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While public policy guidelines emphasise the need to consider sustainability issues as interconnected, policymakers often focus on specific problem areas. The concept of “policy mix” was introduced to highlight that adopting a single policy instrument is insufficient for effective territorial development and socio-technical transition. Starting with the need to foster a transition to sustainability and considering the synergies of a policy mix and the fundamental role of rural areas, this study aimed to explore the existing literature to determine the main topics on policy mixes in rural areas, the commonly used methodologies, the key features of policy mixes, and the suggested future research directions. This study was conducted using a scoping literature review and the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) methodology; it included 78 articles. This review revealed important gaps, such as the lack of ex-post evaluations of policies and assessments of governance impacts on policy mix implementation. This paper contributes to advancing the literature by helping the scientific community and policymakers understand the importance of implementing policy mixes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rural ecosystems restoration requires the joint participation of rural residents and government in governance. This study aims to analyze whether rural ecological governance goals are consistent with rural residents' preferences and how they affect rural residents' utility levels, which are key to rural residents' ecological governance participation behavior. Using survey data from 653 rural residents in Hainan Island, China, this paper applies a choice experiment method and a random parameter logit model to identify differences in rural residents' preferences for different rural ecological governance policy goals and their governance participation behaviors. The results show that increasing the coverage rate of sewage treatment facilities, reducing fertilizer and pesticide application, and increasing rural biodiversity can significantly enhance rural residents' ecological governance participation utility, thereby promoting their choice of ecological governance options. Rural residents' participation behavior in rural ecological governance is also influenced by individual and household characteristics such as ethnicity, labor size, net farm income, ICT usage, and ecological knowledge level. Based on these findings, policymakers should strengthen communication of governance policies and objectives, respect rural residents' policy goal preferences, prioritize the implementation of rural ecological governance models that increase the coverage of wastewater treatment facilities, reduce fertilizer and pesticide application, and increase rural biodiversity, and rely on ICT devices to popularize ecological knowledge among rural residents.

Understanding the research lineage of rural landscape ecosystem services (RLESs) is of importance for improving rural landscapes and developing sustainable ecosystem services. However, there is currently no literature analysis on the scientific quantification and visualization of RLESs. In this study, 4524 articles related to RLESs from 1990 to 2021 were analyzed using the bibliometric method and ISI Web of Science database. The results show that RLES research hotspots have gradually shifted from the early keywords of "vegetation", "land use change", "agriculture", "rural gradients" and "models" to the emerging "cultural ecosystem services", "rural tourism", "landscape preferences" and "policy guidance". Scholars from developed and developing countries place different emphases on research hotspots in terms of research content, scale and methodology due to differences in their research backgrounds and other aspects. In addition, five categories of research fronts were obtained through literature co-citation analysis. Through burst word detection analysis, combined with basic research and research hotspots and frontier analysis, we concluded that future RLES research will focus on four areas: (1) the relationship and collaboration between and management of biodiversity and ecosystem services; (2) the landscape value of RLESs; (3) land-use changes and ecosystem service values; and (4) research methods for innovative RLESs. Our findings may contribute to better in-depth RLES research by providing a theoretical reference and practical help for future related research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the research lineage of rural landscape ecosystem services (RLESs) is of importance for improving rural landscapes and developing sustainable ecosystem services. However, there is currently no literature analysis on the scientific quantification and visualization of RLESs. In this study, 4524 articles related to RLESs from 1990 to 2021 were analyzed using the bibliometric method and ISI Web of Science database. The results show that RLES research hotspots have gradually shifted from the early keywords of “vegetation”, “land use change”, “agriculture”, “rural gradients” and “models” to the emerging “cultural ecosystem services”, “rural tourism”, “landscape preferences” and “policy guidance”. Scholars from developed and developing countries place different emphases on research hotspots in terms of research content, scale and methodology due to differences in their research backgrounds and other aspects. In addition, five categories of research fronts were obtained through literature co-citation analysis. Through burst word detection analysis, combined with basic research and research hotspots and frontier analysis, we concluded that future RLES research will focus on four areas: (1) the relationship and collaboration between and management of biodiversity and ecosystem services; (2) the landscape value of RLESs; (3) land-use changes and ecosystem service values; and (4) research methods for innovative RLESs. Our findings may contribute to better in-depth RLES research by providing a theoretical reference and practical help for future related research.

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Abstract The bat fauna of a 60 km2 wide area representing the typical rural landscape of inland Sicily and including the small “Rocche di Entella” karstic plateau (Natural Reserve and SAC) was surveyed between May 2006 and September 2007. Sampling was carried out at 95 sites, distributed proportionally in six main habitats. Bat calls were time-expanded with a D980 bat detector and then identified to species level by a Discriminant Function Analysis. We recorded 305 bat passes and identified 96.4% of recorded calls. Moon phase, cloud cover and their interaction did not affect total bat activity, nor did the sampling period. Aquatic and riparian habitats were preferred, whilst Eucalyptus plantations and vineyards were avoided. At species level, all bats selected the former habitats, except H. savii, and avoided field crops, except Myotis sp. Thermo-Mediterranean shrub formations showed the highest species richness, whereas vineyards had the lowest. Our study emphasizes the value of riparian habitats and low-intensity farming for bat conservation. Riassunto Preferenze ambientali dei chirotteri in un’area rurale della Sicilia. Il presente lavoro espone i risultati di un’analisi di selezione del habitat da parte della chirotterofauna in un’area di 60 km2 rappresentativa del tipico paesaggio rurale dell’entroterra siciliano e comprensiva del plateau carsico "Rocche di Entella" (Riserva Naturale e SIC). Da maggio a settembre 2006 e 2007, abbiamo effettuato campionamenti mediante bat detector (Pettersson D980) in 95 stazioni distribuite proporzionalmente alla disponibilità di habitat. I segnali sono stati identificati mediante Analisi della Funzione Discriminante. Abbiamo re- gistrato 305 passaggi, identificandone il 96.4% a livello di specie. Né la fase lunare, né la nuvolosità o l’interazione tra queste hanno influenzato significativamente l’attività di foraggiamento; nessuna influenza è stata inoltre rilevata rispetto al periodo di campionamento. Nel complesso la chirotterofauna ha evidenziato una preferenza per gli habitat acquatici e ripari, mentre le piantagioni di eucalipto e i vigneti sono stati evitati. A livello di singole specie, tutte hanno selezionato il primo habitat, con l’eccezione di H. savii, ed evitato i coltivi, con l’eccezione di Myotis sp. La più elevata ricchezza in specie è stata registrata nelle formazioni arbustive termo-mediterranee, la più bassa nei vigneti. Il nostro studio rimarca l’importanza della tutela degli habitat ripari e di un’agricoltura condotta a bassa intensità per la conservazione della chirotterofauna. doi:10.4404/hystrix-20.2-4444