Landscape Services versus Ecosystem Services in the Mediterranean: a case study example and an invitation to reflect

Ecosystem Services, defined as the benefits people obtain from ecosystems, are triggering a paradigmatic shift in how we plan and implement decisions on land-use and land-cover change (Albert et al, 2014; Förster et al, 2015). However this concept is being challenged by critiques of scientific, operational and ideological nature (Norgaard, 2010; Hauck et al, 2013; Jax et al, 2013). Some of these critiques point out to the decoupling of the natural and human dimensions of land-use and land-cover that is inherent to Ecosystem Services (Schröter et al, 2014). We consider this to be especially relevant for mixed land-use mosaics in the Mediterranean region, as this is a geographical context where the cultural and perceived components of land-use and land-cover may be considered to equal, if not to prevail, in value and importance on respect to those of ecological nature (Blondel, 2006). In this paper, we argue that Landscape Services may be, in such contexts, a more adequate coneptual tool to disentangle the complex relationships between humans and nature. Landscape Services are defined as the contributions of landscapes and landscape elements to human wellbeing (Bastian et al, 2014). In contrast with ecosystems, landscapes are inarguably coupled social-ecological systems, which also embrace cultural, and perceptual aspects of landuse and land-cover (Pedroli, Pinto-Correia & Cornish, 2006). Furthermore, Landscapes are defined at scales at which coordinated decision-making for land-use change is most commonly apparent (Blaschke, 2006). Thus, we hereby will discuss if in Mediterranean rural contexts Landscape Services should directly substitute Ecosystem Services, and not just, as the aforementioned literature suggests,complement them

The sustainability of agricultural intensification in the early 21st century: Insights from the olive oil sector in Alentejo (Southern Portugal).

Today Alentejo is witnessing an expansion of strategies (and practices) of agricultural intensification fueled by factors such as a long-standing (political, financial and emotional) investment in the Alqueva irrigation system; national and European policies based on notions of crisis and food security, and global strategies of financial capital enabled by global agricultural trade. In parallel, the large area occupied by the Montado agro-silvo-pastoral system remains important but is facing serious degradation. Its ability to play the diverse economic, social and ecological roles is diminishing despite some support to multifunctional agriculture. Each mode of agricultural production seems to be based on different set of political, social and economic conditions; has different ecological requirements and impacts; and results from the practices of actors with very different conceptions of space and time. Issues to be debate include: Are policies and market incentives supporting agricultural intensification disturbing previously embedded perceptions of space and territory? How? What (re)scaling strategies and practices are assisting the reimagination of territory in the region? Are we witnessing a process of “glocalisation”? Who benefits and loses most from such strategies? What implications do these spatial strategies have for the sustainability of Alentejo social ecological systems and their capacity to adapt to climate change? Montado landscapes and Alentejo´s river systems are adopted as case studies of key socio-ecological systems. Issues of spatiality will be explored using the matrix of socio-spatial relations proposed by Jessop (2008) with emphasis on the political economy of scale and how it is influencing interpretations and enactments of territory. Notions of (re)scaling (Swyngedow 2004) and de/reterritorialisation (Ferrão 2016) will be employed to deepen understandings of emerging socio-spatial relations. Finally, implications of these processes for adaptive capacity in the chosen case studies will be investigated, with the assistance of a range of categories and indicators proposed by Gupta et al. (2010) and Schmidt et al. (2013). References Ferrao 2016 Ruralidades e Território no Capitalismo Contemporâneo: Uma Visão de Longa Duração sobre Portugal Gupta et al. (2010) The Adaptive Capacity Wheel: a method to assess the inherent characteristics of institutions to enable the adaptive capacity of society Schmidt, L., Prista, P., Saraiva, T., O’ Riordan, T., and Gomes, C. (2013). Adapting governance for coastal change in Portugal. Land Use Policy, 31, 314–325. Swyngedouw E (2004) Scaled geographies. Nature, place, and the politics of scale. In: McMaster R, Sheppard E (eds) Scale and geographic inquiry: nature, society and method. Blackwell, Oxford, pp 129–15

Search for direct production of charginos and neutralinos in events with three leptons and missing transverse momentum in √s = 7 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for the direct production of charginos and neutralinos in final states with three electrons or muons and missing transverse momentum is presented. The analysis is based on 4.7 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data delivered by the Large Hadron Collider and recorded with the ATLAS detector. Observations are consistent with Standard Model expectations in three signal regions that are either depleted or enriched in Z-boson decays. Upper limits at 95% confidence level are set in R-parity conserving phenomenological minimal supersymmetric models and in simplified models, significantly extending previous results

Jet size dependence of single jet suppression in lead-lead collisions at sqrt(s(NN)) = 2.76 TeV with the ATLAS detector at the LHC

Measurements of inclusive jet suppression in heavy ion collisions at the LHC provide direct sensitivity to the physics of jet quenching. In a sample of lead-lead collisions at sqrt(s) = 2.76 TeV corresponding to an integrated luminosity of approximately 7 inverse microbarns, ATLAS has measured jets with a calorimeter over the pseudorapidity interval |eta| < 2.1 and over the transverse momentum range 38 < pT < 210 GeV. Jets were reconstructed using the anti-kt algorithm with values for the distance parameter that determines the nominal jet radius of R = 0.2, 0.3, 0.4 and 0.5. The centrality dependence of the jet yield is characterized by the jet "central-to-peripheral ratio," Rcp. Jet production is found to be suppressed by approximately a factor of two in the 10% most central collisions relative to peripheral collisions. Rcp varies smoothly with centrality as characterized by the number of participating nucleons. The observed suppression is only weakly dependent on jet radius and transverse momentum. These results provide the first direct measurement of inclusive jet suppression in heavy ion collisions and complement previous measurements of dijet transverse energy imbalance at the LHC.Comment: 15 pages plus author list (30 pages total), 8 figures, 2 tables, submitted to Physics Letters B. All figures including auxiliary figures are available at http://atlas.web.cern.ch/Atlas/GROUPS/PHYSICS/PAPERS/HION-2011-02

Measurement of the polarisation of W bosons produced with large transverse momentum in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV with the ATLAS experiment

This paper describes an analysis of the angular distribution of W->enu and W->munu decays, using data from pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV recorded with the ATLAS detector at the LHC in 2010, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of about 35 pb^-1. Using the decay lepton transverse momentum and the missing transverse energy, the W decay angular distribution projected onto the transverse plane is obtained and analysed in terms of helicity fractions f0, fL and fR over two ranges of W transverse momentum (ptw): 35 < ptw < 50 GeV and ptw > 50 GeV. Good agreement is found with theoretical predictions. For ptw > 50 GeV, the values of f0 and fL-fR, averaged over charge and lepton flavour, are measured to be : f0 = 0.127 +/- 0.030 +/- 0.108 and fL-fR = 0.252 +/- 0.017 +/- 0.030, where the first uncertainties are statistical, and the second include all systematic effects.Comment: 19 pages plus author list (34 pages total), 9 figures, 11 tables, revised author list, matches European Journal of Physics C versio

Observation of a new chi_b state in radiative transitions to Upsilon(1S) and Upsilon(2S) at ATLAS

The chi_b(nP) quarkonium states are produced in proton-proton collisions at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV and recorded by the ATLAS detector. Using a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 4.4 fb^-1, these states are reconstructed through their radiative decays to Upsilon(1S,2S) with Upsilon->mu+mu-. In addition to the mass peaks corresponding to the decay modes chi_b(1P,2P)->Upsilon(1S)gamma, a new structure centered at a mass of 10.530+/-0.005 (stat.)+/-0.009 (syst.) GeV is also observed, in both the Upsilon(1S)gamma and Upsilon(2S)gamma decay modes. This is interpreted as the chi_b(3P) system.Comment: 5 pages plus author list (18 pages total), 2 figures, 1 table, corrected author list, matches final version in Physical Review Letter

Search for displaced vertices arising from decays of new heavy particles in 7 TeV pp collisions at ATLAS

We present the results of a search for new, heavy particles that decay at a significant distance from their production point into a final state containing charged hadrons in association with a high-momentum muon. The search is conducted in a pp-collision data sample with a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV and an integrated luminosity of 33 pb^-1 collected in 2010 by the ATLAS detector operating at the Large Hadron Collider. Production of such particles is expected in various scenarios of physics beyond the standard model. We observe no signal and place limits on the production cross-section of supersymmetric particles in an R-parity-violating scenario as a function of the neutralino lifetime. Limits are presented for different squark and neutralino masses, enabling extension of the limits to a variety of other models.Comment: 8 pages plus author list (20 pages total), 8 figures, 1 table, final version to appear in Physics Letters

Measurement of the inclusive isolated prompt photon cross-section in pp collisions at sqrt(s)= 7 TeV using 35 pb-1 of ATLAS data

A measurement of the differential cross-section for the inclusive production of isolated prompt photons in pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy sqrt(s) = 7 TeV is presented. The measurement covers the pseudorapidity ranges |eta|<1.37 and 1.52<=|eta|<2.37 in the transverse energy range 45<=E_T<400GeV. The results are based on an integrated luminosity of 35 pb-1, collected with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The yields of the signal photons are measured using a data-driven technique, based on the observed distribution of the hadronic energy in a narrow cone around the photon candidate and the photon selection criteria. The results are compared with next-to-leading order perturbative QCD calculations and found to be in good agreement over four orders of magnitude in cross-section.Comment: 7 pages plus author list (18 pages total), 2 figures, 4 tables, final version published in Physics Letters

Measurement of D*+/- meson production in jets from pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector

This paper reports a measurement of D*+/- meson production in jets from proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of sqrt(s) = 7 TeV at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. The measurement is based on a data sample recorded with the ATLAS detector with an integrated luminosity of 0.30 pb^-1 for jets with transverse momentum between 25 and 70 GeV in the pseudorapidity range |eta| < 2.5. D*+/- mesons found in jets are fully reconstructed in the decay chain: D*+ -> D0pi+, D0 -> K-pi+, and its charge conjugate. The production rate is found to be N(D*+/-)/N(jet) = 0.025 +/- 0.001(stat.) +/- 0.004(syst.) for D*+/- mesons that carry a fraction z of the jet momentum in the range 0.3 < z < 1. Monte Carlo predictions fail to describe the data at small values of z, and this is most marked at low jet transverse momentum.Comment: 10 pages plus author list (22 pages total), 5 figures, 1 table, matches published version in Physical Review