INTEGRATED URBAN ENVIRONMENT EFFECT ANALYSIS OF INFRASTRUCTURAL TRANSFORMATIONS

The report presents the method developed within the research project ‘Stadsmilj\uf6analys- Analys av t\ue4tbebyggda milj\uf6er i infrastrukturprojekt’, funded by Trafikverket (Swedish Transport Authority). This project sets up an integrated methodology for analysing and estimating the local impact of road and rail infrastructure projects in urban environments, either by way of new infrastructure or by way of retrofits, focusing on socioeconomic, environmental, and cultural-historical effects. While the focus is on national transport infrastructure investments, the method addresses local effects. This stems from the acknowledgement that each infrastructure investments results in a redistribution of accessibility where increasing accessibility on a regional and interurban scale might create encroachments on a local scale including the reduction of the usability of areas near to the infrastructure due to emissions and noise, risk of accidents, negative impacts on wildlife as well as barrier effects. It is these encroachments this method aims to highlight with the aim to reduce negative trade-offs of new or transformed transport infrastructure and recognize both local opportunities and sensitivities.\ua0In this project the direct effects of infrastructure projects in relation to the three perspectives (socioeconomic, environmental, and cultural-historical are described and measured in a precise manner through a series of spatial analyses. The cumulative, indirect, effects and broader consequences are also assessed, in relation to the sustainable development goals. The overall assessment methodology is based on a before-and-after analysis workflow, systematically comparing the existing situation (how it is, how it functions, how it affects people) to the future scenarios proposed by planning. The methodology is showcased using two infrastructural transformations projects in S\uf6derk\uf6ping and M\uf6lndal, Sweden, as case studies. \ua0\ua0The overarching goal of the research project is to contribute to an improved integration between infrastructure and local urban areas and communities in projects initiated and developed by the Swedish Transport Authority,\ua0Trafikverket. The presented methodology builds on the ILKA (Integrerad landskapskarakt\ue4rsanalys) method, currently used by the Swedish Transport Authority. While ILKA focuses mainly on the inventory of the current landscape on a regional scale, this project widens the scope to also address urban areas and to include, besides the ecological descriptions, also socio-economic and cultural-historical analysis that are currently less emphasized.\ua0Such an integrated method can improve the ability of the Swedish Transport Authority to develop projects that contribute to sustainable urban development and, furthermore, create a unified work procedure in the organization

Swedish LifeWatch ─ a biodiversity infrastructure integrating and reusing data from citizen science, monitoring and research

With continued pressure on biodiversity and ever-growing conflicts with human development, qualified systems for scenario modelling, impact assessment and decision support are urgently needed. Such systems must be able to integrate complex models and information from many sources and do so in a flexible and transparent way. To that end, as well as for other complicated and data-intensive biodiversity research purposes, the concept of LifeWatch has emerged. The idea of LifeWatch is to construct e-infrastructure and virtual laboratories by integrating large data sources, computational capacities, and tools for analysis and modelling in an open, serviceoriented architecture. To be efficient and accurate, a continuous inflow of large quantities of data is essential. However, even with new techniques, government-funded monitoring data and research data will not feed the system with up-to-date species information of sufficient scale and resolution. To fill this void, skilled amateur observers (citizen scientists) can contribute to a very valuable extent. After a preparatory phase, a Swedish LifeWatch (SLW) consortium was initiated in 2011. Swedish LifeWatch developed an infrastructure where all components are accessible through open web services. At the SLW Analysis portal, different formats of species and environmental data can be accessed instantly, and integrated, analysed, visualized and downloaded at selected temporal, spatial or taxonomic scales. Swedish LifeWatch currently provides 46 million species observations from eight different databases, all harmonized according to standardized formats and the Dyntaxa taxonomic backbone database. Almost 40 million of these observations were provided by citizens through the online reporting system named the Species Observation System (SOS) or Artportalen. This paper describes this system, as well as the incentives that make it so successful. The citizen science data in the SOS are accessible, together with data from research and monitoring, in the SLW infrastructure, making the latter a powerful instrument for large-scale data extraction, visualization and analysis

INTEGRERAD STADSMILJ 6EFFEKTANALYS (ISMA) AV INFRASTRUKTURELLA F 6R\uc4NDRINGAR

The report (in Swedish) presents the method developed within the research project ‘Stadsmilj\uf6analys- Analys av t\ue4tbebyggda milj\uf6er i infrastrukturprojekt’, funded by Trafikverket (Swedish Transport Authority). This project sets up an integrated methodology for analysing and estimating the local impact of road and rail infrastructure projects in urban environments, either by way of new infrastructure or by way of retrofits, focusing on socioeconomic, environmental, and cultural-historical effects. While the focus is on national transport infrastructure investments, the method addresses local effects. This stems from the acknowledgement that each infrastructure investments results in a redistribution of accessibility where increasing accessibility on a regional and interurban scale might create encroachments on a local scale including the reduction of the usability of areas near to the infrastructure due to emissions and noise, risk of accidents, negative impacts on wildlife as well as barrier effects. It is these encroachments this method aims to highlight with the aim to reduce negative trade-offs of new or transformed transport infrastructure and recognize both local opportunities and sensitivities.\ua0In this project the direct effects of infrastructure projects in relation to the three perspectives (socioeconomic, environmental, and cultural-historical are described and measured in a precise manner through a series of spatial analyses. The cumulative, indirect, effects and broader consequences are also assessed, in relation to the sustainable development goals. The overall assessment methodology is based on a before-and-after analysis workflow, systematically comparing the existing situation (how it is, how it functions, how it affects people) to the future scenarios proposed by planning. The methodology is showcased using two infrastructural transformations projects in S\uf6derk\uf6ping and M\uf6lndal, Sweden, as case studies. \ua0\ua0The overarching goal of the research project is to contribute to an improved integration between infrastructure and local urban areas and communities in projects initiated and developed by the Swedish Transport Authority,\ua0Trafikverket. The presented methodology builds on the ILKA (Integrerad landskapskarakt\ue4rsanalys) method, currently used by the Swedish Transport Authority. While ILKA focuses mainly on the inventory of the current landscape on a regional scale, this project widens the scope to also address urban areas and to include, besides the ecological descriptions, also socio-economic and cultural-historical analysis that are currently less emphasized.\ua0Such an integrated method can improve the ability of the Swedish Transport Authority to develop projects that contribute to sustainable urban development and, furthermore, create a unified work procedure in the organization

Reduced Population Control of an Insect Pest in Managed Willow Monocultures

BACKGROUND: There is a general belief that insect outbreak risk is higher in plant monocultures than in natural and more diverse habitats, although empirical studies investigating this relationship are lacking. In this study, using density data collected over seven years at 40 study sites, we compare the temporal population variability of the leaf beetle Phratora vulgatissima between willow plantations and natural willow habitats. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: The study was conducted in 1999-2005. The density of adult P. vulgatissima was estimated in the spring every year by a knock-down sampling technique. We used two measures of population variability, CV and PV, to compare temporal variations in leaf beetle density between plantation and natural habitat. Relationships between density and variability were also analyzed to discern potential underlying processes behind stability in the two systems. The results showed that the leaf beetle P. vulgatissima had a greater temporal population variability and outbreak risk in willow plantations than in natural willow habitats. We hypothesize that the greater population stability observed in the natural habitat was due to two separate processes operating at different levels of beetle density. First, stable low population equilibrium can be achieved by the relatively high density of generalist predators observed in natural stands. Second, stable equilibrium can also be imposed at higher beetle density due to competition, which occurs through depletion of resources (plant foliage) in the natural habitat. In willow plantations, competition is reduced mainly because plants grow close enough for beetle larvae to move to another plant when foliage is consumed. CONCLUSION/SIGNIFICANCE: To our knowledge, this is the first empirical study confirming that insect pest outbreak risk is higher in monocultures. The study suggests that comparative studies of insect population dynamics in different habitats may improve our ability to predict insect pest outbreaks and could facilitate the development of sustainable pest control in managed systems

High Temperature Triggers Latent Variation among Individuals: Oviposition Rate and Probability for Outbreaks

It is anticipated that extreme population events, such as extinctions and outbreaks, will become more frequent as a consequence of climate change. To evaluate the increased probability of such events, it is crucial to understand the mechanisms involved. Variation between individuals in their response to climatic factors is an important consideration, especially if microevolution is expected to change the composition of populations.Here we present data of a willow leaf beetle species, showing high variation among individuals in oviposition rate at a high temperature (20 °C). It is particularly noteworthy that not all individuals responded to changes in temperature; individuals laying few eggs at 20 °C continued to do so when transferred to 12 °C, whereas individuals that laid many eggs at 20 °C reduced their oviposition and laid the same number of eggs as the others when transferred to 12 °C. When transferred back to 20 °C most individuals reverted to their original oviposition rate. Thus, high variation among individuals was only observed at the higher temperature. Using a simple population model and based on regional climate change scenarios we show that the probability of outbreaks increases if there is a realistic increase in the number of warm summers. The probability of outbreaks also increased with increasing heritability of the ability to respond to increased temperature.If climate becomes warmer and there is latent variation among individuals in their temperature response, the probability for outbreaks may increase. However, the likelihood for microevolution to play a role may be low. This conclusion is based on the fact that it has been difficult to show that microevolution affect the probability for extinctions. Our results highlight the urge for cautiousness when predicting the future concerning probabilities for extreme population events

Extinction risk of wood-living model species in forest landscapes as related to forest history and conservation strategy

Dead wood is a critical resource for biodiversity in boreal forests. We analysed the persistence of five model species inhabiting dead wood. By parameterising a metapopulation model (the incidence function model), the model species were all assigned characteristics that makes it likely that they have disappeared from some (20%) forest landscapes with a long history of forest management. In the metapopulation model, a forest stand (5 ha) was regarded as a habitat patch. The amount of habitat in each patch was obtained from models of dead wood dynamics of Norway spruce in central Sweden. Dead wood generated by altered management over the entire landscape was found to be less efficient in reducing extinction risks in comparison to the same amount of dead wood generated by protecting reserves. Because generation of dead wood by altered management is often less expensive than setting aside reserves, it is difficult to determine which conservation measure is most cost-efficient. In a landscape subjected to forestry for the first time, it was better to preserve a few large reserves than many small ones. However, in a managed, highly fragmented forest landscape it was better to set aside many small reserves. The reason for this was that small plots with high habitat quality could be selected, while large reserves originally contained habitats both of high and low quality, and the rate of habitat quality increase was low. A strategy for biodiversity conservation in a managed forest landscape should include information about the history of the landscape, the current amount and spatial distribution of forest habitats, and the potential for rapid restoration of forest habitats, both on managed and unmanaged forest land

Modellera effekter av infrastruktur på fladdermöss och deras livsmiljöer : Handledning i användandet av GIS-verktyget PREBAT

Fladdermöss utgör 25 % av däggdjursfaunan. De har mycket långsam reproduktion och på grund av den stora förändringen i landskapet med anledning av fladdermössens val av främst föda och boplatser är hälften av de påträffade arterna sällsynta i Sverige. På grund av detta har alla arter ett starkt juridisk skydd. Denna rapport tar i huvudsak upp analys av främst skogslevande arterna som påverkas mycket negativt av vägar och järnvägar. Rapporten innehåller en beskrivning av GIS-verktyget PREBAT, som är en modellering över var i landskapet det finns stor sannolikhet att finna viktiga livsmiljöer, boplatser samt rörelsemönster för fladdermöss som bör undvikas eller där olika skyddsåtgärder bör genomföras för att minimera konflikter mellan fladdermöss och infrastruktur. Rapporten sammanfattar fladdermössens ekologi. Den beskriver vilket kartmaterial som används som ingångsmaterial i analysen och hur olika kartor som genereras i modelleringen tolkas. Slutligen beskrivs hur denna modellering kan användas för att kunna planera, bygga ny infrastruktur samt modifiera befintlig infrastruktur och ta hänsyn till fladdermöss. Bilagorna innehåller detaljerad information över olika ingångsvärden i modelleringen samt en detaljerad manual över de olika stegen.

Identifierade områden med behov av skyddsåtgärder för fladdermöss i region väst : Resultat från PREBAT-analyser med och utan befintlig infrastruktur

Rapporten visar en GIS-baserad metod för att analysera konsekvenserna av befintlig infrastruktur för fladdermöss. Metoden har tillämpats för region Väst och visar konfliktpunkter och var skyddsåtgärder för fladdermöss, i form av nya passager, skulle göra mest nytta för fladdermöss

Identifierade områden med behov av skyddsåtgärder för fladdermöss i region väst : Resultat från PREBAT-analyser med och utan befintlig infrastruktur

Rapporten visar en GIS-baserad metod för att analysera konsekvenserna av befintlig infrastruktur för fladdermöss. Metoden har tillämpats för region Väst och visar konfliktpunkter och var skyddsåtgärder för fladdermöss, i form av nya passager, skulle göra mest nytta för fladdermöss