Spatial trade-offs in national landbased wind power production in times of biodiversity and climate crises

Energy generated from land-based wind power is expected to play a crucial role in the decarbonisation of the economy. With the looming biodiversity and nature crises, spatial allocation of wind power cannot, however, any longer be considered solely a trade-off against local disamenity costs. Emphasis should also be put on wider environmental impacts, especially if these challenge the sustainability of the whole renewable energy transition. We suggest a modelling system for spatial allocation of wind power plants (WPPs) by combining an energy system model with a comprehensive GIS analysis of WPP sites and surrounding viewscapes. The modelling approach integrates monetary cost estimates of local disamenity and loss of carbon sequestration, and impacts on wilderness and biodiversity implemented as sustainability constraints on the model. Simulating scenarios for the Norwegian energy system towards 2050, we find that the southern part of Norway is the most favourable region for wind power siting when only the energy system surplus is considered. However, when gradually adding local disamenity costs (and to a lesser extent carbon costs) and the sustainability constraints, the more beneficial siting in the northern part of Norway become. We find that the sustainability constraints have the largest impact on the spatial distribution of WPPs, but the monetised costs of satisfying them are shown to be modest. Overall, results show that there is a trade-off between local disamenities and loss of biodiversity and wilderness. Siting wind power plants outside the visual proximity of households yield negative consequences for biodiversity and wilderness

Urban green. Integrating ecosystem extent and condition data in urban ecosystem accounts. Examples from the Oslo region

The article enhances the knowledge base for the assessment of urban ecosystem services, within the United Nations System of Environmental-Economic Accounting Ecosystem Accounting (SEEA EA), recently adopted as an international statistical standard. The SEEA EA is based on spatial extent accounts (area of ecosystems) and biophysical condition accounts (ecological state of ecosystems). Case studies from the Oslo region are explored, combining land use/land cover maps from Statistics Norway with satellite data. The results illustrate that a combination of land use/land cover data for ecosystem extent and detailed satellite data of land cover provides a much higher quality for the interpretation of extent and condition variables. This is not only a result of applying spatial analysis, but a result of applying knowledge about the information categories from satellite data of land cover, to official statistics for built-up land in urban areas that until now have not been identified. Moreover, the choice of spatial units should reflect that modelling of different ecosystem services, as a basis for trade-offs in urban planning, requires a combination of different spatial approaches to capture urban green elements. Ecosystem accounting, ecosystem services, urban ecosystems, spatial analysis, land use maps, land cover mapsacceptedVersio

Valuing access to urban greenspace using non-linear distance decay in hedonic property pricing

Modelling walking distance enables the observation of non-linearities in hedonic property pricing of accessibility to greenspace. We test a penalized spline spatial error model (PS-SEM), which has two distinctive features. First, the PS-SEM controls for the presence of a spatially autocorrelated error term. Second, the PS-SEM allows for continuous non-linear distance decay of the property price premium as a function of walking distance to greenspaces. As a result, compared with traditional spatial econometric methods, the PS-SEM has the advantage that data determines the functional form of the distance decay of the implicit price for greenspace accessibility. Our PS-SEM results from Oslo, Norway, suggest that the implicit price for greenspace access is highly non-linear in walking distance, with the functional form varying for different types of greenspaces. Our results caution against using simple linear distances and assumptions of log or stepwise buffer-based distance decay in property prices relative to pedestrian network distance to urban amenities. The observed heterogeneity in the implicit property prices for walking distance to greenspace also provides a general caution against using non-spatial hedonic pricing models when aggregating values of greenspace amenities for policy analysis or urban ecosystem accounting purposes. Penalized spline spatial error model (PS-SEM) Hedonic pricing method (HPM) Urban ecosystem services valuation Urban ecosystem accounting Urban planning Environmental justicepublishedVersio

Ecosystem services mapping for municipal policy: ESTIMAP and zoning for urban beekeeping

Pollinating insects are an integral part of cities’ natural capital and perform an important ecosystem function with a high degree of relevance to many cultural ecosystem services. Consequently, pollinators serve as a useful proxy for assessing urban biodiversity. Beekeeping has recently emerged as a popular activity in many urban areas and a good deal of the motivation for urban beekeeping for many stems from the cultural and non-consumptive aspects of beekeeping. Yet the recent increases in domestic honeybee densities in urban landscapes has raised concern regarding the potential threat that honeybees might pose to local populations of threatened bumblebee and solitary bee species. This issue constitutes a trade-off between the cultural ecosystem services associated with urban beekeeping and the regulation and maintenance ecosystem services of maintaining nursery populations of rare and threatened species. Municipal authorities in Oslo, Norway have proposed establishing eight “precautionary zones”, within which placement of honeybee hives could be more strictly regulated. We propose a mapping and assessment approach for informing zoning decisions regarding urban honeybees, utilising a model of an urban landscape’s biophysical capacity to support pollinating insects (ESTIMAP). Together with an additional model describing the approximate distrubtion of honeybees in Oslo, we identify areas in the city where domestic honeybees may be more likely to exhaust floral resources. This case also tests the policy relevance of ecosystem service mapping tools beyond awareness raising, with broader general lessons for ecosystem mapping and assessment

The contributions of flower strips to wild bee conservation in agricultural landscapes can be predicted using pollinator habitat suitability models

1. Sowing flower strips along field edges is a widely adopted method for conserving pollinating insects in agricultural landscapes. To maximize the effect of flower strips given limited resources, we need spatially explicit tools that can prioritize their placement, and for identifying plant species to include in seed mixtures. 2. We sampled bees and plant species as well as their interactions in a semicontrolled field experiment with roadside/field edge pairs with/without a sown flower strip at 31 sites in Norway and used a regional spatial model of solitary bee species richness to test if the effect of flower strips on bee species richness was predictable from the modelled solitary bee species richness. 3. We found that sites with flower strips were more bee species rich compared to sites without flower strips and that this effect was greatest in areas that the regional solitary bee species richness model had identified to be particularly important for bees. Spatial models revealed that even within small landscapes there were pronounced differences between field edges in the predicted effect of sowing flower strips. 4. Of the plant species that attracted the most bee species, the majority mainly attracted bumblebees and only few species also attracted solitary bees. Considering both the taxonomic diversity of bees and the species richness of bees attracted by plants we suggest that seed mixes containing Hieracium spp. such as Hieracium umbellatum, Pilosella officinarum, Taraxacum spp., Trifolium repens, Lotus corniculatus, Stellaria graminea and Achillea millefolium would provide resources for diverse bee communities in our region 5. Spatial prediction models of bee diversity can be used to identify locations where flower strips are likely to have the largest effect and can thereby provide managers with an important tool for prioritizing how funding for agri-environmental schemes such as flower strips should be allocated. Such flower strips should contain plant species that are attractive to both solitary and bumblebees, and do not need to be particularly plant species rich as long as the selected plants complement each other. agri-environmental schemes, bees, flower strips, networks, pollinators, restoration, spatialpublishedVersio

Neutral processes related to regional bee commonness and dispersal distances are important predictors of plant–pollinator networks along gradients of climate and landscape conditions

Understanding how niche-based and neutral processes contribute to the spatial varia-tion in plant–pollinator interactions is central to designing effective pollination con-servation schemes. Such schemes are needed to reverse declines of wild bees and other pollinating insects, and to promote pollination services to wild and cultivated plants. We used data on wild bee interactions with plants belonging to the four tribes Loteae, Trifolieae, Anthemideae and either spring- or summer-flowering Cichorieae, sampled systematically along a 682 km latitudinal gradient to build models that allowed us to 1) predict occurrences of pairwise bee–flower interactions across 115 sampling locations, and 2) estimate the contribution of variables hypothesized to be related to niche-based assembly structuring processes (viz. annual mean temperature, landscape diversity, bee sociality, bee phenology and flower preferences of bees) and neutral processes (viz. regional commonness and dispersal distance to conspecifics). While neutral processes were important predictors of plant–pollinator distributions, niche-based processes were reflected in the contrasting distributions of solitary bee and bumble bees along the temperature gradient, and in the influence of bee flower preferences on the distri-bution of bee species across plant types. In particular, bee flower preferences separated bees into three main groups, albeit with some overlap: visitors to spring-flowering Cichorieae; visitors to Anthemideae and summer-flowering Cichorieae; and visitors to Trifolieae and Loteae. Our findings suggest that both neutral and niche-based pro-cesses are significant contributors to the spatial distribution of plant–pollinator inter-actions so that conservation actions in our region should be directed towards areas: Page 2 of 11near high concentrations of known occurrences of regionally rare bees; in mild climatic conditions; and that are surrounded by heterogenous landscapes. Given the observed niche-based differences, the proportion of functionally distinct plants in flower-mixes could be chosen to target bee species, or guilds, of conservation concern. Keywords: ecological networks, machine learning, plant–pollinator interactions, spatial, wild beesNeutral processes related to regional bee commonness and dispersal distances are important predictors of plant–pollinator networks along gradients of climate and landscape conditionspublishedVersionpublishedVersio

A novel μCT analysis reveals different responses of bioerosion and secondary accretion to environmental variability

Corals build reefs through accretion of calcium carbonate (CaCO3) skeletons, but net reef growth also depends on bioerosion by grazers and borers and on secondary calcification by crustose coralline algae and other calcifying invertebrates. However, traditional field methods for quantifying secondary accretion and bioerosion confound both processes, do not measure them on the same time-scale, or are restricted to 2D methods. In a prior study, we compared multiple environmental drivers of net erosion using pre- and post-deployment micro-computed tomography scans (μCT; calculated as the % change in volume of experimental CaCO3 blocks) and found a shift from net accretion to net erosion with increasing ocean acidity. Here, we present a novel μCT method and detail a procedure that aligns and digitally subtracts pre- and post-deployment μCT scans and measures the simultaneous response of secondary accretion and bioerosion on blocks exposed to the same environmental variation over the same time-scale. We tested our method on a dataset from a prior study and show that it can be used to uncover information previously unattainable using traditional methods. We demonstrated that secondary accretion and bioerosion are driven by different environmental parameters, bioerosion is more sensitive to ocean acidity than secondary accretion, and net erosion is driven more by changes in bioerosion than secondary accretion

Stakeholders' perspectives on the operationalisation of the ecosystem service concept : Results from 27 case studies

The ecosystem service (ES) concept is becoming mainstream in policy and planning, but operational influence on practice is seldom reported. Here, we report the practitioners' perspectives on the practical implementation of the ES concept in 27 case studies. A standardised anonymous survey (n = 246), was used, focusing on the science-practice interaction process, perceived impact and expected use of the case study assessments. Operationalisation of the concept was shown to achieve a gradual change in practices: 13% of the case studies reported a change in action (e.g. management or policy change), and a further 40% anticipated that a change would result from the work. To a large extent the impact was attributed to a well conducted science-practice interaction process (>70%). The main reported advantages of the concept included: increased concept awareness and communication; enhanced participation and collaboration; production of comprehensive science-based knowledge; and production of spatially referenced knowledge for input to planning (91% indicated they had acquired new knowledge). The limitations were mostly case-specific and centred on methodology, data, and challenges with result implementation. The survey highlighted the crucial role of communication, participation and collaboration across different stakeholders, to implement the ES concept and enhance the democratisation of nature and landscape planning. (C) 2017 Published by Elsevier B.V.Peer reviewe

Landscape analysis of Old Natural Forest polygons identified from LiDAR data

Framstad, E., Nowell, M. & Venter, Z. 2020. Landscape analysis of Old Natural Forest polygons identified from LiDAR data. NINA Report 1799. Norwegian Institute for Nature Research. This report presents results from a landscape analysis of Old Natural Forest (ONF) polygons for Eastern Norway. The polygons were aggregated from pixels with assigned probabilities of being ONF, based on airborne LiDAR data and National Forest Inventory (NFI) data. Ten municipalities had <40% LiDAR cover. Polygons consisted of the pixels with highest probability of being ONFs, up to a threshold set by NFI data for each county. Polygons smaller than 0.5 ha were discarded. The aggregation procedure resulted in higher proportions of ONF area than set by the thresholds, marginally for most counties but substantially for Buskerud and Aust-Agder. 333 819 ONF polygons with a total area of 11 367 km2 were extracted; these covered 22.6% of the available forest area with LiDAR data. Parts of Hedmark, Oppland, Vestfold, and Telemark had the highest density of ONF polygons. The ONF polygons varied considerably in size, although about 50% were smaller than 1 ha and only 67 polygons were larger than 500 ha. Several spatial metrics were calculated, including basic polygon properties, polygon shape complexity and connectivity. Municipalities were used as landscape units and values aggregated to county level. Mean polygon size varied among counties, with Buskerud and Aust-Agder having the largest mean polygon sizes of 5.8 and 6.4 ha, respectively. Edge density reflects the number of polygons per forest area, and this was highest for Vestfold and Telemark. Total edge and total core area reflects the total ONF area and number of polygons. The four metrics for polygon shape complexity were closely correlated. Telemark and Vestfold had the most irregular ONF polygons on average, and Oslo and Akershus had the most regular. The four main connectivity metrics represent different aspects of connectivity and were not closely correlated. These metrics indicate that ONF polygons in Buskerud had the highest degree of connectivity. Aust-Agder had the lowest connectivity values for three of the four metrics. If the extracted ONF polygons represent real old natural forest, we should expect other conservation values linked to such forest to occur more frequently in ONFs than in other forest. ONFs and forest in general differed only marginally in their cover of forest in protected areas. However, ONFs covered more of forest key biotopes (3%, 4%) than forest in general (1.8%). The ONFs also had a higher frequency of observations of forest-associated red-listed species of insects, lichens and fungi (5.4 observations per 10 km2) than did forest in general (3.8 observations ). Old natural forest and clearcuts represent totally different forest stages. Nevertheless, 12.7% of the area of ONF polygons overlapped clearcuts classified from Landsat images. 7.5% of the area of ONFs were clearcuts made before the LiDAR data were collected, indicating inconsistencies in the methods of identifying ONFs or clearcuts. The locations of ONF polygons and clearcuts did not differ much with respect to distance to the nearest road or elevation, but ONFs tended to occur in somewhat steeper terrain. These results are further discussed in terms of the influence from the methodology, including identification of ONF pixels from LiDAR data, the aggregation procedure, properties of the spatial metrics, and other aspects of the analyses. Using a narrower and more distinct definition for old natural forest may result in better targeting of old natural forest with high conservation values. A map of old natural forest patches could be part of the input data for the assessment of ecological condition in forests, but setting reference values for landscape level indicators would be challenging. Recommendations for improving the methodology include assessment of most appropriate definitions of old natural forest, possibilities for improving ground truth data, possible use of other remote sensing data sources, exploration of the effects of alternative steps in the aggregation procedure from pixels to polygons, and the use of photo and field validation of what ex-tracted polygons actually cover.Framstad, E., Nowell, M. & Venter, Z. 2020. Landskapsanalyse av polygoner av gammel naturskog identifisert fra LiDAR data. NINA Rapport 1799. Norsk institutt for naturforskning. Denne rapporten presenterer resultater fra en landskapsanalyse av polygoner av gammel naturskog for Øst-Norge med Agder. Polygonene ble aggregert fra piksler med tildelte sannsynligheter for å være gammel naturskog, basert på data fra luftbåren LiDAR og Landsskogtakseringen. Ti kommuner hadde <40% dekningen av LiDAR-data. Polygonene besto av pikslene med størst sannsynlighet for å være gammel naturskog, opp til en terskel satt ved Landsskogtakseringens data for hvert fylke. Polygoner mindre enn 0,5 ha ble forkastet. Aggregeringsprosedyren resulterte i høyere andeler av gammel naturskog enn gitt ved terskelverdiene, marginalt for de fleste fylkene, men betydelig for Buskerud og Aust-Agder. Til sammen ble det avgrenset 333 819 polygoner av gammel naturskog med et totalareal på 11 367 km2; disse dekket 22,6% av det tilgjengelige skogarealet med LiDAR-data. Tettheten av polygoner var høyest i deler av Hedmark, Oppland, Vestfold og Telemark. Polygonene varierte betydelig i størrelse, selv om ca. 50% var mindre enn 1 ha og bare 67 polygoner var større enn 500 ha. Flere mål for polygonenes romlige egenskaper ble beregnet, inkludert polygonenes form og konnektivitet. Kommuner ble brukt som landskapsenheter, og verdier ble sammenstilt på fylkesnivå. Gjennomsnittlig polygonstørrelse varierte mellom fylkene, der Buskerud og Aust-Agder hadde de største gjennomsnittlige polygonene på henholdsvis 5,8 og 6,4 ha. Kanttettheten gjenspeiler antall polygoner per skogareal, og denne var høyest for Vestfold og Telemark. Total kantlengde og totalt kjerneareal reflekterer det totale arealet og antall polygoner. De fire målene for polygon-form var nært korrelert. Telemark og Vestfold hadde de mest uregelmessige polygonene i gjennomsnitt, og Oslo og Akershus hadde de mest regelmessige. De fire viktigste konnektivitetsmålene representerer forskjellige aspekter ved konnektivitet og var ikke tett korrelert. Disse målene indikerer at polygoner i Buskerud hadde høyeste grad av konnektivitet. Aust-Agder hadde de laveste konnektivitetsverdiene for tre av de fire målene. Hvis de avgrensete polygonene representerer faktisk gammel naturskog, bør vi forvente at andre naturverdier knyttet til slik skog forekommer hyppigere i polygonene enn i annen skog. Det var liten forskjell mellom polygonene og skog generelt i hvor mye de dekket av skog i verneområder. Imidlertid hadde polygonene klart høyere dekning av nøkkelbiotoper (3%, 4%) enn skog generelt (1,8%). Polygonene hadde også en høyere frekvens av observasjoner av skogtilknyttete rød-listearter av insekter, lav og sopp (5,4 observasjoner per 10 km2) enn skog generelt (3,8 observasjoner). Gammel naturskog og hogstflater representerer totalt ulike skogtilstander. Likevel overlappet 12,7% av polygonarealet hogstflater klassifisert fra Landsat data, og 7,5% av polygonarealet var hogd før LiDAR-dataene ble samlet inn. Dette tyder på avvik i metodene for å identifisere gammel naturskog eller hogstflater ved fjernmåling. Fordelingene av polygoner og hogstflater skilte seg ikke mye fra hverandre med hensyn til avstand til nærmeste vei eller høyde over havet, men polygonene forekomme i noe brattere terreng. Disse resultatene er videre diskutert mot ulike sider av metodikken, som identifisering av gammel naturskog fra LiDAR-data, aggregeringsprosedyren, målene for romlige egenskaper og andre aspekter ved analysene. En snevrere og mer distinkt definisjon for gammel naturskog kan i større grad fange opp slik skog med høy forekomst av naturverdier. Et kart over gammel naturskog kan være del av relevant datagrunnlag for vurdering av økologisk tilstand i skog, men det vil være utfordrende å fastsette referanseverdier for indikatorer på landskapsnivå. Anbefalinger for å videreutvikle metodene omfatter vurdering av de mest egnete definisjonene for gammel naturskog, muligheter for å forbedre data for bakkesannheter, mulig bruk av andre fjernmålingsdata, avklaring av effektene av ulike valg i aggregeringsprosessen, og bruk av foto og feltvalidering for å sjekke hva ekstraherte polygoner faktisk dekker

The application of landscape ecology techniques for managing disturbed Mediterranean coastal seascapes

La presión antropogénica es la amenaza preeminente para la biodiversidad, la resiliencia y el funcionamiento ecológico de los medios costero y marino. El desarrollo de respuestas efectivas a esta amenaza multifacética es un desafío importante para los gestores y responsables de la toma de decisiones, debido a la complejidad de los ecosistemas marinos poco conocidos. La interpretación ecológica fidedigna de los datos espaciales utilizando técnicas de ecología del paisaje marino tiene el potencial de ser una poderosa herramienta de gestión. Esta disciplina emergente explora las causas y consecuencias de los patrones espaciales en el medio marino. En esta tesis, las técnicas de ecología del paisaje marino se utilizan para entender las consecuencias ecológicas de las perturbaciones antropogénicas sobre los patrones espaciales de los paisajes marinos mediterráneos costeros a través de tres estudios. En el primer estudio se exploró la relación entre los patrones espaciales y la biodiversidad. La cuantificación de la estructura del paisaje marino mediante una métrica de patrones espaciales mostró que la riqueza de las especies se puede conservar mediante la protección de la diversidad de hábitats en el paisaje marino. Los resultados también pusieron de relieve la importancia de la de la complejidad en la distribución en cuanto a la riqueza de especies. Se determinaron los efectos de las presiones antropogénicas sobre la estructura del paisaje marino utilizando las métricas espaciales y el análisis multivariante. Este enfoque permitió evaluar la influencia de las diferentes variables de perturbación sobre los componentes específicos del paisaje marino. Los resultados indican que la contaminación de origen terrestre está provocando la fragmentación del paisaje marino y tiene la mayor influencia en la composición del mosaico de hábitats. En el último estudio , se determinó el efecto de estas perturbaciones en los servicios que proporcionan los ecosistemas utilizando los stocks de carbono como indicadores, en particular en las praderas de fanerógamas. En análisis mostró la importancia del hábitat en el paisaje marino en cuanto a los servicios de los ecosistemas. Concluimos que las técnicas de cuantificación del paisaje marino proporcionan información valiosa sobre las causas y consecuencias de los patrones espaciales de los ambientes mediterráneos costeros. La cuantificación de la estructura del paisaje marino con métricas de patrones espaciales es una técnica efectiva y consistente para la evaluación ecológica fidedigna de los datos espaciales a las escalas necesarias para la gestión. Los enfoques presentados en esta tesis son herramientas e instrumentos informativos valiosos para los planes de conservación.Anthropogenic pressure is the preeminent threat to the biodiversity, resilience and the ecological functioning of the coastal and marine environment. Developing effective responses to this multifaceted threat is a significant challenge for managers and decision-makers due to the complexities of poorly understood marine ecosystems. The ecologically meaningful interpretation of spatial data using seascape ecology techniques has the potential to be a powerful conservation tool. The emerging discipline of seascape ecology explores the causes and consequences of spatial patterns in the marine environment. In this dissertation, seascape ecology techniques are used to understand the ecological consequences of anthropogenic disturbance on the spatial patterns of coastal Mediterranean seascapes through three studies. In the first study, the relationship between spatial patterns and biodiversity was explored. Quantification of seascape structure using spatial pattern metrics showed that species richness can be conserved by protecting the diversity of habitats in the seascape. The results also highlighted the importance of patch complexity for increased species richness. Using spatial metrics and multivariate analysis, the effects of anthropogenic pressures on seascape structure was determined. This approach allowed for the influence of different disturbance variables on specific components of the seascape to be assessed. The results indicate that land-based pollution is causing fragmentation of the seascape and has the largest influence on the composition of the mosaic of habitats. In the final study, the effect of these disturbance variables on ecosystem service delivery was determined using carbon stocks as an indicator ecosystem service. Land-based pollution emerged as an important driver of seascape structure and seagrass carbon capture. The analysis emphasized the importance of habitat context within the seascape for ecosystem service delivery. We conclude that seascape quantification techniques provide valuable information on the causes and consequences of spatial patterns in coastal Mediterranean seascapes. Quantifying seascape structure using spatial pattern metrics is an effective and consistent technique for the ecologically meaningful evaluation of spatial data at the scales required for management. The approaches presented in this dissertation are valuable and informative tools for conservation planning