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Ponds and “pondscapes” (networks of ponds) are crucial habitats for biodiversity and for delivering multiple benefits to humans, so-called “Nature’s Contribution to People”, such as climate mitigation and adaptation to climate change, creation, and maintenance of habitat for biodiversity, water purification, flood mitigation and cultural benefits (e.g., recreational possibilities). However, ponds are not often considered as Nature-based Solutions to provide all these benefits. In addition, there is insufficient knowledge on how to manage and restore ponds to maximise their role to increase the resilience of ecosystems and society to climate change. To facilitate improved implementation of ponds as Naturebased Solutions for the delivery of a wide range of Nature Contributions to People, it is important to generate and integrate biodiversity, ecosystems, societal, economic and policy knowledge. Hence, there is a need for evidence-based guidance to support the broader use of ponds. Here, we review the role of ponds and pondscapes in delivering Nature’s Contributions to People and provide an overview of the challenges and opportunities for their broader implementation as Nature-based Solutions. Finally,we propose a conceptual framework that can help the implementation of pond Nature-based Solutions, and that outlines future research needs.

In this study, the effects of motivational and behavioral dimensions of study behavior on objective and essay modes of evaluating course content were investigated. Several performance measures in two undergraduate Educational Psychology courses were factor analyzed, and three orthogonal performance factors were obtained: general achievement, objective-style, and essay-style. Value-motivational and strategic aspects of study behavior were assessed by a questionnaire. Multivariate analyses of variance were carried out using the study behavior dimensions as the independent and the performance factor scores as the dependent variables. High achievement was found to be related, independently of mode of assessment, to two kinds of study strategy, reproductive and transformational, and the appropriateness of each depended on the student's value-motivational orientation to his course work. Converging-type strategies were related to objective performance, and several marker/student characteristics to essay performance. Some implications for teaching, evaluating, and study efficiency were noted. (Author)

Satellite radar backscatter has the potential to provide useful information about the progression of volcanic eruptions when optical, ground-based, or radar phase-based measurements are limited. However, backscatter changes are complex and challenging to interpret: explosive deposits produce different signals depending on pre-existing ground cover, radar parameters and eruption characteristics. We use high temporal- and spatial-resolution backscatter imagery to examine the emplacement and alteration of pyroclastic density currents (PDCs), lahar and ash deposits from the June 2018 eruption of Volcán de Fuego, Guatemala, using observatory reports and rainfall gauge data to ground truth our observations. We use a temporally dense time series of backscatter data to reduce noise and extract deposit areas. We observe backscatter changes in six drainages, the largest deposit was 11.9-km-long that altered an area of 6.3 km2 and had a thickness of 10.5 ± 2 m in the lower sections as estimated from radar shadows. The 3 June eruption also produced backscatter signal over an area of 40 km2, consistent with reported ashfall. We use transient patterns in backscatter time series to identify nine periods of high lahar activity in a single drainage system between June and October 2018. We find that the characterization of subtle backscatter signals associated with explosive eruptions are best observed with (1) radiometric terrain calibration, (2) speckle correction, and (3) consideration of pre-existing scattering properties. Our observations demonstrate that SAR backscatter can capture the emplacement and subsequent alteration of a range of explosive deposits, allowing the progression of an explosive eruption to be monitored.

Aim: An understanding of how biotic communities are spatially organised is necessary to identify and prioritize habitats within landscape-scale biodiversity conservation. Local Contribution to Beta diversity (LCBD) identifies individual habitats that make a significant contribution to beta-diversity and may have important practical implications, particularly for conservation of habitat networks. In this study, we develop and apply a conservation prioritisation approach based on LCBD of aquatic invertebrate communities from 132 ponds.Location: Five urban settlements in England: Halton, Loughborough, Stockport, Birmingham, Huddersfield. Methods: We partition LCBD into richness difference (nestedness: RichDiffLCBD) and species replacement (turnover: ReplLCBD) and identify key environmental variables driving LCBD. We examine LCBD at two scales relevant to conservation planning: within urban settlements and nationally across England. Results: Significant differences in LCBD values were recorded among the five settlements. In four of the five urban settlements studied, pond sites with the greatest LCBD values typically showed high replacement values. Significant LCBD sites, and sites with high taxonomic diversity together supported more of the regional species pool (70%-97%) than sites with high taxonomic diversity alone (54% to 94%) or what could be protected by the random selection of sites. LCBD was significantly associated with vegetation shading, surface area, altitude and macrophyte cover. Main conclusions: Conservation prioritisation that incorporates LCBD and sites with high taxonomic diversity improves the effectiveness of conservation actions within pond habitat networks, ensures site supporting high biodiversity are protected, and provides a method to define a spatial network of protected sites. Identifying new, effective conservation approaches, particularly in urban areas where resources may be scarce and conflicts regarding land use exist, is essential to ensure biodiversity is fully supported and detrimental anthropogenic effects are reduced.