People and biodiversity in the 21st century: This article belongs to Ambio’s 50th Anniversary Collection. Theme: Biodiversity conservation

Fifty years have elapsed since the first publication of Ambio. Throughout this period, fundamental changes have occurred in societal attitudes to biodiversity conservation. Ambio has published numerous papers that have aligned with these new approaches. High citations numbers suggest that Ambio papers have had a significant impact on conservation strategies. We review these publications and find that they align well with changed societal perspectives on biodiversity. Ambio papers have called for greater contributions of local and indigenous peoples and for conservation in multi-functional landscapes. The 1992 Convention on Biological Diversity built on these principles. Negotiations are now underway for a post-2020 framework for biodiversity. Ambio papers have argued for a stronger scientific basis for conservation and for the need to adapt to changing conditions and to the rich diversity of societal preferences for conservation. International processes favor simple, generalizable approaches to conservation but we call for recognition of the diversity of ecological and human conditions in which conservation occurs. There is a need to build capacity to support a diversity of conservation approaches that are adapted to changing local conditions and to the priorities of diverse human societies.     

Representative boreal forest habitats in northern Europe,and a revised model for ecosystem management and biodiversity conservation

The natural range of variation of ecosystems provides reference conditions for sustainable management and biodiversity conservation. We review how the understanding of natural reference conditions of boreal forests in northern Europe has changed from earlier perceptions of even-aged dynamics driven by stand-replacing disturbances towards current understanding highlighting the role of non-stand-replacing disturbances and the resultant complex forest dynamics and structures. We show how earlier views and conceptual models of forest disturbance dynamics, including the influential ASIO model, provide estimates of reference conditions that are outside the natural range of variation. Based on a research synthesis, we present a revised forest reference model incorporating the observed complexity of ecosystem dynamics and the prevalence of old forests. Finally, we outline a management model and demonstrate its use in forest ecosystem management and show how regional conservation area needs can be estimated. We conclude that attaining favourable conservation status in northern Europe’s boreal forests requires increasing emphasis on ecosystem management and conservation for old forest characteristics.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1007/s13280-020-01444-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

A social–ecological framework and toolbox to help strengthening functional agrobiodiversity-supported ecosystem services at the landscape scale

Functional agrobiodiversity (FAB) has severely declined during the last decades. Current efforts to reinforce FAB are mainly focused on single-actor, parcel-based measures, whereas multi-actor landscape approaches are supposed to be more effective. In this paper, we propose a social–ecological framework that structures how different land users at both the parcel and landscape level interact with FAB as a natural resource. Furthermore, we introduce 1 m² FAB gardens as an interactive multipurpose measurement tool to gather data on ecosystem services in collaboration with land users. The presented action research approach provides new insights on motivations and interests of different land users in FAB and how knowledge exchange can result in a higher motivation to invest in FAB. Using a case study in Flanders, we illustrate the FAB-garden concept and highlight its strengths and necessary considerations to properly complement other research approaches in this social–ecological system.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1007/s13280-020-01382-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

组配改良剂对污染稻田中Pb、Cd、Cu和Zn钝化效果持续性比较

为研究组配改良剂碳酸钙+海泡石(LS)对稻田土壤重金属Pb、Cd、Cu、Zn钝化效果的持久性,通过一次性施用0、2、4、8 g·kg-1的LS,并分别于2012年(第一季)、2013年(第二季)和2014年(第三季)连续种植水稻,在湘南某矿区附近污染稻田进行了一个3 a的大田修复试验.结果表明:1LS能显著提高三季土壤p H值,且LS对土壤p H值提高效果为:第一季第二季第三季.2LS能显著降低三季水稻土壤中Pb、Cd、Zn的交换态含量,且第三季水稻土壤中Pb、Cd、Zn的交换态含量分别降低32.6%~97.7%、8.3%~71.4%和10.9%~83.5%,但对降低三季土壤中Cu的交换态含量无显著影响;LS降低三季土壤中Pb、Cd、Cu、Zn交换态含量的效果均为:PbZnCdCu.3LS使第三季水稻糙米中Pb和Cd含量分别降低26.7%~66.7%、59.1%~80.3%,这种降低效果均随着改良剂LS添加量的增加而增大,但对糙米中Cu和Zn含量无明显影响.LS降低糙米中Pb、Cd、Cu、Zn含量的效果为:第一季,PbCdCuZn;第二季,PbCdCuZn;第三季,CdPbZnCu.LS降低三季水稻糙米中重金属含量的整体效果为PbCdCuZn.4随着时间的延长,LS对土壤中Pb和Cd具有更稳定的钝化效果.因此,LS对治理Pb和Cd污染的土壤具有良好的持久性.     

Beyond the conventional: Meeting the challenges of landscape governance within the European Landscape Convention?

Academics and policy makers seeking to deconstruct landscape face major challenges conceptually, methodologically and institutionally. The meaning(s), identity(ies) and management of landscape are controversial and contested. The European Landscape Convention provides an opportunity for action and change set within new governance agendas addressing interdisciplinarity and spatial planning. This paper critically reviews the complex web of conceptual and methodological frameworks that characterise landscape planning and management and then focuses on emerging landscape governance in Scotland within a mixed method approach involving policy analyses, semi-structured interviews and best practice case studies. Using Dower's (2008) criteria from the Articles of the European Landscape Convention, the results show that whilst some progress has been made in landscape policy and practice, largely through the actions of key individuals and champions, there are significant institutional hurdles and resource limitations to overcome. The need to mainstream positive landscape outcomes requires a significant culture change where a one-size-fits-all approach does not work.     

Benefits, efforts and risks of participants in landscape co-management: an analytical framework and results from two case studies in Austria

Participatory processes in general and also in relation to managing landscape issues are gathering importance mostly due to arguments surrounding legitimacy and effectiveness in decision-making. The main aim of this research, based on a transaction costs perspective, is to present an integrated analytical framework in order to determine individual efforts (time, money), benefits and risks of participants in landscape co-management processes. Furthermore a reflection on the analytical approach developed and arising lessons to be learned for landscape co-management are presented. In the analytical framework benefit-components comprise of factors such as 'contributing to landscape maintenance/development and nature protection', 'representing one's interest group', 'co-deciding on relevant topics', 'providing and broadening one's knowledge' and 'building networks'. The risks of participation are related to a lack of information and agreements, missing support and actual decision-making power. The analytical framework is applied to two case studies in Austria: an EU LIFE-Nature project and a Cultural Landscape Project of the Provincial Government of Lower Austria. Analysis of the effort-benefit-relations provides an indication for a more effective design of co-management. Although the processes are rated as quite adequate, there is a low willingness of participants to commit additional time to co-management processes. In contrast to the Cultural Landscape Project, in the LIFE-Nature project, professionally involved persons participate next to partly and full volunteers. These uneven conditions of participation and an unfair distribution of transaction costs, jeopardize the promising chances co-management bears for landscape governance.     

Increasing development in the surroundings of U.S. National Park Service holdings jeopardizes park effectiveness

Protected areas are cornerstones of biodiversity conservation, but they are in danger of becoming islands in a sea of human dominated landscapes. Our question was if protected areas may even foster development in their surroundings because they provide amenities that attract development, thus causing the isolation of the ecosystems they were designed to protect. Our study analyzed historic aerial photographs and topographical maps to reconstruct road development and building growth within and around Indiana Dunes and Pictured Rocks National Lakeshores in the U.S. Great Lakes region from 1938 to 2005, and to estimate the effects of park creation in 1966 on changes in landscape patterns. Historic U.S. census housing density data were used as a baseline to compare observed changes to. Our results showed that park establishment was effective in reducing and stopping the fragmenting impact of development within park boundaries. However, increased amenity levels following park establishment led to enhanced development in the surroundings of both parks. In the extreme case of Indiana Dunes, building density outside the park increased from 45 to 200 buildings/km² and road density almost doubled from 3.6 to 6.6 km/km² from 1938 to 2005. Development rates of change were much higher than in the broader landscape, particularly after park establishment. The potential amenity effect was up to 9500 new buildings in the 3.2-km zone around Indiana Dunes between 1966 and 2005. For Pictured Rocks the absolute effect was smaller but up to 70% of the observed building growth was potentially due to amenity effects. Our findings highlight the need for conservation planning at broader scales, incorporating areas beyond the boundaries of protected areas.     

Scale-dependent relations in land cover biophysical dynamics

The exploration of the relationships between plant biotic dynamics and scale can reveal important information on ecosystem spatial organization by addressing preservation of information integrity in upscaling/downscaling procedures of land-surface parameterization for environmental modeling applications. Scale-dependent relations of vegetation dynamics are investigated in this study by using emergent biophysical characteristics obtained through a predictive multidimensional model of vegetation anomalies derived from remote-sensing observations. In particular, the analysis is focused on the spatial organization of some phenological parameters including deterministic variations (seasonal range, interannual variability, jump discontinuities) and stochastic components (plant memory, spatial correlations). The analysis is performed using MODIS-based Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) 16-day composites for the period from March 2000 to December 2006 over Italy at different levels of spatial aggregation (1-8 km). Scale-dependences of the statistical moments of the phenological parameters are quantified through simple power laws for five distinct vegetated land covers. Results suggest that some biophysical characteristics, especially deterministic components, show no preferential spatial scale for important coverage. In particular, broad-leaved forests and natural grasslands are characterized by deterministic and low-distance spatial components well explained by scale relationships, which are modulated by possible spatiotemporal dynamics of climatic drivers. Agricultural lands show high scale-dependent relations on short-term biophysical memory sources and low-distance spatial components of phenology likely related to hierarchical interactions of anthropogenic and ecological processes; whereas mixed patterns of croplands and natural areas generally present no consistent scaling relations.     

Scale-dependent analysis of an otter–crustacean system in Argentinean Patagonia

The Southern river otter or ‘huillin’, Lontra provocax, is an endangered species endemic of the Andean Patagonian region of Argentina and Chile. It feeds almost exclusively on the genera of macro-crustacea: Aegla and Sammastacus. The aim of this study was to analyse the role of food availability on the huillin’s distribution using a scale-dependent analysis of crustacean and otter distributions. We compared the distributions of otters and macro-crustaceans along a north–south regional gradient, between river basins of northern Patagonia, in an altitudinal gradient within a river basin, and between habitat types within a lake. We investigated the distribution of otters by sign surveys along lake shores, river banks and marine coasts, and of crustaceans using surveys in the water, undigested remains in mink (Mustela vison) scats, presence of external skeletons at the waterside and through interviews with local people. Our results show that there were heterogeneities in the distributions of macro-crustaceans at four scales and these were generally reflected in the distributions of freshwater otters. We conclude that the main factor limiting the distributions of L. provocax in freshwater environments is the availability of macro-crustaceans. This paper shows how scale-dependent type analyses of population distribution serves as a method for identifying key environmental factors for species for which the use of long-term demographies is unfeasible.     

尼尔基水利枢纽施工干扰区生态环境修复与景观规划设计

大型水利工程的建设无疑为人们的生产生活带来了安全与保障,但其施工对生态环境的破坏同样不可小觑。本文结合尼尔基水利枢纽施工干扰区的实际情况,探讨水利枢纽施工干扰区生态环境修复与景观规划设计的理念与指导思想,从植物选择、水体处理与分区设计3个方面介绍了尼尔基水利枢纽施工干扰区生态环境修复与景观规划设计的主体方案构思。