Planning and governing nature-based solutions in river landscapes: Concepts,cases, and insights

Nature-based solutions (NBS), understood as actions that use ecosystem processes to address societal needs, can play important roles to future-proof river landscape development for people and nature. However, knowledge gaps exist how NBS can be planned and implemented at landscape scales. This Special Issue brings together insights and experiences from studies of assessing, planning, and implementing NBS in river landscapes in Europe and beyond. It addresses three research fields: (i) NBS effects, looking at the effectiveness of NBS to achieve ecological, social, and/or economic outcomes, (ii) NBS planning, focusing on approaches for planning and designing NBS, and (iii) NBS governance, relating to governance and business models for implementation. The twelve contributions deliver evidence on how NBS outperform conventional, rather technical solutions, provide guidance and tools to operationalize the NBS concept into practice, and showcase successful governance models of NBS in different contexts. The editorial ends with an outlook on further research needs.     

Virgin ant queens mate with their own sons to avoid failure at colony foundation

Mother–son mating (oedipal mating) is practically non-existent in social Hymenoptera, as queens typically avoid inbreeding, mate only early in life and do not mate again after having begun to lay eggs. In the ant genus Cardiocondyla mating occurs among sib in the natal nests. Sex ratios are extremely female-biased and young queens face the risk of remaining without mating partners. Here, we show that virgin queens of Cardiocondyla argyrotricha produce sons from their own unfertilized eggs and later mate with them to produce female offspring from fertilized eggs. Oedipal mating may allow C. argyrotricha queens to found new colonies when no mating partners are available and thus maintains their unusual life history combining monogyny, mating in the nest, and low male production. Our result indicates that a trait that sporadically occurs in solitary haplodiploid animals may evolve also in social Hymenoptera under appropriate ecological and social conditions.     

The role of self-regulation in the context of driver distraction: A simulator study

Objective: There is considerable evidence for the negative effects of driver distraction on road safety. In many experimental studies, drivers have been primarily viewed as passive receivers of distraction. Thus, there is a lack of research on the mediating role of their self-regulatory behavior. The aim of the current study was to compare drivers' performance when engaged in a system-paced secondary task with a self-paced version of this task and how both differed from baseline driving performance without distraction.

Methods: Thirty-nine participants drove in a simulator while performing a secondary visual–manual task. One group of drivers had to work on this task in predefined situations under time pressure, whereas the other group was free to decide when to work on the secondary task (self-regulation group). Drivers' performance (e.g., lateral and longitudinal control, brake reaction times) was also compared with a baseline condition without any secondary task.

Results: For the system-paced secondary task, distraction was associated with high decrements in driving performance (especially in keeping the lateral position). No effects were found for the number of collisions, probably because of the lower driving speeds while distracted (compensatory behavior). For the self-regulation group, only small impairments in driving performance were found. Drivers engaged less in the secondary task during foreseeable demanding or critical driving situations.

Conclusions: Overall, drivers in the self-regulation group were able to anticipate the demands of different traffic situations and to adapt their engagement in the secondary task, so that only small impairments in driving performance occurred. Because in real traffic drivers are mostly free to decide when to engage in secondary tasks, it can be concluded that self-regulation should be considered in driver distraction research to ensure ecological validity.     

Evaluation of Current Approaches to Stream Classification and a Heuristic Guide to Developing Classifications of Integrated Aquatic Networks

Conservation and management of fresh flowing waters involves evaluating and managing effects of cumulative impacts on the aquatic environment from disturbances such as: land use change, point and nonpoint source pollution, the creation of dams and reservoirs, mining, and fishing. To assess effects of these changes on associated biotic communities it is necessary to monitor and report on the status of lotic ecosystems. A variety of stream classification methods are available to assist with these tasks, and such methods attempt to provide a systematic approach to modeling and understanding complex aquatic systems at various spatial and temporal scales. Of the vast number of approaches that exist, it is useful to group them into three main types. The first involves modeling longitudinal species turnover patterns within large drainage basins and relating these patterns to environmental predictors collected at reach and upstream catchment scales; the second uses regionalized hierarchical classification to create multi-scale, spatially homogenous aquatic ecoregions by grouping adjacent catchments together based on environmental similarities; and the third approach groups sites together on the basis of similarities in their environmental conditions both within and between catchments, independent of their geographic location. We review the literature with a focus on more recent classifications to examine the strengths and weaknesses of the different approaches. We identify gaps or problems with the current approaches, and we propose an eight-step heuristic process that may assist with development of more flexible and integrated aquatic classifications based on the current understanding, network thinking, and theoretical underpinnings.     

Assessment of the environmental impact of landfill sites with open combustion located in arid regions by combined chemical and ecotoxicological studies

Two different waste disposal sites in Jordan were investigated in order to determine the environmental situation in context with waste disposal techniques. One landfill, located at Marka/Amman, had been closed about 25 years ago and covered with soil. Here, the waste had been actively open combusted and openings in the cover, still emitting smoke, indicated that waste was still smoldering inside the landfill's body. The second disposal site close to Ekeeder/Irbid is still operated. On this ground, the solid waste is not intentionally burned, although spontaneous fires frequently come up. Samples of waste, soil, and entrained dust were collected and analyzed. From the solid samples, respectively, their eluates, sum parameters, ecotoxicological effects as well as contents of elements/heavy metals and organic pollutants (PAH, PCDD/F) were determined. In general, the Ekeeder-samples were low-contaminated. The investigation of the Marka-samples showed higher contamination of the site's center, clearly being influenced by combustion processes. A significant contamination of the landfill's vicinity by its emissions could not be derived from the analytical data. Ecotoxicological investigations, applying a bio-test battery, revealed correlations with the sum parameters but not with the trace pollutants. Thus, the Marka-samples with the highest measured values of sum parameters caused adverse effects on three different test species, whereas other samples from Marka and Ekeeder had small or no effects. The results of these investigations depict the influence of different disposal techniques on the contamination situation of a landfill and they shall contribute to assess the conditions of other disposal sites in (semi)arid regions.     

Emerging contaminants migration from pipes used in drinking water distribution systems: a review of the scientific literature

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Migration of emerging contaminants (ECs) from pipes into water is a global concern due to potential human health effects. Nevertheless, a review of...