110 research outputs found
Stakeholder perspectives on ecosystem service supply and ecosystem service demand bundles
Recent developments in Ecosystem Service (ES) research show a growing interest in the concept of ES bundles for informing the effective management of landscapes. While the supply of ES bundles was biophysically assessed, there has been little research about the perception of ES bundles, neither in terms of their supply, nor of their demand. This research investigates how various stakeholders perceive the delivery of ES supply bundles across different landscapes and how this differs from the ES demand bundles they request. A questionnaire survey (n = 858) was carried out on the basis of landscape photographs with local farmers, local inhabitants, and visitors in the region of South Tyrol in the Central Alps. The results show that the different stakeholder groups identify identical ES supply bundles (i.e. experiential service, life maintenance service, agroservice bundle) and associate each with a similar set of landscape types. Stakeholders, however, differ in terms of their expressed demand for ES bundles. These findings suggest that stakeholders experience different (spatial) mismatches between the supply and demand of ES, potentially leading to stakeholder conflicts in landscape management. This study concludes by discussing these potential conflicts across different landscapes and in the context of future land use and management decisions
Modelling and simulating change in reforesting mountain landscapes using a social-ecological framework
Natural reforestation of European mountain landscapes raises major environmental and societal issues. With local stakeholders in the Pyrenees National Park area (France), we studied agricultural landscape colonisation by ash (Fraxinus excelsior) to enlighten its impacts on biodiversity and other landscape functions of importance for the valley socio-economics. The study comprised an integrated assessment of land-use and land-cover change (LUCC) since the 1950s, and a scenario analysis of alternative future policy. We combined knowledge and methods from landscape ecology, land change and agricultural sciences, and a set of coordinated field studies to capture interactions and feedback in the local landscape/land-use system. Our results elicited the hierarchically-nested relationships between social and ecological processes. Agricultural change played a preeminent role in the spatial and temporal patterns of LUCC. Landscape colonisation by ash at the parcel level of organisation was merely controlled by grassland management, and in fact depended on the farmer's land management at the whole-farm level. LUCC patterns at the landscape level depended to a great extent on interactions between farm household behaviours and the spatial arrangement of landholdings within the landscape mosaic. Our results stressed the need to represent the local SES function at a fine scale to adequately capture scenarios of change in landscape functions. These findings orientated our modelling choices in the building an agent-based model for LUCC simulation (SMASH - Spatialized Multi-Agent System of landscape colonization by ASH). We discuss our method and results with reference to topical issues in interdisciplinary research into the sustainability of multifunctional landscapes
Primary succession and its driving variables â a sphere-spanning approach applied in proglacial areas in the upper Martell Valley (Eastern Italian Alps)
Climate change and the associated glacier retreat lead to
considerable enlargement and alterations of the proglacial systems. The
colonisation of plants in this ecosystem was found to be highly dependent on
terrain age, initial site conditions and geomorphic disturbances. Although
the explanatory variables are generally well understood, there is little
knowledge on their collinearities and resulting influence on proglacial
primary succession. To develop a sphere-spanning understanding of vegetation
development, a more interdisciplinary approach was adopted. In the
proglacial areas of FĂźrkeleferner, Zufallferner and Langenferner (Martell
Valley, Eastern Italian Alps), in total 65 plots of 5Ă2âm were
installed to perform the vegetation analysis on vegetation cover, species
number and species composition. For each of those, 39 potential explanatory
variables were collected, selected through an extensive literature review.
To analyse and further avoid multicollinearities, 33 of the explanatory
variables were clustered via principal component analysis (PCA) to five
components. Subsequently, generalised additive models (GAMs) were used to
analyse the potential explanatory factors of primary succession. The results
showed that primary succession patterns were highly related to the first
component (elevation and time), the second component (solar radiation),
the third component (soil chemistry), the fifth component
(soil physics) and landforms. In summary, the analysis of all explanatory
variables together provides an overview of the most important influencing
variables and their interactions; thus it provides a basis for the debate on future
vegetation development in a changing climate.</p
Past and future impacts of land-use changes on ecosystem services in Austria
Environmental and socio-economic developments induce land-use changes with potentially negative impacts on human well-being. To counteract undesired developments, a profound understanding of the complex relationships between drivers, land use, and ecosystem services is needed. Yet, national studies examining extended time periods are still rare. Based on the Special Report on land use, land management and climate change by the Austrian Panel on Climate Change (APCC), we use the Driver-Pressure-State-Impact-Response (DPSIR) framework to (1) identify the main drivers of land-use change, (2) describe past and future land-use changes in Austria between 1950 and 2100, (3) report related impacts on ecosystem services, and (4) discuss management responses. Our findings indicate that socio-economic drivers (e.g., economic growth, political systems, and technological developments) have influenced past land-use changes the most. The intensification of agricultural land use and urban sprawl have primarily led to declining ecosystem services in the lowlands. In mountain regions, the abandonment of mountain grassland has prompted a shift from provisioning to regulating services. However, simulations indicate that accelerating climate change will surpass socio-economic drivers in significance towards the end of this century, particularly in intensively used agricultural areas. Although climate change-induced impacts on ecosystem services remain uncertain, it can be expected that the range of land-use management options will be restricted in the future. Consequently, policymaking should prioritize the development of integrated land-use planning to safeguard ecosystem services, accounting for future environmental and socio-economic uncertainties
Kapitel 9. Synopsis â Synergien, Zielkonflikte und Umsetzungsbarrieren von Klimaanpassungs- und KlimaschutzmaĂnahmen
Es existiert eine FĂźlle von potenziellen MaĂnahmen der Klimawandelanpassung und Emissionsminderung im Bereich der Landnutzung. Allerdings stehen Klimawandelanpassung und Emissionsminderung nicht notwendigerweise in einem synergistischen Zusammenhang. Neben der Klimarelevanz sind auch andere Kriterien von Bedeutung, wenn die integrative Leistungsfähigkeit von MaĂnahmen bewertet werden soll. Dazu gehĂśren vor allem mĂśgliche und erwartete Auswirkungen auf die Biodiversität und denWasserhaushalt. Dieses Kapitel fasst die Klimawandelanpassungs- und EmissionsminderungsmaĂnahmen und ihre Auswirkungen tabellarisch zusammen. Dabei soll eine integrative, Ăźbersichtliche Bewertung der im Special Report behandelten MaĂnahmen ermĂśglicht werden
Zusammenfassung fĂźr Entscheidungstragende
Die Zusammenfassung fĂźr Entscheidungstragende fasst die Inhalte des APCC Special Report âLandnutzung und Klimawandel in Ăsterreichâ in komprimierter Form zusammen. Im Lichte des Zusammenhanges von Landnutzung, Klimawandel und gesellschaftlichem Wohlergehen werden die gegenwärtige Situation und zukĂźnftige Entwicklungen in Ăsterreich synoptisch beschrieben, wesentliche Optionen der Klimawandelanpassung und des Klimaschutzes dargestellt, deren Trade-offs und Synergien systematisch beleuchtet und zentrale Einsichten zur Umsetzung von Strategien zum Klimaschutz und der Klimawandelanpassung in Ăsterreich zusammengefasst
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