Concerns about the use of ecosystem services as a tool for nature conservation: From misleading concepts to providing a “price” for nature, but not a “value”

1. By definition, ecosystem services (ES) are the “benefits that people obtain from ecosystems”, and this paradigm has been increasingly used in recent decades in ecological planning, for policy development and environmental management.2. In this short commentary, we highlight the main criticisms suggested by several scientists against the currently used and abused ecosystem services (ES) approach.3. We underline how this concept needs a more accurate scientific assessment and theoretical development, repeating that one of the most critical concerns is that this paradigm assigns a “price”, but not a “value” to nature.4. We also discuss different theoretical concerns, as for example the replacement of natural “resource” by “service” promoted by the ES paradigm thereby changing the implications of such assessments. Conserving resources is essential for survival of several organisms, while conservation of a “service” is mainly related to the human species.5. Finally, we warn against the mechanism of ‘crowding out’ behind the ES approach, which replaces intrinsic motivations (nature) against extrinsic ones (benefits), highlighting that people do not need to attach different values to ecosystems (monetary, cultural, aesthetic, etc.) to understand the value of nature

quantifying effects of spatial heterogeneity of farmlands on bird species richness by means of similarity index pairwise

Many studies have shown how intensification of farming is the main cause of loss biodiversity in these environments. During the last decades, agroecosystems in Europe have changed drastically, mainly due to mechanization of agriculture. In this work, species richness in bird communities was examined on a gradient of spatial heterogeneity of farmlands, in order to quantify its effects. Four categories of farmland spatial heterogeneity were defined, based on landscape and landuse parameters. The impact of features increasing the spatial heterogeneity was quantified comparing the similarity indexes between bird communities in several farmlands of Central Italy. The effects of environmental variables on bird richness were analyzed using GLM. The results highlighted that landscape features surrogates of high nature values (HNVs) of farmlands can increase more than 50% the bird species richness. The features more related to bird richness were hedgerows, scattered shrubs, uncultivated patches, and powerlines. The results confirm that the approach based on HNV for evaluating the farmlands is also suitable in order to study birds' diversity. However, some species are more sensitive to heterogeneity, while other species occupy mainly homogeneous farmlands. As a consequence, different conservation methods must be considered for each farmland bird species

Poly(hydroxyalkanoate) production by Cupriavidus necator from fatty waste can be enhanced by phaZ1 inactivation

PHA production from waste oils or fats requires microorganisms that should be both excellent PHA producers and equipped with enzymatic activities allowing hydrolysation of triglycerides. Unfortunately, microbes with the combination of substrate-utilization and PHA production are not currently available, and the strategies to be adopted are the use of costly commercial enzymes, or genetic modification of microorganisms exhibiting high PHA product yields. In the present work, after a general investigation on the ability of Cupriavidus necator to grow on a number of fatty substrates, the possibility to enhance PHA production by limiting intracellular depolymerisation, was investigated. By knocking out the related phaZ1 gene, the construction of C. necator recombinant strains impaired in depolymerase (PhaZ1) activity was achieved. The polymer yield of the recombinant strain was finally compared to that of the parental C. necator DSM 545

How are Natura 2000 protected areas covering different components of avian diversity in Spain?

We are grateful to all ornithologists involved in fieldwork, data collection, and data entry. We would like to thank SEO/Birdlife for kindly allowing us to use their Spanish Atlas of Breeding Birds (Martí & del Moral 2003) and particularly J.C. del Moral, B. Molina, and V. Escandell for their help and patience. Finally, we thank anonymous reviewers for their careful reading of our manuscript and their useful suggestions, which helped us improve the text’s final version.Protected areas are a relevant conservation tool at our disposal, especially for developing management strategies of natural habitats. However, explicit tests at large spatial scales about its effectivity protecting different components of biodiversity are still rare. This study explored the spatial matching between the distribution of three components of avian diversity (taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic metrics) and the network of Natura 2000 protected areas in Spain, the EU country with the most extensive terrestrial coverage. Overall, the spatial distribution of taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic diversity was slightly spatially congruent, matching with protected areas. However, each avian diversity metric showed differences in the arrangement of spatial clusters, also regarding the environment type. Species richness was higher in forests while it was lower in orchards, mixed environments, and arable lands. Functional dispersion was higher in forest and arable lands, while it was lower in wetlands. In contrast, the highest phylogenetic diversity was associated with wetlands and water bodies, with shrublands showing the lowest levels for this metric. All three avian diversity metrics were overall higher within than outside the Natura 2000 network. The species richness was higher in areas simultaneously protected by the Habitat and Birds Directives. Functional dispersion was higher in protected areas designed under the Birds Directive. Finally, the evolutionary uniqueness was well represented in all protected areas, although areas designed under Birds Directive showed the higher values for this metric. The presence of spatial mismatch among avian diversity components suggests the importance of considering taxonomic, functional, and evolutionary metrics simultaneously for a better spatial prioritisation in conservation planning

Effects of light and noise pollution on avian communities of European cities are correlated with the species’ diet

Urbanization affects avian community composition in European cities, increasing biotic homogenization. Anthropic pollution (such as light at night and noise) is among the most important drivers shaping bird use in urban areas, where bird species are mainly attracted by urban greenery. In this study, we collected data on 127 breeding bird species at 1349 point counts distributed along a gradient of urbanization in fourteen different European cities. The main aim was to explore the effects of anthropic pollution and city characteristics, on shaping the avian communities, regarding species’ diet composition. The green cover of urban areas increased the number of insectivorous and omnivorous bird species, while slightly decreasing the overall diet heterogeneity of the avian communities. The green heterogeneity—a measure of evenness considering the relative coverage of grass, shrubs and trees—was positively correlated with the richness of granivorous, insectivorous, and omnivorous species, increasing the level of diet heterogeneity in the assemblages. Additionally, the effects of light pollution on avian communities were associated with the species’ diet. Overall, light pollution negatively affected insectivorous and omnivorous bird species while not affecting granivorous species. The noise pollution, in contrast, was not significantly associated with changes in species assemblages. Our results offer some tips to urban planners, managers, and ecologists, in the challenge of producing more eco-friendly cities for the future.Czech Science Foundation GAČR (Project Number 18-16738S)The Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (PID2019-107423GA-I00/SRA State Research Agency/10.13039/501100011033)

Congruence between breeding and wintering biodiversity hotspots: A case study in farmlands of Western Poland

Farmland landscapes are recognized as important ecosystems, not only for their rich biodiversity but equally so for the human beings who live and work in these places. However, biodiversity varies among sites (spatial change) and among seasons (temporal change). In this work, we tested the hypothesis that bird diversity hotspots distribution for breeding is congruent with bird diversity hotspots for wintering season, focusing also the representation of protected areas for the conservation of local hotspots. We proposed a framework based on the  use of species richness, functional diversity, and evolutionary distinctiveness to characterize avian communities. Although our findings show that the spatial distribution of local bird hotspots differed slightly between seasons, the protected areas’ representation was similar in both seasons. Protected areas covered 65% of the most important zones for breeding and 71% for the wintering season in the farmland studied. Functional diversity showed similar patterns as did bird species richness, but this measure can be most effective for highlighting differences on bird community composition. Evolutionary distinctiveness was less congruent with species richness and functional diversity, among seasons. Our findings suggest that inter-seasonal spatial congruence of local hotspots can be considered as suitable areas upon which to concentrate greater conservation efforts. However, even considering the relative congruence of avian diversity metrics at a local spatial scale, simultaneous analysis of protected areas while inter-seasonally considering hotspots, can provide a more complete representation of ecosystems for assessing the conservation status and designating priority areas

She (ϣⲉ): Il nome copto del dodekanoummion

Discussione dei termini copti she e kor, riferiti a unità monetarie di bronzo. Una discussione dei testi copti O.Crum ST 219 = O.Vind.Copt. 275, O.Crum 174 e P.Mon.Epiph. 280, databili tra VI e VIII secolo, porta a concludere che she è la denominazioni copta per il follis, da intendere in questi e in altri testi coevi non come il follis vero e proprio da 40 nummi, bensì nel senso della moneta da 12 nummi circolante normalmente nell’Egitto bizantino. Il termine kor non indica una moneta reale, ma è soltanto una specificazione di she.Discussion of the Coptic terms she and kor, referring to bronze monetary units. A discussion of the Coptic texts O.Crum ST 219 = O.Vind.Copt. 275, O.Crum 174 and P.Mon.Epiph. 280, datable between the 6th and 8th centuries, leads to the conclusion that she is the Coptic denomination for the follis, to be understood in these and other contemporary texts not as the actual 40 nummi follis, but in the sense of the 12 nummi coin normally circulating in Byzantine Egypt. The word kor does not indicate a real coin, but is only a specification of she

Seasonal changes in avian communities living in an extensively used farmland of Western Poland

To study the seasonal changes in avian communities, we collected data in an extensively used farmland in Western Poland during 2006-2013. Generalized additive mixed models were used in order to study the effects of seasonality and protected areas on the overall bird species richness. A similarity percentage analysis was also conducted in order to identify the species that contribute most strongly to dissimilarity among each bird according to the phenological season. Furthermore, the differences in bird communities were investigated applying the decomposition of the species richness in season, trend, and remainder components. Each season showed significant differences in bird species richness (seasonality effect). The effect of the protected areas was slightly positive on the overall species richness for all seasons. However, an overall negative trend was detected for the entire period of eight years. The bird community composition was different among seasons, showing differences in terms of dominant species. Greater differences were found between breeding and wintering seasons, in particular, the spatial pattern of sites with higher bird richness (hotspots) were different between breeding and wintering seasons. Our findings showed a negative trend in bird species richness verified in the Polish farmlands from 2006. This result mirrors the same negative trend already highlighted for Western Europe. The role of protected areas, even if slightly positive, was not enough to mitigate this decline process. Therefore, to effectively protect farmland birds, it is necessary to also consider inter-seasons variation, and for this, we suggest the use of medium-term temporal studies on bird communities’ trends

Data Informativity for the Identication of particular Parallel Hammerstein Systems

To obtain a consistent estimate when performing an identication with Prediction Error, it is important that the excitation yields informative data with respect to the chosen model structure. While the characterization of this property seems to be a mature research area in the linear case, the same cannot be said for nonlinear systems. In this work, we study the data informativity for a particular type of Hammerstein systems for two commonly-used excitations: white Gaussian noise and multisine. The real life example of the MEMS gyroscope is considered

Data Informativity for the Identication of MISO FIR Systems with Filtered White Noise Excitation

For Prediction Error Identication, there are two main ingredients to get a consistent estimate: one of them is the data informativity with respect to (w.r.t.) the considered model structure. One common criterion used for the informativity is the positive deniteness of the input density spectral power (DSP) matrix at all frequencies. This criterion is not appropriate for multisine excitation but can be used for ltered white noise excitation for many identication problems. However, this criterion is not necessary and its application for some identication problems might not be possible. In this paper, we propose a necessary and sucient condition for the data informativity in the case of multiple-inputs single-output (MISO) nite impulse response (FIR) model structure in open-loop