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Recent extreme weather events have resulted in an ongoing discussion on the issues of land use and compensation payments within Austrian agriculture. Building on a functional evaluation system for agricultural lands as developed within the Interreg IIIB project “ILUP”, the national project “Agriculture and Flooding” has as its goal to classify the flood-protection contribution and flood sensitivity of agricultural lands. This, in turn, enables the recommendation of targeted measures for potentially improving flood situations, as well as an estimate of their implementation costs. In addition to the digital soil map, other fundamental sources used for the project are the digital flood risk map, IACS land-use data and works by the Institute for Land and Water Management Research. Reference values and marginal returns sourced from the Federal Institute of Agricultural Economics also flow into the cost estimates for the recommended combination. The results will contribute to an understanding of the multifunctionality of agricultural lands and to the setting of priorities on a regional scale regarding packaged flood-prevention and damage-minimization. However, the results at hand can only serve as one step toward regional flood protection projects, whose development will require the cooperation of all interest groups.

The global forest carbon (C) stock is estimated at 662 Gt of which 45% is in soil organic matter. Thus, comprehensive understanding of the effects of forest management practices on forest soil C stock and greenhouse gas (GHG) fluxes is needed for the development of effective forest-based climate change mitigation strategies. To improve this understanding, we synthesized peer-reviewed literature on forest management practices that can mitigate climate change by increasing soil C stocks and reducing GHG emissions. We further identified soil processes that affect soil GHG balance and discussed how models represent forest management effects on soil in GHG inventories and scenario analyses to address forest climate change mitigation potential.Forest management effects depend strongly on the specific practice and land type. Intensive timber harvesting with removal of harvest residues/stumps results in a reduction in soil C stock, while high stocking density and enhanced productivity by fertilization or dominance of coniferous species increase soil C stock. Nitrogen fertilization increases the soil C stock and N2O emissions while decreasing the CH4 sink. Peatland hydrology management is a major driver of the GHG emissions of the peatland forests, with lower water level corresponding to higher CO2 emissions. Furthermore, the global warming potential of all GHG emissions (CO2, CH4 and N2O) together can be ten-fold higher after clear-cutting than in peatlands with standing trees.The climate change mitigation potential of forest soils, as estimated by modelling approaches, accounts for stand biomass driven effects and climate factors that affect the decomposition rate. A future challenge is to account for the effects of soil preparation and other management that affects soil processes by changing soil temperature, soil moisture, soil nutrient balance, microbial community structure , processes, hydrology and soil oxygen concentration in the models. We recommend that soil monitoring and modelling focus on linking processes of soil C stabilization with the functioning of soil microbiota. Peer reviewed

Abstract The state of, and changes to, altitudinal and polar treeline ecosystems and their services in selected mountain regions in Europe were analyzed using the drivers-pressures-state-impacts-responses (DPSIR) framework. The analysis was based on 45 responses of experts from 19 countries to 2 semi-structured questionnaires on treeline ecosystem services (ESs), stakeholders and the DPSIR factors, and 11 case study descriptions of best management practices. The experts recognized climate and land-use changes as the main drivers, resulting in various pressures that contrasted among the regions. The impacts of the pressures were mainly considered as negative (e.g. loss of biodiversity, root rot diseases, moth and bark beetle outbreaks, wild fires, decrease of (sub)alpine grasslands, browsing), but also as positive (e.g. increase in forested area). The influence of climate warming, altered precipitation regimes, a longer growing season, annual variation in winter climate and increased ground-level ozone concentrations were considered less critical for recent treeline dynamics than land abandonment, increased tourism and livestock pressure. Current policy responses to emerging pressures and stakeholder demands were considered insufficient and incoherent. Mitigation, adaptation and restoration actions were rare and with no evident long-term impact. We conclude that (1) locally-specific human−environment interactions have greater influence on treeline dynamics than global warming; (2) ecological and social sustainability of the treeline areas can be enhanced by simultaneously promoting traditional land use and regulating tourism development; (3) ES users should look for new opportunities arising from environmental change rather than trying to sustain current levels of ESs indefinitely; and (4) to safeguard the unique ecological and social values of treeline areas, more coherent and proactive policies are needed.

Aim Species distribution models (SDMs) have emerged as essential tools in the equipment of many ecologists, useful to explore species distributions in space and time and answering an assortment of questions related to biogeography, climate change biology and conservation biology. Historically, most SDM research concentrated on well-known organisms, especially vertebrates. In recent years, these tools are becoming increasingly important for predicting the distribution of understudied invertebrate taxa. Here, we reviewed the literature published on main terrestrial arthropod predators (ants, ground beetles and spiders) to explore some of the challenges and opportunities of species distribution modelling in mega-diverse arthropod groups. Location Global. Methods Systematic mapping of the literature and bibliometric analysis. Results Most SDM studies of animals to date have focused either on broad samples of vertebrates or on arthropod species that are charismatic (e.g. butterflies) or economically important (e.g. vectors of disease, crop pests and pollinators). We show that the use of SDMs to map the geography of terrestrial arthropod predators is a nascent phenomenon, with a near-exponential growth in the number of studies over the past ten years and still limited collaborative networks among researchers. There is a bias in studies towards charismatic species and geographical areas that hold lower levels of diversity but greater availability of data, such as Europe and North America. Conclusions Arthropods pose particular modelling challenges that add to the ones already present for vertebrates, but they should also offer opportunities for future SDM research as data and new methods are made available. To overcome data limitations, we illustrate the potential of modern data sources and new modelling approaches. We discuss areas of research where SDMs may be combined with dispersal models and increasingly available phylogenetic and functional data to understand evolutionary changes in ranges and range-limiting traits over past and contemporary time-scales. Peer reviewed

Root-surface phosphatase activities were measured in natural and semi-natural shrublands across an European climatic gradient of temperature and rainfall including Wales (WL), Denmark (DK), Netherlands (NL), Hungary (HU), Italy (IT) and Spain (SP). In each site a warming experiment was conducted since 1999 or 2001 by means of passive night-time warming using reflective curtains that covered the vegetation at night. The treatments increased yearly average soil temperatures around 0.8 o C in most of sites. Root-surface phosphatase activity values ranged between 56 mg PNP g -1 h -1 in IT and 3.5 mg PNP g -1 h -1 in HU. Warming had no effect on root-surface phosphatase acti vity across the sites and only in Hungary a slight increase was detected. Plants at Mediterranean sites (IT, SP) showed a higher root-surface phosphatase activity than plants at temperate sites (WL, NL, DK). We suggest it might be an adaptation of plant species evolved under Mediterranean climate that allows them a) to compensate in wet period for the decrease in phosphatase activity, and thus P uptake, during drought periods, and/or b) to benefit from soluble organic P flushes following the frequent drying-rewetting episodes experienced by soils in Mediterranean ecosystems This research was funded by EU under the VULCAN project (Contract EVK2-CT-2000-00094). We also thank partial funding by Spanish Government grants REN2003-04871/GLO and CGL2004- 01402/BOS, Catalan government grant SGR2005-00312, the EC Integrated FP6 ALARM (GOCE-CT-2003-506675) Project, and a Fundación BBVA 2004 grant. Marc Estiarte acknowledges support from “Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia” (Ramón y Cajal contract) 5 páginas, 1 figura, 1 tabla. Peer reviewed

The pine plantation area of the southeastern United States has increased over the past decades and is expected to grow further, partly as a result of increasing demand for industrial wood pellets. This potentially impacts biodiversity due to, for instance, habitat loss. No regional scale assessments were found on the species richness of pine plantations in this region, while regional scale assessments are important to show spatial variation in species richness across pine plantations and other land-cover classes. The preliminary results of this study provide a spatially explicit assessment of differences in vertebrate richness between pine plantations and other land-cover classes in the Southeastern United States. Potential species richness is calculated per grid cell per land-cover class per ecoregion, using habitat association data of the GAP Analysis Program of the US Geological Survey. The mean potential species richness of pine plantations per grid cell is relatively low, particularly compared to forested land. The largest differences between pine plantations and other land-cover classes are found in the coastal regions of the Southeastern United States, as well as scattered areas in the Appalachian mountains for amphibians and mammals. Because of the relatively low potential species richness and diversity in pine plantations, a future expansion could result in habitat loss. This study was carried out with a subset of 236 amphibian, reptile and mammal species. In addition, an offset problem was discovered. However, these data limitations are currently being addressed, allowing for improvement of the quality of the analysis. This will enable a more comprehensive evaluation of future implications of pine plantation expansion in the southeastern United States for vertebrate biodiversity. Proceedings of the 25th European Biomass Conference and Exhibition, 12-15 June 2017, Stockholm, Sweden, pp. 1511-1524

We investigate impacts of climate change (CC) and likely increases in price risks on income, income variability, utility and on adaptation responses in crop production in Western Switzerland. To this end, a bio-economic model is used that combines a crop growth model with an economic decision model non-parametrically using genetic algorithms. Our analysis focuses on the farm-level, which enables us to integrate a much wider set of potential adaptation responses in our analysis. The model is applied to four scenarios that represent likely changes in environmental conditions due to CC as well as increasing price risks due to market liberalization, and combinations thereof. It shows that CC has the larger influence on farm-level income and utility as well as on management decisions. In contrast, the increasing price variability has only small impacts on input use. However, both CC and increasing price volatility contribute to an increasing farm-level income risk.

GENIALG aimed to study the possibilities for upscaling and streamlining seaweed production as a way not only to satisfy growing demand from industry but also to promote local economic activity and develop seaweed aquaculture in an efficient and environmentally sustainable way. This reports provides a comprehensive assessment of the impact of seaweed farms on coastal ecosystems using medium sized farms in the southwest coast of Ireland (Ventry Harbour, Co.Kerry) and The Netherlands (Eastern Scheldt) growing sugar kelp (Saccharina lattisima) as case studies. This report presents the results of those surveys and discusses the implications for the management of current seaweed aquaculture licenses. No negative impacts were detected on abiotic seafloor condition other than seasonal variability in organic matter linked to primary production and within site spatial variability in both mean grain size, kurtosis, and skewness. Observational data from both test farms indicates that seaweed farming did not exert, at the scales and under the conditions studied, a negative influence on its surrounding environment but rather provided positive ecosystem interactions. Reduced water flow and turbidity within the seaweed farm was likely responsible for higher photosynthetically active irradiance values recorded under the longlines compared to distant controls and were linked to significantly higher seagrass shoot abundance and coverage under the farm. The role of seaweed farms coupled with their de-facto role as exclusion zones providing protection against physical disturbance from anchoring or bottom trawling is evidence of their positive effect on the environment, facilitating the conservation of benthic habitats of high conservation value such as seagrass. Biodiversity within cultivated seaweed was relatively high and similar (e.g. species numbers) to that recorded in natural kelp beds. The results showed no significant differences in the number of taxa and heir abundances between the two cultivated kelp species studied. Seeded droppers yielded significantly higher abundance of macroinvertebrates, but similar number of taxa, compared to unseeded rope droppers used as controls, attracting a community dominated by amphipods Jassa spp.and the non-native Japanese ghost shrimp Caprella mutica in both the Irish and Dutch sites. In addition, both farms provided evidence for their use as nurseries by fish of commercial importance such as pollock Pollachius pollachius. The findings represent evidence of the role of seaweed farming in the sustainable development of coastal economies and communities, maintaining healthy ecosystems which in turn provide valuable ecosystem services. Maximising this role and ecosystem services should be incorporated in management strategies and be considered in the site selection and licensing process.