Insect effects on ecosystem services—Introduction

Natural ecosystems provide a variety of services on which humans, and other organisms, depend for survival and well-being. These ecosystem services can be categorized as provisioning (production of food, fiber, water and other resources), cultural (non-material benefits, such as recreation, spiritual and other aesthetic values), supporting (primary production, pollination, decomposition and soil formation necessary for resource production) and regulating (biological control and other feedback mechanisms that maintain relatively consistent delivery of services). Ecosystems also have been viewed as producing “disservices”, such as pests, litter, biological hazards such as diseases, animal attacks, allergenic and poisonous organisms, and geophysical hazards such as floods and storms. Many of these disservices are induced by management practices such as deforestation and concentration of agricultural crops. Insects affect ecosystem services in a variety of ways, positively and negatively. The papers in this special issue are focused on managing insects and ecosystems, and their interactions, in ways that ensure sustainability of ecosystem services and that minimize induction of disservices.     

The potential of earthworms to restore ecosystem services after opencast mining – A review

Opencast coal mining has several environmental impacts, which require land rehabilitation when mining operations are finished. For that reason, restoration after such extractive industries’ work is common and has been well studied. However, many ecological restoration schemes do not examine to what extent complete and functioning ecosystems have been restored above and below ground. While the aim should be to restore functioning ecosystems, most restoration plans focus only on vegetation and above ground macro-fauna.Among the potential species that are likely to be important early in mine land restoration, earthworms are particularly good candidates. They provide several ecosystem services that are likely to accelerate soil restoration, improve primary production and facilitate the restoration of a functional ecosystem in mining areas. These services include the following: increase in topsoil fertility, food for a wide range of predators and recycling of waste organic materials on rehabilitated areas.Here, we outline some of the challenges specifically facing opencast mining restoration and describe how the ecosystem services provided by earthworms may address some of these challenges.     

Can ecosystem services be integrated with conservation? A case study of breeding waders on grassland

We review published studies to show that changes in soil moisture levels have significant impacts on a range of wading bird species that use UK lowland grassland, including wet grassland, and obtain their food predominantly by probing the soil. We examine both the hydrological and the ecological literature and assess how management options could alter (1) ecosystem services (via water quality and flooding) and (2) habitat quality for wading birds. The combination of biodiversity goals with broader ecosystem services has been widely advocated and we suggest that appropriate management at multiple scales (e.g. small‐scale: ponds; large‐scale: integrated washlands) could potentially provide both ecosystem services and habitat for wading grassland birds. However, there is only a limited base of evidence on which to assess the potential linkage between these two areas, particularly for non‐wading bird species. Future work should be directed at identifying (1) how crop yield, ecosystem services and biodiversity relate to each other, (2) the extent of land needed to be managed to benefit these multiple purposes and bring about measurable gain (e.g. one or two ponds may make significant inroads in reducing run‐off and pollution but make little difference to wading birds) and (3) solutions to the challenges of setting up management options at large spatial scales (e.g. catchments).     

Attitudes toward forest diversity and forest ecosystem services—a cross-cultural comparison between China and Switzerland

Aims Despite the current interest in services provided by ecosystems and the role of biodiversity, the relationship among human attitudes, biodiversity and ecosystem services has hardly been investigated. Moreover, few studies have examined attitudes toward nature in cross-cultural comparisons. This study investigates the attitudes of Chinese and Swiss people, both environmental experts and laypersons, toward forest biodiversity and ecosystem services.Methods Overall, 640 people in China and Switzerland were interviewed with the help of a standardized questionnaire. In each country, the study population was equally divided into an urban (80 city dwellers and 80 environmental science students) and a rural (80 forest visitors and 80 farmers) study group. The 15-minute interviews took place in the cities of Beijing and Zurich and in the rural forested areas of Dujiangyan, Sichuan Province and Lake Sempach, canton Lucerne. Attitudes toward forest biodiversity were investigated with the help of color photographs that depicted both monocultures and species-rich forests typical for China and Switzerland. Attitudes toward ecosystem services were investigated with the help of 13 statements on provisioning, regulating, cultural and supporting services of forests.Important findings On average, Chinese participants showed no strong preferences for biodiversity, whereas the Swiss clearly preferred species-rich forests over monocultures. However, Chinese environmental science students did prefer species-rich forests and attributed to them a higher conservation value because of their higher biodiversity. Although there were no strong preferences for Chinese versus Swiss forests, all participants correctly answered that Chinese forests are more species rich in terms of plants and animals and thus found them less boring and more interesting, but also less managed, than Swiss forests. All participants highly valued the ecosystem services provided by forests; especially the regulating and supporting ones. Environmental science students and farmers placed more importance on the provisioning services, whereas city dwellers and forest visitors emphasized more on the regulating services. The disjuncture between the high ecological quality of species-rich forests and their low attractiveness to Chinese study participants points to a potential conflict between conservation policies and the public's preferences. A better communication of ecosystem services provided by forest biodiversity to the public might change these preferences in favor of ecological quality, as already observed among Chinese environmental science students.     

Valuing biodiversity and ecosystem services: Why put economic values on Nature?

The evaluation of ecosystems and biodiversity has become an important field of investigation for economists. Although their interest has been largely motivated by the search for arguments in favour of broader conservation policies, both the methods and the meaning of the results remain controversial. This article aims at clarifying the interest and limitations of these works, by revisiting a number of issues, such as the economic qualification of the services that human societies take from biodiversity and ecological systems in general, the specificities of their contribution to human well-being and the consequences of a valuation of biodiversity based on ecosystem services. We conclude with a discussion of the purposes of evaluations: improving public policies or creating new markets?     

Conflicting demands on wetland ecosystem services: nutrient retention,biodiversity or both?

1. Wetland ecosystems may, besides having considerable economical value, increase landscape biodiversity and function as traps for nutrients from land to freshwater‐ and marine systems. As a result of these features, wetlands are nowadays often protected and restored, and many countries have even initiated wetland construction programmes. 2. In the present study, we aim at increasing the knowledge on how to improve the design of a wetland with respect to both biodiversity and nutrient retention, by analysing physical, chemical and biological features of a large set of constructed wetlands. 3. Our results show that a combination of the wetland features, namely shallow depth, large surface area and high shoreline complexity are likely to provide a high biodiversity of birds, benthic invertebrates and macrophytes and to have high nitrogen retention, whereas a small, deep wetland is likely to be more efficient in phosphorus retention, but less valuable in terms of biodiversity. 4. Hence, among the features used to design new wetlands, area, depth and shoreline complexity have fundamental, and sometimes conflicting, effects on nutrient retention and biodiversity. This means that there are, within limits, possibilities to direct the ecosystem function of a specific wetland in desired directions.     

Water-related ecosystem services in Western Siberian lowland basins—Analysing and mapping spatial and seasonal effects on regulating services based on ecohydrological modelling results

For discussing and planning sustainable land management of river basins, stakeholders need suitable information on spatio-temporal patterns of natural processes and human actions. This study shows an approach to use ecohydrological modelling results for assessing water-related ecosystem services in three lowland river basins in Western Siberia. Based on the results of the ecohydrological model SWAT (Soil and Water Assessment Tool, Arnold et al., 1998), simulated output variables were used as indicators for the two regulating services water flow regulation and erosion regulation. The model results were translated into a relative ecosystem service valuation scale, which facilitates the comparison of different ecosystem services and which serves as the base for the applied mapping approach. The ecosystem service maps show different spatial and seasonal patterns. Although the daily modelling results were aggregated to seasonal maps to generate an understandable amount of information for stakeholders, differences can be depicted: during snowmelt, low regulation can be determined, especially for water flow regulation, but a very high regulation was calculated for the vegetation period during summer and for the winter period. Erosion regulation is high in two basins during all seasons. Spatio-temporal differences were modelled only for the largest basin. The SWAT model serves as a suitable quantification method for the assessment of the selected water-related regulating services.     

Are ecosystem services stabilized by differences among species? A test using crop pollination

Biological diversity could enhance ecosystem service provision by increasing the mean level of services provided, and/or by providing more consistent (stable) services over space and time. Ecological theory predicts that when an ecosystem service is provided by many species, it will be stabilized against disturbance by a variety of 'stabilizing mechanisms.' However, few studies have investigated whether stabilizing mechanisms occur in real landscapes affected by human disturbance. We used two datasets on crop pollination by wild native bees to screen for and differentiate among three stabilizing mechanisms: density compensation (negative co-variance among species' abundances); response diversity (differential response to environmental variables among species); and cross-scale resilience (response to the same environmental variable at different scales by different species). In both datasets, we found response diversity and cross-scale resilience, but not density compensation. We conclude that stabilizing mechanisms may contribute to the stability of pollination services in our study areas, emphasizing the insurance value of seemingly 'redundant' species. Furthermore, the absence of density compensation that we found at the landscape scale contrasts with findings of previous small-scale experimental and modelling work, suggesting that we should not assume that density compensation will stabilize ecosystem services in real landscapes.     

Assessment and illustration of cultural ecosystem services at the local scale – A retrospective trend analysis

There is a need to develop non-monetary methods for the assessment of cultural ecosystem services, in order to integrate them into the ES framework in a more balanced way. With this in mind, an adequate and comprehensive indicator base and mapping methods are required to communicate and discuss cultural ecosystem services, for it to be understood holistically. Referring to land use changes as an important driver for ES changes, we demonstrate the analysis of cultural ecosystem services trends, in a retrospective, as a supporting tool to better understand social and natural interactions as drivers behind land use changes, which are reflected in the landscape scene. There are two main outcomes of this study: (1) first, we developed and tested a catalogue of indicators as an approach to evaluate cultural ecosystem services trends at the local scale and (2) we established a mapping method for cultural ecosystem services trends in parallel with land use changes. This we did following the example of the afforestation processes which had taken place since the 19th century in the suburban area of Göttingen (Lower Saxony/Germany), called Hainberg. Our main conclusion is that cultural ecosystem services trends can indicate the reasons and drivers for land use changes that can be beneficial to forest/landscape management issues by means of the restoration of lost services. The proposed assessment method can be integrated into the development of future landscape plans, e.g. by providing information on historical guiding principles.     

Urban ecosystem services assessment along a rural–urban gradient: A cross-analysis of European cities

The main objective of this paper is to present an assessment approach for ecosystem services in an urban context covering the local and the regional scale. It was applied to different European cities. A set of indicators representing important urban ecosystem goods and services – local climate regulation, air cooling and recreation – was tested using spatial data along an urban–rural gradient. The results show that there is neither a typical rural–urban gradient in terms of urban ecosystem service provisioning nor a uniform urban spatial pattern of service provisioning that can serve as a generic model for cities. The results demonstrate that (1) core cities do not necessarily provide fewer ecosystem services compared to their regions and (2) there were no patches found within the four case study cities where all of the indicators report very high performance values. The analysis further shows that a high degree of imperviousness does not necessarily entail low ecosystem service provisioning if an urban structure contains a considerable amount of mature trees which support carbon storage and biodiversity. The results of the present paper provide insights into potentials and trade-offs between different urban ecosystem services that should be considered during urban planning when setting targets and establishing thresholds to protect environmental resources, ecosystem services and biodiversity for residents.     

Does the implementation of environmental flows improve wetland ecosystem services and biodiversity? A literature review

Environmental flow releases are a tool for wetland restoration, but there has been no systematic evaluation of their success. We systematically assessed 102 published studies from a wide range of wetland ecosystems across the globe to determine whether releasing environmental flows could maintain or promote biodiversity and increase ecosystem services, and which strategies were most effective. We found that environmental flow releases remarkably increased regulating services (sediment regulation and water purification) and supporting services (primary production and habitat maintenance), and maintained biodiversity and provisioning services. Biodiversity responses were positive only in river wetlands, and were negative in coastal, lake, and marsh wetlands; the overall delivery of ecosystem services responded positively in all ecosystem types except artificial wetlands. The effects were positive for ecosystem services under all environmental flow regimes, and seasonal minimum flow releases could maintain biodiversity and improve ecosystem services. We also found that long‐term environmental flow releases (years to decades) maintained biodiversity. Values of a change‐in‐flow parameter (D) ranging from 0 to 10% improved both biodiversity and ecosystem services. In summary, long‐term implementation, a high‐flow regime, and D ranging from 0 to 10% for the environmental flows promoted biodiversity and improved ecosystem services around the world, particularly in river wetlands. Regional‐level conclusions might be applicable to guide the implementation of environmental flow releases, but small sample sizes reduce their reliability. We also found that the effect sizes of environmental flow release projects for biodiversity and ecosystem services were significantly and positively correlated in rivers, but not in other wetlands.     

Monitoring vegetation recovery after China’s May 2008 Wenchuan earthquake using Landsat TM time-series data: a case study in Mao County

The Wenchuan earthquake (Richter scale 8) on 12 May 2008 in southwestern China caused widespread ecosystem damage in the Longmenshan area. It is important to evaluate natural vegetation recovery processes and provide basic information on ecological aspects of the recovering environment after the earthquake. To circumvent the weather limits of remote sensing in the Wenchuan earthquake-hit areas, and to meet the need for regional observation analyses, three Landsat TM images pre- and post-earthquake in Mao County were used for analysis. Post-earthquake normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) values were compared to pre-earthquake values with an NDVI-based index differencing method to determine the extent to which the vegetation was damaged in relation to the pre-earthquake pattern, and the rate of recovery was evaluated. The spatial characteristics of vegetation loss and natural recovery patterns were analyzed in relation to elevation, slope and aspect. The results indicated that severely damaged sites occurred mainly in river valleys, within a range of 1,500?C2,500?m elevation and on slopes of 25?C55°. The distance from rivers, rather than the distance from active faults, controls the damage patterns. After 1?year of natural regeneration, 36?% of the destroyed areas showed a decrease in NDVI value, 28.8?% showed very little change, 19.1?% showed an increase, and 16.1?% also increased with a recovery rate greater than 100?%. Moreover, there is a good correlation between recovery rate and both slope and elevation, but recovery patterns in the damaged area are complicated. Our results indicate that natural recovery in this arid valley is a slow process.     

Should breast reduction surgery be rationed? A comparison of the health status of patients before and after treatment: postal questionnaire survey.

OBJECTIVES: To assess the health status of patients before and after breast reduction surgery and to make comparisons with the health status of women in the general population. DESIGN: Postal questionnaire survey sent to patients before and six months after surgery. SETTING: The three plastic surgery departments in the Oxford Regional Health Authority, during April to August 1993. SUBJECTS: 166 women (over the age of 16 years) referred for breast reduction; scores from the "short form 36" (SF-36) health questionnaire completed by women in the 1991-2 Oxford healthy life survey. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Health status of breast reduction patients before and after surgery as assessed by the SF-36, the 28 item general health questionnaire, and Rosenberg''s self esteem scale; comparisons between the health status of breast reduction patients and that of women in the general population; outcome of surgery as assessed retrospectively by patients. RESULTS: Differences between the health status of breast reduction patients and that of women in the general population were detected by the SF-36 both before and after surgery. Breast reduction surgery produced substantial change in patients'' physical, social, and psychological function. The proportion of cases of possible psychiatric morbidity according to the general health questionnaire fell from 41% (22/54) before surgery to 11% (6/54) six months after treatment. Eighty six per cent (50/58) of patients expressed great satisfaction with the surgical result postoperatively. CONCLUSION: The study provides empirical evidence that supports the inclusion of breast reduction surgery in NHS purchasing contracts.     

A “strategic” model of material cycling in a closed ecosystem

The aim of this paper is to reconcile the observed vulnerability of self-sustaining (materially closed) experimental ecosystems with demonstrations of virtually unconditional stability in mathematical models incorporating material recycling. We prove deterministic local stability in a generalized version of a model previously investigated by two of us (Nisbet and Gurney), but show that, except with rather narrowly specified parameter values, the system is likely to be extremely sensitive to external perturbations.     

Think ratio! A stoichiometric view on biodiversity–ecosystem functioning research

Ecological stoichiometry (ES) has become one of the most pervasive theoretical frameworks in environmental sciences and biology in the last two decades. ES allows predicting processes on all organizational levels from subcellular structures to ecosystems by relating the elemental composition and demand of organisms to the relative availability of resources. However, ES has been rarely used to understand and predict the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning (BEF), although ES would be ideally suited as it makes predictions on both population processes underlying biodiversity as well as on matter transformations underlying ecosystem processes. Here, we propose to link the two fields of research on ES and BEF relationships and highlight a number of potential avenues for further research. First, we cast a stoichiometric view on drivers of biodiversity change. Second, we address the stoichiometric underpinning of biodiversity–productivity relationships. Third, we discuss potential interactions between stoichiometry and diversity in a food web context.     

A Note on the M/V “Louisa” Case

In the M/V “Louisa” case of 28 May 2013, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea held that it had no jurisdiction, even though it had established prima facie jurisdiction at the provisional measures stage. The M/V “Louisa” case thus gives rise to questions regarding the relationship between prima facie jurisdiction and jurisdiction on the merits. Moreover, the M/V “Louisa” Judgment also sheds some light on the applicability of the doctrine of abuse of rights provided in Article 300 of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.     

“The Fighting Dinosaurs”: The position of their bodies before and after death

The “Fighting Dinosaurs” from Mongolia are discussed. The observable positions of two coupled dinosaur skeletons are explained based on their postmortem displacement.     

Bioenergy crops,biodiversity and ecosystem services in temperate agricultural landscapes—A review of synergies and trade-offs

The Paris agreement on climate change requires rapid reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. One important mitigation strategy, at least in the intermediate future, is the substitution of fossil fuels with bioenergy. However, using agriculture- and forest-derived biomass for energy has sparked controversy regarding both the climate mitigation potential and conflicts with biodiversity conservation. The urgency of the climate crisis calls for using forests for carbon sequestration and storage rather than for bioenergy, making agricultural biomass an attractive alternative for fossil energy substitution. However, this calls for comprehensive assessments of its sustainability in terms of consequences for biodiversity and ecosystem services. In this review, we provide a first holistic overview of the impacts on ecosystems of land-use changes from bioenergy crop production in temperate climates, by synthesizing results on both biodiversity and ecosystem service impacts. We found that bioenergy-related land-use changes can have both positive and negative effects on ecosystems, with original land use, bioenergy crop type and scale of bioenergy production being important moderators of impacts. Despite the risk of opportunity cost for food production, perennial crop cultivation on arable land had the lowest occurrence of negative impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem services. Growing biomass for bioenergy on surplus land has been suggested as a way to alleviate competition with food production and biodiversity conservation, but our results demonstrate that utilizing marginal or abandoned land for bioenergy crop production cannot fully resolve these trade-offs. Furthermore, there is a lack of empirical studies of the biodiversity value of marginal and abandoned land, limiting our understanding of the sustainability implications of biomass cultivation on surplus land. We argue that future research and policies for bioenergy production must explicitly consider biodiversity and ecosystem services in combination to avoid potential trade-offs between the two and to ensure sustainable bioenergy production.     

A comparison of two measures of “arousal” in normal subjects

The relation between the two-flash threshold and level of skin potential was investigated in a group of non-patient subjects, for 6 flash durations. Only at the 1 msec. duration was the correlation significant (−0.51) and only then at the 5% level. The discrepancy between these results and those reported by Venables for a virtually identical experiment is thought to be due to sampling differences.     

Governance options for science–policy interfaces on biodiversity and ecosystem services: comparing a network versus a platform approach

Science–policy-interfaces (SPIs) are expected to go beyond the linear model of scientific policy advice through creating spaces for exchange and dialogue between ‘policy’ and ‘knowledge’. Given that most environmental issues require inter- and transdisciplinary approaches, SPIs must take into account a variety of knowledge types, views and interests of scientists, policymakers and other decision makers. Moreover, acceptance and durability of SPIs depend largely on their perceived legitimacy and the credibility of their knowledge-gathering processes, providing additional challenges for their internal organisation. As the interplay between different knowledge types and decision making is far from neutral, a reflexive approach is required in the design of an SPI so that it is capable of learning from past experiences. The aim of this article is to discuss which governance arrangements could best support the development of an effective and legitimate SPI for European biodiversity politics. We analyse different options for facilitating the implementation of a ‘Network of Knowledge’ approach. This approach has been developed to improve the interface between diverse knowledge-holder communities and decision making processes for biodiversity and ecosystem services—a field where multi-scalar and multi-dimensional problems arise. In this article, we develop and discuss two stylized extreme governance models as our starting point: an `informal network model´, which almost entirely depends on the dedication of individuals, versus a more formalized `platform model´, predominantly based on the needs and interests of the organisations involved. We discuss the pros and cons of each of these models in reaching their objectives and in developing sound governing processes for a ‘Network of Knowledge’. From this discussion, we derive a recommended design for the reflexive governance of such a network in the context of the European Union and finish by discussing some more general lessons learnt.