Semantic assessments of experienced biodiversity from photographs and on-site observations - a comparison

Since the 1960’s, public assessments of landscapes have often been carried out using photographic representations. How reliable and valid are these assessments compared with on-site observations? In the present study, participants have been asked to judge different areas in terms of a limited feature: the biodiversity of the area. Digitalized photos from six different study areas were made available on the Internet, along with a questionnaire consisting of a semantic form with specific words/expressions to be rated in relation to the photos (four per area). Participants were recruited via mailing lists and informal contacts. These results were compared with a study in which students and ecologists had rated the same places using the same form, but this time on-site. The Internet participants were also asked to state their profession/education to make comparisons possible. The comparisons revealed differences between on-site and photo-based ratings, but the main difference was expressed by on-site biologists regarding areas with the highest experienced biodiversity values, possibly due to their higher degree of expertise and use of more senses than can be used when judging photographs. Concerning laymen in particular, it is concluded that the comparison between on-site and photo-based ratings is not conclusive enough to allow us to determine whether it is appropriate to use one method as a substitute for the other

Recreation in Swedish agricultural areas – public attitudes to multifunctional greenway designs

Recreation in the agricultural landscape of SW Sweden is limited in several ways. There is little else than agricultural fields and urbanised areas, and outdoor recreation is limited to a few, small areas. Although the Swedish Right of Public Access allows for accessing the agricultural fields by foot, this is not allowed during periods when there is standing crop. Apart from this, the fields are not particularly inviting, since the winds are continuous and often harsh, and walking on the muddy fields is not comfortable. It should be stressed that this is the everyday landscape for a growing peri-urban population. Furthermore, the homogenisation process that this landscape has undergone for the last five or six decades has also resulted in reduced biodiversity, which further reduces the attraction of the landscape. To make the agricultural landscape more accessible for recreation, some landowners and municipalities have established narrow (3–6 meters wide) greenways along field margins. Since these greenways are primarily aimed at recreation, they are not particularly well suited for plant and animal wildlife, and they are generally too narrow to allow for different types of recreation, such as riding at the same time as walking with dogs or prams. A further drawback with the existing greenways is their lack of protection against the continuous winds in the open landscape. Since these aspects were not considered when the greenways were established, it is probable that simple modifications of the design could satisfy more needs. It is, however, unclear whether such a development would be acceptable and desirable to the involved users and landowners, and whether it could gain support from the authorities

Forests for Health Promotion: Future Developments of Salutogenic Properties in Managed Boreal Forests

Visits to forests can improve human health and well-being through various mechanisms. They can support the immune system, promote physical activity, and restore stress and attention fatigue. Questions remain about how perceived qualities in forests important to support such salutogenic, i.e. health-promoting, benefits can be represented in forest simulation tools to allow quantitative analyses, e.g., long-term projections or trade-off analyses with other forest functions, such as biodiversity conservation, wood production, etc. Questions also remain about how different forest management regimes might impact such perceived qualities in forests. Here, we defined three types of salutogenic forest characteristics (SFCs), referred to as Deep, Spacious, and Mixed forest characteristics, respectively. We did so by using the perceived sensory dimension (PSD) model, which describes and interrelates more fundamental perceived qualities of recreational outdoor environments that are important to support people’s health and well-being. We identified proxy variables for the selected PSD models in boreal forest stands and compared the effect of five different management regimes on both individual PSD models and the derived SFCs when projecting a forest landscape 100 years into the future. Our results suggest combinations of protection (set-aside) and variations of continuous cover forestry as the most promising strategies to achieve these salutogenic properties in the long-term future. Depending on the SFC in focus and the specific management regime used, between 20% and 50% of the landscape could support associated properties in the long term (100 years). This might impact how forests should be managed when salutogenic outcomes are considered alongside, e.g., wood production and other forest contributions

Biological diversity in urban environments

The thesis approaches the concept of urban biodiversity from different angles in an attempt to explain its significance. In a study from the constructed Toftanäs wetland park, methods of affecting local biodi-versity are demonstrated as integrated with other functions, such as water quality and stormwater detention. Vegetation analyses are provided to show the rapid and sometimes unexpected change in species composition. Both spontaneous and introduced species were followed in a five-year project. Theoretical aspects of urban biodiversity are studied in-depth and the different views on biodiversity in general and urban biodiversity in particular are scrutinised. It is concluded that a holistic view on urban biodiversity probably reflects the true conditions best. In a method study, a few different kinds of biodiversity mapping were tested. It was con-cluded that the biotope-mapping model tested was easy and rapid, but incomplete. Patch mapping was more time-consuming, but possibly more informative. Patch shape was com-pared to species diversity, but there was no correlation. It was concluded that both kinds of mapping need to be calibrated with biological data, and that the human function of urban environments should be an integrated part of urban biodiversity studies. A method of assessing the perception of biodiversity was tested using a semantic test on-site. An index for biodiversity experience was created and later tested also in a photo-based study. Both studies comprised laymen as well as experts. It was concluded that there were differences between photo-based and on-site ratings, but the biggest difference was detected with the on-site experts. As a general conclusion of the thesis it can be stated that urban biodiversity is an integral part of the urban environment, and that it is impossible to regard the city without its bio-logical component, as well as it is impossible to regard the biological component without its human connection

Implementing multifunctional greenways in Sweden - challenges and opportunities

Greenway planning has a short tradition in Sweden compared with other European countries (Von Haaren & Reich 2006) or the United States (Walmsley 2006). In Sweden, there are still relatively large natural areas, the population density is low and public access to the countryside is comprehensively provided in legislation. These factors have contributed to the fact that greenway planning with few exceptions has been very little developed until recently. However, the need for greenway planning in Sweden has been recognised in the last decade (e.g. Sandström et al. 2006), especially in areas with accelerating urban sprawl into intensively used agricultural land, for example in the most southern part of Sweden, Scania. The rapidly increasing population, in particular in the greater area of Malmö, Sweden’s third largest city, has led to a large expansion of residential and commercial areas as well as new transport infrastructure. The surrounding agricultural land is intensively used, since the soils there are the most fertile in Sweden and Scania is one of the most important areas for cereal production in Sweden. The intensification of agriculture has led to decreased access to the countryside. Over a long period, most pastures and meadows have been converted to arable land, which is inaccessible for most of the year. In addition, land units have been enlarged, the number of farm tracks has been reduced to a minimum and other linear landscape elements have been removed (Ihse 1995). This means that the increasing population has very limited access to the surrounding countryside, particularly in terms of everyday recreational possibilities, despite the importance of green infrastructure in urban areas for health and recreation being widely acknowledged (e.g. Tzoulas et al. 2007, Matsuoka & Kaplan 2008). Another important aspect to mention is that Scania is one of the areas in Europe with the greatest density of horses per capita and horse riding therefore comprises a significant proportion of outdoor recreation in the area. The situation of increasing population, ongoing intensification of agriculture and decreasing access to the countryside has led to growing awareness among municipal planners of the lack of access to outdoor recreation in peri-urban areas. The way in which greenways are designed in Sweden at present originates from a prototype created by an estate owner on his own initiative at the end of the 1980s (Regnéll 1994). At that time, farmers were required to have a certain amount of land set aside as fallow to receive agricultural subsidies. Instead of having these set-aside areas as large blocks, this particular estate owner suggested forming them into strips around fields for walking and horse riding. He created a network of 14-km long greenways by sowing 4-m wide strips on arable land along the margins using a grass seed mixture. He named these ‘beträda’, a term which combines the Swedish words beträda, meaning to walk on/enter, and träda, meaning fallow. The Swedish Board of Agriculture refused to pay subsidies for this type of set-aside, but the municipal authority liked the idea of providing access for walking and horse riding and paid the farmer compensation – actually up to the present time. Thus when using the term greenway in this paper, we refer to a linear feature with a width of at least 2 metres, sown with a seed mixture including grasses and usually established on agricultural land. As discussed later in this paper, such greenways can be varied in terms of seed mixture and planting depending on their intended function/s. Paved paths, gravel paths or simple walking paths are not included in the definition. The objective of this study was to explore challenges and possibilities in implementing multifunctional greenways that improve access, recreational possibilities and biodiversity in intensively managed agricultural areas (e.g. Von Haaren & Reich 2006). The study was carried out within the project ‘Multifunctional greenways as a tool for strategic landscape planning - proposals for design and implementation in peri-urban landscapes’ and was conducted in Scania, southern Sweden

Övervakning av biologisk mångfald och friluftsliv itätorter – en metodstudie

I flera miljömål och förslag till nya delmål nämns de tätortsnära miljöerna som viktiga. Naturvårdsverket, Skogsstyrelsen, Boverket och Riksantikvarieämbetet har intresse och behov av att följa långsiktiga förändringar på grönytor inom tätorter och hur de påverkar biologisk mångfald, friluftsliv och upplevelsevärden. Detta intresse finns även hos många kommuner. Denna rapport är en utvärdering av hur NILS (Nationell Inventering av Landskapet i Sverige) kan ta fram underlag och förslag till att utöka den nuvarande övervakningen av landskapsförändringar, till att omfatta även upplevelsevärden, friluftsliv/rekreation och kvalitet hos naturtyper i tätorter. Idag täcks 3,8 procent av den totala tätortsytan i Sverige av de befintliga landskapsrutorna i NILS (5 x 5 km). Rapporten innehåller olika förslag på utökad flygbildsfotografering av NILS-rutor. Ett av förslagen är att utöka NILS till att flygbildsfotografera Sveriges 113 största tätorter (med invånarantal över 10 000) med omgivande miljö. Ett annat alternativ är att NILS samarbetar med Statistiska centralbyrån (SCB), som har en liknande agenda.I detta potentiella samarbete står NILS för den kvalitativa insamlingen av data och SCB för det mer övergripande kvantitativa arbetet.Nästan alla metoder som används i dagens NILS går att använda i tätorter. Det gäller både flygbildstolkning och inventering. Dock krävs det ytterligare utveckling av metoder som rör rekreation, friluftsliv och upplevelsevärden. Ett problem som skiljer sig från övriga NILS-landskapsrutor och permanenta provytor, är att tätorter växer både inåt och utåt. Detta innebär att många grönytor kommer att försvinna och nya tillkomma, vilket kräver ytterligare metodutveckling. Kostnaden för att övervaka biologisk mångfald och friluftsliv i tätorter i Sverige kommer att variera beroende på antalet tätorter, metodik och krav på kvalitet.

Landowners' participation in Biodiversity Conservation Examined through the Value-Belief-Norm Theory

Landowners' choice of management practices will directly affect the conservation of biodiversity in large-scale productive landscapes such as forests and agricultural areas. Using the value-belief-norm theory, this study identifies the extent to which landowners differ regarding the psychological variables antecedent of a moral obligation to protect local biodiversity after participation in conservation programmes. A survey was carried out among 280 landowners who had to varying degrees participated in either voluntary forest preservation or wetland restoration. The results showed that the landowner groups did not differ in fundamental value structure and ecological worldview. Landowner groups that had participated in the projects tended to be more aware of consequences, ascribing more responsibility to themselves and expressing personal norms obligating them to participate in local biodiversity conservation more than landowners who did not participate. Local biodiversity conservation could benefit from addressing the psychological antecedents of the moral obligation among landowners in parallel with removing structural barriers