Disentangling the complexity of socio-cultural values of temporary rivers

In the last decade, an awareness towards temporary rivers has increased globally in response to drying climates and growing human demand for water. However, social perceptions of temporary rivers have rarely been incorporated in their science and management. In this study, we advance an understanding of the socio-cultural values of temporary rivers principally in a European context. We used an ecosystem services-based approach for a participatory and deliberative exercise with 16 researchers and managers. Our results point out to two important aspects of socio-cultural values in temporary rivers. First, cultural ecosystem services have high socio-cultural values and usually represent the interests of the less influential stakeholders in related conflicts. And second, the temporal and geographical variability of these types of rivers is key to understand their socio-cultural values. As an example, the low provision of freshwater in a long non-flowing phase is one of the reasons for its high value. The results above point to future research needs that deserve more attention like the study of tradeoffs and synergies of ecosystem services and interdisciplinary research and management. We finally acknowledge the need to conduct case study research to account for geographical variation and to include the multiple views of different stakeholder groups

Social Perceptions of Forest Ecosystem Services in the Democratic Republic of Congo

The forests of the Albertine Rift are known for their high biodiversity and the important ecosystem services they provide to millions of inhabitants. However, their conservation and the maintenance of ecosystem service delivery is a challenge, particularly in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Our research investigates how livelihood strategy and ethnicity affects local perceptions of forest ecosystem services. We collected data through 25 focus-group discussions in villages from distinct ethnic groups, including farmers (Tembo, Shi, and Nyindu) and hunter-gatherers (Twa). Twa identify more food-provisioning services and rank bush meat and honey as the most important. They also show stronger place attachment to the forest than the farmers, who value other ecosystem services, but all rank microclimate regulation as the most important. Our findings help assess ecosystem services trade-offs, highlight the important impacts of restricted access to forests resources for Twa, and point to the need for developing alternative livelihood strategies for these communities

Evaluating social learning in participatory mapping of ecosystem services

Recent studies have shown the opportunities and limitations of participatory mapping for ecosystem services management, although it is an incipient research area. One of the research questions yet to be addressed is whether the composition of stakeholder groups has an effect on the outputs of participatory mapping. In this study, we assessed the influence of group composition on the mapped spatial distribution of ecosystem services. We developed two participatory mapping workshops of the ecosystem service supply and demand in the Nacimiento Watershed (Andalusia, Spain). In workshop 1, stakeholders were uniformly grouped according to their level of influence on land management. In workshop 2, we created mixed groups, with participants having dissimilar levels of influence on land management. The strategy of the second workshop aimed to foster social learning among participants, which was expected to influence the mapping outputs. We compared the outputs regarding the mapped spatial distribution of the ecosystem service supply and demand between the two workshops. Our results suggest that social learning occurred in groups with a mixed composition of participants, affecting the mapped spatial distribution of the supply and demand of ecosystem services. Finally, we discuss that knowledge exchange among participants can be supported through deliberative processes that occur in participatory settings, when stakeholders have different degrees of influence on land management. This can also enrich the assessment of the distribution of ecosystem services. © 2019, © 2019 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor and Francis Group.Funding for the development of this research was provided by the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Commission (FP7, 2007–2013) under the OpenNESS Project (Operationalization of Natural capital and Ecosystem Services: From concepts to real-world applications; Contract No. 308428). IIA acknowledges financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Sciences, Innovation and Universities, through the “Juan de la Cierva-Incorporación” program (Grant IJCI-2017-33405) and the “María de Maeztu” program for Units of Excellence (MDM-2015-0552). IP was funded by the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness of Spain (Grant FJCI-2014-20236)

What can conservation strategies learn from the ecosystem services approach? Insights from ecosystem assessments in two Spanish Protected Areas

Biodiversity conservation strategies that overlook the interests of local people are prone to create conflicts. The ecosystem service approach holds potential for integrating the social dimension in and around protected areas, but its implementation in conservation policies is still in its infancy. This research assesses the extent to which ecosystem services are considered and have been implemented in conservation strategies in protected areas. The study was conducted in two Spanish protected areas, covering a wetland (Doñana Natural and National Parks) and a Mediterranean mountain (Sierra Nevada Natural and National Parks) ecosystem. Data were collected from deliberative workshops with managers and researchers, face-to-face questionnaires with users and a review of management plans. We found that, beyond intrinsic values of biodiversity, these areas provide multiple ecosystem services that deserve further attention to ensure their sustained delivery. Our research shows that environmental managers and ecosystem service users have different perceptions and priorities regarding ecosystem services management. Environmental managers in both protected areas perceived that human-nature relationships and ecosystem service arguments are already widely included in management plans, if often not explicitly. We found that different ecosystem service categories receive uneven attention in management plans. These contained measures to manage provisioning and cultural services whereas measures for managing regulating services were perceived to be largely absent. We conclude by summarizing insights on how the ecosystem service approach may enhance management plans within protected areas

Local perceptions of ecosystem services across multiple ecosystem types in Spain

Unidad de excelencia María de Maeztu CEX2019-000940-MCombining socio-cultural valuations of ecosystem services with ecological and monetary assessments is critical to informing decision making with an integrative and multi-pronged approach. This study examined differences in the perceptions of ecosystem service supply and diversity across eight major ecosystem types in Spain and scrutinized the social and ecological factors shaping these perceptions. First, we implemented 1932 face-to-face questionnaires among local inhabitants to assess perceptions of ecosystem service supply. Second, we created an ecosystem service diversity index to measure the perceived diversity of services considering agroecosystems, Mediterranean mountains, arid systems, two aquatic continental systems, coastal ecosystems and two urban ecosystems. Finally, we examined the influence of biophysical, socio-demographic and institutional factors in shaping ecosystem service perceptions. Overall, cultural services were the most widely perceived, followed by provisioning and regulating services. Provisioning services were most strongly associated with agroecosystems, mountains and coastal systems, whereas cultural services were associated with urban ecosystems and regulating services were specifically linked with agroecosystems, mountains and urban recreational areas. The highest service diversity index values corresponded to agroecosystems, mountains and wetlands. Our results also showed that socio-demographic factors, such as place of origin (urban vs. rural) and educational level, as well as institutional factors, such as management and access regimes, shaped the perception of ecosystem services

Comparative Genomic Insights Into the Biosynthesis and Regulation of Mycobacterial Siderophores

Iron is essential for nearly all biological events. Siderophores are indispensable for most organisms to obtain iron from iron-limiting milieus. This holds particularly true for pathogens such as the causative agent of tuberculosis – Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The categories of mycobacterial siderophores, their biosynthesis and regulation are summarized here. The siderophore biosynthesis and regulation differences between the pathogenic and non-pathogenic mycobacteria are highlighted from comparative genomic perspective, with an aim to find clues for drug or drug target within siderophore metabolism

Improving collaboration between ecosystem service communities and the IPBES science-policy platform

The end of the first working program of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) provided an opportunity to draw lessons from its work. This perspective paper captures insights from ecosystem services (ES) researchers and practitioners, largely drawing from the Europeancontext (referred to herein as ‘ES community’), on this key science–policy interface. We synthesize reflections from a workshop on how (i) IPBES can engage the ES community; (ii) the ES community can engage with IPBES; and (iii) individual scientists can contribute. We note that IPBES constitutes a great advancement towards multidisciplinarity and inclusivity in ES research and practice. Key reflections for IPBES are that funding and visibility at ES research events could be improved, the contribution and selection processes could be more transparent, and communication with experts improved. Key reflections for the ES community include a need to improvepolicy-relevance by integrating more social scientists, researchers from developing countries, early-career scientists and policy-makers. Key reflections directed towards individual scientists include contributing (pro)actively to science–policy inter-face initiatives such as IPBES and increasing transdisciplinary research. These reflections intend to contribute to the awareness of challenges and opportunities for institutions, groups and individuals working on ES