A baseline appraisal of water-dependant ecosystem services, the roles they play within desakota livelihood systems and their potential sensitivity to climate change

This report forms part of a larger research programme on 'Reinterpreting the Urban-Rural Continuum', which conceptualises and investigates current knowledge and research gaps concerning 'the role that ecosystems services play in the livelihoods of the poor in regions undergoing rapid change'. The report aims to conduct a baseline appraisal of water-dependant ecosystem services, the roles they play within desakota livelihood systems and their potential sensitivity to climate change. The appraisal is conducted at three spatial scales: global, regional (four consortia areas), and meso scale (case studies within the four regions). At all three scales of analysis water resources form the interweaving theme because water provides a vital provisioning service for people, supports all other ecosystem processes and because water resources are forecast to be severely affected under climate change scenarios. This report, combined with an Endnote library of over 1100 scientific papers, provides an annotated bibliography of water-dependant ecosystem services, the roles they play within desakota livelihood systems and their potential sensitivity to climate change. After an introductory, section, Section 2 of the report defines water-related ecosystem services and how these are affected by human activities. Current knowledge and research gaps are then explored in relation to global scale climate and related hydrological changes (e.g. floods, droughts, flow regimes) (section 3). The report then discusses the impacts of climate changes on the ESPA regions, emphasising potential responses of biomes to the combined effects of climate change and human activities (particularly land use and management), and how these effects coupled with water store and flow regime manipulation by humans may affect the functioning of catchments and their ecosystem services (section 4). Finally, at the meso-scale, case studies are presented from within the ESPA regions to illustrate the close coupling of human activities and catchment performance in the context of environmental change (section 5). At the end of each section, research needs are identified and justified. These research needs are then amalgamated in section 6

Northern Eurasia Future Initiative (NEFI): facing the challenges and pathways of global change in the twenty-first century

During the past several decades, the Earth system has changed significantly, especially across Northern Eurasia. Changes in the socio-economic conditions of the larger countries in the region have also resulted in a variety of regional environmental changes that can have global consequences. The Northern Eurasia Future Initiative (NEFI) has been designed as an essential continuation of the Northern Eurasia Earth Science Partnership Initiative (NEESPI), which was launched in 2004. NEESPI sought to elucidate all aspects of ongoing environmental change, to inform societies and, thus, to better prepare societies for future developments. A key principle of NEFI is that these developments must now be secured through science-based strategies co-designed with regional decision-makers to lead their societies to prosperity in the face of environmental and institutional challenges. NEESPI scientific research, data, and models have created a solid knowledge base to support the NEFI program. This paper presents the NEFI research vision consensus based on that knowledge. It provides the reader with samples of recent accomplishments in regional studies and formulates new NEFI science questions. To address these questions, nine research foci are identified and their selections are briefly justified. These foci include warming of the Arctic; changing frequency, pattern, and intensity of extreme and inclement environmental conditions; retreat of the cryosphere; changes in terrestrial water cycles; changes in the biosphere; pressures on land use; changes in infrastructure; societal actions in response to environmental change; and quantification of Northern Eurasia’s role in the global Earth system. Powerful feedbacks between the Earth and human systems in Northern Eurasia (e.g., mega-fires, droughts, depletion of the cryosphere essential for water supply, retreat of sea ice) result from past and current human activities (e.g., large-scale water withdrawals, land use, and governance change) and potentially restrict or provide new opportunities for future human activities. Therefore, we propose that integrated assessment models are needed as the final stage of global change assessment. The overarching goal of this NEFI modeling effort will enable evaluation of economic decisions in response to changing environmental conditions and justification of mitigation and adaptation efforts

Agricultural Land Fragmentation at Urban Fringes: An Application of Urban-To-Rural Gradient Analysis in Adelaide

This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. (CC BY 4.0).One of the major consequences of expansive urban growth is the degradation and loss of productive agricultural land and agroecosystem functions. Four landscape metrics—Percentage of Land (PLAND), Mean Parcel Size (MPS), Parcel Density (PD), and Modified Simpson’s Diversity Index (MSDI)—were calculated for 1 km × 1 km cells along three 50 km-long transects that extend out from the Adelaide CBD, in order to analyze variations in landscape structures. Each transect has different land uses beyond the built-up area, and they differ in topography, soils, and rates of urban expansion. Our new findings are that zones of agricultural land fragmentation can be identified by the relationships between MPS and PD, that these occur in areas where PD ranges from 7 and 35, and that these occur regardless of distance along the transect, land use, topography, soils, or rates of urban growth. This suggests a geometry of fragmentation that may be consistent, and indicates that quantification of both land use and land-use change in zones of fragmentation is potentially important in planning

Data-driven Analysis of Potential Impacts of Land-use/cover Change on Water Resources in Coastal Watersheds: Perspectives from Non-stationarity and Nonlinearity

Water resource conditions are highly influenced by human activities. As one of the most important indicators that reflects the intensity of human activities, LUCC has drawn much attention in recent decades. Thus, it is necessary to understand the LUCC patterns in watersheds and identify their impacts on the local water resources. We also analyzed the impacts of the human activities on the streamflow regime as well as the regional climate changes. Furthermore, the nonlinear relationship between land use and water quality was identified in this study. The major findings of this study are as follows: (1) Spatial variation in land use was highly related to the driving factors, and population and local economic development may be the major factors influencing urbanization processes in the coastal watersheds. (2) Streamflow extremes are highly impacted by the human activities and climate variability, and the human activities may be the major factor controlling streamflow extremes at short time scales. (3) The coupled effects of climate variability and human activities were identified by analyzing the relationship between urbanization and climate patterns in the studied watersheds, and the patterns of precipitation and temperature may be modified in highly urbanized areas. (4) A nonlinear relationship between land use and water quality has been widely observed, especially in highly polluted watersheds

Climate Change and Environmental Sustainability-Volume 4

Anthropogenic activities are significant drivers of climate change and environmental degradation. Such activities are particularly influential in the context of the land system that is an important medium connecting earth surface, atmospheric dynamics, ecological systems, and human activities. Assessment of land use land cover changes and associated environmental, economic, and social consequences is essential to provide references for enhancing climate resilience and improving environmental sustainability. On the one hand, this book touches on various environmental topics, including soil erosion, crop yield, bioclimatic variation, carbon emission, natural vegetation dynamics, ecosystem and biodiversity degradation, and habitat quality caused by both climate change and earth surface modifications. On the other hand, it explores a series of socioeconomic facts, such as education equity, population migration, economic growth, sustainable development, and urban structure transformation, along with urbanization. The results of this book are of significance in terms of revealing the impact of land use land cover changes and generating policy recommendations for land management. More broadly, this book is important for understanding the interrelationships among life on land, good health and wellbeing, quality education, climate actions, economic growth, sustainable cities and communities, and responsible consumption and production according to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. We expect the book to benefit decision makers, practitioners, and researchers in different fields, such as climate governance, crop science and agricultural engineering, forest ecosystem, land management, urban planning and design, urban governance, and institutional operation.Prof. Bao-Jie He acknowledges the Project NO. 2021CDJQY-004 supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities and the Project NO. 2022ZA01 supported by the State Key Laboratory of Subtropical Building Science, South China University of Technology, China. We appreciate the assistance of Mr. Lifeng Xiong, Mr. Wei Wang, Ms. Xueke Chen, and Ms. Anxian Chen at School of Architecture and Urban Planning, Chongqing University, China

Conceptualizing Spatial Heterogeneity of Urban Composition Impacts on Precipitation Within Tropics

Urban composition has exacerbated precipitation patterns. Rapid urbanization with dynamic composition and anthropogenic activities lead to the change of physical environment, especially land-use and land cover which subsequently magnifies the environmental effects such as flash floods, extreme lightning, and landslides. Due to extreme and elevated temperature trends with exacerbated rainfall patterns, these environmental effects become major issues in tropics. Albeit several studies pointed out that rapid urbanization induced precipitation, studies about the heterogeneity of urban composition on precipitation variables are still limited. Thus, this paper review studies about precipitation pattern in relation to the heterogeneity of urban composition that successfully integrates geographical information system (GIS) and remote sensing techniques to enhance the understanding of interactions between precipitation patterns against heterogeneity of urban composition. This article also addressed the current state of uncertainties and scarcity of data concerning remote sensing techniques. Evidently, with a comprehensive investigation and probing of the precipitation variables in the context of urbanization models fused with remote sensing and GIS, they put forward powerful set tools for geographic cognition and understand how its influence on spatial variation. Hence, this study indicated a great research opportunity to set the course of action in determining the magnitude of spatial heterogeneity of an urban composition towards the pattern of precipitation

Improving Understanding of Forest Communities and Biodiversity with Multi-Dimensional Landscape Gradients

This dissertation was motivated by a desire to understand the effects of habitat degradation and urbanization on a single species in a single study system in western Massachusetts, the red-backed salamander (Plethodon cinereus), but along the way unexpected conceptual and methodological hurdles caused the work to grow into a multi-species, multi-region, and multi-scale endeavor. As I designed my dissertation research and began considering approaches to quantifying heterogeneity and human influence in my study landscape, I recognized inconsistencies in methods used to define and quantify landscape metrics, particularly in urban systems. To investigate further, I conducted a critical review of the literature to describe the current practices of landscape quantification in urban systems and to identify any patterns or trends. The review highlighted the fact that variability among definitions of ‘urban’ stems from inconsistent decision making around a set of core principles in landscape ecology, and I used these to establish a standardizing framework for landscape gradient quantification. I then applied this framework to 10 ecologically distinct metro-regions across the United States and revealed a consistent pair of gradients that offer an updated multi-dimensional perspective of landscape heterogeneity that intuitively advances the one-dimension perspective dominating exiting approaches to studying ecological responses across gradients of human influence. Having developed a framework for gradient definition, and extending the single-axis lens through which ecological enquiry is made, I applied these approaches to first investigate environmental drivers of avian community size and structure, and second, to critically evaluate the validity of the red-backed salamander as an indicator for biodiversity in human-dominated landscapes. Inconsistencies in definitions of “urbanization” are commonly attributed to the lack of general theory describing ecosystem function in urban landscapes. In Chapter 1, I review the literature on urban landscape quantification to identify patterns and best practices that could improve the process by which urban landscape gradients are defined and quantified. This review of 250 research articles revealed striking methodological consistency that aligns with the best practices of gradient definition in landscape ecology, these are: (1) selection of features to represent the urban landscape, (2) identification of associated spatial data to characterize these features, and (3) selection of an ecologically appropriate spatial scale. However, the review also highlighted apparent inconsistencies in urban gradient definition that arise from ad-hoc and ambiguous decision making at each of these stages, and demonstrated that ecologically justified and transparent decision making can standardize gradient definition and contribute to improved understanding of ecosystem processes in human-dominated landscapes (Padilla & Sutherland, 2019). In Chapter 2, I address the lack of standardized heterogeneity metrics that can be used to jointly measure multi-regional ecological responses that has hindered the generalization of urban stressors on ecological communities. I coupled the transparent methodological framework developed in Chapter 1 with a multivariate statistical analysis of land use data to quantify landscape structure in 10 medium sized cities representing the dominant ecoregions of the United States to determine whether consistent and biologically meaningful landscape metrics emerge across spatial domains. This work revealed two dominant axes of spatial variation that are intuitively consistent with the characteristics of human-dominated landscape mosaics but are overlooked when defining landscapes along a single axis of variation. In the context of representative landscapes in the United States, these gradients describe variation in the characteristic physical (soft to hard) and natural (brown to green) structure of landscapes influences by human activity. To develop the ecological relevance of the dual-axis landscape definition, I explored the response of American robin (Turdus migratorius) occupancy to these gradients across the 10 cities. This case study demonstrated that robins generally respond similarly and strongly to both landscape axes and that a multi-dimensional perspective reveals ecological nuance that may otherwise be overlooked. In Chapter 3, I apply the concepts developed in the previous two chapters to my study system in western Massachusetts. I tested two leading theories regarding how habitat fragmentation in human-dominated landscapes impacts species communities: island biogeography theory, and spatial heterogeneity. In the case of island biogeography, I expected species diversity to linearly decline as the degree of fragmentation and human-modification to the landscape increased, whereas, spatial heterogeneity would result in a quadratic response where species diversity is greatest in moderately disturbed landscape mosaics. These hypotheses were evaluated with data on the bird communities collected at 42 sites in a 3-year field study that were analyzed using a hierarchical model that allows for estimation of site-specific abundance of each species and species richness while simultaneously accounting for imperfect detection. This analysis revealed a strong non-linear community response to both axes of the multi-dimensional landscape (soft-hard and brown-green) that suggested increased heterogeneity promotes higher species abundance as well as species richness. At the species level, there was variation that corresponded with variation in known habitat preferences and life history traits. These results suggest that variation in species richness follows expectations of the spatial heterogeneity hypothesis that predicts greatest diversity in moderately disturbed landscape mosaics. I hypothesize that this process results from a greater diversity of habitat types available in landscape mosaics, and greater structural complexity within forest fragments that are characteristic of heterogenous mosaics. Finally, in Chapter 4 I provide a rare empirical assessment of the indicator species concept. Specifically, I evaluate the red-backed salamander (Plethodon cinereus) as an indicator of forest biodiversity in human-dominated landscapes. During my 3-year field study, in addition to avian community data, I collected occurrence and abundance data for trees, soil invertebrates and red-backed salamanders at each of the 42 sites. These data were analyzed using a joint-species distribution model to evaluate the salamander’s indicator potential under the premise that species within a community will generally exhibit a shared response to gradients of human influence, and that an ideal indicator species represents an exemplar of the shared community response. I compared this novel approach to indicator species selection with a commonly used metric for identifying indicator species. Despite the frequency with which salamanders are promoted as indicators of forest condition, my results provided no evidence that they are effective indicators for biodiversity based on established conceptual underpinnings of indicator species. As with the avian community, biodiversity showed a non-linear response to the dual axes of human influence where richness is highest in heterogenous landscape. Species that were identified as candidate indicators were species characteristic of edge habitat and dense forests which are common in human-dominated landscape mosaics. In summary, my dissertation provides much needed methodological improvements to landscape gradient quantification in human-dominated systems and demonstrates the applicability of this framework both at a national scale, as demonstrated across the United States, and the local scale as demonstrated in my field system in Western Massachusetts. This framework results in a multi-dimensional perspective of landscape heterogeneity that extends does a better job of representing complex landscapes beyond single-axis measures that confound two intuitive gradients of human influence. I have demonstrated how such a multi-dimensional perspective sheds light on the processes driving the landscape scale patterns of biodiversity and can be used to build evaluate process-based conceptual models for identifying indicator species. In doing so, this work presents a standardizing framework for landscape gradient quantification in human dominated landscapes, an identification of the existence of unifying measures of human influence, and a demonstration of how coupling this approach and a multi-dimensional perspective offers an general framework for understanding spatial variation in ecological communities that exist in human dominated landscape mosaics