Search

The need to view innovation policy through the lens of policy mixes has gained momentum given the growing complexity, the dynamics of real-world policy and the wide array of difficulties to address the current great societal challenges, notably the increasing pressure on the ecosystems that support our society. One of the main challenges concerning the transition towards bioeconomy, is to gain a more in-depth understanding on the policy mix to stimulate innovation in sustainability transitions. Our paper aims at enriching the portfolio of empirical case studies on policy mixes for innovation and sustainable transitions, by investigating the development of the policy mix underpinning the sustainability transition of the pulp and paper industry in Sweden. We apply a case study approach which draws on event history analysis, semi-structured interviews with industry and policy makers, literature reviews, a participative workshop with stakeholders from the pulp and paper industry, as well as on the IEA databases on climate change and energy efficiency policies and measures. Our analysis emphasises coordination, timing and scale in policy mixes as important elements to understand how instruments interact to accelerate sustainability transitions. The mapping of the policy mix shows that destabilising policies were crucial for accelerating the transition process of the industry. Prior to novelty creation policies, destabilising policies (e.g. environmental policies) were needed for 'innovation policy instruments' to be effective. More specific instruments (e.g. carbon tax), targeting particular functions of the innovation systems, require 'on-the-ground' policy intelligence and benefit from close interaction with industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Addressing human-made environmental problems such as deforestation is an ongoing educational challenge. Promising educational approaches include cooperative decision-making and attempt via a high level of motivation to promote pro-environmental behaviors. Knowledge about the forest ecosystem, including its threats, is supposed to strengthen responsibilities and individual behavioral preferences. The "Save the Forests!" module engages students in hands-on learning activities under the frame of an educational Escape Game (Edu Breakout). Based on nine workstations, it includes various cooperative activities focusing on the forest ecosystem, its ecosystem services, and common tree species. Students realize advantages of recycling, gain insight into paper production and associated resource consumption, compare eco-labels for sustainable paper products, and reflect on consumer decisions. Additionally, the students learn about habitat situations after clear-cutting, forest fires, or storm damages (succession), including strategies for dealing with deadwood based on scientific data. Besides experiments and challenging tasks, students learn about the ecological footprint and greenwashing by clarifying often-used terms in sustainability contexts. In an accompanied quantitative study approach, students participating in the learning module significantly increased their knowledge scores in a pre-post comparison (n = 135, p < 0.001, d = 0.58). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modern day societies and economies are becoming increasingly vulnerable to the continued erosion of the stocks and flows of essential ecosystem services. Thus, the management of complex socio-economic systems to effectively provide these essential services has become a global priority policy and academic research area. Understanding how underlying processes and functions contribute towards the provision of final ecosystem services can facilitate improved dissemination of credible, legitimate and salient information to decision-makers. This paper presents an ecosystem service value chain analysis framework that applies basic system dynamics modelling in the form of causal loop diagrams to facilitate an alternative analysis of ecosystem service value chains. A scoping application of the framework is applied to a case study for flood attenuation services in the Baviaanskloof catchment in South Africa. The framework enables the identification of forward linkages and ripple effects in individual value chains of final ecosystem services as well as the identification and assessment of challenges and opportunities within individual causal pathways. Ultimately, providing the potential to advance strategies for improving the efficiency and effectiveness of final ecosystem service provision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Noise pollution is one of the consequences of urbanization that can cause environmental disturbances in urban areas. Urban ecosystems provide noise reduction services through Urban Green infrastructures (UGIs). Many studies have been conducted to evaluate and model traffic noise, but none have addressed the flow, supply, and demand of noise reduction ecosystem services. The main purpose of this paper is to present a new methodology for estimating flow, supply, and demand for noise reduction in Hamadan city that has not been mentioned in any paper so far. UGIs were classified into six main categories: agricultural lands, gardens, parks, abandoned lands, single trees, and street trees. A total of 57 sampling stations for sound measurement were made in August 2018. The current map of noise pollution (flow) was created using the Kriging method. The amount of supply was measured up to a distance of 50 meters from the main roads based on two approaches (the distance effect and the sound barrier effect). To quantify the demand, the current sound intensity level in the noise-sensitive land uses was compared with standards. Zonal statistics was used for spatial analysis of supply-demand in the urban neighborhood as a working unit. Results showed that at distances of 5m, 10m, 15m, and 20m, the average noise reduction was found to be 1.61, 2.83, 3.92, and 5.33 dB, respectively. Sound barriers at distances of 5m and 10m resulted in an average sound reduction of 1.61 and 2.83 dB, respectively. Individual trees, strip trees, abandoned lands, parks, and gardens led to a decrease in traffic noise by 0.3, 1, 0.1, 3.5, and 4.5 dB, respectively. The clustering analysis revealed a significant spatial clustering of noise pollution in Hamedan. The results and new methodology of this research can be used in similar areas to estimate the supply and demand of noise reduction and also for decision-makers to take management actions to increase supply and meet the demand for noise reduction service. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digital technologies occupy an important place in today's developing world. They are also strongly related to new trends in educational technologies. In this context, the digital accessibility of this new environment for people with various special needs is of particular concern. A novel tool for assessment of the technological ecosystem, designed to provide digital accessibility to people with special needs, is described in the paper. The overall structure and the initial test of the system are discussed in the paper. The conceptual framework of the ecosystem and its ontological model are described. Special attention is paid to the accessibility of digital learning and e-learning for people with special needs from a robotic perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rural and urban green areas are essential territories that support life and ecosystems. The significant reduction of these areas due to urbanization is a pressing issue. The process of land take consumes not only land resources but also the connected ecosystems and the benefits generated for human society. Reducing the quantity of land taken is imperative, but preserving high-quality territories is essential to achieving sustainable development. Evaluating the quality of non-urbanized areas can be done by assessing the ecosystem services (ESs) provided by these areas. In this paper, the authors present a further step: an evolution and deepening of the previous methodology (published in 2020) to evaluate the quality of rural and urban green areas through the assessment of the ESs provided. The methodology first allows the identification of the ESs provided by different typologies of rural and urban green areas according to the common international classification of ESs (provisioning, regulation and maintenance, and cultural). Then, it allows the calculation of several singular indexes and a final composite quality index through the use of geographical information systems. An analytic hierarchy process was performed with the creation of different scenarios to consider the different importance of the singular indexes assigned by planners and communities involved. The methodology was applied to the province of Monza Brianza (Italy), for testing and validation purposes. The application to the municipality of Sovico, which is presented in this report, allowed for the identification of areas with higher quality in the different scenarios that were created to consider the relative importance of the territorial characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: This paper provides an overview of the key issues concerning the role of edible insects in sustainable feed production and environmentally friendly agriculture. The use of insect-derived feeds for animal production is presented in detail and discussed for the major terrestrial livestock and aquaculture groups. The growing demand for animal protein, the efficient use of land and water, and the limitations of non-renewable energy sources highlight the global importance of edible insects. This paper provides an overview of the key issues regarding the role of edible insects in sustainable feed production and environmentally friendly agriculture. The indispensable ecological services provided by insects are discussed, as well as the farming, products, and nutritional value of edible insects. A representative selection of the literature reviewing major insect species' chemical compositions and nutritional value is also presented. The use of insect-derived feeds for animal production is presented in detail and discussed for the major terrestrial livestock and aquaculture groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Light pollution has detrimental impacts on wildlife, human health, and ecosystem functions and services. This paper explores the impact of light pollution on the value of ecosystem services. We use the Simplified All-Sky Light Pollution Ratio (sALR) as a proxy for the negative impact of light pollution and the Copernicus PROBA-V Global Landcover Database as our proxy of ecosystem service value based on previously published ecosystem service values associated with a variety of landcovers. We use the sALR value to 'degrade' the value of ecosystem services. This results in a 40% reduction in ecosystem service value in those areas of the world with maximum levels of light pollution. Using this methodology, the estimate of the annual loss of ecosystem service value due to light pollution is USD 3.4 trillion. This represents roughly 3% of the total global value of ecosystem services and 3% of the global GDP, estimated at roughly USD 100 trillion in 2022. A summary of how these losses are distributed amongst the world's countries and landcovers is also presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Dragonflies and damselflies are invaluable components of freshwater ecosystems, acting as dominant predators and facilitating the exportation of matter and energy from aquatic to terrestrial environments thanks to their powerful flight. They are also crucial as a food source for various animals and, in some cases, for humans. Through a comprehensive review of the literature, we estimated the biomass, density, and secondary production of these insects, assessing their potential significance in terrestrial fertilization. Our findings indicate that dragonfly larvae are particularly abundant in lentic habitats. Overall, the evidence suggests that dragonflies and damselflies may make a substantial contribution to the exportation of materials to terrestrial systems, especially considering the adults' ability to migrate and inhabit different types of water ecosystems. Freshwater insects are highly significant as ecosystem service providers, contributing to provisioning services, supporting services, and cultural services. Odonates are dominant predators in many freshwater systems, becoming top predators in fishless ecosystems. One service that odonates provide is the export of matter and energy from aquatic to terrestrial ecosystems. In this study, we provide a review of the literature aiming to estimate the density, biomass, and secondary production of odonates and discuss to what extent this order of insects is relevant for the fertilization of terrestrial ecosystems. We found published data on 109 species belonging to 17 families of odonates from 44 papers. Odonata larvae are abundant in freshwater systems, with a mean density of 240.04 ± 48.01 individuals m−2 (±SE). Lentic habitats show much higher densities (104.40 ± 55.31 individuals m−2, N = 118) than lotic systems (27.12 ± 5.09, N = 70). The biomass estimations for odonates indicate values of 488.56 ± 134.51 mg m−2 y−1, with similar values in lentic and lotic habitats, which correspond to annual secondary productions of 3558.02 ± 2146.80 mg m−2 y−1. The highest biomass is found in dragonflies of the Aeshnidae, Corduliidae, and Gomphidae families. The available evidence suggests a significant potential contribution of Odonata to the exportation of material from water bodies to land. This is further strengthened by the ability of adult odonates to migrate and to colonize different types of water bodies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Planting cover crops can improve soil health and help to sustain agricultural crop yields. In northern climates where corn (Zea mays L.) and soybean (Glycine max L.) are grown, cover crop biomass production can be low. This has led to people investigating the potential of interseeding cover crops into the growing main crop. This paper sought to determine biomass production and the benefit to grain yields, weed control and soil properties from interseeding cover crops into corn and soybean. This review included 70 studies published prior to 15 March 2024. Interseeded cover crops that were winter-hardy such as cereal rye (Secale cereale L.) produced more biomass in the spring (1.04 Mg ha−1 average biomass production) than any of the interseeded cover crops did in fall (0.35 Mg ha−1 average biomass production), primarily at crop row spacings of 76 cm. Factors that affected cover crop biomass production were crop stage, planting method, tillage practice, irrigation and row spacing. There was not a consistent widely planted cover crop species that produced the most biomass. Interseeded cover crops reduced weed biomass by 46% compared to weed control and generally did not affect crop grain yields when planted after V4 crop stage. Interseeded cover crops reduced soil nitrate concentration but generally did not affect other soil properties including soil water content. However, most of these studies planted cover crops at the same site for less than three years. Early interseeded cover crops generally did not perform better than interseeded winter-hardy cover crops planted around crop physiological maturity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water yield is an important service since it plays a significant role in supporting ecosystems, human livelihood, and economic activities. It is a valuable indicator for understanding the significance of water resources in specific geographic regions. This paper focuses on the valuation of water supply as an ecosystem service in the subwatersheds of the Upper Pampanga River Basin (UPRB) by applying the InVEST model in both scenarios of business-as-usual (BAU) and development. The model incorporates economic valuation techniques, i.e. net present value (NPV), thereby enabling the assessment of the monetary value associated with water supply. The results of this study show that there is a slightly decreasing trend in the annual water yield values in both scenarios. In terms of land area, the largest area under the projected BAU and development scenario (2020-2027) is grassland and forest, respectively. The results provided insights into how land use changes and climate variability affect water yield, with the BAU scenario yielding a total annual water volume of 2.3 billion m³ compared to 2.1 billion m³ in the development scenario. Furthermore, the NPV is estimated at PHP 24.6 billion for the BAU scenario and PHP 22.4 billion for the development scenario. These findings are pivotal for decision-making frameworks, hence underscoring the imperative of sustainable land use practices and water resource management in the UPRB. The study underscores the necessity of conducting a comprehensive assessment of ecosystem services to facilitate a balanced trade-off analysis, particularly at the subwatershed or watershed levels. This approach ensures that all factors influencing water yield and ecosystem health are considered, hence providing valuable insights for informed decision-making and effective resource management in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alfalfa use (Medicago sativa L.; "lucerne") in warm, humid regions of the world represents a potential area of expansion for the alfalfa industry. The objective of this review paper is to demonstrate how alfalfa forage breeding and systems research efforts have identified opportunities for increasing alfalfa contributions in these regions, along with potential pathways for seed industry and farming operations to increase adoption. Our review draws primarily on reports from the Southeast United States and Argentina. Significant technological advancements in plant screening and selection have identified alfalfa plant populations that are more adapted to the growing conditions experienced in these regions, which are often characterized by mild temperature, long growing seasons, and multiple other abiotic and biotic stressors. Management systems research conducted in the United States and Argentina has demonstrated the use of alfalfa for conserved forage, grazing, or dual‐purpose use in monoculture or mixtures with warm‐season grasses such as bermudagrass (Cynodon spp.). These trials report increased forage production, nutritive value, and ecosystem services of alfalfa–grass mixtures when compared with traditionally N‐fertilized warm‐season grass‐based systems. Grazing‐based alfalfa systems in Argentina have demonstrated methods for utilizing alfalfa as part of beef, dairy, and finishing systems. Some approaches for expanding alfalfa production in the region include targeted marketing efforts for adapted varieties and demonstrating alfalfa applications within existing farming frameworks. This includes educational programming efforts and on‐farm demonstrations to promote alfalfa use as a component of the livestock diets, integration into grass‐based systems, crop rotations, and wildlife use. Continued emphasis on a systems approach to alfalfa inclusion represents an opportunity for improved forage and livestock production in warm, humid regions of the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hebi is located in the northern part of China's Henan Province and is a typical receiving area for China's South-to-North Water Diversion Project. The assessment of habitat quality and water yield over a long time series is important for evaluating the stability of ecosystem services in Hebi and other receiving areas and for maintaining ecological security and promoting sustainable development. This paper aims to evaluate and dynamically analyse habitat quality and water yield in Hebi, and analyses the characteristics of changes in spatial and temporal patterns of land cover types, habitat quality and water yield in Hebi over the past 20 years, using 2000, 2005, 2010, 2015 and 2020 as horizontal years. The results indicate that: (1) During the study period, the overall land use type in Hebi City has been constantly changing, with the most significant conversion from arable land to other land types; combined with its landscape pattern index, Hebi City has a general characteristic of significant landscape fragmentation and complexity in land use. (2) Habitat quality in Hebi shows an overall trend towards better development, with water availability decreasing and then increasing; the zoning of ecosystem services in Hebi is divided into three classes: superior, good and general, with the area covered by the superior and general classes expanding year by year. (3) Correlation analysis by SPSS software shows that the correlation between habitat quality and landscape pattern index is greater than the correlation between habitat quality and climate change. Additionally, the correlation between water availability and climate change is greater than the correlation between water availability and landscape pattern index. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The protection of ecological systems is currently a trending topic. Numerous countries have implemented various measures to safeguard ecosystems. Evaluating the effectiveness of regional ecological protection and cooperative conservation is of paramount importance. In this paper, Hainan Island, China, was taken as an example to construct an evaluation framework of the ecosystem change characteristics and conservation effects of different types of protected areas. In this way, the study evaluated the ecological status of important protected areas and the effects of collaborative management and control, and it discussed the changes in ecological status and protection effects. The results revealed the following. (1) Important protected areas occupy a large proportion of natural ecological space, reaching 76.33%, more than twice the proportion of ecological space on Hainan Island. In the past 20 years, the ecological space retention rate has increased by 0.57%. (2) The contribution of excellent-quality and good-quality ecosystems is the greatest, accounting for 82.65% of the whole island. In the past 20 years, the ec7osystem quality has improved in more than 80% of the areas. The proportion of excellent-quality and good-quality ecosystems is as high as 96.75% in these conservation areas, and their contribution to Hainan Island is 44.29%, while conservation areas only account for about 38%. (3) The ecosystem services of Hainan Island have improved and become stable in the past 20 years. The contribution of all types of protected areas to the ecosystem services of Hainan Island is more than 53.22%. In general, the ecological quality and service function has increased in Hainan Island, and the ecological space tends to be stable. Different types of protected areas have effectively protected various ecosystems on Hainan Island with different protection and management mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, the global environmental science-policy interface has come to include a greater variety of knowledge. Social scientists have joined natural scientists at the policy table, and Indigenous and local knowledge is being taken ever more seriously. But this pluralisation raises political, normative, and epistemic challenges for environmental expert organisations, including with respect to how knowledge is managed, how it is judged to be valid, how it is made policy-relevant, and how it is presented to policy-makers and decision-takers. Based on an interview study of experts involved in the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), we identify three broad approaches to these challenges: the integrationist logic, which seeks to combine all knowledge into a single ontology; the parallelist, which looks for similarities and connections between irreconcilable ontologies; and the pragmatist, which strives to apply knowledge when and where it will have the greatest positive impact. Rather than champion any one of these approaches, the paper explores their origins and how they negotiate paralyses to the timeliness of work. In avoiding ultimate formalisation of how value and knowledge pluralism are to be handled, IPBES allow more contextually sensitive practices to come to the fore. The paper concludes by discussing implications for environmental expertise more broadly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The challenges posed by climate change, biodiversity loss, and land-use are deeply interconnected and integrated solutions are needed. This paper presents results from 11 contributions to a special issue covering topics of integrated modeling and spatial prioritization, mass-balance studies, Earth Observation techniques, research infrastructure developments, and evaluation of policy measures and economic compensation schemes. The spatial scale of the studies ranges from detailed site-specific to a European scale. This paper briefly summarizes the main findings of these studies, makes some general overall conclusions, and identifies topics for further research and methods developments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Academic journals have been publishing the results of biomedical research for more than 350 years. Reviewing their history reveals that the ways in which journals vet submissions have changed over time, culminating in the relatively recent appearance of the current peer-review process. Journal brand and Impact Factor have meanwhile become quality proxies that are widely used to filter articles and evaluate scientists in a hypercompetitive prestige economy. The Web created the potential for a more decoupled publishing system in which articles are initially disseminated by preprint servers and then undergo evaluation elsewhere. To build this future, we must first understand the roles journals currently play and consider what types of content screening and review are necessary and for which papers. A new, open ecosystem involving preprint servers, journals, independent content-vetting initiatives, and curation services could provide more multidimensional signals for papers and avoid the current conflation of trust, quality, and impact. Academia should strive to avoid the alternative scenario, however, in which stratified publisher silos lock in submissions and simply perpetuate this conflation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tramways in urban areas for mass transit has been suggested to have a lower environmental footprint than roads. However, studies on the impact of tramways and the surrounding infrastructure on biodiversity is extremely rare despite the potential ecological effects associated with this anthropogenic feature. Surprisingly, we found fewer than 10 papers published on tramway-wildlife interactions, which is significantly lower (vs dozens of thousands) than that of other transportation methods. As tramways and stations may be managed sustainably by planting short vegetation on the track and roofs of tramway stations, they may be good examples of land-sharing policies in green urban planning, improving both biodiversity and people’s well-being. The potential environmental benefits of green practices for commercially available tramways should be strictly tested and applied, especially in the context of the growing popularity of tramway systems worldwide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digitally enabled higher education involves the in-depth use of new-generation digital technology, which has subverted and innovated the traditional teaching mode, driven the development of high-quality teaching and learning, and improved teachers' teaching experience, and increased efficiency. Based on ecosystem theory, this paper constructs a higher education ecosystem with the government, enterprises, and universities as the core participating subjects. It considers the participating subjects' effort level and the ecosystem's overall benefits under the three scenarios of noncooperative research and development (R&D), cost sharing, and cooperative R&D. The results show that (1) the service innovation effort level of the three parties increases with increasing human resource level and technology maturity, and the government's benefit decreases with increasing cost of fulfilling social responsibility. (2) The government's cost subsidies to universities and enterprises can enhance the service innovation level of both parties and increase the optimal returns of the three parties and the ecosystem as a whole. (3) In the cooperative R&D game scenario, the effort level of the three parties and the total ecosystem returns are greater than those in the noncollaborative R&D scenario, and after determining the subsidy coefficients of the government, Pareto optimality of the three parties and the ecosystem as a whole can be achieved. The conclusions of this study can aid in understanding the dynamic evolution mechanism of digitally enabled higher education and provide a realistic decision-making reference for higher education ecosystem managers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the greatest challenges of our time is monitoring the rapid environmental changes taking place worldwide at both local and global scales. This requires easy-to-use and ready-to-implement tools and services to monitor and quantify aspects of bio- and geodiversity change and the impact of land use intensification using freely available and global remotely sensed data, and to derive remotely sensed indicators. Currently, there are no services for quantifying both raster- and vector-based indicators in a "compact tool". Therefore, the main innovation of ESIS/Imalys is having a remote sensing (RS) tool that allows for RS data processing, data management, and continuous and discrete quantification and derivation of RS indicators in one tool. With the ESIS/Imalys project (Ecosystem Integrity Remote Sensing—Modelling and Service Tool), we try to present environmental indicators on a clearly defined and reproducible basis. The Imalys software library generates the RS indicators and remote sensing products defined for ESIS. This paper provides an overview of the functionality of the Imalys software library. An overview of the technical background of the implementation of the Imalys library, data formats and the user interfaces is given. Examples of RS-based indicators derived using the Imalys tool at pixel level and at zone level (vector level) are presented. Furthermore, the advantages and disadvantages of the Imalys tool are discussed in detail in order to better assess the value of Imalys for users and developers. The applicability of the indicators will be demonstrated through three ecological applications, namely: (1) monitoring landscape diversity, (2) monitoring landscape structure and landscape fragmentation, and (3) monitoring land use intensity and its impact on ecosystem functions. Despite the integration of large amounts of data, Imalys can run on any PC, as the processing and derivation of indicators has been greatly optimised. The Imalys source code is freely available and is hosted and maintained under an open source license. Complete documentation of all methods, functions and derived indicators can be found in the freely available Imalys manual. The user-friendliness of Imalys, despite the integration of a large amount of RS data, makes it another important tool for ecological research, modelling and application for the monitoring and derivation of ecosystem indicators from local to global scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Ebinur Lake Basin is an ecologically sensitive area in an arid region. Investigating its land use and land cover (LULC) change and assessing and predicting its ecosystem service value (ESV) are of great importance for the stability of the basin's socioeconomic development and sustainable development of its ecological environment. Based on LULC data from 1990, 2000, 2010, and 2020, we assessed the ESV of the Ebinur Lake Basin and coupled the grey multi-objective optimization model with the patch generation land use simulation model to predict ESV changes in 2035 under four scenarios: business-as-usual (BAU) development, rapid economic development (RED), ecological protection (ELP), and ecological–economic balance (EEB). The results show that from 1990 to 2020, the basin was dominated by grassland (51.23%) and unused land (27.6%), with a continuous decrease in unused land and an increase in cultivated land. In thirty years, the total ESV of the study area increased from 18.62 billion to 67.28 billion yuan, with regulation and support services being the dominant functions. By 2035, cultivated land increased while unused land decreased in all four scenarios compared with that in 2020. The total ESV in 2035 under the BAU, RED, ELP, and EEB scenarios was 68.83 billion, 64.47 billion, 67.99 billion, and 66.79 billion yuan, respectively. In the RED and EEB scenarios, ESV decreased by 2.81 billion and 0.49 billion yuan, respectively. In the BAU scenario, provisioning and regulation services increased by 6.05% and 2.93%, respectively. The ELP scenario, focusing on ecological and environmental protection, saw an increase in ESV for all services. This paper can assist policymakers in optimizing land use allocation and provide scientific support for the formulation of land use strategies and sustainable ecological and environmental development in the inland river basins of arid regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Incorporating societal considerations into decisions related to invasive species management is desirable, but can be challenging because it requires a solid understanding of the ecological functions and socio- cultural and economic benefits and values of the invaded environment before and after invasion. The ecosystem service (ES) concept was designed to facilitate such decision-making by establishing direct connections between ecosystem properties and human well-being, but its application in invasive species management has not been systematic. In this Discussion paper, we propose the adoption of the ES cascade model as a framework for understanding the environmental effects, costs and benefits associated with controlling an invasive shrub (Tamarix spp.) in riparian systems of the western United States. The cascade model has the advantage of explicitly dissecting social-ecological systems into five components: ecosystem structure and processes, ecological functions, ecosystem services, benefits and the economic and socio-cultural valuation of these services and benefits. The first two have received significant attention in the evaluation of Tamarix control effectiveness. The last three have long been implicitly acknowledged over decades of Tamarix management in the region, but have not been formally accounted for, which we believe would increase the effectiveness, accountability and transparency of management efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Blue carbon has been proposed as a nature-based solution for climate change mitigation; however, a limited number of published works and data and knowledge gaps hinder the development of small island developing states' (SIDS) national blue carbon resources globally. This paper reviews the blue carbon ecosystems of Seychelles as a case study in the context of SIDS, comparing estimations by the Blue Carbon Lab and recent blue carbon (mangrove and seagrass) evaluations submitted to the Seychelles national government. Mangroves (2195 ha, 80% in Aldabra Atoll) and seagrasses (142,065 ha) dominate in Seychelles, with coral reefs having the potential for carbon sequestration (169,000 ha). Seychelles is on track to protecting its blue carbon, but these systems are threatened by rising sea levels, coastal squeeze, erosion, severe storms, and human activities. The importance of carbon inventories, accounting institutions, and continuous monitoring of blue carbon systems is discussed. Blue accounting is necessary for accurate accounting of carbon sequestration and carbon storage, generating carbon credits, and representing impactful reductions in greenhouse gases for NDCs. Challenges and opportunities include policy legislation regarding ownership rights, accreditation and certification for carbon credits, sustainable financing mechanisms like natural asset companies and blue tokens, local engagement for long-term success, and carbon market dynamics following COP27. The restoration and regulation of blue carbon resources for optimal ecosystem services delivery, carbon inventories, and blue carbon policy are recommended development priorities. Blue carbon ecosystems have the potential to contribute to NDCs of SIDS while simultaneously offering sustainable development pathways for local communities through the multiple ecosystem services they provide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Grazing lands provide numerous ecosystem services, including the capacity to store large amounts of soil carbon (C); however, our understanding of the factors affecting soil C responses to management is inadequate. Methods: In this paper, we synthesized information about the impacts of grazing land management on soil C within the southeastern region of the United States. Results: Most studies (68%) demonstrated that proper management increased soil C stocks with an average C accumulation rate of 1.4 Mg C ha−1 year−1. The remaining (32%) studies showed no effect of management on soil C. None of the studies reported negative impacts of management on soil C. The largest increase in soil C (8 Mg C ha−1 year−1) was associated with the conversion of cropland to pastureland while overseeding legumes into grass pastures resulted in the lowest C sequestration rates (0.2 Mg C ha−1 year−1). Conclusions: Considering the rates of soil C accretion and the extensive area occupied by grazing lands, data in this synthesis confirm that the adoption of improved management practices can increase soil C sequestration in the southeastern United States. In addition, because most improved management practices can also have co‐benefits, they may be favorable for forage and livestock production and other ecosystem services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Socio-cultural dimensions and values in maritime spatial planning (MSP) are gaining momentum worldwide and especially in the European Union (EU), since it is acknowledged that they are the "missing layer" of maritime spatial plans (MSPlans). These values are partly explored through cultural ecosystem services (CES). Coastal and marine CES refer to the benefits that humans derive from the coastal and marine environments in recreational, artistic, spiritual, and educational terms. They reflect the ways in which coastal and marine ecosystems contribute to human well-being, cultural identity, and interactions with nature. The research question is how to map and assess coastal/marine ecosystem services and to integrate them in the MSPlans. Thus, this systematic review sheds light on methodological and technical issues with CES mapping and assessment and provides guidance on how to incorporate CES in MSP for future research. Publications dealing with the spatial aspects of CES were examined with an extra focus on participatory mapping approaches. Initially, 199 articles were identified, and 50 articles were ultimately eligible for the analysis. Papers were concentrated in the European Atlantic, whilst their scope was either local or regional. A large number of articles consider the contribution of CES to efficient marine management rather than to achieving an integrated and coordinated MSP. Social and mixed mapping approaches were met with the most often, especially participatory mapping approaches. Also, non-monetary valuation was prevailing, and a multitude of techniques, tools, and statistical software were used. In most of the cases, the distribution of values in relation to environmental, socio-economic, and demographic factors was examined. This article concludes that an effective integration of CES into MSP is crucial for creating prospects of a more sustainable and inclusive approach to coastal/marine planning and for the well-being of ecosystems and communities both currently and for future generations. This knowledge should become "property" of the maritime spatial planners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a methodology to detect the coastal erosion and progradation effects in the 'Atrato River' delta, located in the Gulf of Urabá in Colombia, using SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) images. Erosion is the physical–mechanical loss of the soil that affects its functions and ecosystem services while producing a reduction in its productive capacity. Progradation is the deposition of layers in the basinward direction while moving coastward. Other studies have investigated these two phenomena using optical images, encountering difficulties due to the persistent presence of clouds in this region. In order to avoid the cloud effects, in this study, we used 16 Sentinel 1 SAR images with two different polarizations between 2016 and 2023. First, each image was rescaled from 0 to 255, then the image was despeckled by a deep learning (DL) model. Afterwards, a single RGB image was composed with the filtered polarizations. Next, a classifier with 99% accuracy based on Otsu's method was used to determine whether each pixel was water or not. Then, the classified image was registered to a reference one using Oriented FAST and Rotated BRIEF (ORB) descriptor. Finally, a multitemporal analysis was performed by comparing every image to the previous one to identify the studied phenomena, calculating areas. Also, all images were integrated to obtain a heatmap that showed the overall changes across eight years (2016–2023) in a single image. The multitemporal analysis performed found that the newly created mouth is the most active area for these processes, coinciding with other studies. In addition, a comparison of these findings with the Oceanic Niño Index (ONI) showed a relative delayed coupling to the erosion process and a coupling of progradation with dry and wet seasons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Change detection (CD) in remote sensing imagery has found broad applications in ecosystem service assessment, disaster evaluation, urban planning, land utilization, etc. In this paper, we propose a novel graph model-based method for synthetic aperture radar (SAR) image CD. To mitigate the influence of speckle noise on SAR image CD, we opt for comparing the structures of multi-temporal images instead of the conventional approach of directly comparing pixel values, which is more robust to the speckle noise. Specifically, we first segment the multi-temporal images into square patches at multiple scales and construct multi-scale K-nearest neighbor (KNN) graphs for each image, and then develop an effective graph fusion strategy, facilitating the exploitation of multi-scale information within SAR images, which offers an enhanced representation of the complex relationships among features in the images. Second, we accomplish the interaction of spatio-temporal-radiometric information between graph models through graph mapping, which can efficiently uncover the connections between multi-temporal images, leading to a more precise extraction of changes between the images. Finally, we use the Markov random field (MRF) based segmentation method to obtain the binary change map. Through extensive experimentation on real datasets, we demonstrate the remarkable superiority of our methodologies by comparing with some current state-of-the-art methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much of Canada's industrial sector is driven by natural resources and relies heavily on provisioning services supplied by the boreal zone. However, the sometimes intensive processes used by resource-based industries and their associated infrastructure have significantly altered the region, creating concerns over the future socio-ecological health of the boreal zone. Addressing these concerns will require industries reliant on natural resources from the boreal zone to innovate their processes, management, and infrastructure to improve extraction efficiency while contributing to society's increasing expectations related to sustainability. Here, we explore past, current, and future trends in industrial innovation and infrastructure in the boreal zone for forestry, mining, pulp and paper, oil and gas, and renewable sources of power generation. We assess the role of innovation on the future socio-ecological state of the boreal zone by considering interactions between innovation in industry and infrastructure and other key drivers of change in the boreal, such as atmospheric changes, changing demands for nonprovisioning and provisioning ecosystem services, governance, and demographics and social values. We present future scenarios highlighting three divergent trajectories of change in boreal ecosystems based on past and current states of innovation in industry and infrastructure. We suggest that minimizing impacts of natural resource extraction activities in the boreal zone will only be possible through innovation directly focused on reducing the human footprint on the landscape. Innovation in the information technology sector related to process, management, and end products within these industries and placing greater emphasis on cross-sectoral collaboration will be key to achieving this goal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to conduct a systematic review of the scientific literature on aquatic ecosystem services. We used the Web of Science database for our research. We found a total of 1,367 articles, with 837 papers that studied ecosystem services provided through the interaction between terrestrial and aquatic environments (terrestrial–aquatic papers) and 530 papers relating only to aquatic environments. Despite the growing number of articles, there is still less research on aquatic environments compared to terrestrial environments. We found a correlation between types of services and taxonomic groups, such that supporting ecosystem services were investigated using mainly macroinvertebrate, microorganisms and aquatic macrophytes communities, while provisioning and cultural ecosystem services were frequently studied with fishes. The analysis of keywords revealed that there was a temporal shift in the terms studied, and some words presented a higher frequency in aquatic research. Nonetheless, other words appeared in aquatic and terrestrial–aquatic studies with similar frequencies. The trends and biases detected in the present paper can help us to understand the role of aquatic biodiversity in ecosystem services more fully in the future as well as assist in the creation of strategies for future studies on the conservation of these services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main challenge in protecting ecosystems and improving the supply of ecosystem services is to quantify the ecological services value (ESV). However, the detailed spatiotemporal changes, sensitivity, spatial autocorrelation, and driving mechanisms of ESV are not clear in rapidly developing regions, particularly subsidence, floods, landslides, and the rapid urban development of Anhui province, China. In this paper, the ecological service value of Anhui Province in the past 30 years was calculated using the improved equivalent factor assessment method from satellite remote sensing such as Landsat. The spatiotemporal evolution characteristics of ESV were analyzed and the driving mechanism of ESV changes was studied using Geodetector. Finally, The GeoSOS-FLUS model was selected to predict the ecosystem service value until 2030 with three scenarios: business as usual (BAU), ecological protection (EP), and cultivated land protection (CLP). The main results were obtained: (1) the ESV in Anhui Province continued to decrease by 2.045 billion yuan (−6.03%) from 1990 to 2020. The top two contributors were the forest land, followed by water area. (2) The global Moran's I of ESV at the landform subdivision, county, town, and grid scales in Anhui Province were −0.157, 0.321, 0.357 and 0.759, respectively. (3) The order of influence degree of driving factors was: precipitation (F4), distance to intercity road (F9), net primary productivity, NPP (F6), distance to urban road (F8), population (F13), temperature (F5), aspect (F3), distance to settlement (F11), slope (F2), elevation (F1), GDP (F14), distance to water (F12), distance to railway (F10), and soil erosion (F7). (4) In 2030, the simulated ESV under the three scenarios will decrease to varying degrees. Compared with 2020, the ESV of the three scenarios will decrease successively as follows: BAU (−1.358 billion yuan), EP (−0.248 billion yuan), and CLP (−1.139 billion yuan). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper critically reviews the progress in ecosystem integrity (health) assessment of inland waters and provides future directions for assessment. Current biotic integrity assessments mainly use multimetric indices and predictive models to evaluate overall health status; the criteria largely rely on pristine reference sites, but such an approach is not applicable to unique natural waters and irreversibly modified waters. Biotic diagnostic assessments are still in the exploratory stage and can only diagnose possible stressor types and wide-ranges of their intensities through empirical models linking stressors and species-trait-indices. Current chemical integrity assessments mainly use criteria determined by small-scale ecotoxicity tests, rather than quantitative relationships developed between chemical factors and biotic effects in real ecosystems, thus potentially under or overestimating pollutant toxicity. Current physical integrity assessments focus on overall habitat quality, rather than quantitative habitat requirements, and thus cannot provide quantitative support for ecological restoration and conservation. Current hydrological integrity (environment flow) assessments largely depend on quantitative relationships between hydrological regimes with a few species and single groups, rather than with whole communities, and fail to comprehensively diagnose hydrological causes of biotic resource decline. In the future, integrity assessments need to be based on ecosystem integrity requirements of ecosystem service targets: first, there is a need to build quantitative relationships between biotic integrity and ecosystem services, assess requirements of community structure and function for service goals, and establish biotic integrity assessment methods; second, we must build quantitative relationships between biotic integrity and abiotic integrity in real ecosystems, assess chemical, physical, and hydrological integrity requirements of biotic needs, and establish diagnostic assessment methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The domestication of vines started in Asia 11,000 years ago, although it was not until the 19th century that oenology was established as a scientific discipline thanks to the research of Louis Pasteur on the role of microorganisms in wine fermentation. At the present time, the progression in next-generation sequencing (NGS) technologies is helping to facilitate the identification of microbial dynamics during winemaking. These advancements have aided winemakers in gaining a more comprehensive understanding of the role of microbiota in the fermentation process, which, in turn, is ultimately responsible for the delivery of provisioning (wine features and its production), regulating (such as carbon storage by vineyards, regulation of soil quality, and biocontrol of pests and diseases) or cultural (such as aesthetic values of vineyard landscapes, scholarly enjoyment of wine, and a sense of belonging in wine-growing regions) ecosystem services. To our knowledge, this is the first review of the state of knowledge on the role of microbiota in the delivery of ecosystem services in the wine sector, as well as the possibility of valuing them in monetary terms by operating logic chains, such as those suggested by the SEEA-EA framework. This paper concludes with a review of management practices that may enhance the value of microbiota ecosystem services and the role of smart farming in this task. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to WHO, in 2010 the air pollution was the main cause of over 200 thousand obits related to lung cancer. This paper aims to analyze the role of mangrove and their preservation on air pollution mitigation at Aracaju, northeast Brazil. The city was founded by the Sergipe River, few kilometers from the Atlantic Ocean, which configures it as an ideal site for mangrove development. Mobile measurements of CO were taken place in an urbanized area close to a mangrove area, providing an idea of the pollutant spatial dynamics. The benefits of the mangrove preservation were calculated using the ITree canopy v.7.1. The results reveal that the Mangrove preservation is responsible for over 4 tons of pollutants removal per year, a fact that can be related to the low levels of pollutions registered on the area during the measurements, helping to endorse the urban trees and mangrove areas preservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this study is to carry out a survey of the different studies that have been carried out in Cuba in terms of ecosystem services valuation. It is a path little traveled and on rise that requires the detection of its strengths and gaps as a guide to the execution of said investigations with de human capital that the country possesses. A total of 42 papers were compiled, including 14 scientific articles, 8 diploma theses, 15 doctoral theses and 5 master´s theses. The ecosystem services most evaluated were those of fibre and food supply, the regulation of climate, water, natural hazard and air quality and within cultural services, aesthetic values and recreation and ecotourism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The integrated farming system (IFS) is a holistic farming approach specially designed for small/marginal farmers to enhance the system productivity, profitability, and employment generation of their farm, ultimately ensuring their food and nutrition security for their livelihood. The mechanism of IFS offers various ecosystem services making farms environment‐friendly, sustainable, and climate‐resilient. IFS is characterized by the allocation of different agricultural components systematically in a single farm performing synergistically among themselves making the farm more productive, healthy, biodiversity enriched, and eco‐friendly than simplified farms. Therefore, this review paper represents an extensive analysis of existing literature on IFS exploring its concept, components, and need, and emphasizing its potential for higher system productivity, profitability, and employment generation in a sustainable manner. Moreover, it develops a conceptualization of the relationship among different agricultural components in a single farm exploring its role in ecosystem services (reducing greenhouse gases, carbon sequestration, nutrient recycling, improving soil health, and biodiversity conservation). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many alien tree species were introduced into grassland ecosystems in South Africa by the commercial forestry industry for paper and timber for furniture. Over decades some of these introduced species escaped into neighbouring farms and community land. Adult trees from these alien species now provide other ecosystem services, notably fuelwood. Depending on the spatio-temporal context, many of these species can also negatively affect ecosystem services. We collected interview data from commercial and communal farmers in the upper Umzimvubu catchment in South Africa to compare farmers' knowledge and perceptions of invasive wattle species invasion and their associated ecosystem services and disservices. Fuelwood and fencing poles were the most common uses of wattle by commercial (83%; 67%) and communal (99%; 49%) farmers. On the other hand, the reduction of grass cover and loss of grazing land were the most commonly mentioned negative impacts of wattles by commercial (83%; 75%) and communal (92%; 80%) farmers. Although both groups recognise the importance of wattles in providing ecosystem services, most communal farmers perceived wattles to have more negative effects than benefits. The findings demonstrate that both farmer groups highly depend on ecosystem services and are affected by disservices of wattles. However, while large-scale commercial households favour the presence of wattles in the landscape, communal households prefer complete removal of the wattles from the landscape. This may be due to lack of locally available alternative options or inability to replace or purchase ecosystem services affected by wattles from other sources or markets like commercial farmers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent decades, technological and methodological advances, such as satellite information, computer power, geospatial analysis and algorithm development have facilitated the search for solutions to complex problems like global change. These advances resulted in the development of platforms for ecosystem services (ES) modeling, which quantifies nature's benefits and evaluates the effects of human activity. Currently, various platforms are available, each with different characteristics that make them more suitable depending on the context. Among these platforms, k.LAB stands out for being free, open source and based on collaborative science. It also utilizes artificial intelligence to integrate different modeling approaches. One of its main advantages is its versatility in meeting the needs of different users, from programmers and modelers to decision makers. However, k.LAB is relatively unknown among those who quantify and map ES, especially in Latin America. This limits its potential utilization, similar to what has been observed with other freely accessible and open-source tools like R. The adoption of such tools typically requires time to develop tutorials, reviews and discussions in specialized journals. The objective of this paper is to introduce the capabilities of k.LAB within the context of SE modeling platforms. We first provide an overview of ES modeling platforms, highlighting some of the most widely used ones. Then, we delve into the technical and philosophical aspects that characterize k.LAB. Subsequently, we present a case study focused on the northern region of Argentinean Patagonia, where we utilize modeling applications to map three ES (carbon sequestration, pollination, and outdoor recreation) for users with no programming experience. Finally, we outline desirable features of SE modeling platforms and discuss some of the advantages and limitations of k.LAB compared to other alternatives. We hope that this material offers a useful general framework for SE modeling and expands the range of tools available to address global change issues in Argentina and the rest of the countries in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Provisioning ecosystem services are under threat in peripheral areas in African cities due to urbanisation pressures. Previous studies have focused on land conversion and food crop production. How urbanisation pressures intertwine with the provisioning ecosystem services availability to peri-urban households is an empirical question, which this paper answered using Wa in Ghana as a case. The mixed method research approach was employed involving 400 randomly selected households with the aid of a questionnaire, while interviews were also conducted with relevant stakeholders. Descriptive statistics and a five-point Likert scale were used to analyse the household data, while interview responses were thematised. We observed that urbanisation adversely affected ecosystems, reducing the availability of wild fruits, fuelwood, and game to farmer households. From the households' perspective, most of these services will disappear in the future as urbanisation intensifies. We recommend the restoration of degraded lands for the conservation of natural habitats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bats are a crucial component within ecosystems, providing valuable ecosystem services such as pollination and pest control. In practical conservation efforts, the classification and identification of bats are essential in order to develop effective conservation management programs for bats and their habitats. Traditionally, the identification of bats has been a manual and time-consuming process. With the development of artificial intelligence technology, the accuracy and speed of identification work of such fine-grained images as bats identification can be greatly improved. Bats identification relies on the fine features of their beaks and faces, so mining the fine-grained information in images is crucial to improve the accuracy of bats identification. This paper presents a deep learning-based model designed for the rapid and precise identification of common horseshoe bats (Chiroptera: Rhinolophidae: Rhinolophus) from Southern China. The model was developed by utilizing a comprehensive dataset of 883 high-resolution images of seven distinct Rhinolophus species which were collected during surveys conducted between 2010 and 2022. An improved EfficientNet model with an attention mechanism module is architected to mine the fine-grained appearance of these Rhinolophus. The performance of the model beat other classical models, including SqueezeNet, AlexNet, VGG16_BN, ShuffleNetV2, GoogleNet, ResNet50 and EfficientNet_B0, according to the predicting precision, recall, accuracy, F1-score. Our model achieved the highest identification accuracy of 94.22% and an F1-score of 0.948 with low computational complexity. Heat maps obtained with Grad-CAM show that our model meets the identification criteria of the morphology of Rhinolophus. Our study highlights the potential of artificial intelligence technology for the identification of small mammals, and facilitating fast species identification in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This document is an editorial from the journal Agronomy titled "The Future of Weed Science: Novel Approaches to Weed Management." The editorial discusses the need for new and innovative approaches to weed management in light of the European Union's focus on reducing chemical control. The document highlights various research papers that cover topics such as agroecological weed management, precision agriculture, remote sensing, and the potential role of allelopathy and nature-based compounds. The authors emphasize the importance of combining these methods, evaluating them under different conditions, and optimizing strategies for both agronomic performance and ecosystem services. [Extracted from the article]

Studying the impact of large-scale ecological projects, such as the Grain-for-Green Program (GGP), on ecosystem services (ES) is currently a frontier and hot topic of ecological research. The GGP can directly change land use and land cover, thus affecting ES. By comparing the changes of ecosystem service value (ESV) and ecosystem service scarcity value (ESSV) in Qinghai before and after the implementation of the GGP, this paper clarified the impact of the GGP on Qinghai from the angles of ecology and economics. This paper quantified and evaluated the land use dynamics, ESV, and ESSV in Qinghai from 1995 to 2020. The results showed that in the past 25 years, the total annual Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) of Qinghai showed a trend of sustained growth. From 1995 to 2020, the ESV increased by 6.80%. After considering supply and demand, the ESSV showed a continuous upward trend, increasing by 719.38%. After implementation of the GGP, the increase of NDVI inhibited the increase of the ESSV. These findings from evaluation of the effect of the GGP implementation provide a theoretical basis for future policy implementation and, in particular, a reference for the evaluation of the ESV and the ESSV in Qinghai. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Botanic gardens and arboreta are amongst our most loved public spaces. There are over 2500 botanic gardens and arboreta across the world visited by an estimated half a billion people each year. In addition to their cultural value, botanic gardens and arboreta undertake world‐leading scientific research to address global challenges. This virtual issue highlights key articles that feature research linked to the work of botanic gardens, arboreta and herbaria. The papers give a sense of the diverse research endeavours of these institutions, from evaluating biodiversity loss, and conservation of critically endangered species through understanding the importance of ecosystem services that plants provide to people and addressing societal and global challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The survival of human and sustainable development of the society both closely rely on forest ecosystem services. Employing two different methods, this paper based on benefit transfer method calculated the forest ecosystem services value of Sichuan province, China. The results showed that the total forest ecosystem services value had a steady rate of increase in Sichuan province from 2008 to 2018, and meanwhile, the different evaluation methods resulted in significant deviation of estimation outcomes. This paper considered the differences of biomass and socioeconomic development which were ignored in prior studies. The Carnegie-Ames-Stanford approach was employed to estimate the net primary productivity of different forest species. Further, the S type R. Pearl growth curve was employed to estimate people’s willingness and ability to pay for forest ecosystem services. This paper provided implications to help forest managers and policy makers pay additional attention to the evaluation systems choosing on forest ecosystem services value and the differences of biomass and socioeconomic development by using benefit transfer method method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A review of 400 papers resulted in 130 indicators on mountain ecosystem services (ES) • Regulating and provisioning ES were more popular and supporting ES least mentioned. • Regional and local scales and ecological evaluations were the most frequent. • Expert-based analysis identify 13 indicators with high values of usability. • There is a need necessity to standardize high-quality metrics in ES assessment. Ecosystem services (ES) assessment is crucial in ecology, with numerous studies seeking to evaluate them. Despite the abundance of methods and indicators, standardization is lacking, hindering comparability and progress in ES understanding and monitoring. This paper reviews indicators used in scientific literature to evaluate mountain ES and then examined whether the most used indicators are also the best. Using ISI Web of Knowledge we searched papers published between 2015 and 2020 containing "ecosystem services" AND "mountains" and we selected 400 papers effectively applying at least one indicator to evaluate ES. For each article, we extracted the following information: type of ES evaluated; indicator(s) used; input data used; type of value-domain (ecological, economic or social); scale of analysis; country; mapping; and management suggestions. From the literature, we extracted a list of 130 most frequently used indicators. The results indicated that regulating services were the most frequently assessed ES, followed by provisioning, cultural, and lastly supporting. The scale of analysis was mainly regional (51%) and local (40%), while studies at national scale were less frequent (9%) and only 2 studies were at global scale. Mountain areas most studied were in Europe (50%) and Asia (31%). Ecological value-domain was the most frequent used (55%), followed by social (26%) and economic (18%). 84% of studies considered only one dimension of the value and few studies combined multiple value-domains (15%). Almost half of studies mapped ES and around one third provided management suggestions. We examined the quality of indicators based on six criteria evaluated by experts in the field: significance, simplicity, cost, replicability, ease of interpretation and policy relevance. Indicators used exhibit significant diversity, and there is no clarity in nomenclature. There are cases where the indicators used represent inadequately the ecological parameters to be measured. Although many indicators score high in some of the properties evaluated, only 13 indicators perform well in all properties. These indicators have a universal value both in terms of semantics, but also in terms of properties and should be promoted for standardization among ES assessments. We envisage the necessity to condense the array of indicators commonly used down to a small set of standardized high-quality metrics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Xinjiang is located in arid northwest China, which is a key area for promoting the high-quality development of the regional ecological environment. In recent years, against a background of increasing human activities and rapid natural changes, Xinjiang has faced enormous ecological challenges. This paper utilizes land-use data from 2000 to 2020 to verify the region's current state of the ecosystem. Additionally, it uses the value equivalent factor per unit area, ecosystem service value (ESV) loss and gain matrix, and double-factor spatial autocorrelation analysis to study the spatial and temporal variabilities of ESV in Xinjiang and its attribution to spatial correlation. The results show that (1) the ESV in Xinjiang exhibits an overall increasing trend during 2000–2020, with a total increase of about CNY 18.202 billion. Regulation-service ESV takes the main position in the single-service function, accounting for about 67.18% of the total ESV. In northern Xinjiang, the ESV demonstrates a decreasing trend, dropping by about CNY 16.885 billion, while in southern Xinjiang, the ESV shows an increasing trend, rising by CNY 35.086 billion. (2) For the study period, the main loss of ESV in Xinjiang is the conversion of ecological land with a high ESV into cropland or barren land with a low ESV. The conversion of bare land to grassland led to the largest increase in ESV (about CNY 209.308 billion), whereas the conversion of grassland to barren land led to the largest loss (about CNY 183.046 billion). (3) There are positive correlations among ESV, net primary productivity (NPP), and human activity intensity (HAI). However, all of the relationships weaken year by year. The spatial agglomeration of ESV ∩ NPP is significantly greater than that of ESV ∩ HAI, so NPP is the dominant factor in the spatial correlation of ESV in Xinjiang. The findings of this study provide a scientific basis for promoting high-quality regional ecological development in China's arid northwest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In many industrial sectors, the current digitalization trend resulted in new products and services that exploit the potential of built-in sensors, actuators, and control systems. The business models related to these products and services usually are data-driven and integrated into digital ecosystems. Quantified products (QP) are a new product category that exploits data of individual product instances and fleets of instances. A quantified product is a product whose instances collect data about themselves that can be measured or, by design, leave traces of data. The QP design has to consider what dependencies exist between the actual product, services related to the product, and the digital ecosystem of the services. By investigating three industrial case studies, the paper contributes to a better understanding of typical features of QP and the implications of these features for the design of products and services. For this purpose, we combine the analysis of features of QP potentially affecting design with an analysis of dependencies between features. The main contributions of the work are (1) three case studies describing QP design and development, (2) a set of recurring features of QPs derived from the cases, and (3) a feature model capturing design dependencies of these features. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bats are a crucial component within ecosystems, providing valuable ecosystem services such as pollination and pest control. In practical conservation efforts, the classification and identification of bats are essential in order to develop effective conservation management programs for bats and their habitats. Traditionally, the identification of bats has been a manual and time-consuming process. With the development of artificial intelligence technology, the accuracy and speed of identification work of such fine-grained images as bats identification can be greatly improved. Bats identification relies on the fine features of their beaks and faces, so mining the fine-grained information in images is crucial to improve the accuracy of bats identification. This paper presents a deep learning-based model designed for the rapid and precise identification of common horseshoe bats (Chiroptera: Rhinolophidae: Rhinolophus) from Southern China. The model was developed by utilizing a comprehensive dataset of 883 high-resolution images of seven distinct Rhinolophus species which were collected during surveys conducted between 2010 and 2022. An improved EfficientNet model with an attention mechanism module is architected to mine the fine-grained appearance of these Rhinolophus. The performance of the model beat other classical models, including SqueezeNet, AlexNet, VGG16_BN, ShuffleNetV2, GoogleNet, ResNet50 and EfficientNet_B0, according to the predicting precision, recall, accuracy, F1-score. Our model achieved the highest identification accuracy of 94.22% and an F1-score of 0.948 with low computational complexity. Heat maps obtained with Grad-CAM show that our model meets the identification criteria of the morphology of Rhinolophus. Our study highlights the potential of artificial intelligence technology for the identification of small mammals, and facilitating fast species identification in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The global shift toward agricultural specialization in the 20th century led to unprecedented ecological and socioeconomic changes, both positive and negative, in rural landscapes. Economic theory describes comparative advantage and market participation as two important drivers of such changes. Landscapes in the Global South are still often characterized by subsistence agriculture and direct dependence on natural ecosystem processes. Agricultural specialization is part of the structural transformation process from subsistence to market-oriented agriculture. However, comparative advantage and market participation as major drivers for agricultural specialization remain understudied. In this paper, we assess the potential drivers of ecosystem service specialization in an Ethiopian smallholder landscape at the kebele level, the smallest administrative unit in Ethiopia. We measured specialization via the concentration of production for a range of locally important provisioning ecosystem services (beef, cattle, coffee, eucalyptus, honey, maize, sorghum, and teff). We measured comparative advantage based on productivity data, and assessed spatial flows of ecosystem services to local, regional, and global markets (i.e., telecoupling). To unpack the relationships between specialization, comparative advantage, and telecoupling, we used hierarchical clustering, principal component analysis, correlation analysis, and linear regression. More telecoupled kebeles (i.e., kebeles that produced more of ecosystem services that flow to broader spatial scales) were more specialized in their ecosystem service production, and the positive relationship between comparative advantage and specialization grew stronger with altitude. Wealthier kebeles and kebeles with higher population density were less specialized. Biophysical drivers, such as altitude and amount of forest cover, influenced the ecosystem services produced and the relationship between comparative advantage and specialization. Policy makers should therefore try to balance potential positive and negative consequences of specialization, and to account for fine-scale social and biophysical drivers underpinning diverse ecosystem service production profiles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The integration of ES into global policies represents a significant step towards harmonising sustainability and growth and unifying dialogues on biodiversity and sustainable development to benefit humanity. Consistent assessment of the availability of ES is vital to enable ongoing monitoring and support sustainable natural resource management and decisionmaking. This study was conducted to comparatively analyse the ecosystem service delivery between two coastal lagoons in Ghana. The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MEA) and Marine Ecosystem Services Assessment Tool (MESAT) scales were used in the study. The paper was based on the positivist paradigm and employed inferential statistics with SPSS v23 for data analysis. The results indicate no statistical differences between the Fosu and Muni lagoons in terms of their ecosystem service delivery; the null hypothesis is accepted for the two ecosystem service scales used and confirms that Fosu and the Muni Lagoons are similar in their deliveries of ecosystem services. The relationship between ES and human well-being is complex due to the interplay between social and ecological systems. To address coastal issues and develop management plans, the study proposes using MESAT and MEA for evaluation and solution provisioning. It further recommends expanding stakeholder and decision-maker involvement in lagoon management to promote sustainability and enhance stakeholder participation in decision-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]