Afforestation Planning and Biodiversity Conservation: Predicting Effects on Habitat Functionality in Lithuania

Habitat re-creation is one of the multiple faces of biodiversity restoration and encompasses the attempts to reconstruct an ecosystem on severely disturbed sites with little left to restore. Afforestation of abandoned or marginal agricultural land is an important tool for the re-creation of forest ecosystems and re-establishment of functional habitat networks for the maintenance of biodiversity. This study was performed in the context of the Danish-Lithuanian project ‘Afforestation of abandoned agricultural land based on sustainable land use planning and environmentally sound forest management’. The study assessed how habitat re-creation as designed in alternative afforestation plans for two administrative regions in Lithuania will affect the functionality of the landscapes for bird species of conservation concern. Spatial analysis of the forest cover was performed under existing and proposed conditions using general landscape ecological principles concerning core and edge habitats as well as nearest-neighbour metrics. The results show that the use of general criteria may result in proportionally negative changes in the availability of some forest habitats relative to changes in total forest cover, thus leading to less significant improvements in the habitats of many naturally occurring (and even protected) species compared to what would be expected from changes in forest cover alone. To solve this dilemma it is suggested that the requirements of focal species and quantitative conservation objectives should be considered in a spatially explicit – each main forest type. It is concluded that to ensure functionality of habitat networks, knowledge and experience from the fields of landscape ecology and conservation biology should be more commonly incorporated into afforestation planning.     

EIA as Regulation: Does it Work?

Since its introduction into Danish planning in 1989, Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) has been widely discussed. At the centre of the debate the question has been whether EIA has actually offered anything new and there has been a great deal of scepticism about the efficacy of the instrument. Although, in principle EIA offers a holistic and proactive methodology, it does not seem to lead to a more holistic and proactive regulation which covers more ground than traditional planning and environmental regulation. In an evaluation of Danish experiences, this study has looked more closely at the effects of EIA. Three types of effects on projects have been examined: changes occurring prior to the formal application; changes during the EIA process; and the mitigation measures that are demanded of projects. The general conclusion is that EIA does generate a significant number of changes to projects. In approximately half of the cases studied, modifications are made prior to the formal application. During the formal EIA process, modifications were made in more than 90% of the cases. However, most of these could be considered as minor. EIA is characterized by being based upon a broad concept of the environment. It was found that a progressive narrowing of the concept of environment takes place during the course of the EIA process.     

Temporal and Spatial Variation of Nutrient Levels in the Nemunas River (Lithuania and Belarus)

There are discordant results on trends in nutrient river water quality from the economical transition countries in Europe. The present study assessed the impact of these economical changes on the load and concentration at 17 monitoring stations along the Nemunas River and its major tributaries (Lithuania and Belarus). Three time periods were evaluated: the Soviet rule command system period 1986–1991, the transfer to market economy period 1992–1996 and the post reform period 1997–2002. The most surprising result in this study, was the increased area-specific load of NO₃-N from the first to the third period at almost all the sampling sites. The increase was particularly large (43–78%) at the sites in the Lithuanian part of the river. The corresponding load increase in the Belarussian part of the river was only 1–15%. The statistical analyses of concentration data confirm the strong upward NO₃-N trend at the Nemunas mouth and at 5 of the 6 tributaries in the lower part of Nemunas. Temporal and spatial analysis of nitrates transport in the Nemunas River and its main tributaries revealed that nitrates mainly originate from agricultural areas. The upward trends were most likely an effect of ploughing of pastures and unbalanced crop fertilisation in combination with large storage and accumulation of soil-nitrogen during the Soviet period.On contrary to nitrate-N, the area-specific load of PO₄-P decreased significantly from the first to the third period at all sites along the Nemunas River (31–86%). Seasonal (SMK) and Partial (PMK) Mann-Kendall tests on PO₄-P concentrations also showed significant downward trend at 14 of 16 investigated sites. The decrease of PO₄-P levels was attributed to the reduction of municipal and industrial point source emissions and to the decreased livestock numbers.The NH₄-N load showed the same pattern as PO₄-P. At the river mouth the load was 90 kg km⁻² yr⁻¹ during the first period compared to only 20–30 kg km⁻² yr⁻¹ in the third period. The trend test on NH₄-N concentrations detected significant downward trends at 5 out of 16 sites. The declines were explained by decreased emissions from cities and large animal breeding farms.This study showed that trend analysis at multiple sites in a river basin is crucial for the understanding of the variability in time and space. Such analysis is also important for our interpretation of underlying sources and fluxes in a drainage basin over time. This is particularly important for compounds that have different source origin.     

Impacts of Variable Climate and Effluent Flows on the Transboundary Santa Cruz Aquifer

Assessing groundwater resources in the arid and semiarid borderlands of the United States and Mexico represents a challenge for land and water managers, particularly in the Transboundary Santa Cruz Aquifer (TSCA). Population growth, residential construction, and industrial activities have increased groundwater demand in the TSCA, in addition to wastewater treatment and sanitation demands. These activities, coupled with climate variability, influence the hydrology of the TSCA and emphasize the need for groundwater assessment tools for decision‐making purposes. This study assesses the impacts of changes in groundwater demand, effluent discharge, and climate uncertainties within the TSCA from downstream of the Nogales International Wastewater Treatment Plant to the northern boundary of the Santa Cruz Active Management Area. We use a conceptual water budget model to analyze the long‐term impact of the different components of potential recharge and water losses within the aquifer. Modeling results project a future that ranges from severe long‐term drying to positive wetting. This research improves the understanding of the impact of natural and anthropogenic variables on water sustainability, with an accessible methodology that can be globally applied.     

Keeping pace with forestry: Multi-scale conservation in a changing production forest matrix

The multi-scale approach to conserving forest biodiversity has been used in Sweden since the 1980s, a period defined by increased reserve area and conservation actions within production forests. However, two thousand forest-associated species remain on Sweden’s red-list, and Sweden’s 2020 goals for sustainable forests are not being met. We argue that ongoing changes in the production forest matrix require more consideration, and that multi-scale conservation must be adapted to, and integrated with, production forest development. To make this case, we summarize trends in habitat provision by Sweden’s protected and production forests, and the variety of ways silviculture can affect biodiversity. We discuss how different forestry trajectories affect the type and extent of conservation approaches needed to secure biodiversity, and suggest leverage points for aiding the adoption of diversified silviculture. Sweden’s long-term experience with multi-scale conservation and intensive forestry provides insights for other countries trying to conserve species within production landscapes.

     

The Adaptation for Conservation Targets (ACT) Framework: A Tool for Incorporating Climate Change into Natural Resource Management

As natural resource management agencies and conservation organizations seek guidance on responding to climate change, myriad potential actions and strategies have been proposed for increasing the long-term viability of some attributes of natural systems. Managers need practical tools for selecting among these actions and strategies to develop a tailored management approach for specific targets at a given location. We developed and present one such tool, the participatory Adaptation for Conservation Targets (ACT) framework, which considers the effects of climate change in the development of management actions for particular species, ecosystems and ecological functions. Our framework is based on the premise that effective adaptation of management to climate change can rely on local knowledge of an ecosystem and does not necessarily require detailed projections of climate change or its effects. We illustrate the ACT framework by applying it to an ecological function in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho, USA)-water flows in the upper Yellowstone River. We suggest that the ACT framework is a practical tool for initiating adaptation planning, and for generating and communicating specific management interventions given an increasingly altered, yet uncertain, climate.     

A New Phosphorus Paradigm for the Baltic Proper

The external phosphorus (P) loading has been halved, but the P content in the water column and the area of anoxic bottoms in Baltic proper has increased during the last 30 years. This can be explained by a temporary internal source of dissolved inorganic phosphorus (DIP) that is turned on when the water above the bottom sediment becomes anoxic. A load-response model, explaining the evolution from 1980 to 2005, suggests that the average specific DIP flux from anoxic bottoms in the Baltic proper is about 2.3 g P m⁻² year⁻¹. This is commensurable with fluxes estimated in situ from anoxic bottoms in the open Baltic proper and from hydrographic data in the deep part of Bornholm Basin. Oxygenation of anoxic bottoms, natural or manmade, may quickly turn off the internal P source from anoxic bottoms. This new P-paradigm should have far-reaching implications for abatement of eutrophication in the Baltic proper.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s13280-013-0441-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

Legal Framework for Biosphere Reserves as Learning Sites for Sustainable Development: A Comparative Analysis of Ukraine and Sweden

The Biosphere Reserve (BR) concept aims at encouraging sustainable development (SD) towards sustainability on the ground by promoting three core functions: conservation, development, and logistic support. Sweden and Ukraine exemplify the diverse governance contexts that BRs need to cope with. We assessed how the BR concept and its core functions are captured in national legislations. The results show that the core functions are in different ways reflected in legal documents in both countries. While in Ukraine the BR concept is incorporated into legislation, in Sweden the concept is used as a soft law. In Ukraine managers desired stronger legal enforcement, while in Sweden managers avoided emphasis on legislation when collaborating with local stakeholders. Hence, BR implementation have adapted to different political cultures by development of diverse approaches. We conclude that a stronger legal support might not be needed for BRs, rather SD needs to be recognized as an integrated place-based process at multiple levels.     

Carbon Monoxide Exposures to Los Angeles Area Commuters

Carbon monoxide exposures to commuters were simulated in a 5-day study in Los Angeles County. Exposures were determined by measuring CO in three vehicles as they traveled typical commuter routes. The data collected during this study include measurements of vehicle speed and CO measurements in the interior and exterior of the three vehicles during the morning and evening peak traffic periods. In addition, hourly averaged CO measurements were taken from eight south coastal Air Quality Management District fixed-site monitoring stations and six California Department of Transportation vans in the proximity of the commuter routes. These data were used to investigate the relationship of CO exposures to meteorological parameters, fixed-site monitors, and traffic conditions.

The average ratio of interior CO concentrations to exterior CO concentrations was 0.92. Concentrations inside and outside the vehicles remained about the same even when the vehicles were driven with vents closed and windows up. Smoking was not permitted in the vehicles during the study. The average ratio of the hour average CO concentrations in the vehicles to fixed-site measurements was 3.9. However, this ratio decreases with increasing ambient CO levels. Although CO levels in the vehicles frequently exceeded 40 ppm and sometimes exceeded 60 ppm, the hour average CO concentrations did not exceed 35 ppm. Slow moving congested traffic is associated with higher CO levels in the vehicles than a high volume of traffic moving at a steady speed.