exploring contrasting ecosystem service coproduction between smallholder and commercial agriculture

  2018. Rebecka Henriksson Malinga (et al.). Ecology and Society 23 (4)

  Artikel

  Managing for increased multifunctionality of agricultural landscapes is a crucial step toward a sustainable global agriculture. We studied two contrasting agricultural landscapes that exist in parallel on two sides of a ditch in the South African Drakensberg Mountains. The large-scale commercial and smallholder farmers operate within a similar biophysical context but have different farming intensities, management practices, socioeconomic positions, ethnic identities, cultural contexts, and land tenure systems. To assess multifunctionality, we examined the ecosystem services coproduced within these two social-ecological systems, by applying a mixed-method approach combining in-depth interviews, participatory mapping, and expert assessments. The results indicate clear differences between the two farming systems and farmer groups in terms of supply, demand, and the capacity of the farmers to influence ecosystem service production within their landscapes. Commercial farmers can generally produce agricultural products to meet their demand and have the capacity to mitigate land degradation and erosion. Smallholder food production is low, and the demand for ecosystem services is high. Since the smallholders lack the resources to mitigate unsustainable use, this leads to overuse and land degradation. Both landscape types manifest aspects of multifunctionality but vary in the outcomes. Unequal access to land; skills; and natural, financial, and technical resources can hamper multifunctionality and the development toward an equitable and sustainable agriculture in South Africa.

  Läs mer om On the other side of the ditch

• Post Hoc Assessment of Stand Structure Across European Wood-Pastures: Implications for Land Use Policy

  2018. Marlene Roellig (et al.). Rangeland Ecology & Management 71 (5), 526-535

  Artikel

  Europe's woodland and savanna rangelands, often part of silvopastoral systems known as wood-pastures, are deteriorating because of abandonment that leads to return to a forested state or lack of tree regeneration from overgrazing or tree and shrub removal. Despite numerous local studies, there has been no broader survey of the stand structure of European wood-pastures showing which systems are at risk of losing their semiopen character. This overview aims to 1) show some of the differences and similarities in wood-pastures from landscapes across Europe and 2) identify which of these wood-pastures are at risk of losing their semiopen character. We collated a dataset of 13 693 trees from 390 plots in wood-pastures from eight different European regions (western Estonia, eastern Greece, northern Germany, Hungary, northern Italy, southern Portugal, central Romania, and southern Sweden), including tree diameters at breast height, tree density, management type, and tree species composition. On the basis of their structural characteristics, we classified wood-pastures using principal component analysis (PCA) and cluster analysis. The PCA showed a gradient from dense wood-pastures with high levels of regeneration (e.g., in Estonia) to sparse wood-pastures with large trees but a lack of regeneration (e.g., in Romania). Along this gradient, we identified three main groups of wood-pastures: 1) sparse wood-pastures with mostly big trees; 2) dense wood-pastures composed of small trees, and 3) wood-pastures containing a wide range of tree ages. Our results show a large structural gradient in European wood-pastures, as well as regeneration problems varying in their severity, highlighting the importance of social-ecological context for wood-pasture conditions. To maintain the ecological and cultural integrity of European wood-pastures, we suggest 1) more comprehensively considering them in European policies such as the Common Agricultural Policy and EU Habitats Directive, while 2) taking into account their structural characteristics and social-ecological backgrounds.

  Läs mer om Post Hoc Assessment of Stand Structure Across European Wood-Pastures

• Relationships between multiple biodiversity components and ecosystem services along a landscape complexity gradient

  2018. Klaus Birkhofer (et al.). Biological Conservation 218, 247-253

  Artikel

  The assessment of effects of anthropogenic disturbance on biodiversity (BD) and ecosystem services (ES) and their relationships are key priorities of the Intergovernmental Panel for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. Agricultural landscapes and their associated BD provide multiple ES and it is crucial to understand how relationships between ES and BD components change along gradients of landscape complexity. In this study, we related eight ES potentials to the species richness of five invertebrate, vertebrate and plant taxonomic groups in cereal farming systems. The landscape complexity gradient ranged from areas dominated by annually tilled arable land to areas with high proportions of unfertilized, non-rotational pastures and uncultivated field borders. We show that after accounting for landscape complexity relationships between yield and bird richness or biological control became more positive, but relationships between bird richness and biological control became less positive. The relationship between bird and plant richness turned from positive to negative. Multidiversity (overall biodiversity), was positively related to landscape complexity, whereas multifunctionality (overall ES provision), was not significantly related to either one of these. Our results suggest that multidiversity can be promoted by increasing landscape complexity; however; we found no support for a simultaneous increase of several individual ES, BD components or multifunctionality. These results challenge the assumption that bio-diversity-friendly landscape management will always simultaneously promote multiple ES in agricultural landscapes. Future studies need to verify this pattern by using multi-year data, larger sets of ES and BD components and a study design that is appropriate to address larger spatial scales and relationships in several regions.

  Läs mer om Relationships between multiple biodiversity components and ecosystem services along a landscape complexity gradient

• Temperate fish community variation over seasons in relation to large-scale geographic seascape variables

  2018. Diana Perry (et al.). Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 75 (10), 1723-1732

  Artikel

  In shallow-water marine environments, ecosystem functioning is a complex interworking of fine-scale characteristics and region-wide factors, and the importance of these variables can vary on multiple temporal and spatial scales. This underwater video study targeted seasonal changes in the fish community of seagrass habitats along the Swedish west coast and the influence of offshore seascape variables (latitudinal position, wave exposure, open ocean, and deep water). Results showed that fish assemblage structure exhibited seasonal changes between summer and autumn and strong spatiotemporal variations in the importance of offshore factors affecting shallow-water fish communities. In summer, abundance from the Gobiidae family responded to wave exposure, whereas the Gadidae family and juvenile migrant habitat preference guild responded to latitudinal position and proximity to deep water. In autumn, deep water was related to abundance of Gadidae and juvenile migrants, whereas latitudinal position influenced Gasterosteidae. These findings underscore the importance of understanding the influence of offshore factors on facets of coastal fish assemblages to address large-scale geographic connectivity along nearshore–offshore gradients.

  Läs mer om Temperate fish community variation over seasons in relation to large-scale geographic seascape variables

• Effects of landscape composition, species pool and time on grassland specialists in restored semi-natural grasslands

  2017. Emelie Waldén (et al.). Biological Conservation 214, 176-183

  Artikel

  Habitat restoration is an important complement to protecting habitat for the conservation of biodiversity. Semi-natural grasslands are target habitats for ecological restoration in temperate Europe. Restoration of abandoned semi-natural grasslands often relies on spontaneous colonisation of plant species from the soil seed bank or the surrounding landscape. Although many studies show that the regional species pool is important for upholding local diversity, its effect on restoration outcome in semi-natural grasslands is poorly known. In this multi landscape study, we examined grassland specialist species occurring in restored grasslands and the effect of specialist species pool, landscape composition and local temporal factors. We found that specialist richness and frequency was positively affected by specialist richness and frequency in the surrounding landscape. Specialist richness in the restored grasslands also increased with time since restoration. Moreover, specialist frequency in the restored grassland increased with the proportion of semi-natural and remnant grassland habitats in the landscape. We also found a positive relationship between the proportion of species occurring in both the restored grassland and its surrounding landscape and time since restoration, in landscapes with high proportions of semi natural grasslands. This suggests that both temporal factors, as well as the landscape composition and species pool, affect plant recolonisation in restored semi-natural grasslands.

  Läs mer om Effects of landscape composition, species pool and time on grassland specialists in restored semi-natural grasslands

• European Union tree density limits do not reflect bat diversity in wood-pastures

  2017. Heather Wood, Regina Lindborg, Simon Jakobsson. Biological Conservation 210, 60-71

  Artikel

  The European Union's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) recommends subsidies are only granted for wood-pastures with < 100 trees/ha. This guidance exists despite these habitats being among the most biodiverse in boreal Europe and currently under threat due to land conversion. Bats are important bio-indicators of agricultural landscapes, but bat diversity has not explicitly been studied in relation to this policy. We investigate how bat activity, foraging, species richness and functional groups are affected in twenty-six wood-pastures along a gradient of tree density, from open to dense. In parallel, open fields and deciduous forests were sampled and the effect of the surrounding landscape configuration was explored. Our results show a consistent increase in total bat activity, foraging activity and species richness within wood-pastures along the tree density gradient. We find optimal tree densities within wood-pastures are higher than values reported in previous studies, and suggest thresholds might depend on the landscape context. Shrub density was a strong predictor of total bat activity and foraging; whilst structural variation of tree size in wood-pastures was most strongly correlated with species richness. We show that wood-pastures are an important habitat and in comparison to forests they contribute to higher bat species richness and activity levels. Interestingly, higher activity levels of forest feeding specialists were observed in wood-pastures compared to forests. At the landscape level, amount of water in the landscape was the strongest predictor of bat activity whilst deciduous forest mostly influenced foraging activity. This study demonstrates that tree density within wood-pastures is not a limiting factor of bat activity and foraging and that other habitat and landscape parameters are important. Thereby focusing solely on tree density limits will not help to promote the ecological requirements for bats. Instead we suggest that a results based approach to CAP payments would be preferable.

  Läs mer om European Union tree density limits do not reflect bat diversity in wood-pastures

• How are biodiversity and dispersal of species affected by the management of roadsides? A systematic map

  2017. Claes Bernes (et al.). Environmental Evidence 6 (1)

  Artikel

  Background: In many parts of the world, roadsides are regularly managed for traffic-safety reasons. Hence, there are similarities between roadsides and certain other managed habitats, such as wooded pastures and mown or grazed grasslands. These habitats have declined rapidly in Europe during the last century. For many species historically associated with them, roadsides may function as new primary habitats or as dispersal corridors in fragmented landscapes. Current recommendations for roadside management to promote conservation values are largely based on studies of plants in semi-natural grasslands, although such areas often differ from roadsides in terms of environmental conditions and disturbance regimes. Moreover, roadsides provide habitat not only for plants but also for many insects. For these reasons, stakeholders in Sweden have emphasised the need for more targeted management recommendations, based on actual studies of roadside biodiversity. Methods: This systematic map provides an overview of the available evidence on how biodiversity is affected by various forms of roadside management, and how such management influences the dispersal of species along roads or roadsides. We searched for literature using 13 online publication databases, 4 search engines, 36 specialist websites and 5 literature reviews. Search terms were developed in English, Danish, Dutch, French, German, Norwegian, Spanish and Swedish. Identified articles were screened for relevance using criteria set out in a protocol. No geographical restrictions were applied, and all species and groups of organisms were considered. Descriptions of included studies are available in an Excel file, and also in an interactive GIS application that can be accessed at an external website. Results: Our searches identified more than 7000 articles. The 207 articles included after screening described 301 individual studies considered to be relevant. More than two-thirds of these studies were conducted in North America, with most of the rest performed in Europe. More than half of the studies were published in grey literature such as reports from agencies or consultants. The interventions most commonly studied were herbicide use, sowing and mowing, followed by soil amendments such as mulching and fertiliser additions. The outcomes most frequently reported were effects of interventions on the abundance or species richness of herbs/forbs, graminoids and woody plants. Effects on insects and birds were reported in 6 and 3% of the studies, respectively. Conclusions: This systematic map is based on a comprehensive and systematic screening of all available literature on the effects of roadside management on biodiversity and dispersal of species. As such it should be of value to a range of actors, including managers and policymakers. The map provides a key to finding concrete guidance for conservation- and restoration-oriented roadside management from published research. However, the map also highlights important knowledge gaps: little data was found for some geographical regions, research is heavily biased taxonomically towards plants, and no study was found on how species dispersal was affected by roadside management. The map could therefore be a source of inspiration for new research.

  Läs mer om How are biodiversity and dispersal of species affected by the management of roadsides? A systematic map

• How does roadside vegetation management affect the diversity of vascular plants and invertebrates? A systematic review protocol

  2017. Claes Bernes (et al.). Environmental Evidence 6 (1)

  Artikel

  Background: Roadsides have been acknowledged as potential substitutes for semi-natural grasslands and other open habitats with high biodiversity, many of which are now declining. Current recommendations for roadside management to promote conservation of biodiversity are largely based on studies of plants in meadows or pastures, although such areas often differ from roadsides in terms of environmental conditions and disturbance regimes. Stakeholders in Sweden have emphasised the need for more targeted guidelines for roadside management, based on actual roadside studies. We recently performed a systematic mapping of the evidence on how roadside management affects biodiversity and the dispersal of species. Through this process, we found 98 studies on how the richness or abundance of species on roadsides is affected by management such as regular mowing, burning, grazing or selective mechanical removal of plants. Since all of these interventions entail removal of plant biomass, they are comparable. Most of the studies recorded management effects on vascular plants, but there were 14 investigations of insects and other invertebrates. We now intend to proceed with a full systematic review of how maintenance or restoration of roadsides based on non-chemical vegetation removal affects the diversity of vascular plants and invertebrates. Methods: Most of the evidence on which the proposed systematic review is to be based will be selected from the systematic map. To identify more recently published literature on the topic of the review, we will perform a search update using a subset of the search terms applied for the systematic map. The criteria for inclusion of studies will be the same as for the map, except that interventions and outcomes will be restricted to those relevant to the review. Relevant studies will be subject to critical appraisal and categorised as having high or low validity for the review. Studies with low validity will be excluded from the review. Utilisable data on outcomes, interventions and other potential effect modifiers will be extracted from included articles. A narrative synthesis will describe the validity and findings of all studies in the review. Where a sufficient number of studies report similar outcome types, meta-analysis will be conducted.

  Läs mer om How does roadside vegetation management affect the diversity of vascular plants and invertebrates? A systematic review protocol

• How spatial scale shapes the generation and management of multiple ecosystem services

  2017. Regina Lindborg (et al.). Ecosphere 8 (4)

  Artikel

  The spatial extent of ecological processes has consequences for the generation of ecosystem services related to them. However, management often fails to consider issues of scale when targeting ecological processes underpinning ecosystem services generation. Here, we present a framework for conceptualizing how the amount and spatial scale (here discussed in terms of extent) of management interventions alter interactions among multiple ecosystem services. First, we identify four types of responses of ecosystem service generation: linear, exponential, saturating, and sigmoid, and how these are related to the amount of management intervention at a particular spatial scale. Second, using examples from multiple ecosystem services in agricultural landscapes, we examine how the shape of these relationships can vary with the spatial scale at which the management interventions are implemented. Third, we examine the resulting scale-dependent consequences for trade-offs and synergies between ecosystem services as a consequence of interventions. Finally, to inform guidelines for management of multiple ecosystem services in real landscapes, we end with a discussion linking the theoretical relationships with how landscape configurations and placement of interventions can alter the scale at which synergies and trade-offs among services occur.

  Läs mer om How spatial scale shapes the generation and management of multiple ecosystem services

• Landscape simplification weakens the association between terrestrial producer and consumer diversity in Europe

  2017. Matteo Dainese (et al.). Global Change Biology 23 (8), 3040-3051

  Artikel

  Land-use change is one of the primary drivers of species loss, yet little is known about its effect on other components of biodiversity that may be at risk. Here, we ask whether, and to what extent, landscape simplification, measured as the percentage of arable land in the landscape, disrupts the functional and phylogenetic association between primary producers and consumers. Across seven European regions, we inferred the potential associations (functional and phylogenetic) between host plants and butterflies in 561 seminatural grasslands. Local plant diversity showed a strong bottom-up effect on butterfly diversity in the most complex landscapes, but this effect disappeared in simple landscapes. The functional associations between plant and butterflies are, therefore, the results of processes that act not only locally but are also dependent on the surrounding landscape context. Similarly, landscape simplification reduced the phylogenetic congruence among host plants and butterflies indicating that closely related butterflies become more generalist in the resources used. These processes occurred without any detectable change in species richness of plants or butterflies along the gradient of arable land. The structural properties of ecosystems are experiencing substantial erosion, with potentially pervasive effects on ecosystem functions and future evolutionary trajectories. Loss of interacting species might trigger cascading extinction events and reduce the stability of trophic interactions, as well as influence the longer term resilience of ecosystem functions. This underscores a growing realization that species richness is a crude and insensitive metric and that both functional and phylogenetic associations, measured across multiple trophic levels, are likely to provide additional and deeper insights into the resilience of ecosystems and the functions they provide.

  Läs mer om Landscape simplification weakens the association between terrestrial producer and consumer diversity in Europe

• Seascape structure and complexity influence temperate seagrass fish assemblage composition

  2017. Thomas A. B. Staveley (et al.). Ecography 40 (8), 936-946

  Artikel

  Understanding how spatial patterning relates to ecological processes is fundamental to define important species-environment associations at broader scales. Analyses targeting habitat structure (i.e. composition and configuration) in terrestrial landscapes are increasing, but similar studies in marine landscapes are still relatively uncommon. In this study, we explored how seascape structure and complexity (determined from significant spatial pattern metrics) influenced summer and autumn fish assemblage composition in 30 seagrass (Zostera marina) meadows along the west coast of Sweden. Species density was not influenced by seascape structure in any season. In contrast, the majority of significant fish assemblage variables were influenced by seascape structure during the summer (i.e. abundance and proportion of juveniles, abundance of Labridae and abundance of occasional shallow-water visitors) whilst fewer in the autumn (i.e. abundance of occasional shallow-water visitors and Synganthidae). For instance, less complex seascapes were more suitable for juvenile assemblages in summer, as these seascapes exhibit larger patch sizes of appropriate habitat (e.g. Z. marina) and less edge boundaries providing refuges from predators and food resources. Abundances of migrating fish, such as the sea trout Salmo trutta, also responded positively to a less complex seascape in the summer though perhaps ecological processes, such as prey availability, were additional contributing factors driving this relationship. High complexity seascapes only had a positive influence on the abundance of taxa using multiple habitats (Labridae during the summer). Our study shows that fish assemblages in temperate marine environments are significantly linked to spatial habitat patterning and seascape complexity. This offers valuable insights into species-habitat-seascape linkages, information important for coastal conservation and marine spatial planning.

  Läs mer om Seascape structure and complexity influence temperate seagrass fish assemblage composition

• Sustained functional composition of pollinators in restored pastures despite slow functional restoration of plants

  2017. Marie Winsa (et al.). Ecology and Evolution 7 (11), 3836-3846

  Artikel

  Habitat restoration is a key measure to counteract negative impacts on biodiversity from habitat loss and fragmentation. To assess success in restoring not only biodiversity, but also functionality of communities, we should take into account the re-assembly of species trait composition across taxa. Attaining such functional restoration would depend on the landscape context, vegetation structure, and time since restoration. We assessed how trait composition of plant and pollinator (bee and hoverfly) communities differ between abandoned, restored (formerly abandoned) or continuously grazed (intact) semi-natural pastures. In restored pastures, we also explored trait composition in relation to landscape context, vegetation structure, and pasture management history. Abandoned pastures differed from intact and restored pastures in trait composition of plant communities, and as expected, had lower abundances of species with traits associated with grazing adaptations. Further, plant trait composition in restored pastures became increasingly similar to that in intact pastures with increasing time since restoration. On the contrary, the trait composition of pollinator communities in both abandoned and restored pastures remained similar to intact pastures. The trait composition for both bees and hoverflies was influenced by flower abundance and, for bees, by connectivity to other intact grasslands in the landscape. The divergent responses across organism groups appeared to be mainly related to the limited dispersal ability and long individual life span in plants, the high mobility of pollinators, and the dependency of semi-natural habitat for bees. Our results, encompassing restoration effects on trait composition for multiple taxa along a gradient in both time (time since restoration) and space (connectivity), reveal how interacting communities of plants and pollinators are shaped by different trait-environmental relationships. Complete functional restoration of pastures needs for more detailed assessments of both plants dispersal in time and of resources available within pollinator dispersal range.

  Läs mer om Sustained functional composition of pollinators in restored pastures despite slow functional restoration of plants

• The importance of trees for woody pasture bird diversity and effects of the European Union's tree density policy

  2017. Simon Jakobsson, Regina Lindborg. Journal of Applied Ecology 54 (6), 1638-1647

  Artikel

  1. Recent reforms in the Common Agricultural Policy aim for a greening of the subsidy system with potential improvements for biodiversity conservation. As part of that process, the tree density limit for pastures to qualify for European Union subsidies has been increased from 50 to 100 trees per hectare. However, recent studies show that the high biodiversity values of these habitats may be threatened by these limits, highlighting the need for policy improvements. Still, little is known about the direct effects of tree density limitations on bird communities in woody pastures. 2. We investigated how bird diversity and species composition are affected by tree density in 49 Swedish woody pastures along a gradient of 4-214 trees per hectare. We recorded bird communities, tree density and stand structure estimates in the field and estimated forest cover in the surrounding landscape from aerial photos. Using generalised additive models and redundancy analysis, we analysed how bird territorial species richness, bird abundance and species composition are affected by tree density, taking into account other local and landscape scale explanatory variables. 3. Tree density had a significant positive effect on bird species richness at low tree densities and species richness saturated at approximately 50 trees per hectare. Shrub density had a significant positive linear effect on both bird species richness and abundance. Tree and shrub density were also the major drivers of bird community composition, with secondary effects of tree species diversity and landscape forest cover. 4. Policy implications. Our results show that tree density is not the limiting factor, but rather a driver of bird diversity and species composition in woody pastures and that tree density limits may fail to capture the whole range of biological values. To improve policy recommendations, we therefore stress the importance of considering additional social-ecological drivers associated to management quality, e.g. taking into account moral and cultural motivations among farmers, to preserve biodiversity in woody pastures.

  Läs mer om The importance of trees for woody pasture bird diversity and effects of the European Union's tree density policy

• Towards a trait-based ecology of wetland vegetation

  2017. Helen Moor (et al.). Journal of Ecology 105 (6), 1623-1635

  Artikel

  1. Functional traits mechanistically capture plant responses to environmental gradients as well as plant effects on ecosystem functioning. Yet most trait-based theory stems from terrestrial systems and extension to other habitats can provide new insights. 2. Wetlands differ from terrestrial systems in conditions (e.g. soil water saturation, anoxia, pH extremes), plant adaptations (e.g. aerenchyma, clonality, ubiquity of bryophytes) and important processes (e.g. denitrification, peat accumulation, methane emission). Wetland plant adaptations and trait (co-)variation can be situated along major plant trait trade-off axes (e.g. the resource economics spectrum), but soil saturation represents a complex stress gradient beyond a simple extension of commonly studied water availability gradients. 3. Traits that affect ecosystem functioning overlap with patterns in terrestrial systems. But wetland-specific traits that mediate plant effects on soil redox conditions, microbial communities and on water flow, as well as trait spectra of mosses, vary among wetland types. 4. Synthesis. With increasing availability of quantitative plant traits a trait-based ecology of wetlands is emerging, with the potential to advance process-based understanding and prediction. We provide an interactive cause-and-effect framework that may guide research efforts to disentangle the multiple interacting processes involved in scaling from environmental conditions to ecosystem functioning via plant communities.

  Läs mer om Towards a trait-based ecology of wetland vegetation

• Weak functional response to agricultural landscape homogenisation among plants, butterflies and birds

  2017. Dennis Jonason (et al.). Ecography 40 (10), 1221-1230

  Artikel

  Measures of functional diversity are expected to predict community responses to land use and environmental change because, in contrast to taxonomic diversity, it is based on species traits rather than their identity. Here, we investigated the impact of landscape homogenisation on plants, butterflies and birds in terms of the proportion of arable field cover in southern Finland at local (0.25 km²) and regional (> 10 000 km²) scales using four functional diversity indices: functional richness, functional evenness, functional divergence and functional dispersion. No uniform response in functional diversity across taxa or scales was found. However, in all cases where we found a relationship between increasing arable field cover and any index of functional diversity, this relationship was negative. Butterfly functional richness decreased with increasing arable field cover, as did butterfly and bird functional evenness. For butterfly functional evenness, this was only evident in the most homogeneous regions. Butterfly and bird functional dispersion decreased in homogeneous regions regardless of the proportion of arable field cover locally. No effect of landscape heterogeneity on plant functional diversity was found at any spatial scale, but plant species richness decreased locally with increasing arable field cover. Overall, species richness responded more consistently to landscape homogenisation than did the functional diversity indices, with both positive and negative effects across species groups. Functional diversity indices are in theory valuable instruments for assessing effects of land use scenarios on ecosystem functioning. However, the applicability of empirical data requires deeper understanding of which traits reliably capture species’ vulnerability to environmental factors and of the ecological interpretation of the functional diversity indices. Our study provides novel insights into how the functional diversity of communities changes in response to agriculturally derived landscape homogenisation; however, the low explanatory power of the functional diversity indices hampers the ability to reliably anticipate impacts on ecosystem functioning.

  Läs mer om Weak functional response to agricultural landscape homogenisation among plants, butterflies and birds

• Long Term Positive Effect of Grassland Restoration on Plant Diversity - Success or Not?

  2016. Emelie Waldén, Regina Lindborg. PLOS ONE 11 (5)

  Artikel

  Restoration is important for biodiversity conservation worldwide, but surprisingly little is known about its efficiency in a long-term perspective. In this study, we re-examined Swedish semi-natural grasslands 12-20 years after the restoration, by comparing field inventories of vascular plant species diversity made in 2001 with follow-up inventories in 2012. We also analysed restoration effect in relation to six environmental factors and used continuously managed semi-natural grasslands as references of desired state after restoration. We found that total species richness increased over time but not to reference levels, while there were no significant changes in species density or number of grassland specialists. However, the overall species composition in the restored sites, as well as grassland specialist composition, now largely resembled reference conditions. Fertilisation and time between abandonment and restoration were the only environmental variables that affected total species composition change, while site area affected change in grassland specialist composition. Our results show that restoration of semi-natural grasslands can contribute to conservation of semi-natural habitats and their associated biodiversity. Yet, due to the vague restoration goals for these sites, it is difficult to evaluate the restoration success, which emphasise the general need for clear and measurable goals.

  Läs mer om Long Term Positive Effect of Grassland Restoration on Plant Diversity - Success or Not?

• A social-ecological analysis of ecosystem services in two different farming systems

  2015. Erik Andersson (et al.). Ambio 44, 102-112

  Artikel

  In this exploratory study we use existing in situ qualitative and quantitative data on biophysical and social indicators to compare two contrasting Swedish farming systems (low intensity and high intensity) with regard to ecosystem service supply and demand of a broad suite of services. We show that the value (demand) placed on a service is not necessarily connected to the quantity (supply) of the service, most clearly shown for the services recreation, biodiversity, esthetic experience, identity, and cultural heritage. To better capture this complexity we argue for the need to develop portfolios of indicators for different ecosystem services and to further investigate the different aspects of supply and demand. The study indicates that available data are often ill-suited to answer questions about local delivery of services. If ecosystem services are to be included in policy, planning, and management, census data need to be formatted and scaled appropriately.

  Läs mer om A social-ecological analysis of ecosystem services in two different farming systems

• Governing nature by numbers - EU subsidy regulations do not capture the unique values of woody pastures

  2015. Simon Jakobsson, Regina Lindborg. Biological Conservation 191, 1-9

  Artikel

  A vast majority of European farmers are dependent on EU subsidies, which makes subsidy regulations through the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) powerful tools in shaping agricultural landscapes. Unfortunately, steering recommendations are sometimes arbitrary, like in the case of pasture management, where 50 trees per hectare constitute an upper limit to qualify for subsidies. Although pasture biodiversity is well studied and the core of many CAP conservation programmes, it is seldom studied as direct effects of subsidy systems. In this paper, we examine plant diversity in relation to the impact of subsidy systems in Swedish woody pastures along a gradient from 3 to 214 trees per hectare. We selected 64 sites where we recorded vascular plants, soil properties and canopy cover. We found a general increase in γ- and β-diversity along the gradient, whereas α-diversity and the number of grassland specialists remained indifferent along the gradient. Additionally, tree density, organic content and C:N-ratio were the strongest predictors of species composition. Hence, when CAP regulations encourage tree cutting for pastures to qualify for subsidies there is risk of homogenisation of EU grasslands, leading to decreased γ- and β-diversity. If a general target for the subsidies is to increase biodiversity, there is need to scrutinise these regulation details to preserve the high values of woody pastures. We argue that habitat variation, species diversity and low intensity management, rather than a specific number of trees, should be the main incentives for financial support to preserve biodiversity.

  Läs mer om Governing nature by numbers - EU subsidy regulations do not capture the unique values of woody pastures

• Harnessing the biodiversity value of Central and Eastern European farmland

  2015. Laura M. E. Sutcliffe (et al.). Diversity & distributions 21 (6), 722-730

  Artikel

  A large proportion of European biodiversity today depends on habitat provided by low-intensity farming practices, yet this resource is declining as European agriculture intensifies. Within the European Union, particularly the central and eastern new member states have retained relatively large areas of species-rich farmland, but despite increased investment in nature conservation here in recent years, farmland biodiversity trends appear to be worsening. Although the high biodiversity value of Central and Eastern European farmland has long been reported, the amount of research in the international literature focused on farmland biodiversity in this region remains comparatively tiny, and measures within the EU Common Agricultural Policy are relatively poorly adapted to support it. In this opinion study, we argue that, 10years after the accession of the first eastern EU new member states, the continued under-representation of the low-intensity farmland in Central and Eastern Europe in the international literature and EU policy is impeding the development of sound, evidence-based conservation interventions. The biodiversity benefits for Europe of existing low-intensity farmland, particularly in the central and eastern states, should be harnessed before they are lost. Instead of waiting for species-rich farmland to further decline, targeted research and monitoring to create locally appropriate conservation strategies for these habitats is needed now.

  Läs mer om Harnessing the biodiversity value of Central and Eastern European farmland

• Implications of climate and land-use change for landscape processes, biodiversity, ecosystem services, and governance

  2015. Bodil Elmhagen, Ove Eriksson, Regina Lindborg. Ambio 44, s1-S5

  Artikel

  This introduction to the Special Issue summarizes the results of 14 scientific articles from the interdisciplinary research program Ekoklim at Stockholm University, Sweden. In this program, we investigate effects of changing climate and land use on landscape processes, biodiversity, and ecosystem services, and analyze issues related to adaptive governance in the face of climate and land-use change. We not only have a research focus on the 22 650 km(2) Norrstrom catchment surrounding lake Malaren in south-central Sweden, but we also conduct research in other Swedish regions. The articles presented here show complex interactions between multiple drivers of change, as well as feedback processes at different spatiotemporal scales. Thus, the Ekoklim program highlights and deals with issues relevant for the future challenges society will face when land-use change interacts with climate change.

  Läs mer om Implications of climate and land-use change for landscape processes, biodiversity, ecosystem services, and governance

• Interacting effects of change in climate, human population, land use, and water use on biodiversity and ecosystem services

  2015. Bodil Elmhagen (et al.). Ecology and Society 20 (1)

  Artikel

  Human population growth and resource use, mediated by changes in climate, land use, and water use, increasingly impact biodiversity and ecosystem services provision. However, impacts of these drivers on biodiversity and ecosystem services are rarely analyzed simultaneously and remain largely unknown. An emerging question is how science can improve the understanding of change in biodiversity and ecosystem service delivery and of potential feedback mechanisms of adaptive governance. We analyzed past and future change in drivers in south-central Sweden. We used the analysis to identify main research challenges and outline important research tasks. Since the 19th century, our study area has experienced substantial and interlinked changes; a 1.6 degrees C temperature increase, rapid population growth, urbanization, and massive changes in land use and water use. Considerable future changes are also projected until the mid-21st century. However, little is known about the impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem services so far, and this in turn hampers future projections of such effects. Therefore, we urge scientists to explore interdisciplinary approaches designed to investigate change in multiple drivers, underlying mechanisms, and interactions over time, including assessment and analysis of matching-scale data from several disciplines. Such a perspective is needed for science to contribute to adaptive governance by constantly improving the understanding of linked change complexities and their impacts.

  Läs mer om Interacting effects of change in climate, human population, land use, and water use on biodiversity and ecosystem services

• Mapping ecosystem services across scales and continents - A review

  2015. Rebecka Malinga (et al.). Ecosystem Services 13, 57-63

  Artikel

  Tremendous progress in ecosystem service mapping across the world has moved the concept of ecosystem services forward towards an increasingly useful tool for policy and decision making. There is a pressing need to analyse the various spatial approaches used for the mapping studies. We reviewed ecosystem services mapping literature in respect to spatial scale, world distribution, and types of ecosystem services considered. We found that most world regions were represented among ecosystem service mapping studies and that they included a diverse set of ecosystem services, relatively well distributed across different ecosystem service categories. A majority of the studies were presented at intermediary scales (municipal and provincial level), and 66% of the studies used a fine resolution of 1 ha or less. The intermediary scale of presentation is important for land use policy and management. The fact that studies are conducted at a fine resolution is important for informing land management practices that mostly takes place at the scale of fields to villages. Ecosystem service mapping could be substantially advanced by more systematic development of cross-case comparisons and methods.

  Läs mer om Mapping ecosystem services across scales and continents - A review

• Recovery of plant diversity in restored semi-natural pastures depends on adjacent land use

  2015. Marie Winsa (et al.). Applied Vegetation Science 18 (3), 413-422

  Artikel

  Questions - Does restoration success of formerly abandoned semi-natural pastures depend on adjacent land use? Is species richness higher in restored pastures adjacent to an intact semi-natural pasture than in restored pastures adjacent to arable land? Does community similarity between a restored and an adjacent intact pasture decrease with distance from the border between the two pastures? Do differences in species richness and community similarity decrease over time?

  Location - Agricultural landscapes in south-central Sweden.

  Methods - The plant community in previously abandoned but now restored semi-natural pastures was surveyed along a distance gradient from the border between the restored pastures and adjacent fields towards the centre of the pastures. The restored pastures were located adjacent to either a crop field (N=8) or a continuously grazed pasture (N=6), and differed in time since restoration (1-13yr).

  Results - The total species richness was higher in pastures adjoining continuously grazed pastures compared to crop fields. Richness of both total and specialist species increased with time since restoration. Irrespective of adjacent land use, richness of specialist species decreased with increasing distance from the edge, an effect that became weaker with increasing time since restoration. The similarity in species composition compared to that in adjacent continuously grazed pasture also decreased towards the centre of the restored pasture.

  Conclusions - Our results suggest that restoration of biodiversity in semi-natural pastures benefits from adjacent pastures that can act as source habitats. The most likely mechanism is step-wise short-distance dispersal, but also other processes, such as more long-distance dispersal, seed bank dynamics and historical legacies are probably involved. To best succeed in habitat restoration in fragmented landscapes, the spatial location of source populations must be considered.

  Läs mer om Recovery of plant diversity in restored semi-natural pastures depends on adjacent land use

• Analysing how drivers of agricultural land abandonment affect biodiversity and cultural landscapes using case studies from Scandinavia, Iberia and Oceania

  2014. Ruth Beilin (et al.). Land use policy 36, 60-72

  Artikel

  Agricultural land abandonment (ALA) is widespread in many countries of the global north. It impacts rural communities, traditional landscapes, biodiversity and ecosystem services. It is an opportunity for ecosystem restoration or new landscape functions. We explored ALA in study areas in Australia, Portugal and Sweden. In each, we assessed plant species diversity, historical trajectories of land cover change; and the socioeconomic past, present and future in interviews with farmers. The ALA data was integrated and analysed by identifying the drivers of change. The relative importance of each driver and its scale of action was estimated, both in the past (1950-2010) and in the future (2010-2030). ALA has transformed rural landscapes in the study areas of Portugal and Sweden. It is at a much earlier stage with potential to increase in the Australian case. We identified a set of driving forces, classified into pressures, frictions and attractors that clarify why ALA, noting its temporal and spatial scale, occurs differently in each study area. The effect of the drivers is related to social and historical contexts. Pressures and attractors encouraging agricultural abandonment are strongest in Portugal and Sweden. Generally more (institutionalized) frictions are in place in these European sites, intended to prevent further change, based on the benefits assumed for biodiversity and aesthetics. In Australia, the stimulation of driving forces to promote a well-managed abandonment of some cleared areas could be highly beneficial for biodiversity, minimally disruptive for current dairy farming operations and would bring opportunities for alternative types of rural development.

  Läs mer om Analysing how drivers of agricultural land abandonment affect biodiversity and cultural landscapes using case studies from Scandinavia, Iberia and Oceania

• Applying resilience thinking to production ecosystems

  2014. L. Rist (et al.). Ecosphere 5 (6), 73

  Artikel

  Production ecosystems typically have a high dependence on supporting and regulating ecosystem services and while they have thus far managed to sustain production, this has often been at the cost of externalities imposed on other systems and locations. One of the largest challenges facing humanity is to secure the production of food and fiber while avoiding long-term negative impacts on ecosystems and the range of services that they provide. Resilience has been used as a framework for understanding sustainability challenges in a range of ecosystem types, but has not been systematically applied across the range of systems specifically used for the production of food and fiber in terrestrial, freshwater, and marine environments. This paper applied a resilience lens to production ecosystems in which anthropogenic inputs play varying roles in determining system dynamics and outputs. We argue that the traditional resilience framework requires important additions when applied to production systems. We show how sustained anthropogenic inputs of external resources can lead to a coercion'' of resilience and describe how the global interconnectedness of many production systems can camouflage signals indicating resilience loss.

  Läs mer om Applying resilience thinking to production ecosystems

• Density of insect-pollinated grassland plants decreases with increasing surrounding land-use intensity

  2014. Yann Clough (et al.). Ecology Letters 17 (9), 1168-1177

  Artikel

  Pollinator declines have raised concerns about the persistence of plant species that depend on insect pollination, in particular by bees, for their reproduction. The impact of pollinator declines remains unknown for species-rich plant communities found in temperate seminatural grasslands. We investigated effects of land-use intensity in the surrounding landscape on the distribution of plant traits related to insect pollination in 239 European seminatural grasslands. Increasing arable land use in the surrounding landscape consistently reduced the density of plants depending on bee and insect pollination. Similarly, the relative abundance of bee-pollination-dependent plants increased with higher proportions of non-arable agricultural land (e.g. permanent grassland). This was paralleled by an overall increase in bee abundance and diversity. By isolating the impact of the surrounding landscape from effects of local habitat quality, we show for the first time that grassland plants dependent on insect pollination are particularly susceptible to increasing land-use intensity in the landscape.

  Läs mer om Density of insect-pollinated grassland plants decreases with increasing surrounding land-use intensity

• Extinction debt for plants and flower-visiting insects in landscapes with contrasting land use history

  2014. Riccardo Bommarco (et al.). Diversity & distributions 20 (5), 591-599

  Artikel

  Aim Species are lost world-wide because of habitat destruction and fragmentation. Impacted communities can exhibit transient dynamics in response to such environmental changes, where slow extinctions and immigration delay the arrival to a new equilibrium. Life history traits such as generation time, resource use and dispersal capacity, as well as landscape history can be expected to affect possible extinction debt, but few have examined this for multiple taxa in the same study and particularly so for arthropods. The aim was to assess under which current and historical land use circumstances an extinction debt occurs for vascular plants and three insect taxa. Location South-eastern Sweden. Method We sampled current species richness of habitat specialist and generalist butterflies, bees, hoverflies, and vascular plants in 45 dry to mesic semi-natural grassland fragments of various size and degree of connectivity, and situated in landscapes with contrasting land use conversion history. Habitat loss was estimated in each landscape by comparing modern maps to ~45year old digitized aerial photographs. An extinction debt can be assumed if historical habitat size and connectivity better explain current species distribution than current habitat variables do. Results Bees responded rapidly to habitat loss possibly as a result of their primary nesting resource being destroyed. Interestingly, species richness of specialist plants was best explained by historical habitat connectivity, richness of hoverflies by historical habitat area, and richness of butterflies by both historical habitat area and connectivity, indicating extinction debt for these taxa. Habitat generalist butterflies and hoverflies, but not plants and bees, exhibited extinction debt mainly in relation to habitat area. No effect of landscape type was found on the observed extinction debt. Main conclusions Slow extinctions of persistent and long-lived plants might explain extinction debt for both plants and herbivorous insects linked to these plants.

  Läs mer om Extinction debt for plants and flower-visiting insects in landscapes with contrasting land use history

• Farmland abandonment: Threat or opportunity for biodiversity conservation? A global review

  2014. Cibele Queiroz (et al.). Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 12 (5), 288-296

  Artikel

  Farmland abandonment is changing rural landscapes worldwide, but its impacts on biodiversity are still being debated in the scientific literature. While some researchers see it as a threat to biodiversity, others view it as an opportunity for habitat regeneration. We reviewed 276 published studies describing various effects of farmland abandonment on biodiversity and found that a study's geographic region, selected metrics, assessed taxa, and conservation focus significantly affected how those impacts were reported. Countries in Eurasia and the New World reported mainly negative and positive effects of farmland abandonment on biodiversity, respectively. Notably, contrasting impacts were recorded in different agricultural regions of the world that were otherwise similar in land-use and biodiversity characteristics. We showed that the conservation focus (pre- or post-abandonment) in different regions is an important factor influencing how scientists address the abandonment issue, and this may affect how land-use policies are defined in agricultural landscapes.

  Läs mer om Farmland abandonment

• Function of small habitat elements for enhancing plant diversity in different agricultural landscapes

  2014. Regina Lindborg (et al.). Biological Conservation 169, 206-213

  Artikel

  The extensive transformation of agricultural landscapes worldwide has led to a decrease in grassland species related to traditional low-intensive farming. To properly manage and protect species, habitats and ecosystems in any of these landscapes requires a better understanding of direct and indirect effects of the processes driving biodiversity decline. In this study, we investigated how small habitat elements, represented by mid-field islets and road verges, in different types of agricultural landscapes can sustain a regional species pool for plant diversity otherwise associated to semi-natural grasslands. Although semi-natural grasslands had higher total and specialist richness, we found that small habitat elements harboured relatively high plant species richness, especially in a landscape with many semi-natural grasslands left. In the most intensively managed landscape, total richness declined as distance to the nearest semi-natural grassland increased. In contrast, beta-diversity was highest in these landscapes indicating that small habitats are also negatively affected by distance to grassland. We found that species trait composition varied depending on habitat and landscape. The results confirm that fragmentation shape trait composition within plant communities, e.g. plant size, clonality, longevity, and dispersal traits. We conclude that small habitat elements increase the total area available to grassland species present in the landscape, boosting the spatio-temporal dynamics of grassland communities. Small habitat elements may hence function as refugia or stepping stone habitats, especially in intensively utilized agricultural landscapes, and should be regarded as a functional part of a semi-natural grassland network, analogous to a meta-population.

  Läs mer om Function of small habitat elements for enhancing plant diversity in different agricultural landscapes

• Organic farming and heterogeneous landscapes positively affect different measures of plant diversity

  2014. Romina Rader (et al.). Journal of Applied Ecology 51 (6), 1544-1553

  Artikel

  Increasing landscape heterogeneity and organic farming practices are known to enhance species richness in agroecosystems. However, little is known about the consequences of these management options on other biodiversity components such as community composition, phylogenetic structure and functional diversity which may be more closely linked to ecosystem functioning. We surveyed semi-natural plant communities within the uncultivated field margins of 18 arable farms in Skane, south Sweden. We investigated how taxonomic, phylogenetic and functional diversity responds to landscape heterogeneity (presence of semi-natural habitat) and farm management intensity (organic vs. conventional farming). Plant species richness and functional diversity metrics all responded positively to landscape heterogeneity, with the strongest effect occurring on conventional farms. Community composition differed with farm management, and mean phylogenetic relatedness, an indicator of phylogenetic structure, was significantly higher on the field margins of organic compared to conventional farms. Individual plant functional groups themselves responded in unique ways to land management and landscape heterogeneity.Synthesis and applications. Management strategies that promote the conservation of heterogeneous landscapes (i.e. a higher proportion of semi-natural habitats) and organic farm management practices are important for maintaining plant phylogenetic, functional and taxonomic diversity in agroecosystems. Accommodating various forms of diversity is important to ensure that ecosystems have the greatest possible array of species ecologies'. Such measures will help to improve the capacity of these ecosystems to provide multiple ecosystem functions, including the sustaining and regulating services of benefit to people. Management strategies that promote the conservation of heterogeneous landscapes (i.e. a higher proportion of semi-natural habitats) and organic farm management practices are important for maintaining plant phylogenetic, functional and taxonomic diversity in agroecosystems. Accommodating various forms of diversity is important to ensure that ecosystems have the greatest possible array of species ecologies'. Such measures will help to improve the capacity of these ecosystems to provide multiple ecosystem functions, including the sustaining and regulating services of benefit to people.

  Läs mer om Organic farming and heterogeneous landscapes positively affect different measures of plant diversity

• Political Systems Affect Mobile and Sessile Species Diversity - A Legacy from the Post-WWII Period

  2014. Sara A. O. Cousins (et al.). PLOS ONE 9 (8), e103367

  Artikel

  Political ideologies, policies and economy affect land use which in turn may affect biodiversity patterns and future conservation targets. However, few studies have investigated biodiversity in landscapes with similar physical properties but governed by different political systems. Here we investigate land use and biodiversity patterns, and number and composition of birds and plants, in the borderland of Austria, Slovenia and Hungary. It is a physically uniform landscape but managed differently during the last 70 years as a consequence of the political map of Europe after World War I and II. We used a historical map from 1910 and satellite data to delineate land use within three 10-kilometre transects starting from the point where the three countries meet. There was a clear difference between countries detectable in current biodiversity patterns, which relates to land use history. Mobile species richness was associated with current land use whereas diversity of sessile species was more associated with past land use. Heterogeneous landscapes were positively and forest cover was negatively correlated to bird species richness. Our results provide insights into why landscape history is important to understand present and future biodiversity patterns, which is crucial for designing policies and conservation strategies across the world.

  Läs mer om Political Systems Affect Mobile and Sessile Species Diversity - A Legacy from the Post-WWII Period

• Species Richness and Assemblages in Landscapes of Different Farming Intensity - Time to Revise Conservation Strategies?

  2014. Erik Andersson, Regina Lindborg. PLOS ONE 9 (10), e109816

  Artikel

  Worldwide conservation goals to protect biodiversity emphasize the need to rethink which objectives are most suitable for different landscapes. Comparing two different Swedish farming landscapes, we used survey data on birds and vascular plants to test whether landscapes with large, intensively managed farms had lower richness and diversity of the two taxa than landscapes with less intensively managed small farms, and if they differed in species composition. Landscapes with large intensively managed farms did not have lower richness than smaller low intensively managed farms. The landscape types were also similar in that they had few red listed species, normally targeted in conservation. Differences in species composition demonstrate that by having both types of agricultural landscapes regional diversity is increased, which is seldom captured in the objectives for agro-environmental policies. Thus we argue that focus on species richness or red listed species would miss the actual diversity found in the two landscape types. Biodiversity conservation, especially in production landscapes, would therefore benefit from a hierarchy of local to regional objectives with explicit targets in terms of which aspects of biodiversity to focus on.

  Läs mer om Species Richness and Assemblages in Landscapes of Different Farming Intensity - Time to Revise Conservation Strategies?

• Using multiple Landsat scenes in an ensemble classifier reduces classification error in a stable nearshore environment

  2014. Anders Knudby (et al.). International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation 28, 90-101

  Artikel

  Medium-scale land cover maps are traditionally created on the basis of a single cloud-free satellite scene, leaving information present in other scenes unused. Using 1309 field observations and 20 cloud- and error-affected Landsat scenes covering Zanzibar Island, this study demonstrates that the use of multiple scenes can both allow complete coverage of the study area in the absence of cloud-free scenes and obtain substantially improved classification accuracy. Automated processing of individual scenes includes derivation of spectral features for use in classification, identification of clouds, shadows and the land/water boundary, and random forest-based land cover classification. An ensemble classifier is then created from the single-scene classifications by voting. The accuracy achieved by the ensemble classifier is 70.4%, compared to an average of 62.9% for the individual scenes, and the ensemble classifier achieves complete coverage of the study area while the maximum coverage for a single scene is 1209 of the 1309 field sites. Given the free availability of Landsat data, these results should encourage increased use of multiple scenes in land cover classification and reduced reliance on the traditional single-scene methodology.

  Läs mer om Using multiple Landsat scenes in an ensemble classifier reduces classification error in a stable nearshore environment

• Assessing connectivity in a tropical embayment: Fish migrations and seascape ecology

  2013. Charlotte Berkström (et al.). Biological Conservation 166, 43-53

  Artikel

  Seascape connectivity and configuration of multiple habitats are important features to include in marine spatial planning, and protecting seascapes with high connectivity is recommended. The present study examines the potential connectivity of reef fish assemblages in a shallow-water conservation area in Zanzibar (Tanzania) by analysing relationships between a set of habitat variables and fish diversity and density for different functional groups (based on diet) and life stages of fish using PLS-analysis. We combined spatial pattern metrics (habitat type, patch size, distance to patch) and dispersal abilities of a number of fish species using buffer radius to answer the questions; (i) do coral reefs with high connectivity to seagrass habitats have higher abundances and higher species richness of fish that undertake routine migrations during their life-history? and (ii) do coral reefs closer to mangrove forest support higher abundances of nursery species (i.e., fish species that use mangrove and seagrass beds as juvenile habitat)? Habitat mosaics surrounding fish survey sites and within-patch measurements inside fish survey sites were quantified at multiple scales (meters to kilometers) using aerial photography and scuba. Fish data was collected using a standardized point census method. We found that both fine- and broad-scale variables were important in structuring fish communities and connectivity with surrounding habitats, where predominantly seagrass beds within a 750 m radius had a positive influence on fish abundances of invertebrate feeders/piscivores (especially for lutjanids and lethrinids). Additionally, fine-scale seagrass cover had a positive influence on nursery species. Depth also had a positive influence on total species richness and the abundance of invertebrate feeders/piscivores. This study highlights the importance of combining connectivity and habitat configuration at different scales to fully understand and manage the tropical seascape.

  Läs mer om Assessing connectivity in a tropical embayment

• Nature conservation for what?: Analyses of urban and rural nature reserves in southern Sweden 1909-2006

  2013. Sara Borgström, Regina Lindborg, Thomas Elmqvist. Landscape and Urban Planning 117, 66-80

  Artikel

  To effectively integrate nature conservation in sustainable landscape management, it isessential to deepen the understanding of why, what, where and for whom nature isprotected. This is especially important for nature conservation in human dominatedlandscapes such as cities, where the distance between built up and protected areas is inconstant decline due to urbanisation worldwide. In this study we use historical andcurrent data from Sweden to examine how urban compared to rural nature conservationhave been using formal nature reserve objectives. The focal nature conservationobjectives in our study area were preservation of biodiversity, restoration ofenvironments and outdoor recreation, as well as subdivision of those. The use of theseobjectives were analysed for 1869 nature reserves in relation to degree of urbanisation.We found that nature reserves in more urbanised landscapes were based on a highernumber of objectives. The urban reserves also had a different composition of objectives,where the objectives outdoor recreation and biodiversity preservation were morecommon in urban than in rural reserves. During the last decades we detected a shift inuse of objectives in urban areas, going from biodiversity preservation to a strongerfocus on outdoor recreation. National and global trends in the nature conservationdebate could also be seen as reflected in the use of objectives. To ensure its adaptivecapacity, we stress that urban nature conservation needs a more proactive strategy,where potential future social as well as ecological values must be embraced and notonly existing ones.

  Läs mer om Nature conservation for what?

• Plant uptake of elements in soil and pore water: Field observations versus model assumptions

  2013. Veronika Raguz (et al.). Journal of Environmental Management 126, 147-156

  Artikel

  Contaminant concentrations in various edible plant parts transfer hazardous substances from polluted areas to animals and humans. Thus, the accurate prediction of plant uptake of elements is of significant importance. The processes involved contain many interacting factors and are, as such, complex. In contrast, the most common way to currently quantify element transfer from soils into plants is relatively simple, using an empirical soil-to-plant transfer factor (TF). This practice is based on theoretical assumptions that have been previously shown to not generally be valid. Using field data on concentrations of 61 basic elements in spring barley, soil and pore water at four agricultural sites in mid-eastern Sweden, we quantify element-specific TFs. Our aim is to investigate to which extent observed element-specific uptake is consistent with TF model assumptions and to which extent TF's can be used to predict observed differences in concentrations between different plant parts (root, stem and ear). Results show that for most elements, plant-ear concentrations are not linearly related to bulk soil concentrations, which is congruent with previous studies. This behaviour violates a basic TF model assumption of linearity. However, substantially better linear correlations are found when weighted average element concentrations in whole plants are used for IF estimation. The highest number of linearly-behaving elements was found when relating average plant concentrations to soil pore-water concentrations. In contrast to other elements, essential elements (micronutrients and macronutrients) exhibited relatively small differences in concentration between different plant parts. Generally, the TF model was shown to work reasonably well for micronutrients, whereas it did not for macronutrients. The results also suggest that plant uptake of elements from sources other than the soil compartment (e.g. from air) may be non-negligible.

  Läs mer om Plant uptake of elements in soil and pore water

• Using Participatory Scenario Planning to Identify Ecosystem Services in Changing Landscapes

  2013. Rebecka Malinga (et al.). Ecology and Society 18 (4)

  Artikel

  There is a growing interest in assessing ecosystem services to improve ecosystem management in landscapes containing a mix of different ecosystems. While methodologies for assessing ecosystem services are constantly improving, only little attention has been given to the identification of which ecosystem services to assess. Service selection is mostly based on current state of the landscape although many landscapes are both inherently complex and rapidly changing. In this study we examine whether scenario development, a tool for dealing with uncertainties and complexities of the future, gives important insights into the selection of ecosystem services in changing landscapes. Using an agricultural landscape in South Africa we compared different sets of services selected for an assessment by four different groups: stakeholders making the scenarios, experts who have read the scenarios, experts who had not read the scenarios, and services derived from literature. We found significant differences among the services selected by different groups, especially between the literature services and the other groups. Cultural services were least common in literature and that list was also most dissimilar in terms of identity, ranking, and numbers of services compared to the other three groups. The services selected by experts and the scenario stakeholders were relatively similar indicating that knowledge of a study area gained through the scenario exercise is not very different from that of experts actively working in the area. Although our results show limited value in using scenario development for improved ecosystem service selection per se, the scenario development process triggers important discussions with local and regional stakeholders about key issues of today, helping to more correctly assess changes in the future.

  Läs mer om Using Participatory Scenario Planning to Identify Ecosystem Services in Changing Landscapes

• Ecological assembly rules in plant communities-approaches, patterns and prospects

  2012. Lars Gotzenberger (et al.). Biological Reviews 87 (1), 111-127

  Artikel

  Understanding how communities of living organisms assemble has been a central question in ecology since the early days of the discipline. Disentangling the different processes involved in community assembly is not only interesting in itself but also crucial for an understanding of how communities will behave under future environmental scenarios. The traditional concept of assembly rules reflects the notion that species do not co-occur randomly but are restricted in their co-occurrence by interspecific competition. This concept can be redefined in a more general framework where the co-occurrence of species is a product of chance, historical patterns of speciation and migration, dispersal, abiotic environmental factors, and biotic interactions, with none of these processes being mutually exclusive. Here we present a survey and meta-analyses of 59 papers that compare observed patterns in plant communities with null models simulating random patterns of species assembly. According to the type of data under study and the different methods that are applied to detect community assembly, we distinguish four main types of approach in the published literature: species co-occurrence, niche limitation, guild proportionality and limiting similarity. Results from our meta-analyses suggest that non-random co-occurrence of plant species is not a widespread phenomenon. However, whether this finding reflects the individualistic nature of plant communities or is caused by methodological shortcomings associated with the studies considered cannot be discerned from the available metadata. We advocate that more thorough surveys be conducted using a set of standardized methods to test for the existence of assembly rules in data sets spanning larger biological and geographical scales than have been considered until now. We underpin this general advice with guidelines that should be considered in future assembly rules research. This will enable us to draw more accurate and general conclusions about the non-random aspect of assembly in plant communities.

  Läs mer om Ecological assembly rules in plant communities-approaches, patterns and prospects

• Effect of habitat area and isolation on plant trait distribution in European forests and grasslands

  2012. Regina Lindborg (et al.). Ecography 35 (4), 356-363

  Artikel

  A number of studies show contrasting results in how plant species with specific life-history strategies respond to fragmentation, but a general analysis on whether traits affect plant species occurrences in relation to habitat area and isolation has not been performed. We used published data from forests and grasslands in north-central Europe to analyse if there are general patterns of sensitivity to isolation and dependency of area for species using three traits: life-span, clonality, and seed weight. We show that a larger share of all forest species was affected by habitat isolation and area as compared to grassland species. Persistence-related traits, life-span and clonality, were associated to habitat area and the dispersal and recruitment related trait, seed weight, to isolation in both forest and grassland patches. Occurrence of clonal plant species decreased with habitat area, opposite to non-clonal plant species, and long-lived plant species decreased with grassland area. The directions of these responses partly challenge some earlier views, suggesting that further decrease in habitat area will lead to a change in plant species community composition, towards relatively fewer clonal and long-lived plants with large seeds in small forest patches and fewer clonal plants with small seeds in small grassland patches. It is likely that this altered community has been reached in many fragmented European landscapes consisting of small and isolated natural and semi-natural patches, where many non-clonal and short-lived species have already disappeared. Our study based on a large-scale dataset reveals general and useful insights concerning area and isolation effects on plant species composition that can improve the outcome of conservation and restoration efforts of plant communities in rural landscapes.

  Läs mer om Effect of habitat area and isolation on plant trait distribution in European forests and grasslands

• Exploring 'knowns' and 'unknowns' in tropical seascape connectivity with insights from East African coral reefs

  2012. Charlotte Berkström (et al.). Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 107, 1-21

  Artikel

  Applying a broader landscape perspective to understand spatio-temporal changes in local populations and communities has been increasingly used in terrestrial systems to study effects of human impact and land use change. With today’s major declines in fishery stocks and rapid degradation of natural coastal habitats, the understanding of habitat configuration and connectivity over relevant temporal and spatial scales is critical for conservation and fisheries management of the seascape. Coral reefs, seagrass beds and mangroves are key-components of the tropical seascape. The spatial distribution of these habitat-types may have strong influences on cross-habitat migration and connectivity patterns among organisms. However, the consequences of seascape fragmentation and ecological connectivity are largely unknown. Here, we review the literature to provide an overview of current knowledge with regards to connectivity and food-web interactions within the tropical seascape. We show that information on fish acting as mobile links and being part of nutrient transfer and trophic interactions is scarce. We continue by making an in-depth analysis of the seascape around Zanzibar (Eastern Africa) to fill some of the knowledge gaps identified by the literature survey. Our analysis shows that (i) fifty percent of all fish species found within the Zanzibar seascape use two or multiple habitat-types, (ii) eighteen percent of all coral reef-associated fish species use mangrove and seagrass beds as juvenile habitat, and (iii) macrocarnivores and herbivores are highly represented among those coral reef fish species that use mangrove and seagrass beds as juvenile habitat. We argue that understanding the inter-linkages within and between habitat-types is essential for successful management of the tropical seascape.

  Läs mer om Exploring 'knowns' and 'unknowns' in tropical seascape connectivity with insights from East African coral reefs

• Landscape context and management regime structure plant diversity in grassland communities

  2012. Reto Schmucki (et al.). Journal of Ecology 100 (5), 1164-1173

  Artikel

  1. Theoretical models show that environmental heterogeneity and dispersal are major determinants of species diversity at multiple scales, yet there are few studies from real landscapes that adequately integrate variation in the surrounding matrix. Understanding how landscape context and management influence species composition and diversity patterns across habitats and scales is an important goal in ecology with relevance for both management and conservation. 2. We used a system of 25 landscapes distributed across islands in the Baltic Sea to investigate the effect of current and historical landscape context and management on plant diversity and composition in grassland communities. Plant diversity was measured at three hierarchical scales (1 m2, habitat, landscape) in grazed fields and adjacent wood pastures to calculate a-, beta- and ?-diversity values across habitats and scales. 3. Structural equation modelling was used to model and quantify the effects of landscape context on species diversity and spatial turnover, and constraint analysis of principal coordinates to relate variation in species composition to landscape variables. 4. Proportion of open land, spacing and grazing intensity positively affected species diversity in both habitats, whereas the effect of historical landscape context was only significant in open fields. Plant diversity in field pastures was mainly determined by the number of species found at a small scale, while both local species density and spatial turnover were key determinants of diversity in wood pastures. 5. Habitat proximity influenced species composition as compositional similarity was higher between adjacent field and wood pastures compared to randomly paired habitats. Although increasing flow of propagules from adjacent patches can promote local coexistence, dispersal can result in spatial homogenization. 6. Synthesis. Plant diversity in grassland communities is substantially influenced by species occurring in adjacent habitats. While the effect of landscape context and management on small-scale diversity was consistent across habitats, the effect on spatial turnover was habitat specific. Our study shows that plant diversity is structured through the interplay between local and landscape processes and highlights that plant communities in specific habitat types cannot be considered in isolation from the surrounding landscape matrix.

  Läs mer om Landscape context and management regime structure plant diversity in grassland communities

• Landscape matrix modifies richness of plants and insects in grassland fragments

  2012. Erik Ockinger (et al.). Ecography 35 (3), 259-267

  Artikel

  There is an increasing awareness that not only area and isolation, but also the characteristics of the landscape surrounding habitat patches influence population persistence and species diversity in fragmented landscapes. In this study, we examine the effects of grassland fragmentation and land use in the landscape matrix (on a 2 km scale) on species richness of plants, butterflies, bees and hoverflies. These organisms were studied in replicated remnant patches of different sizes and isolation, embedded in landscapes dominated either by forest, arable land or a mix of these. We found positive effects of patch area on species richness of the three insect taxa, but not of plants. Isolation had a negative effect only on hoverflies. Matrix type had contrasting effects on the studied taxa. Species richness of plants and butterflies was lowest in patches in landscapes dominated by arable land and highest in forest-dominated landscapes. For hoverflies, the negative effect of small patch area was strongest in forest-dominated landscapes, and there was a similar non-significant trend for bees. Our study shows the importance of considering matrix characteristics when studying responses to habitat fragmentation. Differences in matrix response among organism groups probably impinge on differing mechanisms. A forest matrix is likely to provide additional resources for butterflies but either constitute a barrier to dispersal or deprive resources as compared to an arable matrix for hoverflies. Enhanced plant diversity in grassland patches embedded in forested landscapes can be explained by habitat generalists more easily invading these patches, or by an unpaid extinction debt in these landscapes.

  Läs mer om Landscape matrix modifies richness of plants and insects in grassland fragments

• Outside the boundary - land use changes in the surroundings of urban nature reserves

  2012. Sara Borgström, Sara Cousins, Regina Lindborg. Applied Geography 32 (2), 350-359

  Artikel

  The importance of the landscape surrounding a protected area for sustaining its values is frequently discussed in conservation literature. Studies on the interactions of urbanisation and nature conservation at the global scale suggest that protected nature attracts urbanisation, and that this in turn might negatively impact the area. However, studies specifically addressing such land use dynamics at city scale are largely missing. In this study we examine the change in proportion of built up area in two zones (500 m and 1000 m) surrounding 15 urban nature reserves in southern Sweden. By using comprehensive maps from the last 50 years, we compared the zones to the overall urbanisation in the cities to reveal discrepancies in land use surrounding the nature reserves. We found that the amount of built up area in the buffer zones surrounding nature reserves followed the same trend as the corresponding cities and this relation was stable over time, although the positive relationship was not significant. The establishment of nature reserves had no detectable effect on surrounding land use, however two distinguished groups of reserves were identified with either more or less built up area in buffers zones compared to cities. These differences were related to specific local drivers such as land ownership, land use history and nature reserve location. In contrast to earlier studies at global scale, our study did not show that nature reserves attract urbanisation. Instead, we stress that the great variety of contextual factors at the city scale makes quantitative analysis of this kind extremely difficult. However, a general neglect from planning and nature conservation agencies to recognise nature reserves’ dependence on the surrounding landscape configuration could be detrimental to sustain their values in the long-term. Hence we suggest that zones surrounding nature-protected areas should be planned and managed according to local land use history and current landscape conditions to enable and enhance necessary cross-boundary interactions.

  Läs mer om Outside the boundary - land use changes in the surroundings of urban nature reserves

• System or arena?: Conceptual concerns around the analysis of landscape dynamics

  2012. Marie Stenseke (et al.). Resilience and the cultural landscape, 80-94

  Kapitel

  Läs mer om System or arena?

• Traits related to species persistence and dispersal explain changes in plant communities subjected to habitat loss

  2012. Lorenzo Marini (et al.). Diversity & distributions 18 (9), 898-908

  Artikel

  Aim Habitat fragmentation is a major driver of biodiversity loss but it is insufficiently known how much its effects vary among species with different life-history traits; especially in plant communities, the understanding of the role of traits related to species persistence and dispersal in determining dynamics of species communities in fragmented landscapes is still limited. The primary aim of this study was to test how plant traits related to persistence and dispersal and their interactions modify plant species vulnerability to decreasing habitat area and increasing isolation. Location Five regions distributed over four countries in Central and Northern Europe. Methods Our dataset was composed of primary data from studies on the distribution of plant communities in 300 grassland fragments in five regions. The regional datasets were consolidated by standardizing nomenclature and species life-history traits and by recalculating standardized landscape measures from the original geographical data. We assessed the responses of plant species richness to habitat area, connectivity, plant life-history traits and their interactions using linear mixed models. Results We found that the negative effect of habitat loss on plant species richness was pervasive across different regions, whereas the effect of habitat isolation on species richness was not evident. This area effect was, however, not equal for all the species, and life-history traits related to both species persistence and dispersal modified plant sensitivity to habitat loss, indicating that both landscape and local processes determined large-scale dynamics of plant communities. High competitive ability for light, annual life cycle and animal dispersal emerged as traits enabling species to cope with habitat loss. Main conclusions In highly fragmented rural landscapes in NW Europe, mitigating the spatial isolation of remaining grasslands should be accompanied by restoration measures aimed at improving habitat quality for low competitors, abiotically dispersed and perennial, clonal species.

  Läs mer om Traits related to species persistence and dispersal explain changes in plant communities subjected to habitat loss

• Re-imagined and re-defined meanings: The complexity of land abandonment, identity and place in the quest for sustainable and biodivers rural and regional landscapes

  2011. R. Beilin, Cibele Queiroz, Regina Lindborg. Landscapes, identities, and development, 243-256

  Kapitel

  Bringing together theoretical and empirical research from 22 countries in Europe, North America, Australia, South America and Japan, this book offers a state-of-the-art survey of conceptual and methodological research and planning issues relating to landscape, heritage, and development. It has 30 chapters grouped in four main thematic sections: landscapes as a constitutive dimension of territorial identities; landscape history and landscape heritage; landscapes as development assets and resources; and landscape research and development planning. The contributors are scholars from a wide range of cultural and professional backgrounds, experienced in fundamental and applied research, planning and policy design. They were invited by the co-editors to write chapters for this book on the basis of the theoretical frameworks, case-study research findings and related policy concerns they presented at the 23rd Session of PECSRL - The Permanent European Conference for the Study of the Rural Landscape, organized by TERCUD - Territory, Culture and Development Research Centre, Universidade Lusofona, in Lisbon and Obidos, Portugal, 1 - 5 September 2008. With such broad inter-disciplinary relevance and international scope, this book provides a valuable overview, highlighting recent findings and interpretations on historical, current and prospective linkages between changing landscapes and natural, economic, cultural and other identity features of places and regions; landscape-related identities as local and regional development assets and resources in the era of globalized economy and culture; the role of landscape history and heritage as platforms of landscape research and management in European contexts, including the implementation of The European Landscape Convention; and, the strengthening of the landscape perspective as a constitutive element of sustainable development.

  Läs mer om Re-imagined and re-defined meanings

• Biodiversity and Land Abandonment:  Connecting Agriculture, Place and Nature in the Landscape

  2010. R Beilin, Regina Lindborg. Landscape, identities and development

  Kapitel

  This paper considers how cultural and social-centric norms influence the management and the meaning of land abandonment and biodiversity in rural landscapes. We describe historically, geologically, ecologically and socially diverse landscapes in three international case studies.  In Australia, rural land abandonment after only 150 years of European agriculture is associated biophysically with salinity, erosion and acidification.  It triggers a potential loss of place and identity for a nation still imagining a frontier past. Trading water away from the land and deregulation of production regimes due to WTO imperatives may create the opportunity for regeneration of indigenous flora and a new identity associated with conservation values.  In Sweden land abandonment reflects entrenched agricultural landscapes of over 1000 years.  Their landscape biodiversity is considered unique and in need of preservation in the face of aging farmer populations and the realities of food imports making production regimes non-viable. Sustainability appears to be associated with maintaining production regimes strongly linked to local cultural identity and sense of place.  In Portugal agricultural land abandonment in the north seems to offer a chance for oak forest regeneration and improved biodiversity outcomes. Identity here is associated with remembered landscapes prior to EU entry and re-imagining landscape connections built on previous cultural ties. In all three cases we consider what this interplay between natural and cultural landscapes will mean to their local communities; and using the historical and cultural lens, examine the theoretical ecological and sociological platforms surrounding the discourse on land use change.  We consider the benefits from interdisciplinary and international comparative research providing local-global insights that emerge to suggest common larger narratives of place and culture despite divergent histories of settlement and cultivation.

  Läs mer om Biodiversity and Land Abandonment:  Connecting Agriculture, Place and Nature in the Landscape

• Habitat fragmentation causes immediate and time-delayed biodiversity loss at different trophic levels

  2010. J Krauss (et al.). Ecology Letters 13 (5), 597-605

  Artikel

  Intensification or abandonment of agricultural land use has led to a severe decline of semi-natural habitats across Europe. This can cause immediate loss of species but also time-delayed extinctions, known as the extinction debt. In a pan-European study of 147 fragmented grassland remnants, we found differences in the extinction debt of species from different trophic levels. Present-day species richness of long-lived vascular plant specialists was better explained by past than current landscape patterns, indicating an extinction debt. In contrast, short-lived butterfly specialists showed no evidence for an extinction debt at a time scale of c. 40 years. Our results indicate that management strategies maintaining the status quo of fragmented habitats are insufficient, as time- delayed extinctions and associated co-extinctions will lead to further biodiversity loss in the future.

  Läs mer om Habitat fragmentation causes immediate and time-delayed biodiversity loss at different trophic levels

• Restoration of Seminatural Grasslands: What is the Impact on Ants?

  2010. Henriette Dahms (et al.). Restoration Ecology 18 (3), 330-337

  Artikel

  The number of species-rich seminatural grasslands in Northern Europe has decreased significantly due to the abandonment of traditional land use practices. To preserve these habitats, an increasing number of abandoned and overgrown grasslands have been restored by cutting down trees and shrubs and reintroducing grazing. These practices are considered a useful tool to recover the species richness of vascular plants, but their impact on other taxa is hardly known. Here we studied ants as one important group of grassland insects. We investigated (1) the effects of restoration of nongrazed and afforested seminatural grasslands, compared to continuously managed reference sites; and (2) the modulating impacts of habitat characteristics and time elapsed since restoration. We found a total of 27 ant species, 11 of these were characteristic of open habitats and seven characteristic of forests. Neither species richness per site nor the number of open-habitat species, nor the number of forest species differed between restored and reference sites. Yet, within the restored sites, the total species richness and the number of open-habitat species was positively related to the time since restoration and the percentage of bare rock. High frequencies of most open-habitat species were associated with low vegetation, older restored sites, and reference sites. Most forest species showed their highest frequencies in tree- and shrub-dominated habitat. We conclude that restoration efforts have been successful in terms of retrieving species richness. A regular and moderate grazing regime subsequent to the restoration is suggested in order to support a high abundance of open-habitat species.

  Läs mer om Restoration of Seminatural Grasslands

• A landscape perspective on conservation of semi-natural grasslands.

  2008. Regina Lindborg (et al.). AGRICULTURE ECOSYSTEMS & ENVIRONMENT 125 (1-4), 213-222

  Artikel

  Current agri-environmental schemes and subsidies for conservation and restoration of semi-natural grasslands do not explicitly assess land use changes affecting whole landscapes, but have so far focused on single objects and small areas. In this paper, we discuss a landscape perspective versus a "single object" perspective when conserving semi-natural grassland in agricultural landscapes. The focus is on the values biodiversity, cultural heritage, a vital countryside, and effects on economy when land use changes. We conclude that when land use change in the landscape surrounding an object, important additional effects on the different values are found. For example, a countryside where animals graze former arable fields and where marginal habitats are managed will have a positive effect, not only on the biodiversity associated to semi-natural grasslands, but also for the image of a vital and dynamic landscape. An increased number of roads, on the other hand, may negatively affect cultural heritage and decrease biodiversity in grasslands, leading to negative effects on the value of common goods through isolation. Placing objects in a larger spatial context and combining several different aspects into a landscape perspective, will improve long-term preservation of values associated to semi-natural grasslands.

  Läs mer om A landscape perspective on conservation of semi-natural grasslands.

• Effects of grassland restoration on plant species richness in Swedish agricultural landscapes.

  2008. Regina Lindborg, O. Eriksson. Biodiversity and animal feed - future challenges for grassland production, EGF Conference, Uppsala 2008.

  Konferens

  Läs mer om Effects of grassland restoration on plant species richness in Swedish agricultural landscapes.

• Remnant grassland habitats as source communities for plant diversification in agricultural landscapes

  2008. Sara A. O. Cousins, Regina Lindborg. BIOLOGICAL CONSERVATION 141, 233-240

  Artikel

  Lately there has been a shift in Sweden from grazing species-rich semi-natural grasslands towards grazing ex-arable fields in the modern agricultural landscape. These fields normally contain a fraction of the plant species richness compared to semi-natural grasslands. However, small remnant habitats have been suggested as important for plant species diversity and conservation as they may function as refugia for grassland specialists in fragmented and highly modified agricultural landscapes. In this study, we examined whether plant communities on small remnant habitats, i.e. midfield islets, can function as sources for grassland species to disperse out into surrounding grazed ex-fields (former arable fields). We examined species richness and grassland specialists (species favoured by grazing) and their ability to colonize fields after 5 and 11 years of grazing. The fields that had been grazed for a shorter time were fairly species-poor with few grassland specialists. A longer period of grazing had a positive effect on total and small-scale species diversity in both islets and fields. Species composition became more similar with time, and the number of grassland specialists in both habitats increased. We found that grassland specialists dispersed step-wise into the fields, and the number of grassland specialists decreased with distance from the source. Our study suggests that remnant habitats, such as midfield islets, do function as a source community for grassland specialists and enhance diversification of grassland species when grazing is introduced. For long-term conservation of plant species, incorporating small refugia into larger grazing complexes may thus enhance species richness.

  Läs mer om Remnant grassland habitats as source communities for plant diversification in agricultural landscapes

• Effects of land abandonment and restoration on plant species richness in Scandinavian rural landscapes

  2007. Regina Lindborg. IALE (International Association for Landscape Ecology) World Conference, Wagenegen, 2007

  Konferens

  Läs mer om Effects of land abandonment and restoration on plant species richness in Scandinavian rural landscapes

• Evaluating the distribution of plant life-history traits in relation to current and historical landscape configurations

  2007. Regina Lindborg. Journal of Ecology 95 (3), 555-564

  Artikel

  Läs mer om Evaluating the distribution of plant life-history traits in relation to current and historical landscape configurations

• A strategy for describing the biosphere at candidate sites for repositories of nuclear waste: Linking ecosystem and landscape modeling

  2006. T Lindborg (et al.). Ambio 35 (8), 418-424

  Artikel

  Läs mer om A strategy for describing the biosphere at candidate sites for repositories of nuclear waste: Linking ecosystem and landscape modeling

• Recreating Grasslands in Swedish Rural Landscapes: Effects of Seed Sowing and Management History

  2006. Regina Lindborg. Biodiversity and Conservation 15 (3), 957-969

  Artikel

  Recent loss of plant species richness in Swedish semi-natural grasslands has led to an increase in grassland recreation and restoration. To increase the establishment of declining species favoured by grazing and to re-establish original species richness, seed sowing has been discussed as a conservation tool. In this study, I examined to what extent seed sowing in former arable fields increases species richness and generates a species composition typical of semi-natural grasslands. Six grassland species favoured by grazing (target species) and six generalist species favoured by ceased grazing, were studied in a seed-addition experiment. Four different seed densities were used on four different grassland categories, two grazed former arable fields, one continuously grazed grassland and one abandoned grassland. Target and generalist species emerged in all grassland categories, but seedling emergence was higher in the grazed than in the abandoned grassland. Target species had higher emergence in the two grasslands with the longest grazing continuity. Seedling emergence and frequency of established plants of each target species were positively associated. The largest fraction of seeds germinated at an intermediate sowing density, 20–50 seeds/dm2, suggesting that aggregation of seeds positively affects emergence up to a certain threshold. In conclusion, artificial seed sowing may induce the recreation of typical grassland communities on former arable fields, which may be an important contribution to increase the total grassland area and species richness in the landscape.

  Läs mer om Recreating Grasslands in Swedish Rural Landscapes

• Plant species response to land-use change - Campanula rotundifolia, Primula veris and Rhinanthus minor

  2005. Regina Lindborg, Sara A. O. Cousins, Ove Eriksson. Ecography 28 (1), 29-36

  Artikel

  Land use change is a crucial driver behind species loss at the landscape scale. Hence, from a conservation perspective, species response to habitat degradation or improvement of habitat quality, is important to examine. By using indicator species it may be possible to monitor long-term survival of local populations associated with land use change. In this study we examined three potential indicator (response) species for species richness and composition in Scandinavian semi-natural grassland communities: Campanula rotundifolia, Primula veris and Rhinanthus minor. With field inventories and experiments we examined their response to present land use, habitat degradation and improvement of local habitat quality. At the time scale examined, C. rotundifolia was the only species responding to both habitat degradation and improvement of habitat quality. Neither R. minor nor P. veris responded positively to habitat improvements although both responded rapidly to direct negative changes in habitat quality. Even though C. rotundifolia responded quickly to habitat degradation, it did not disappear completely from the sites. Instead, the population structure changed in terms of decreased population size and flowering frequency. It also showed an ability to form remnant populations which may increase resilience of local habitats. Although P. veris and especially R. minor responded rapidly to negative environmental changes and may be useful as early indicators of land use change, it is desirable that indicators respond to both degradation and improvement of habitat quality. Thus, C. rotundifolia is a better response species for monitoring effects of land use change and conservation measures, provided that both local and regional population dynamics are monitored over a long time period.

  Läs mer om Plant species response to land-use change - Campanula rotundifolia, Primula veris and Rhinanthus minor

• Assessing changes in plant distribution patterns - indicator species versus plant functional types

  2004. Sara A. O. Cousins, Regina Lindborg. Ecological Indicators 4 (1), 17-27

  Artikel

  To meet conservation goals it is necessary to assess vegetation status and to be able to monitor effects of management and environmental change. In northern Europe grazed grasslands are one of the most threatened habitat in the rural landscape and thus in focus for conservation plans. At present managers use species indicator list to assess past and present management status of grassland and succession stages in particular, as well as effects of the environment. However, these indicators have rarely been scientifically tested. In this study we discuss if plant functional traits may be a key to select suitable indicator species for monitoring land-use change in Swedish rural landscape. The suitability of two possible monitoring tools: (i) plant species selected from functional traits (PFTs) and (ii) indicator species commonly used today to assess grassland management status, were tested along two gradients, a succession gradient and a wetness gradient. We found no association between successional change and plant functional traits, but a response in plant functional traits was found along the wetness gradient. However, the more common non-scientific indicator species responded fairly well to the varying gradient categories along both gradients. We believe that there is a need to further validate the ecological mechanisms behind the present-day indicators and to place them in a geographical context.

  Läs mer om Assessing changes in plant distribution patterns - indicator species versus plant functional types

• Effects of restoration on plant species richness and composition in Scandinavian semi-natural grasslands

  2004. Regina Lindborg, Ove Eriksson. Restoration Ecology 12 (3), 318-326

  Artikel

  Plant species richness in rural landscapes of northern Europe has been positively influenced by traditional management for millennia. Owing to abandonment of these practices, the number of species-rich semi-natural grasslands has decreased, and remaining habitats suffer from deterioration, fragmentation, and plant species decline. To prevent further extinctions, restoration efforts have increased during the last decades, by reintroducing grazing in former semi-natural grasslands. To assess the ecological factors that might influence the outcome of such restorations, we made a survey of semi-natural grasslands in Sweden that have been restored during the last decade. We investigated how plant species richness, species density, species composition, and abundance of 10 species that are indicators of grazing are affected by (1) the size of the restored site, (2) the time between abandonment of grazing and restoration, (3) the time elapsed since restoration, and (4) the abundance of trees and shrubs at the restored site. Only two factors, abundance of trees and shrubs and time since restoration, were positively associated with total species richness and species density per meter square at restored sites. Variation in species composition among restored sites was not related to any of the investigated factors. Species composition was relatively similar among sites, except in mesic/wet grasslands. The investigated factors had small effects on the abundance of the grazing-indicator species. Only Campanula rotundifolia responded to restoration with increasing abundance and may thus be a suitable indicator of improved habitat quality. In conclusion, positive effects on species richness may appear relatively soon after restoration, but rare, short-lived species are still absent. Therefore, remnant populations in surrounding areas may be important in fully recreating former species richness and composition.

  Läs mer om Effects of restoration on plant species richness and composition in Scandinavian semi-natural grasslands

• Historical landscape connectivity affects present plant species diversity

  2004. Regina Lindborg, Ove Eriksson. Ecology 85 (7), 1840-1845

  Artikel

  Transformation of landscapes is considered to be one of the main drivers behind species loss, regionally and globally. Theory and empirical studies suggest that landscape structure influences species diversity in many habitats. These effects may be manifested at different spatial scales depending on species response to landscape heterogeneity. A similar, but often neglected, scaling issue concerns the temporal scale of species response to landscape change. In this study, we found time lags of 50-100 years in the response of plant species diversity to changing configuration of habitats in the landscape. When analyzing remnants of traditionally managed seminatural grasslands in Sweden, we found that species diversity was not related to present-day connectivity of the investigated sites, irrespective of spatial scale (3.1-12.5 km(2)). However, when using maps depicting landscapes 50 and 100 years ago, respectively, strong positive effects of habitat connectivity appeared, at increasing spatial scale for the older landscapes. Thus, analyses of how species diversity relates to present-day landscapes may be misleading, and future species loss may be expected even if the present landscape is maint.

  Läs mer om Historical landscape connectivity affects present plant species diversity

• Evaluating the extinction risk of a perennial herb: demographic data versus historical records

  2002. Regina Lindborg, Johan Ehrlén. Conservation Biology 16 (3), 683-690

  Artikel

  Demographic information is frequently used to project the long-term extinction risk of endangered species, but the limitations of this approach have not been extensively discussed. We examined demographic data for the endangered perennial herb Primula farinosa with matrix models to assess population growth rates and extinction risks. The data came from six populations in contrasting habitats followed over a 4-year period. The results of these demographic models were compared to the results of experimental manipulations and to the actual change in occurrence of P. farinosa over a 70-year period in different habitat types. According to demographic models, all managed populations had a projected negative population growth rate and experienced a high extinction risk in 100 years, whereas unmanaged populations had increasing population sizes. In contrast, experiments and historical records suggested that continuous grazing is positively correlated with population persistence. Our results thus show that demographic studies done during a transient phase of population growth after management cessation may not capture the long-term changes. In such cases, projections of population growth rates may give misleading guidance for conservation. Short-term demographic studies are in many cases unlikely to correctly assess the survival probability of a species. We therefore argue that complementary information, such as long-term historical data or experimental manipulations of the environment, should be used whenever possible.

  Läs mer om Evaluating the extinction risk of a perennial herb

• Biodiversity mitigates trade-offs among multiple ecosystem services

  Emelie Waldén, Cibele Queiroz, Regina Lindborg.

  Läs mer om Biodiversity mitigates trade-offs among multiple ecosystem services

• Contrasting multi-taxa functional diversity patterns along vegetation structure gradients of woody pastures

  Simon Jakobsson (et al.).

  Läs mer om Contrasting multi-taxa functional diversity patterns along vegetation structure gradients of woody pastures

• Considering pelagic seascapes for improved management of marine protected areas: example from the Gulf of California, Mexico

  Felicity Pike (et al.).

  Läs mer om Considering pelagic seascapes for improved management of marine protected areas: example from the Gulf of California, Mexico

• Effects of land use change related to small-scale irrigation schemes in Kilombero wetland, Tanzania

  Edmond Alavaisha (et al.).

  Läs mer om Effects of land use change related to small-scale irrigation schemes in Kilombero wetland, Tanzania

• Exploring local perceptions on sustaining positive outcomes in a marine protected: example from the Cabo Pulmo National Park, Mexico

  Felicity Pike (et al.).

  Läs mer om Exploring local perceptions on sustaining positive outcomes in a marine protected: example from the Cabo Pulmo National Park, Mexico

• Exploring the effects of pasture trees on plant community patterns

  Simon Jakobsson (et al.).

  Läs mer om Exploring the effects of pasture trees on plant community patterns

• From traits to services: Assessing ecosystem services using a plant trait approach

  Cibele Queiroz, Regina Lindborg, Henrique M. Pereira.

  Läs mer om From traits to services

• Habitat, scale and species richness affect functional diversity of plants, moths and birds

  Cibele Queiroz (et al.).

  Läs mer om Habitat, scale and species richness affect functional diversity of plants, moths and birds

• Seascape configuration influences connectivity of reef fish assemblages

  Charlotte Berkström (et al.).

  Shallow-water habitats within tropical seascapes are intimately connected through ontogenetic and/or feeding migrations of fish. Knowledge on connectivity in the Indo-Pacific region is however sparse. Landscape ecology has been suggested as a useful approach when studying seascape connectivity. In this study, we examine the influence of habitat connectivity on reef fish assemblages in shallow-water habitats surrounding Zanzibar (Tanzania), using a seascape approach. We tested the relationships between a set of landscape and habitat variables and fish diversity and density for different functional groups and life stages. Habitat data was collected at scales ranging from 1m to >2km using aerial photography and ground-truthing. Fish data was collected using a standardised point census method. Furthermore, semi-structured interviews with 127 fishers in the bay were conducted to account for different fishing activity. We show that coral reefs in a complex seascape of Zanzibar are connected to seagrass beds through migration of fish. Habitat connectivity of seagrass and seagrass/coral mix within a 750m radius of coral reefs had a positive influence on fish abundances in the functional group of invertebrate feeders/piscivores, especially within the family Lutjanidae and Lethrinidae. Within-patch seagrass cover had a positive influence on nursery species. Depth also had a positive influence on fish assemblages, highlighting the importance of considering a third dimension, not accounted for in terrestrial studies. Generally, fishing activity between sites did neither influence species richness nor abundance, except for the abundance of juvenile parrotfish. We demonstrate that a landscape ecology approach, combining connectivity and habitat variables, is important for understanding and managing the tropical seascape, although it must be applied at relevant scales, habitat metrics and seascape configurations to fully capture ecological connectivity.

  Läs mer om Seascape configuration influences connectivity of reef fish assemblages

• Small-scale fisheries in the coastal seascape of Tanzania: seasonal patterns and fishing gear type matter

  Mathew Ogalo Silas (et al.).

  Läs mer om Small-scale fisheries in the coastal seascape of Tanzania

• Smallholder perceptions on ecosystem services generation in irrigated and rainfed farming- Kilombero, Tanzania

  Edmond Alavaisha, Regina Lindborg.

  Läs mer om Smallholder perceptions on ecosystem services generation in irrigated and rainfed farming- Kilombero, Tanzania

• Towards a trait-based ecology of wetland vegetation

  Helen Moor (et al.).

  1. Functional traits mechanistically capture plant responses to environmental gradients as well as plant effects on ecosystem functioning. Yet most trait-based theory stems from terrestrial systems and extension to other habitats can provide new insights.

  2. Wetlands differ from terrestrial systems in conditions (e.g. soil water saturation, anoxia, pH extremes), plant adaptations (e.g. aerenchyma, clonality, ubiquity of bryophytes) and important processes (e.g. denitrification, peat accumulation, methane emission). Wetland plant adaptations and trait (co-)variation can be situated along major plant trait trade-off axes (e.g. the resource economics spectrum), but soil saturation represents a complex stress gradient beyond a simple extension of commonly studied water availability gradients.

  3. Traits that affect ecosystem functioning overlap with patterns in terrestrial systems. But wetland-specific traits that mediate plant effects on soil redox conditions, microbial communities and on water flow, as well as trait spectra of mosses, vary among wetland types.

  4. Synthesis: With increasing availability of quantitative plant traits a trait-based ecology of wetlands is emerging, with the potential to advance process-based understanding and prediction. We provide an interactive cause-and-effect framework that may guide research efforts to disentangle the multiple interacting processes involved in scaling from environmental conditions to ecosystem functioning via plant communities. 

  Läs mer om Towards a trait-based ecology of wetland vegetation

Visa alla publikationer av Regina Lindborg vid Stockholms universitet