Implementation of the ecosystem services approach in Swedish municipal planning

While ecosystem-based planning approaches are increasingly promoted through international and national policies, municipalities are still struggling with translating them into practice. Against this background, this paper aims to increase the knowledge of current advances and possible ways to support the implementation of the ecosystem services (ES) approach at the municipal level. More specifically, we analyze how ES have been integrated into comprehensive planning within the municipality of Malmö in Sweden over the last 60 years, a declared forerunner in local environmental governance. Based on a content analysis of comprehensive plans over the period 1956–2014 and interviews with municipal stakeholders, this paper demonstrates how planning has shifted over time toward a more holistic view of ES and their significance for human well-being and urban sustainability. Both explicit and implicit applications of the ES concept were found in the analyzed comprehensive plans and associated programs and projects. Our study shows how these applications reflect international, national, and local policy changes, and indicates how municipalities can gradually integrate the ES approach into comprehensive planning and facilitate the transition from implicit to more explicit knowledge use.     

Variations of immune parameters in terrestrial isopods: a matter of gender, aging and Wolbachia

Ecological factors modulate animal immunocompetence and potentially shape the evolution of their immune systems. Not only environmental parameters impact on immunocompetence: Aging is one major cause of variability of immunocompetence between individuals, and sex-specific levels of immunocompetence have also been frequently described. Moreover, a growing core of data put in light that vertically transmitted symbionts can dramatically modulate the immunocompetence of their hosts. In this study, we addressed the influence of gender, age and the feminising endosymbiont Wolbachia (wVulC) on variations in haemocyte density, total PO activity and bacterial load in the haemolymph of the terrestrial isopod Armadillidium vulgare. This host–symbiont system is of particular interest to address this question since: (1) wVulC was previously shown as immunosuppressive in middle-aged females and (2) wVulC influences sex determination. We show that age, gender and Wolbachia modulate together immune parameters in A. vulgare. However, wVulC, which interacts with aging, appears to be the prominent factor interfering with both PO activity and haemocyte density. This interference with immune parameters is not the only aspect of wVulC virulence on its host, as reproduction and survival are also altered.     

Evaluating betterment projects

In the past decade Australia has experienced a series of large‐scale, severe natural disasters including catastrophic bushfires, widespread and repeated flooding, and intense storms and cyclones. There appears to be a prima facie case for rebuilding damaged infrastructure to a more disaster resilient (that is, to ‘betterment’) standard. The purpose of this paper is to develop and illustrate a consistent and readily applied method for advancing proposals for the betterment of essential public assets, which can be used by governments at all levels to determine the net benefits of such proposals. Case study results demonstrate that betterment investments have the potential to deliver a positive economic return across a range of asset types and regions. Results, however, are highly sensitive to underlying assumptions; in particular the probability of the natural disaster affecting the infrastructure in the absence of betterment.     

Preliminary Evidence for Pollen as an Indicator of Recent Floodplain Accumulation Rates and Vegetation Changes: The Barmah-Millewa Forest, SE Australia

Eucalyptus forest; and in the composition of understorey herbs, sedges, and grasslands. Pollen concentration and charcoal and organic content also exhibit post-European changes. Thus, pollen analysis provides a technique for determining changes in sediment budgets and identifying major vegetation changes in floodplains.     

A Socio-Ecological Assessment Aiming at Improved Forest Resource Management and Sustainable Ecotourism Development in the Mangroves of Tanbi Wetland National Park, The Gambia, West Africa

Although mangroves dominated by Avicennia germinans and Rhizophora mangle are extending over 6000 ha in the Tanbi Wetland National Park (TWNP) (The Gambia), their importance for local populations (both peri-urban and urban) is not well documented. For the first time, this study evaluates the different mangrove resources in and around Banjul (i.e., timber, non-timber, edible, and ethnomedicinal products) and their utilization patterns, including the possibility of ecotourism development. The questionnaire-based results have indicated that more than 80% of peri-urban population rely on mangroves for timber and non-timber products and consider them as very important for their livelihoods. However, at the same time, urban households demonstrate limited knowledge on mangrove species and their ecological/economic benefits. Among others, fishing (including the oyster—Crassostrea cf. gasar collection) and tourism are the major income-generating activities found in the TWNP. The age-old practices of agriculture in some parts of the TWNP are due to scarcity of land available for agriculture, increased family size, and alternative sources of income. The recent focus on ecotourism (i.e., boardwalk construction inside the mangroves near Banjul city) received a positive response from the local stakeholders (i.e., users, government, and non-government organizations), with their appropriate roles in sharing the revenue, rights, and responsibilities of this project. Though the guidelines for conservation and management of the TWNP seem to be compatible, the harmony between local people and sustainable resource utilization should be ascertained.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s13280-012-0248-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

Changes in concentrations of fluoroquinolones and of ciprofloxacin-resistant Enterobacteriaceae in chicken feces and manure stored in a heap

This study evaluated the impact of storing chicken manure on the degradation of enrofloxacin (ENR) and ciprofloxacin (CIP), and on the survival of CIP-resistant Enterobacteriaceae. At 24 d of age, half of 8900 chickens received ENR for 5 d. After the animals departed, their manure was stored in two heaps for 63 d. Enterobacteriaceae were cultured on media containing 0 to 32 mg L?1 of CIP. A total of 320 isolates were fingerprinted using enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus-polymerase chain reaction (ERIC-PCR) to evaluate community structure. Initial concentrations of ENR and CIP in the heap were 22 and 1.8 mg kg?1, respectively. Seventy-three percent of the two fluoroquinolones were eliminated during storage. The administration of ENR led to a 5.1 log??? decrease in Enterobacteriaceae concentrations and emergence of CIP-resistant bacteria, which became dominant in the feces. concentrations decreased 1.2 to 2.3 log??? 2 d after the heaps were made and continued to decline during storage. No resistant were found by Day 63. The highest CIP minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values observed among isolates of and of both and sp. were 128 and 4 mg L?1, respectively. The dominant ERIC-PCR profiles changed over time. There was no relationship between genotype and resistance-isolated strains to CIP. Storing chicken manure in heaps appeared to be an effective way of limiting the entrance of CIP-resistant E. coli into the environment but did not prevent the dissemination of fluoroquinolones after land spreading.