Cristian Mihai Adamescu

University of Bucharest | Unibuc · Research Center in Systems Ecology and Sustainability/Department of Systems Ecology and Sustainable Development

Backed by the Biodiversity Strategy to 2020 and 2030, numerous ‘Mapping and Assessment of Ecosystem Services’ (MAES) projects have been completed in recent years in the member states of the European Union, with substantial results and insights accumulated. The experience from the different approaches is a valuable source of information for developi...

Backed by the Biodiversity Strategy to 2020 and 2030, numerous 'Mapping and Assessment of Ecosystem Ser-vices' (MAES) projects have been completed in recent years in the member states of the European Union, with substantial results and insights accumulated. The experience from the different approaches is a valuable source of information for develop...

Anthropogenic landscape transformations have promoted the provision of ecosystem services (ES) at the expense of other ES, biodiversity, and human well-being. We analysed the transformation portfolios of ES provisions, the costs of transformation, and the rivalry between ES categories and biodiversity conservation during the pre-communist and commu...

The output extracted from CNRM, MPR, and ICHEC Global Circulation Models for RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5 Representative Concentration Pathways has been used in conjunction with the SWAT model for evaluating the impacts of future climate changes on hydrological processes in a Romanian catchment (Neajlov, 3720 km2 area) in the short (2021–2050) and long term...

Assessing the environmental status of Protected Areas (PAs) is a challenging issue. To indicate that status, the identification of a common set of variables that are scientifically sound, and easy to assess and monitor by the PA practitioners, is particularly important. In this study, a set of 27 Essential Variables (EVs) for PA management was sele...

The cover image is based on the Viewpoint A global agenda for advancing freshwater biodiversity research by Alain Maasri et al., https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13931. Image Credit: Solvin Zankl. image

Global freshwater biodiversity is declining dramatically, and meeting the challenges of this crisis requires bold goals and the mobilisation of substantial resources. While the reasons are varied, investments in both research and conservation of freshwater biodiversity lag far behind those in the terrestrial and marine realms. Inspired by a global...

p>Protected Area (PA) managers and policy makers need to determine and demonstrate the effectiveness of PA management and keep track of the conservation status in ways that are practical, scientifically sound and comparable among PAs in various terrestrial and aquatic environments. As most existing methods for measuring the managerial efficiency of...

A reanalysis is a physically consistent set of optimally merged simulated model states and historical observational data, using data assimilation. High computational costs for modeled processes and assimilation algorithms has led to Earth system specific reanalysis products for the atmosphere, the ocean and the land separately. Recent developments...

The global lockdown to mitigate COVID-19 pandemic health risks has altered human interactions with nature. Here, we report immediate impacts of changes in human activities on wildlife and environmental threats during the early lockdown months of 2020, based on 877 qualitative reports and 332 quantitative assessments from 89 different studies. Hundr...

Freshwater ecosystems are among the most threatened in the world, while providing numerous essential ecosystem services (ES) to humans. Despite their importance, research on freshwater ecosystem services is limited. Here, we examine how freshwater studies could help to advance ES research and vice versa. We summarize major knowledge gaps and sugges...

Freshwater biodiversity is declining dramatically, and the current biodiversity crisis requires defining bold goals and mobilizing substantial resources to meet the challenges. While the reasons are varied, both research and conservation of freshwater biodiversity lag far behind efforts in the terrestrial and marine realms. We identify fifteen pres...

Freshwater biodiversity is declining dramatically, and the current biodiversity crisis requires defining bold goals and mobilizing substantial resources to meet the challenges. While the reasons are varied, both research and conservation of freshwater biodiversity lag far behind efforts in the terrestrial and marine realms. We identify fifteen pres...

Plans are currently being drafted for the next decade of action on biodiversity— both the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and Biodiversity Strategy of the European Union (EU). Freshwater biodiversity is disproportionately threatened and underprioritized relative to the marine and terrestrial b...

Studies regarding species distribution, resilience and adaptability of different ecosystems as well as the response of human society are linked with our ability to identify past and predict future changes. Climate change together with other changes like land use and land cover, and invasive alien species, are important to set up the background for...

Various environmental factors influence the outbreak and spread of epidemic or even pandemic events which, in turn, may cause feedbacks on the environment. The novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) was declared a pandemic on 13 March 2020 and its rapid onset, spatial extent and complex consequences make it a once-in-a-century global disaster. Most c...

The drafting of a new Global Biodiversity Framework for the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and Biodiversity Strategy for the European Union (EU) render 2020 a critical crossroad for biodiversity conservation. Freshwater biodiversity is disproportionately threatened and poorly studied relative to marine and terrestrial biota, despite provi...

Distributed environmental research infrastructures are important to support assessments of the effects of global change on landscapes, ecosystems and society. These infrastructures need to provide continuity to address long-term change, yet be flexible enough to respond to rapid societal and technological developments that modify research prioritie...

Researchers in multiple, related fields that address complex social and environmental challenges, have shown ongoing enthusiasm for applying transdisciplinary social-ecological systems (SES) research to promote sustainability. However, few studies have evaluated the effectiveness of SES approach, assessed its achievements, and identified challenges...

In the following, we describe highly-automated image analysis approaches that help us classify satellite images, and allow us to monitor dynamical changes in image time series. We concentrated on flooding events within the Danube Delta as seen by the European Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 satellites, and describe systematic processing approaches to ext...

Context Place-based transdisciplinary research involves multiple academic disciplines and non-academic actors. Long-Term Socio-Ecological Research (LTSER) platform is one concept with ~ 80 initiatives globally. Objectives As an exercise in learning through evaluation we audited (1) the siting, construction and maintenance of individual LTSER platf...

For many years, Protected Areas (PA) have been an important tool for conserving nature. Recently, also societal aspects have been introduced into PA management via the introduction of the Ecosystem Services (ES) approach. This review discusses the historical background of PAs, PA management, and the ES approach.We then discuss the relevance and app...

This Deliverable presents a toolbox for ecosystem service modelling and mapping with Bayesian Networks (BNs). It contains guidelines on how to develop BN models of ecosystem services and an online platform (gBay) where users can run these models with spatial data. BNs can be used to map ecosystem services, understand the associated uncertainties an...

Long-term ecological research (LTER) sites need a periodic assessment of the state of their ecosystems and services in order to monitor trends and prevent irreversible changes. The ecological integrity (EI) framework opens the door to evaluate any ecosystem in a comparable way, by measuring indicators on ecosystem structure and processes. Such an a...

Over the past decade, Long-Term Socio-Ecological Research (LTSER) has been established to better integrate social science research and societal concerns into the goals and objectives of the International Long-Term Ecological Research (ILTER) network, an established global network of long-term ecological monitoring sites. The Horizon 2020 eLTER proj...

The European Union (EU) Horizon 2020 Coordination and Support Action ESMERALDA aimed at developing guidance and a flexible methodology for Mapping and Assessment of Ecosystems and their Services (MAES) to support the EU member states in the implementation of the EU Biodiversity Strategy’s Target 2 Action 5. ESMERALDA’s key tasks included network cr...

The focus of this report is to present a broad framework for ecosystem services assessment and to test it. The framework aims to illustrate the integrated assessment cycle for practitioners. The framework also places within the other assessment activities, such as scenarios and assessing policies.

This document corresponds to the ECOPOTENTIAL deliverable D7.2 which is one of the expected outcomes from WP7 'Ecosystem Services' and is expected to convey the outcomes of Task 7.2 "Conceptual Framework for valuation of ecosystem services in PAs" of EU Horizon 2020 Project ECOPOTENTIAL: IMPROVING FUTURE ECOSYSTEM BENEFITS THROUGH EARTH OBSERVATIO...

Deliverable D3.3 EU Horizon 2020 ESMERALDA Project, Grant agreement No. 642007. The aims of The Report are: 1) to gather the latest knowledge of biophysical mapping and assessment of the ecosystem services, including methods, data, tools, and software commonly used; 2) based on the above findings, to suggest a harmonised methodology describing ho...

This report provides an overview of the main social methods for mapping and assessment of ecosystem services. It addresses the challenge of improving the applicability of these methods with specific examples, particularly with respect to the MAES process and the ESMERALDA case studies. In this context, the term “mapping” is used to mean the descrip...

Protected Areas are a key component of nature conservation. They can play an important role in counterbalancing the impacts of ecosystem degradation. For an optimal protection of a Protected Area it is essential to account for the variables underlying the major Ecosystem Services an area delivers, and the threats upon them. Here we show that the pe...

List of mistakes made in the surveys and the ways used to correct them. Categories are Ecosystem Services (ES), Threats (Thr), and Ecosystem Types (ETy). The variable which was originally indicated (“between quotation marks”) is followed by our Remark on it (unless it may have been renamed). For the Actions taken: Split means that the term is split...

Harmonisation tables for all variables. (S2a) ecosystem services, (S2b) threats, and the classification of the variables into variables of biotic, abiotic or socio-economic (anthropogenic) nature, grey cells are variables indicated by PA managers. (PDF)

Example of the survey sent to PA managers. (PDF)

Example of the survey sent to, and answers from, the scientists working on protected areas. (PDF)

List of ecosystem types. Indicated for the transitional waters (TW) and the mountainous (MO) protected areas. (PDF)

Nine Bayesian Belief Networks (BBNs) were developed within the OpenNESS project specifically for modelling ecosystem services for case study applications. The novelty of the method, its ability to explore problems, to address uncertainty, and to facilitate stakeholder interaction in the process were all reasons for choosing BBNs. Most case studies...

Mapping ecosystem services edited by Page 2 Page 3 Mapping Ecosystem Services Page 4 Page 5 Mapping Ecosystem Services edited by Benjamin Burkhard & Joachim Maes Page 6 Citation: Burkhard B, Maes J (Eds.)(2017) Mapping Ecosystem Services. Pensoft Publishers, Sofia, 374 pp. First published 2017 ISBN 978-954-642-829-5 (Hardback) ISBN 978-954-642-852-...

Ecosystem services (ES) are the contributions of ecosystem structure and function (in combination with other inputs) to human well-being. This implies that mankind is strongly dependent on well-functioning ecosystems and natural capital that are the basis for a constant flow of ES from nature to society. Therefore, ES have the potential to become a...

Current development model of socio-economic systems is based on the exploitation of natural resources provided by ecological systems. In the last century due to the industrial revolution, population growth and resource scarcity, an increasing anthropogenic pressure on the natural capitals bio-structure has been observed. The increasing need for nat...

The natural river floodplains support one of the most heterogeneous and species-rich landscapes. Wetlands are especially important for colonial waterbirds species providing ideal feeding, nesting and resting habitats for many species. Lower Danube River floodplain has changed dramatically in the past century as a result of hydro-technical works, in...

The development of socio-economic systems is dependent on natural resources. Resources are provided by natural and semi-natural ecosystems and often affected by human activities. The current work is located in Brăila Islands, a long term socio-ecological research site of approximately 2600 km2, using the approach of assessing landscape potential to...

We analysed yearly estimates of population size data during 2001-2012 for five carnivores species of conservation interest (Ursus arctos, Canis lupus, Lynx lynx, Felis silvestris and Canis aureus). Population size estimations were done by the game management authorities and integrated by the competent authorities on the Ministry of Environment and...

Community needs ask for local management approaches as a response to the structure and evolution of a specific environment. The importance of managerial ethics in individualizing operational entities in terms of sustainable development of increasingly tense spaces stands for an efficient design of socio-ecological systems, such as Danube Delta Bios...

In recent years, phenology has been proposed as an indicator to monitor systematically the state of the ecosystem and to detect changes triggered by perturbation of the environmental conditions. Recorded changes in the seasonal timing allowed to evaluate re-organizations of communities and drastic alterations of the ecosystem structure. The Europea...

In Europe, biogas is mostly used to produce electricity and heat in CHP units. However, in many cases, the heat is either underused or fully wasted. This inefficient utilisation of energy is a bottleneck in current biogas production and use. The problem of how to efficiently utilise heat from biogas plants at the European, national and local level...

An ontology is an “explicit specification of a conceptualisation” (Gruber 1993). In other words an ontology is a collection of concepts and their relations to one another established by a community that wants to use a common semantic for sharing knowledge, information or data (Schentz et al. 2006). The core ontology of this common semantic is the s...

Internet: www.wip-munich.de, www.big-east.eu 2 Slovenian Energy Restructuring Agency (Slovenia), 3 Ing. Gerhard Agrinz GmbH (Austria), 4 Centre for Renewable Energy Sources (Greece), 5 Ekodoma (Latvia), 6 Energoproekt jsc (Bulgaria), 7 Hrvoje Pozar Energy Institute (Croatia), 8 Finsterwalder Umwelttechnik GmbH & Co. KG (Germany), 9 German Biogas an...

There is much public concern about threats to global biodiversity. Industrial pollution, changes in agricultural practices and climate change, are all having a direct impact on biodiversity. In this book the Editors provide a broad view of the many pressures imposed by human-induced changes and the many threats to global biodiversity and of the pol...

The Lower Danube Wetlands System has been and remains one of the largest and most diverse wetlands formations in Europe. It extends over ten thousands square kilometers along the lower Danube river stretch of 840 kilometers long. In the last century several types of management were applied at the LDWS and river catchments and a wide range of struct...

Transition towards hypertrophy has affected biodiversity and productivity of most aquatic and wetland systems in the Lower Danube Wetland System (LDWS) over the last two decades. The aquatic macrophytes have been deeply involved in ecosystem reorganization in these circumstances. Representative shallow lakes and channels located in the river floodp...

This article is dealing with the identification of the pristine state (reference system state, Vadineanu et al. 1997), taking into account the dynamics of relationship between macrophytes and plankton (phytoplankton and zooplankton) in the Lower Danube River System lakes.