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The growth in urbanization and the time humans spend indoors significantly contributes to excessive building energy consumption worldwide. Especially in the post-Covid-19 pandemic era, more people are working from home, which further increases the energy demand in residential buildings. Energy-saving behavioral interventions are, therefore, essential to counter the consequence of soaring energy demand among households. However, the large-scale deployment of occupant energy behavioral interventions, such as providing rewards to encourage energy-saving behaviors, requires continuous financial inputs, which has been a particular challenge and financial burden to energy authorities. Market-based energy-saving interventions provide a potential solution, as they have low cost and long-term impacts on reducing energy consumption. This study aims to (1) develop a trading platform integrated with a personalized feedback loop, (2) investigate the effects of the option-based strategies on household energy reduction, and (3) examine the household behavioral changes. Derived from binary options, our option-based energy-saving strategies provide households opportunities to earn monetary rewards, depending on whether they achieve the pre-determined energy-saving goals at the due date. The preliminary results show promising energy savings (up to 12.56% energy reduction) and pro-environmental behavioral changes induced by the option-based strategies and these strategies were welcomed by the residents. The findings of this study shed light on the impacts of energy conservation interventions that leverage the concept of options in the financial market and provide a baseline for future option-based intervention explorations. In addition, it equips policymakers with deep insights into household energy behavioral changes induced by energy behavioral interventions.

The virtual exhibition “My Environment” is an exhibition of the work of Mobile Arts for Peace (MAP) young people who voice their opinions, reflections and hopes through the art form of collage. This exhibition is expected to open a dialogue about youth. environment, and hope for better conditions.

National Parks (Parks) have been defined by the IUCN as areas to be managed for ecosystem protection and the promotion of education and recreation. Globally, there are many exceptions to the full IUCN definition: some are not national, some do not allow recreation; some areas that meet the definition are not called Parks and some that don't, are. The issue of definition also leads to wildly deviating claims about how many Parks there are across the globe. When writing the first edition in 2009, there were about 3900 Parks worldwide covering nearly 4.5 million km2. Today, estimates range from more than 6500 to 113,000 parks covering almost 150 million sq km. Parks developed from the ideas of advocates in England and America who were concerned with recreation and cultural protection rather than the environment. The first two designated were Yosemite (1864) and Yellowstone (1872) both in America. Parks are still being designated today: China announced 10 pilot programs in 2017 with its first National Park in the Sanjiangyuan area planned to open in 2020. A World Park Congress is held every decade to determine global policy: the sixth was in Sydney in 2014. Emphasis has shifted since the first Congress from ecosystem protection to sustainable development and local involvement. The latest Congress also examined issues of climate change and the challenges of reconciling different development challenges while safeguarding equality. The ownership of Parks is variable: many are not publicly owned. There has been some restitution of Park lands to Indigenous peoples, but often the state has retained many of the rights (habitation, hunting, resource exploitation) to this land. The biggest management challenge in Parks is striking a balance between conservation and development. Active community involvement in management is commonly deployed in pursuit of this balance.

This report will be useful to anyone interested in how culture and heritage intersects with climate change policy. It provides an overview of WG4’s HiCLIP project and results of the pilot application by volunteers. It also highlights potential areas for culture and heritage to become more effective in Climate Action policy and planning. HiCLIP’s interdisciplinary methods aim to bridge the current gap in understanding between climate action and cultural resource management. The multidisciplinary research process and practices presented in this report identify some of the cognitive biases at the basis of sectorized planning which may prevent efficient collaborations.

It has become common to explore farmer motivations for adopting land management changes on a scale from intrinsic to extrinsic, including in studies on “motivation crowding” that examine how external incentives can undermine or reinforce a farmer’s intrinsic reasons for protecting nature. We set out to do the same in a study on riparian management for the conservation of a species at risk in Nova Scotia, Canada. In our survey of 553 farmers in Nova Scotia, we received surprising results: similar agreement with statements on motivations to use riparian setbacks when wildlife is mentioned. All these statements corresponded to internal motivations found at the intrinsic end of the scale used. We postulate that environmental values associated with ‘wildlife’ triggered the positive responses. Environmental values influence farmer motivations toward conservation. We propose future studies on farmer motivations for adopting land management changes combine a scale on motivations with a scale on environmental values.

The Falkland Islands (‘Falklands’) are home to half a million sheep that graze a marginal and drying landscape. This presents new challenges for the grazing management decisions that sustain farmers' livelihoods, lifestyles, and the surrounding natural environment. Our examination deploys Donella Meadows’ (1999; 2008) concept of leverage points to explore the ways farmers intervene to make transformations toward social and ecological sustainability within these systems. The most effective and lasting transformations—called ‘deep’ leverage points—require changes in system design, structure, and way of thinking (e.g. paradigm shifts); these contrast with more common and less impactful ‘shallow’ leverage points, which focus on basic system parameters (e.g. rates and numbers). Thematic analysis of interview and field data reveals that while all methods of sheep grazing involve ‘shallow’ leverage points such as managing livestock numbers and wool quality, Holistic Management (HM)—a rotational grazing method based in systems thinking—facilitates ‘deep’ leverage points for sustainable transformations. Careful planning, goal setting, and learning to think systemically enable HM farmers to make lasting transformations toward more sustainable wool production in the Falklands. Using leverage points as a framework, we explore the transformation potential of HM in this island community, and what this might mean for sustainable transformations in rangelands elsewhere.

In 2018, two studies were conducted by Canada’s Parliament on the connections between climate change and agriculture. Links between grazing management and climate change adaptation and mitigation are included in the testimonies gathered during these studies but the resulting final reports are silent on the topic. Analysis of 112 parliamentary files revealed insights on (1) the knowledge about grazing management that was omitted from the two final reports, (2) the social contexts that informed the processes of hearing testimonies and developing the reports, and (3) the underlying ideologies and normative assumptions reflected in these studies. Overall, the current state of policy regarding climate change and agriculture emphasizes technical, scientific, and expensive solutions, and as a result, the benefits of grazing management are overlooked. We argue transformations toward sustainable, climate adaptive agriculture require an ongoing examination of how political structures, knowledge hierarchies, and underlying ideologies inform and narrow policy outcomes.

This section describes the main factors controlling the development of vegetation on restored saltmarshes, and the management actions that may influence this. In addition to the predominantly abiotic (non-living) factors described below, secondary factors such as grazing or local species pool may influence vegetation. Assessments should therefore be site-specific using local reference conditions.

Neonicotinoids are the largest group of systemic insecticides worldwide and are most commonly applied as agricultural seed treatments. However, little is known about the extent to which farmland birds are exposed to these compounds during standard agricultural practices. This study uses winter cereal, treated with the neonicotinoid clothianidin, as a test system to examine patterns of exposure in farmland birds during a typical sowing period. The availability of neonicotinoid-treated seed was recorded post-sowing at 39 fields (25 farms), and camera traps were used to monitor seed consumption by wild birds in situ. The concentration of clothianidin in treated seeds and crop seedlings was measured via liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry, and avian blood samples were collected from 11 species of farmland bird from a further six capture sites to quantify the prevalence and level of clothianidin exposure associated with seed treatments. Neonicotinoid-treated seeds were found on the soil surface at all but one of the fields surveyed at an average density of 2.8 seeds/m2. The concentration of clothianidin in seeds varied around the target application rate, whilst crop seedlings contained on average 5.9% of the clothianidin measured in seeds. Exposure was confirmed in 32% of bird species observed in treated fields and 50% of individual birds post-sowing; the median concentration recorded in positive samples was 12 ng/mL. Results here provide clear evidence that a variety of farmland birds are subject to neonicotinoid exposure following normal agricultural sowing of neonicotinoid-treated cereal seed. Furthermore, the widespread availability of seeds at the soil surface was identified as a primary source of exposure. Overall, these data are likely to have global implications for bird species and current agricultural policies where neonicotinoids are in use, and may be pertinent to any future risk assessments for systemic insecticide seed treatments.

The green-winged orchid Orchis morio has declined dramatically in England due to loss of habitat through the agricultural improvement of old hay meadows. A range of replicated fertilizer treatments was applied over a six year period to plots in an old hay meadows containing O. morio, to determine short-term and long-term after-effects. The numbers of flowering spikes per plot were counted annually for 23 years, commencing two years before experimental treatment. Inorganic fertilizers returning equivalent amounts of N, P and Mg and 80% of K to that removed in the annual hay crop significantly decreased flowering spike numbers during the six years of treatment. The fertilizer treatments, overall, significantly decreased flowering spike numbers, although the rates of N applied were low by agricultural standards (e.g. 22–88 kg ha−1 N). Two applications of P at a rate of 40 kg ha−1 during the six year period greatly reduced flowering spike numbers, apparently permanently. Except in the case of the 40 kg ha−1 P treatment, the decrease was closely correlated with the increase in hay yield following fertilization, suggesting that competition between O. morio and the rest of the vegetation was responsible. The effect of P on O. morio was out of all proportion to its effect on hay yield, suggesting that it may have been toxic to the orchid. In retrospect we conclude that fertilizer effects would have been easier to detect if all plants of O. morio had been counted and not just flowering plants whose numbers fluctuated greatly. Even so, we have detected detrimental effects of low levels of fertilizer, and hence any application of inorganic or organic based fertilizers to old meadows should be avoided where conservation of O. morio is an objective.

Studies were undertaken on the floristic composition and stand structure of four 1 hectare plots in the lowland forests of Kurupukari, Guyana. A total of 3897 trees, covering 153 species and 31 plant families were recorded at greater than 5 cm diameter at breast height (dbh). The number of species per hectare ranged from 61 to 84 (>5.0 cm dbh) and 50–71 (>10.0 cm dbh). The total number of trees per hectare varied two-fold between study plots, with 45–50% of the trees within the 5–10 cm size-class. Mean total basal area varied from 32.39–34.63 m2 per 100 m2. The four most dominant plant families represented 43.8% of the total number of trees, while representing only 11.2% of the species. No one plant family dominated in more than one of the four study plots, and all four plots held at least one plant family with more than 20% of the total number of trees. Although 14 tree species were common to all four plots, only 26%–35% of the species were represented by a single tree. Between three and seven species represented 50% of the trees within all size-classes, with species dominance occurring within the highest density plot. These tropical forest types of central Guyana may represent some of the lowest diversity forests in the neotropics, whereby the total number of tree species is relatively limited, typically with six dominant canopy species, but the relative abundance of these species is highly variable between the forest types. Mechanisms influencing the competitive interactions associated with species dominance are discussed in relation to the importance of mycorrhizae and the persistence of species dominance.

The conservation significance of the Caribbean island of Anegada in the British Virgin Islands is highlighted in this study of the distribution of plant species in two major habitats, sand dunes and limestone pavement. In 104 plots along 27 transects located around the western salt ponds of the Anegada Ramsar site, 133 plant species were recorded, including five regional endemics. The limestone pavement supported large populations of Acacia anegadensis, endemic to Anegada, and Cordia rupicola, known only from Anegada and Puerto Rico (although the Puerto Rican population is thought to be extirpated). The sand dunes supported a large population of Metastelma anegadense, also endemic to Anegada. Two other regional endemics were recorded within the limestone cays, Leptocereus quadricostatus, previously known from only one locality in Puerto Rico and Malpighia woodburyana, restricted to a few small populations on islands on the Puerto Rican Bank. For both of these species Anegada supports the largest known individual population. © 2004 FFI.

Of the 3831 breeds or breed varieties of ass, water buffalo, cattle, goat, horse, pig, and sheep believed to exist or to have existed this century, 618 (16%) are estimated to have become extinct. Of the 3213 existing breeds, 475 (15%) are defined as rare. Worldwide, the horse is the species most differentiated into breeds and the water buffalo the least. Breed biodiversity varies markedly between continents, being greatest in Europe and least in South and Central America and Oceania. In the countries of the Old World, numbers of breeds are correlated with human population and with land area, implying that conditions favoring growth in human population also favor diversification of breeds. Peripheral and remot countries have the highest ratios of breeds per million people, implying that remoteness can also promote diversification. Breed extinctions have been most thoroughly documented in Europe and the former U.S.S.R., where the richest countries have lost the highest proportions of their breeds, implying that agricultural development is hostile to breed diversity. Data are particularly lacking from the developing world, and the Global Data Bank for Domestic Livestock of the Food & Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has been set up to collate census and production information.

A herd of cattle of natural sex ratio and age distribution, inhabiting a 134-ha park in northern England, was studied during supplementary feeding in 4 winters. Interactions could be summarised by conventional dominance hierarchies, more strictly linear and less stable among males than among females. Personal associations among individuals were not important, but affinities among social classes were, in determining the composition of feeding groups. Dominant males often fed in the same groups as dominant females. Dominant animals were less often seen to feed alone, implying that social dominance did not confer exclusive access to food. Cattle often fed in groups of two or three; certain combinations (notably those including two males, or one male and one female, or three calves) were stable, others unstable, notably combinations of females and calves, or of two or three females. This implies that females may defend resources more vigorously against other females than males do against other males.

Predicting future ecosystem functioning requires a mechanistic understanding of how plants cope with different stressors under future climate conditions with elevated CO2 concentrations and warmer temperatures. Nonetheless, studies of stress responses under combined elevated CO2 and warming remain scarce.We assembled grassland communities in sunlit, climate-controlled greenhouses and subjected these to three stressors (drought, zinc toxicity, nitrogen limitation) and their combinations. Half of the communities were exposed to ambient climate conditions (current climate) and the other half were continuously kept at 3°C above ambient temperatures and at 620ppm CO2 (future climate).Across all stressors and their combinations, future climate-grown plants coped better with stress, i.e. above-ground biomass production was reduced less in future than in current climate. Among several tested potential biochemical and ecophysiological stress-relief mechanisms, we found three mutually non-exclusive mechanisms underpinning an improved stress protection under future climate conditions: (i) altered sugar metabolism; (ii) up-regulated levels of total antioxidant capacity and polyphenols; and (iii) more efficient use of ascorbate and glutathione as antioxidants. © 2013 Elsevier B.V.

Background: Mature trees often provide ecological niches of value to specialised flora and fauna, signalled by such attributes as epiphytes, trunk rot and dead branches. In Britain, they are often found in parklands and wood pastures, which are rare habitats in Europe.Aims: As species differences in veteran attributes of such trees have not been studied, we surveyed eight Holarctic tree species in Chillingham Park, in north-east England, where the stems are of broadly similar age (200-250 years).Methods: The following variables were scored for 779 trees: presence or absence of veteran attributes, community status (alone, in a group, or in a linear feature), stem diameter, altitude at which growing, and the ground vegetation.Results: Trees were generally of only moderate mean diameter. Alder (Alnus glutinosa) and ash (Fraxinus excelsior) had the most veteran attributes (4.30 and 4.16, respectively), followed by oak (Quercus sp.) (3.65), then by birch (Betula agg.)(3.49), beech (Fagus sylvatica) (3.12), sycamore (Acer pseudoplatanus) (2.77), larch (Larix sp.) (2.47) and Scots pine (Pinussylvestris) (1.92). Trees growing at middle altitudes and alone, or in linear features (rather than in groups), had most veteran attributes; 32 of trees exhibited three or more.Conclusions: To capture the veteran tree interest of a site, a survey protocol must consider the history of a site as well as the numbers of veteran attributes exhibited by individual trees, which may differ among species. Finally, alder has not attracted particular attention in these habitats, and we suggest that its fast-growing and rot-prone nature may make it of particular interest for conservation of saproxylic biodiversity. © 2011 Botanical Society of Scotland and Taylor & Francis.

Phylogeographic studies of highly mobile large carnivores suggest that intra-specific genetic differentiation of modern species might be the consequence of the most recent Pleistocene glaciation. However, the relative influence of biogeographical processes and subsequent human-induced population fragmentation requires a better understanding. Poland represents the western edge of relatively continuous distributions of many wide-ranging species, e.g. lynx (Lynx lynx), wolves (Canis lupus), moose (Alces alces) and, therefore, a key area for understanding historic and contemporary patterns of gene flow in central Europe. We examined wolf genetic structure in Poland and in a recently recolonized area in eastern Germany using microsatellite profiles (n = 457) and mitochondrial DNA sequencing (mtDNA, n = 333) from faecal samples. We found significant genetic structure and high levels of differentiation between wolves in the Carpathian Mountains and the Polish lowlands. Our findings are consistent with previously reported mtDNA subdivision between northern lowlands and southern mountains, and add new and concordant findings based on autosomal marker variation. Wolves in western Poland and eastern Germany showed limited differentiation from northeastern Poland. Although the presence of private alleles suggests immigration also from areas not sampled in this study, most individuals seem to be immigrants from northeastern Poland or their descendants. We observed moderate genetic differentiation between certain northeastern lowland regions separated by less than 50 km. Moreover, mtDNA results indicated a southeastern subpopulation near the border with Ukraine. The observed structure might reflect landscape fragmentation and/or ecological differences resulting in natal habitat-biased dispersal.

Over the last 20 years, a new group of systemic insecticides – the neonicotinoids - has gained prominence in arable systems, and their application globally has risen year on year. Previous modelling studies using long-term data have suggested that neonicotinoid application has had a detrimental impact on bird populations, but these studies were either limited to a single species or neglected to analyse specific exposure pathways in conjunction with observed population trends. Using bird abundance data, neonicotinoid usage records and cropping data for England at a 5x5 km resolution, generalised linear mixed models were used to test for spatio-temporal associations between neonicotinoid use and changes in the populations of 22 farmland bird species between 1994 and 2014, and to determine whether any associations were explained by dietary preferences. We assigned farmland bird species to three categories of dietary exposure to neonicotinoids based on literature data for species diets and neonicotinoid residues present in dietary items. Significant estimates of neonicotinoid-related population change were obtained for 13 of the 22 species (9 positive effects, 4 negative effects). Model estimates for individual species were not collectively explained by dietary risk categories, so dietary exposure to neonicotinoids via ingestion of treated seeds and seedlings could not be confirmed as a causal factor in farmland bird declines. Although it is not possible to infer any generic effect of dietary exposure to neonicotinoids on farmland bird populations, our analysis identifies three species with significant negative estimates that may warrant further research (house sparrow Passer domesticus, skylark Alauda arvensis and red-legged partridge Alectoris rufa). We conclude that there was either no consistent effect of dietary exposure to neonicotinoids on farmland bird populations in England, or that any over-arching effect was not detectable using our study design. The potentia

Rats and mice cause severe biodiversity impacts worldwide, including in New Zealand, where poisoning campaigns are undertaken on the mainland and offshore islands using cereal-based baits. However, bait stations are often irregularly serviced so wildlife managers require a bait that would remain palatable to rodents for at least 6 months in the field. One potential way to improve the field life of baits is by coating them in materials that reduce water uptake and subsequent mould growth. However, these coatings must be palatable to the rodents. This report investigates the palatability to captive Norway rats (Rattus norvegicus) and mice (Mus musculus) of both weathered and unweathered rodent food pellets coated with various polymer solutions. When compared with uncoated alternatives, fresh baits coated with shellac or polyvinyl butyral (PVB) in ethanol solvent were preferred by the rats. The use of acetone rather than ethanol solvent did not affect bait palatability. A combination of shellac and PVB reduced palatability compared with shellac alone. Weathered shellac-coated baits remained more palatable than uncoated fresh pellets to rats for up to 6 months and outperformed the PVB and combination coatings. Overall, the palatability of fresh-coated baits was lower for mice. The PVB-coated baits had lower mean palatability scores than the shellac-coated baits but none of the bait types was significantly less palatable than uncoated baits. The shellac-coated baits remained palatable to mice for up to 4 months. Shellac is recommended as a coating for multi-species rodent baits.

This ambitious book is derived from a multiyear project titled ‘Community-based Initiatives toward Human–Ecological Balance’, which was initiated by the Asia Pacific Intellectuals (API) Foundation and centred upon five diverse sites across Asia. This captivating volume examines the lives and environments of each community visited and asks how the residents in each place have adapted and responded to various forms of environmental and social transformation.

Payments to private landholders for providing biodiversity land can improve conservation outside protected areas. Input-based payments are widely used despite evidence they are often ineffective at improving biodiversity outcomes. Meanwhile, little has been done to assess how to use outcome-based payments to maximize biodiversity, despite growing academic interest. We compare different outcome-based allocation methods to assess which returns the greatest benefits for biodiversity. We predicted the likely landholder actions in response to outcome-based payments. We incorporated strategic interactions between landholders under four different funding allocation methods: the commonly applied “set-price” allocation method; capacity-based payments; proportional payment; and payment for change. We compared biodiversity outcomes (percentage change in abundance of a species of conservation interest), return on investment and cost-effectiveness of each method. The set-price allocation method, despite its common usage, is the least cost-effective method that we test. Regardless of cost, it only results in better biodiversity outcomes than other methods under a very narrow range of conditions (high initial target species abundance and low profitability). The profitability of the property, and to a lesser degree initial population size, will influence which allocation method will perform best. Most perform well when the initial population of the species of conservation interest is very small and profitability negligible. Only one method—based on change in population—performs well across all scenarios. This method outperforms the others particularly when the property has a higher profitability and low initial numbers of animals. Policy implications. Pursuing conservation on private land using outcome-based payments for biodiversity can result in varied levels of success depending on the allocation methods used to support payment decisions. Allocation method choice should

The Eurasian Red Squirrel is the only native tree squirrel in Europe and is widely dispersed throughout the Palearctic but is heavily threatened in Britain and parts of Europe by habitat loss, disease and, in particular, by competition from introduced Grey Squirrels. Red Squirrels have now been replaced by Grey Squirrels throughout the majority of Britain and only remain in areas of Northern England and Scotland, and small regions in Wales and Southern England. Mersea Island was a site of a reintroduction programme, with a total of 29 Red Squirrels being released in batches at three different sites between 2012 and 2015. Squirrels were monitored by members of the public who recorded their sightings on social media pages. This study analysed these sightings from September 2012 to August 2017. The population of Red Squirrels rose steadily over the study period, as did interest from the public. Sightings were biased to areas of increased human habitation, but the distribution of Red Squirrels still appeared to be increasingly widespread across the island over the years. The density of Red Squirrel sightings significantly positively correlated with density of greenery cover, and was significantly affected by type of habitat (rural versus suburban). Most reported fatalities were anthropogenic in nature. The reintroduction project on Mersea has been relatively successful, but areas for improvement could include connection of woodland fragments, increased public awareness and monitoring of genetic diversity, to improve the chance of maintain and maximising the population size of Red Squirrels on the island.

The Award in the Matter of the South China Sea issued by an arbitral tribunal in July 2016 is a major contribution to the jurisprudence on the law of the sea, the rules of marine environmental protection and various other aspects of general international law and dispute settlement. It is, of course, beyond this case note to answer whether the Award will ultimately contribute to the peaceful resolution of one of the most intractable and contentious international situations. Nevertheless, as an Award given under a treaty – the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) – that is binding on both States as parties thereto, ‘[i]t goes without saying that both Parties are obliged to resolve their dispute peacefully and to comply with the Convention and this Award in good faith’.1 Within the scope of a case note it is not possible to detail the geo-politics of the dispute or to reflect on its future significance. In fact, as it runs to over 475 pages, it is difficult to do little more than outline some of the legal issues arising from the Award. Nevertheless, despite its length and complexity, the Award represents at its heart a classical reassertion of the necessary balancing of rights and obligations that UNCLOS has always sought to achieve. As the preamble to the Convention very famously had cause to note: ‘the desirability of establishing through this Convention, with due regard for the sovereignty of all States, a legal order for the seas’. The case note is divided into three parts; Part 1 will provide an overview of the dispute and a history of the proceedings and Part 2 will provide a summary of some of the key findings – and underlying reasoning – to many of the most contentious issues on maritime entitlement. Part 3 will then focus on those aspects of the Award more specifically related to environmental protection and the conservation of natural resources. The case note will conclude by suggesting that notwithstanding the low probability of Chin

Agri-environment schemes such as the Environmental Stewardship in England provide a range of options, including some targeted at single species, which may benefit a wide range of other species or taxa. To ascertain whether trials of an agri-environment measure designed for a single species had wider biodiversity benefits, we describe monitoring of pollinators (bumblebees and butterflies) on plots of a novel seed mix aimed at providing a source of seed food throughout the breeding season for the rapidly declining European Turtle Dove Streptopelia turtur. We compare pollinator abundance on these turtle dove plots to that on six control habitat types: fallow, grass margins, meadow, nectar flower mixture, wild bird cover and floristically enhanced margins. The abundance of foraging bumblebees and butterflies was higher on turtle dove plots than in fallow and wild bird cover habitats. Surprisingly, foraging bumblebee abundance was higher, and foraging butterfly abundance marginally higher on turtle dove plots than on nectar flower mixture. Whilst the specific mix described here is to be altered to increase access to foraging turtle doves, we suggest that the modified mix, to be rolled out through Higher Level Stewardship, is also likely to provide valuable resources for pollinators, adding to the growing body of literature demonstrating multi-taxa benefits of agri-environment options designed to benefit one species.

Agri-environment schemes (AES) are increasingly being employed to mitigate biodiversity loss in agricultural environments. The European Turtle Dove Streptopelia turtur is an obligate granivorous bird in rapid decline within both the UK (−96% since 1970) and across continental Europe (−77% since 1980), despite widespread uptake of AES. Here, we assess the efficacy of a potentially new, sown agri-environment option designed to provide abundant, accessible seed for S. turtur during the breeding season. During summer 2011 we compared vegetation structure and seed provision on trial plots to control habitat types (existing agri-environment options thought to potentially provide S. turtur foraging habitat) to assess whether trial plots performed better for foraging S. turtur than control habitats. In September 2011 all trial plots were topped (cut) and half of a subset of trial plots were then scarified (60% of soil surface disturbed). Vegetation structure on topped, and topped and scarified trial plots was measured during summer 2012 to determine which management regime was most effective in maintaining suitable sward structure and seed provision into the second year. No control habitat type produced as much seed important in S. turtur diet as trial plots at any point during year one. Trial plots provided accessible vegetation structure early in the season with no difference in vegetation metrics between trial plots and previously published data on S. turtur foraging locations. However, to allow later access, management is required during mid-June to open up the sward through localized topping or scarification. Vegetation structure during year two was generally too dense to attract foraging S. turtur. However, scarifying trial plots during the September following sowing encouraged self-seeding of Fumaria officinalis (a plant species historically forming a significant proportion of S. turtur diet during the breeding season) into the second year, with this species present

Capsule Turtle Doves continue to show a strong population decline; territories were more likely to be retained in areas with more nesting habitat, and more suitable foraging habitat. Aim To determine which features of farmland in England are important for retaining Turtle Dove territories Methods Fifty-eight grid squares with recent records of territorial Turtle Doves were resurveyed, and squares retaining Turtle Dove territories compared with those from which Turtle Doves had been lost. Results Turtle Dove territories were detected in 48% of squares resurveyed. When correcting for the 70% detection rate of the survey methodology, territories were present in 66% of squares surveyed suggesting a 34% decline over a 2-year period. Established scrub and hedgerows > 4 m tall positively influenced Turtle Dove presence and abundance, as did standing water. Bare ground and fallow had positive effects on Turtle Dove abundance whereas grazed land negatively impacted abundance. Conclusion The positive effects of area of established scrub and volume of large hedgerows are likely to represent a declining density of birds selecting the best quality nest sites. We suggest instead that foraging habitat may be limiting distribution.

Nest predators can have significant impacts on songbird reproductive success. These impacts may be amplified by habitat simplification and here we test whether sympathetic management of farmland hedgerows can reduce nest depredation, especially by corvids. We test whether songbirds select nest sites according to structural features of hedgerows (including nest visibility and accessibility), and whether these features influence nest predation risk. Songbirds selected nesting sites affording higher vegetation cover above the nest, increased visibility on the nest-side of the hedgerow and reduced visibility on the far side of the hedge. Nest survival was unrelated to corvid abundance and only weakly related (at the egg stage) to corvid nest proximity. Nest survival at the chick stage was higher where vegetation structure restricted access to corvid-sized predators (averaging 0.78 vs. 0.53), and at nests close to potential vantage points. Overall nest survival was sensitive to hedgerow structure (accessibility) particularly at low exposure to corvid predation, while the overall impact of corvid exposure was dependent on the relationship involving proximity to vantage points. Nest survival over the chick stage was much higher (0.67) in stock-proof, trimmed and mechanically cut hedgerows, (which tended to provide lower side visibility and accessibility) than in recently laid, remnant or leggy hedgerows (0.18). Long-term reductions in the management of British hedgerows may therefore be exposing nesting songbirds to increased predation risk. We recommend regular rotational cutting of hedgerows to maintain a dense woody structure and thereby reduce songbird nest predation.

Farmland songbirds have shown dramatic population declines that have been linked to agricultural intensification. Populations have been impacted via three key factors: a reduction in available nesting habitat, a reduction in the availability of food for nestlings, and a reduction in over-winter food availability. The abundance of nest predators such as corvids, and the presence of sub-clinical disease may also play a part, and this thesis investigates the inter-relationships of some of these five factors along with their potential impacts upon farmland bird populations, using the yellowhammer Emberiza citrinella as a model species. It appears that the quality, not the quantity of fledglings has declined, possibly due to delayed life-history effects following on from conditions experienced in the nest. Increases in corvid abundance are associated with declines in chick growth and condition, mediated by behavioural compensation by provisioning adults: these effects are especially marked in large broods and where invertebrate food supply is low; where food supply is high a slightly positive effect of corvid abundance on condition and growth is found, implying an adaptive response by adults to maximise food provisioning in order for chicks to fledge more quickly and thus reduce their risk of predation in the nest. High territory densities, found where the availability of suitable nesting habitat is high, are associated with apparent density-dependent competition for high quality food and reduced chick growth, probably reducing fledgling quality and potentially leading to population sinks in areas of good nesting habitat, or in areas with high corvid densities. Survival analysis from a yellowhammer population sampled over four successive winters indicates that survival is male-biased, probably due to the higher work rates of females during breeding. Survival probability increases with increasing wing length, although analysis of 21 years of ringing data from the same sit

Land management intrinsically influences the distribution of animals and can consequently alter the potential for density-dependent processes to act within populations. For declining species, high densities of breeding territories are typically considered to represent productive populations. However, as density-dependent effects of food limitation or predator pressure may occur (especially when species are dependent upon separate nesting and foraging habitats), high territory density may limit per-capita productivity. Here, we use a declining but widespread European farmland bird, the yellowhammer Emberiza citrinella L., as a model system to test whether higher territory densities result in lower fledging success, parental provisioning rates or nestling growth rates compared to lower densities. Organic landscapes held higher territory densities, but nests on organic farms fledged fewer nestlings, translating to a 5 times higher rate of population shrinkage on organic farms compared to conventional. In addition, when parental provisioning behaviour was not restricted by predation risk (i.e., at times of low corvid activity), nestling provisioning rates were higher at lower territory densities, resulting in a much greater increase in nestling mass in low density areas, suggesting that food limitation occurred at high densities. These findings in turn suggest an ecological trap, whereby preferred nesting habitat does not provide sufficient food for rearing nestlings at high population density, creating a population sink. Habitat management for farmland birds should focus not simply on creating a high nesting density, but also on ensuring heterogeneous habitats to provide food resources in close proximity to nesting birds, even if this occurs through potentially restricting overall nest density but increasing population-level breeding success.

Taking Richard Misrach’s & Kate Orff’s publication Petrochemical America as a starting point for a range of debates, this chapter argues that environmental photography has a crucial role to play in bringing about an awareness of environmental ethics, which can aid activists and autonomous groups such as citizen scientists in their struggle against industrial pollution. Key to this debate is the definition of environmental photography as a multimodal and collaborative genre of cultural production, which promotes the political values of ecoanarchist theories such as social ecology, through the medium of aesthetics.

Recreation in natural areas has been promoted for numerous reasons (e.g., health, nature appreciation, education, financial gain) and leisure time spent in protected areas has increased substantially in popularity in recent decades. However, upkeep of such protected areas represents considerable financial outlay and to recoup these costs, tourism potentially provides a self-financing mechanism for ecological sustainability. In Australia, the adventure sport of canyoning has increased in popularity in the Blue Mountains National Park (Australia), part of a recently declared World Heritage Area, in parallel with an overall increase in wilderness recreation. This study sought canyoners’ perceptions of visit impacts, together with their attitudes to potential management of these unique areas. It also compares findings with American wilderness research outcomes. The results identify that the current level of traffic through the canyons was not considered to be detrimental to canyon visit enjoyment. While the findings were broadly similar, even at much lower visitation levels than American wilderness recreationists tolerate, Australian canyoners avoid heavily trafficked canyons. Although perceptions and attitudes differed with level of experience, overall, the conclusion is that the visitors encountered were tolerant of other canyoners and the discarded debris of past excursions. In this context, it is not surprising that most canyoners did not see an immediate need to implement further management restrictions.