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Abstract

Understanding how non-material benefits from ecosystems, known as cultural services, are shaped by non-native biota is paramount to manage biological invasions and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Despite recent advances, assessments of cultural services still lack an explicit temporal dimension, which is relevant for developing monitoring systems. Here, we evaluate the spatiotemporal contributions of non-native trees to landscape aesthetics and nature recreation in a National Park in Portugal. We use a multimodel framework to understand how those cultural services (evaluated from social media photos) relate to the environmental context (physical and visual accessibility, and wilderness; derived from ancillary GIS data) and landscape visual-sensory features (colour diversity, landscape heterogeneity, and vegetation functioning). The latter were computed from satellite imagery (MODIS and Sentinel-2 MSI sensors) for the four seasons of the year: Winter, Spring, Summer and Autumn. We found that, during Autumn, contributions of non-native trees prevailed mostly in landscapes with greater colour diversity (green-band, Sentinel 2). During Spring, their contributions prevailed in landscapes with lower wilderness and heterogeneous levels. In Winter, those contributions were less evident in more remote areas. As for Summer, no significant relations were found for those cultural contributions. These results are congruent with the phenology of dominant tree species: deciduous natives occurring with coniferous non-natives and evergreen invaders, leading to higher colour diversity in Autumn, versus the dominance of blooming invaders in accessible areas during Spring. Results also seem to match the seasonal dynamics of touristic demand in the National Park: the pursuit of wilder areas for ecotourism in Winter, versus the experience of popular recreational activities in Summer. We discuss the usefulness of Earth observations in the research of cultural services and, particularly, for supporting SDG targets 15.8 (on invasive species), 8.9 (touristic revenues) and 12.8 (nature awareness).

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... The extensive location information updated through the interaction between the platform and its users is an important complement to traditional ground surveys (He et al., 2019). Moreover, remote sensing (RS) data can directly extract visual and sensory attributes, such as vegetation coverage and landscape patterns, and their changes at the regional scale (Cord et al., 2017;Vaz et al., 2019). Especially, the free-to-use Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform offers powerful computing capabilities to analyze such geospatial big data (Gorelick et al., 2017). ...
... According to the keywords from text mining, the public preferences were categorized into the following types: accessibility, forest attribute, air environment, landscape heterogeneity, and color diversity. Combining the detailed description in comments, previous studies (e.g., Ciesielski and Stereńczak, 2021;Knoke et al., 2021;Vaz et al., 2019), and data availability, 27 variables were considered as candidates for the explanation of public preferences to forest ecotourism values (Table 1) and were computed for the two periods respectively. Variables were organized into two categories based on how they were mapped by the data sources: auxiliary GIS data (including the locations of inns from social media in Section 2.3) and RS data. ...
... For characterizing color diversity, we used bands blue, green, red from the Landsat images to produce three variables. These bands are the visible part of the electromagnetic spectrum, related to the perception and experience of landscapes (Tveit et al., 2006;Vaz et al., 2019). Multi-annual cloud-free image composites were generated for five-year intervals using a median reducer through GEE. ...
Article
Ecotourism, as a cultural ecosystem service, is an essential part of rural economy growth. Developing feasible methods and indicators for ecotourism values is vital to exploring the interactions between public preferences and ecosystems, thus providing information for sustainable ecosystem management. However, forest ecotourism value assessments at the regional scale still lack scientific frameworks covering the spatiotemporal dimension. Here, we proposed a framework to assess forest ecotourism values and explore the contributions of public preferences, selecting a typical and abundant forest area, Lin'an County, China. First, we applied a text mining approach on social comments to identify key variables related to public preferences. Then, we mapped these variables with remote sensing and GIS data and incorporated them with a Maxent model. This model revealed the spatiotemporal patterns of forest ecotourism value and its interaction with public preferences, over two periods, i.e., 2010–2014 and 2015–2019. Our results showed that albeit with a minor change magnitude in the entirety of ecotourism values (1–3% overall decrease), about 34% and 44% of forests were observed as significant increases and decreases in ecotourism values, respectively. A large number of increases were concentrated in the village scenic areas, while decreases were observed in planted areas. Such notable changes were mainly attributable to changes in accessibility variables with 67% of contributions in 2010–2014 and 72% in 2015–2019. Variables related to human perception and vision (forest attribute and color diversity) also played a part. Our findings infer that local rural-building policies have an evident influence on the distribution and intensity of forest ecotourism. Our proposed framework provides references for evaluating the response and effectiveness of local policies and to make proactive efforts for forest protection, restoration and management.
... Combining georeferenced photos from social media with Earth observations provides opportunities to advance our understanding of nature's cultural contributions to people. For instance, grounded on a set of GIS variables and Flickr photoseries, Tenerelli, Demšar, and Luque (2016) revealed social preferences for several cultural ecosystem services; Van Berkel et al. (2018) assessed landscape quality underlying cultural recreation using Panoramio photos and high-resolution Light Detection And Ranging (LiDAR); and Vaz et al. (2019) used a combination of satellite imagery and Flickr photographs to infer on recreational and aesthetic preferences associated to trees. ...
... GIS data included information on: (a) environmental context (visual and physical accessibility), (b) biophysical properties (landscape structure, configuration, and heterogeneity), and (c) points of leisure interest (recreation and touristic features). Satellite data (Sentinel-2a/b L1C images) were used to obtain predictors expressing (d) visual-sensory attributes, namely, landscape functioning and color diversity, with the latter being computed separately for each season of the year (Vaz et al., 2019). Seasonal variations in landscape functioning were calculated from time-series data (2015-2018) based on the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI; Tucker, 1979) and the Ecosystem Services Provision Index (ESPI), which provide information on the spatial and temporal changes in the supply of ecosystem services (Paruelo et al., 2016). ...
... These results converge with previous studies highlighting the importance of remotely sensed visual-sensory attributes (related to vegetation functioning) for the assessment of ecosystem benefits (Krishnaswamy, Bawa, Ganeshaiah, & Kiran, 2009;Paruelo et al., 2016). However, despite the potentialities of considering the seasonality of color diversity in the evaluation of landscape appreciation (Vaz et al., 2019), no significant relation was found between nature's cultural contributions and predictors expressing landscape color diversity. Nevertheless, landscape biophysical attributes (i.e., shape complexity and patch contiguity) explained nature's cultural contributions oriented to "recreation and sports" (e.g., beach activities) and "cultural heritage" (e.g., monument visitation). ...
Article
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In the “digital conservation” age, big data from Earth observations and from social media have been increasingly used to tackle conservation challenges. Here, we combined information from those two digital sources in a multimodel inference framework to identify, map, and predict the potential for nature's cultural contributions to people in two contrasting UNESCO biosphere reserves: Doñana and Sierra Nevada (Spain). The content analysis of Flickr pictures revealed different cultural contributions, according to the natural and cultural values of the two reserves. Those contributions relied upon landscape variables computed from Earth observation data: the variety of colors and vegetation functioning that characterize Doñana landscapes, and the leisure facilities, accessibility features, and heterogeneous landscapes that shape Sierra Nevada. Our findings suggest that social media and Earth observations can aid in the cost‐efficient monitoring of nature's contributions to people, which underlie many Sustainable Development Goals and conservation targets in protected areas worldwide.
... By contrast, Pfaff et al. (2018) exploited the modeling of road impacts as an indirect method to determine correlations among roads and the SDGs, its trade-offs, and synergies by learning how to distinguish frontiers of Brazil's Amazon forest [89]. Other methods utilized include multimodel inferences to evaluate the spatiotemporal contribution of non-native trees to cultural ecosystem services [93]; flow diagrams of investments, trade, and causal loops [35]; the green economy model [58]; and the land-use optimization model MAgPIE [70]. ...
... Other methods and tools included satellite image preprocessing, land use classification, and geospatial techniques to improve knowledge concerning the management of ecosystem services [42]; the collection and processing of georeferenced datasets and spatiotemporal analysis to evaluate the spatiotemporal contribution of non-native trees to cultural ecosystem services [93]; the use of Q-GIS software to explore the use of the biome context as an appropriate degradation monitoring dimension for SDG 15.3. [87]; and, lastly, the use of mixed methods, such as field data, tree species characteristics dataset mapped predictor data, remotely sensed imagery, mapping with forest inventory data, cubist, and a PGNN used together to determine the spatial patterns of tropical forest biomass, functional groups, and species counts linked to stand age, geoclimate, and sustainability goals [104]. ...
Article
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The Sustainable Development Goals, developed in 2015 by the United Nations, are a set of 17 internationally agreed-upon goals to be reached by 2030. The forest sector stands out as an important player in tackling climate change and strengthening sustainable initiatives. However, in addition to investigating the synergies and trade-offs between the forest sector and the SDGs, it is important to comprehend how this relationship has been measured. We conducted a systematic review to understand which methods have been used to understand the contributions of the forest sector to the SDGs. Following the PRISMA protocol, we screened 1064 articles from the Scopus and Web of Science databases, written in English and published between 2015 and November 2022. With the assistance of CADIMA 2.2.4 and Atlas.Ti 22, 83 articles were selected for further investigation. As a result, we categorized the studies into eight methods: content analysis, personal perceptions, interpretative analysis, frameworks, models, impact analysis, time series data, and SDG index. The approaches used include nature-based solutions, literature reviews, the Delphi method, case studies, the iSDG model, SDG 15 indicators, Earth observations, and remote sensing. In conclusion, although the SDGs are widely referenced, studies that measure and explore the relationship between the forest sector and SDGs in a more holistic way are still lacking. This systematic review aimed to offer an overview of the methods being used to address this topic and stimulate future research.
... Our country-wide results significantly extend the paradigmatic shift in CES supply modelling with remote sensing data, initiated by Vaz et al. for the protected areas in Portugal and Spain (Vaz and Santos, 2018;Vaz et al., 2019Vaz et al., , 2020. Complementing these papers, we would like to lay a foundation for a high-resolution and further long-term (Landsat 5-8 archives date back to 1984, Sentinel 2 archivesto 2015) CES supply monitoring across scales. ...
... We conducted this research in compliance with EU General Data Protection Regulation requirements to avoid deanonymisation of the social media users. Notwithstanding these limitations, the remote sensing data combined with social data have significant strengths, such as the potential for frequent updates, which enables the operative assessment of CES in rapidly changing environments (Vaz et al., 2019Alemu et al., 2021). Remote sensing has already significantly boosted the assessment of landscape aesthetics (Ayad, 2005;Ozkan, 2014), but remote sensing applications in the CES domain are in their infancy (Rose et al., 2015;Vaz and Santos, 2018). ...
Article
Coupled usage of remote sensing and geotagged social media data responds to the growing interest in the spatially explicit operationalisation of cultural ecosystem services (CES). However, synergies of integrated usage of these data sources have not yet been unveiled to improve CES accessibility. This study aimed at applying the integrated remote sensing-social media framework to analyse the suitability of landscape pattern for CES use and explore CES availability in Estonia. We first spatially analysed the demand for selected CES-landscape watching, outdoor recreation, and wildlife watching-depicted in geotagged photographs. Second, we modelled CES supply as relative environmental suitability for the presence of CES related photographs, performing a proxy to the potential capacity of landscapes to provide opportunities for CES use. Third, we estimated the population density in spatial clusters of relatively low and high CES supply. We revealed the discrepancies between population density and accessibility of CES supply and CES providing areas within this integrative framework. As a result, we detected populated areas requiring in-depth CES assessment and prioritisation to restore, preserve, and, where necessary, enhance CES stocks. Our replicable and spatially explicit methodology improves rapid CES assessment across scales, given the nearly global character of remote sensing and social media data.
... Ecologists understand the role of sensation mainly using landscape sensory attributes (Chen and Lin 2023). Existing research identified critical landscape sensory attributes that significantly influence the perception of CESs, such as landscape visual features like color diversity, landscape heterogeneity, and vegetation functioning (Vaz et al. 2019), and other sensory features like feel of sunlight and sound of animals (Zheng et al. 2020). However, further investigations are required to achieve a deeper understanding of how people respond to landscapes and how landscape sensory features can be optimized to enhance CESs (Bratman et al. 2019). ...
Article
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Context Landscape sensation is essential for the delivery of cultural ecosystem services (CESs), yet the pathways through which these services are delivered remain inadequately understood. Exploring how people obtain CESs from landscapes facilitates better understanding of the tradeoffs and synergies between ecosystem services and landscape sustainability. Objectives This study aimed to elucidate the sensory pathways that links landscape attributes to CESs, focusing on the roles of cognitive and affective experiences. Methods We analyzed social media comments for the measurement scale of cognition. We employed partial least squares structural equation modeling to integrate sensation, cognition, affect, and satisfaction, using questionnaire data (n = 503). Results Cognitive comprehensions and affective responses play a crucial role in interpreting CESs while sensory experiences do not directly determine people’s satisfaction with CESs. The effective pathways are achieved through the sole mediator of cognition or by serial mediators of cognition and affect. Of the two mediators, cognition has a more profound mediating effect than affect. Conclusions Both physical and biological components, such as landscape sensory attributes, as well as cognitive and affective responses, influence human-nature interactions. These components should be considered when promoting the sustainability of human-dominated landscapes.
... In recent years, scholars have studied how urban park characteristics impact consumer electronics product provision. These studies focus on specific cultural service categories [22,31,32], like aesthetics, or particular urban park types [24,33]. Despite scholars identifying associative rules among CES categories [34,35], there is a lack of comprehensive analysis of the diversity of CES categories and their internal correlations. ...
Article
Full-text available
Urban parks not only enhance urban ecology but also play a crucial role in providing cultural ecosystem services (CESs) for the well-being of urban residents. Both artificial and natural landscape factors within parks contribute significantly to the supply of cultural ecosystem services. To explore public perceptions of landscape factors and CESs, this study focused on 25 urban parks in Hangzhou. Social media data uploaded by park visitors from 2018 to 2023 were collected to establish a corresponding CES indicator framework. Combining computer vision with text mining, we assessed the preferences and correlations between visitor-perceived CESs and park landscape factors. The results indicated that the majority of park visitors perceive CESs (80.00%) with overall satisfaction higher than importance. Among them, aesthetic experiences and recreation showed both high satisfaction and importance. In shared social media photos, arbor (19.01%), herbaceous flowers (8.99%), and grove (8.22%) were frequently presented as landscape factors. The study revealed close correlations between user gender, landscape factors, and perceived CES categories, with females contributing more to the perception of both. There were internal correlations within CES categories, with spiritual services, aesthetic experiences, and recreation showing the most significant associations. Different landscape factors impacted CES categories to varying degrees, and biological landscapes formed by plant and animal factors were considered to provide more CESs. These findings are significant for enhancing the quality of ecological services and biodiversity in parks.
... The aesthetic and spiritual values of ecosystems can also be assessed and monitored using GIS and remote sensing (Vaz et al., 2019). For example, remote-sensing data can be employed to evaluate the visual quality of landscapes, while GIS can be used to map the distribution of culturally and spiritually significant sites, such as sacred groves or archaeological sites. ...
Chapter
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Geographic information systems (GISs) and remote-sensing technologies have become indispensable tools in the fields of ecosystem services assessment and biodiversity conservation. This chapter delves into the various applications and contributions of these technologies, while also addressing current challenges and discussing future prospects. The chapter begins by outlining the fundamental principles of GIS and remote sensing, explaining how these technologies can provide critical data and analytical capabilities for habitat mapping and monitoring, species distribution modeling, and evaluating biodiversity changes. It highlights numerous case studies from different conservation contexts worldwide, demonstrating the versatility and value of these tools in understanding and managing ecosystems and their services. Despite the proven benefits of GIS and remote sensing, the chapter acknowledges the challenges that persist, such as data quality and availability, scale mismatch between ecological processes and remote-sensing data, uncertainty in data and models, and the need for robust validation techniques. Furthermore, the chapter addresses the complexities of integrating social and ecological data to achieve a more holistic understanding of ecosystems and their services. Looking ahead, the chapter discusses the promising future prospects of these technologies, including ongoing advancements in satellite and sensor technology, the integration of big data and machine learning techniques for more efficient data processing and analysis, the growth of citizen science and crowdsourcing initiatives to collect ground-based data, and the increasing importance of interdisciplinary collaboration between ecologists, geographers, and other specialists. The chapter concludes with a call to action for researchers, practitioners, and policymakers to address these challenges and capitalize on emerging opportunities. By doing so, they can further enhance the efficacy of ecosystem services assessment and biodiversity conservation efforts, ultimately contributing to the sustainable management of our planet's precious natural resources.
... Sustainability researchers are increasingly turning to social media (SM) to investigate socio-ecological interactions, climate change discourses, explore urban sustainability, and provide novel insights into ecology and conservation science [8]. Forest-specifc applications include disaster risk reduction [9], forest recreation and perceived attractiveness [10], and environmental quality monitoring [11]. However, its utility in detecting forest change and use is underexplored [12]. ...
Conference Paper
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While social media data are increasingly being used in the study of pressing environmental problems, their ability to monitor environmental changes has scarcely been assessed. Understanding this viability is highly important as climate change increasingly impacts public health, and behavior. We examine social media photographs associated with wildfires in Yellowstone National Park to assess if images and content can adequately capture environmental change associated with large-scale landscape impacts - wildfires - using computer vision, natural language processing and spatiotemporal analysis. We find that social media posts associated with wildfire events rarely capture the fires themselves, while landscape impacts including burnt trees and early succession are more frequently the topic of photography. Furthermore, we find that computer vision has challenges with capturing these phenomena. While capturing wildfires proved difficult, developing multimodal analysis including natural language processing, spatial, trend and computer vision analysis at scale may open opportunities for more general understanding of social media’s efficacy for monitoring environmental change.
... ResNet50 model was applied to detect diseases in plant images with a final recognition accuracy of 99.80% (Mukti and Biswas, 2019). Social attributes of trees were commonly analyzed with GIS data to assess the aesthetic value, social equity, and economic benefits of individual trees (Cox et al., 2019;Vaz et al., 2019;Wyse et al., 2015). The hybrid fusion models that concatenated image-CNN model and neural network were applied to improve the prediction in daily solar radiation prediction (Ghimire et al., 2022), tea plant diseases classification (Krisnandi et al., 2019), medical diagnosis (Öztürk and Özkaya, 2021). ...
Conference Paper
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Tree Preservation Order (TPO) is used to protect specific trees from damage and destruction, which is determined in high subjectivity. This research collected and analyzed TPO data, aerial images, geographic data, and socioeconomic data in the Greater London area and developed a multi-input deep learning (DL) framework to classify TPO-protected and non-TPO-protected trees. The synergy use of aerial images and GIS data with the fusion model of ResNet50 and multilayer perceptron network produced the best classification accuracy of 87.32%. The result indicated the robustness of the multi-input DL model to identify the social attributes of trees compared with the single-input DL model.
... Registros de ocorrência publicados nas redes sociais são abundantes e muitas vezes inexplorados, representando um grande potencial para expandir e/ou fornecer novos conhecimentos que muitas vezes eram desconsiderados sobre taxonomia, padrões macroecológicos, processos evolutivos e, especialmente, da distribuição geográfica de muitas espécies (MITTERMEIER et al., 2019, MARSHALL et al., 2020. Além disso, combinar fotos georreferenciadas das redes sociais e dados online oriundos de coleções científicas fornecem chances para um maior interesse nas atitudes da sociedade em relação a conservação das espécies (VAZ et al., 2019, MARSHALL et al., 2020. ...
Article
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O objetivo do presente estudo foi avaliar como as informações disponíveis em bancos de dados científicos combinadas com dados de redes sociais, podem ser promissoras para preencher as lacunas geográficas existentes na biodiversidade, visto que há uma falta de informações sobre a real distribuição de espécies para o estudo da conservação. Consultaram-se os nomes científicos de cinco espécies neotropicais como palavras-chave em bancos de dados científicos e redes sociais. A distribuição do K. rupestris [DC=547; RS=21], P. bicolor [DC=326; RS=40] e T. teguixin [DC=580; RS=78] tiveram um grave aumento nos dados de rede social, já B. variegatus [DC=1186; RS=100] e C. caudata [DC=1470; RS=34], ainda que mostrem novos dados, não cobriram grandes novas áreas. Abandonar os dados das redes sociais pode resultar na perda de informações relevantes.
... Most studies reveal that common citizens do not distinguish exotic species from native ones, especially if they have been introduced for a long time [119]. Empirical evidence shows that in UGS, exotic species are equally important for cultural ecosystem services, holding heritage significance in many public gardens and parks [120,121]. Additionally, in urban areas, people link exotic plants to a greater resilience and adaptive capacity to climate change [117,118]. This is not surprising as a significant portion of the urban vegetation is composed of exotic species and this is most of the "nature" that many city dwellers have contact with. ...
Article
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Knowledge from ecological sciences is an important reference for landscape design as Urban Green Spaces (UGS) play a critical role in the ecological protection of cities. There is an ongoing debate among ecologists on the value of exotic vegetation to ecosystem resilience and integrity, with authors arguing that in order for ecosystems to survive in future climates, exotic species with similar conditions in their current range must be considered. Others deem biodiversity vital for ecosystem functions and services, stating that most biodiversity losses are man-induced and should be addressed through the enhancement of native communities. Through a literature review, we confronted the arguments used in this debate, with the aim of conducting a comprehensive analysis of the potential of exotic and native vegetation in different aspects of the vegetation’s performance. The outcomes are important for the assessment of vegetation assemblages within UGS projects. Despite the strong arguments regarding their performative and adaptive capacity, we conclude that exotics pose significant ecological risks and have multiple negative impacts on ecosystem processes. Natives not only present high adaptive capacity, but also provide additional benefits for biodiversity, ecosystem integrity, and for people. In a broader framework, the literature demonstrates a preference for the use of native species in most situations.
... CESs are key ecosystem services (ESs) and indicate the recreation and ecotourism values of the ecosystem. Autumn foliage attracts populations when scenery spots in temperate ecosystems turn colorful and pleasant [32,33]. Autumn foliage has been long recognized as a component of the beautiful Japanese landscape [34] and is a part of aesthetic values of Japanese culture related to haiku, noh theatre, diets, and other aspects of life [32]. ...
Article
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Autumn foliage color is an important phenological characteristic associated with climate and appeals to populations as a cultural ecosystem service (CES). Land surface phenology (LSP) analyzed using time-series remotely sensed imagery can facilitate the monitoring of autumn leaf color change (ALCC); however, the monitoring of autumn foliage by LSP approaches is still challenging because of complex spatio-temporal ALCC patterns and observational uncertainty associated with remote sensing sensors. Here, we evaluated the performance of several LSP analysis approaches in estimation of LSP-based ALCCs against the ground-level autumn foliage information obtained from 758 sightseeing (high CES) sites across Japan. The ground information uniquely collected by citizens represented ALCC stages of greening, early, peak, late, and defoliation collected on a daily basis. The ALCC was estimated using a second derivative approach, in which normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), kernel normalized difference vegetation index (kNDVI), enhanced vegetation index (EVI), two-band enhanced vegetation index (EVI2), and green red vegetation index (GRVI) were applied based on MODerate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) MOD09A1 with four (Beck, Elmore, Gu, and Zhang) double logistic smoothing methods in 2020. The results revealed inconsistency in the estimates obtained using different analytical methods; those obtained using EVI with the Beck model estimated the peak stage of the ALCC relatively well, while the estimates obtained using other indices and models had high discrepancies along with uncertainty. Our study provided insights on how the LSP approach can be improved toward mapping the CESs offered by autumn foliage.
... Removal may also be undesirable when non-native species are valued for their ecosystem services. Alongside their economic benefits, NNT can provide numerous ecological and cultural ecosystem services(Castro-Díez et al. 2019;Schlaepfer et al. 2011;Vaz et al. 2019). These include, for example, providing habitat or food resources to (rare) native ...
Thesis
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Background Non-native tree species (NNT) whose natural range is outside Europe have long been part of the cultural development of the European forest landscape, providing numerous benefits as well as posing risks to biodiversity and other ecosystem services. On the one hand, NNT are valued for their timber properties, high growth rates and resistance to drought for improving forestry or adapting forests to climate change. On the other hand, they can potentially negatively impact the environment and economy, particularly when they spread into protected areas, become established there and can only be controlled at great expense under risk management. Given their (potential) negative impacts, some NNT are classified as invasive in multiple European countries based on the results of risk assessments. The ones classified as invasive may be included in regional, national, or EU legislation, which may result in imposing restrictions on their cultivation. However, the methods applied in risk assessments across Europe were not specifically developed for NNT, and countries differ in their approaches. Existing methods may therefore not sufficiently identify the ecological risks associated with NNT unless they explicitly address the characteristics of tree species and site-specific aspects of forest management. Moreover, country-specific approaches may hamper the harmonisation of information and hinder risk assessments that extend across European borders. No studies to date have investigated the methods of risk assessments for NNT used in European forestry. Since NNT can have both risks and benefits, a careful and scientifically sound risk assessment is thus vital to provide clear evaluations for management, policy decisions and scientific purposes. Research objectives The main purpose of this thesis was to improve risk assessment approaches for the use of NNT in European forestry. In this context, the first objective was to review current risk assessment methods in Europe in terms of their suitability in identifying the ecological risks associated with NNT, thereby supporting both forest and risk management decisions (first objective). Based on the analysis of existing methods, it became obvious that it is necessary to improve the data base for risk assessments, e.g. by using forest inventory data (second objective), and to establish new criteria for assessing the risks of NNT (third objective). In summary, the main research objectives were as follows: (1) analyse the methods of existing risk assessment schemes in Europe for their practical applicability and consistency for potentially invasive non-native tree species. (2) strengthen the evidence base for risk assessments of widespread non-native tree species in Europe, using systematically collected data from forest inventories. (3) develop a risk assessment method that permits a more generalisable consideration of the costs and benefits of using non-native tree species in forests. Methods (1) Analysis of existing risk assessment tools Several risk assessment tools currently used in Germany and neighbouring countries were analysed for their practical applicability and consistency using four NNT (Fraxinus pennsylvanica Marsh., Paulownia tomentosa (Thunb. Ex Murray), Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirb.) Franco, and Quercus rubra L.) as case studies. Literature reviews were carried out to collect the required information on the invasion biology of the four NNT in Europe. Different methods were applied by assessing the tools’ criteria for each NNT using the information derived from the literature review based on the same reference area (Germany). (2) Strengthening the evidence base for risk assessments The relevance of using large scale forest inventory data for risk assessments was demonstrated using the two potentially invasive NNT, Quercus rubra and Pseudotsuga menziesii, in Germany as case studies. For this purpose, the establishment success of natural regeneration was quantified in terms of cover and height classes using national forest inventory data for Germany. The current extent of spread into protected forest habitats was investigated using a regional dataset for the State of Baden-Württemberg (south-west Germany). (4) Developing a risk assessment method for NNT First, basic principles and steps were identified and formulated for the development of a new methodological framework in order to assess the risks of NNT. Subsequently, four workshops were conducted with interdisciplinary groups of experts, public authorities, and stakeholders from the areas of forest conservation, silviculture, and nature conservation. Workshop participants were encouraged to evaluate each component of the proposed method and suggest improvements. Results and discussion Using different tools to classify risks for the same NNT yielded inconsistent results for all NNT. Different criteria are used in the methods and/or similar criteria are weighted differently. In most cases, no differentiation is made between the risks posed by NNT at different sites and ecosystem types. When data quality was poor, the precautionary principle (of considering only the worst observed effect) was typically applied without ranking the available ecological studies by their evidence. As a result, observations of small case studies are often extrapolated to large spatial scales by providing one single risk classification, i.e., typically ‘invasive’ or ‘potentially invasive’. Such a single undifferentiated risk classification is unlikely to provide meaningful guidance for a wide range of different ecosystems and regions. Large-scale forest inventories can provide valuable data across a range of different forest types to support the risk assessments of widespread NNT in forests. Based on the assessment of Pseudotsuga menziesii and Quercus rubra, there was no evidence of high establishment and spreading potential for the majority of forest types in Germany. Natural regeneration of both NNT has been reported in a small proportion of protected forest habitats. Semi-natural forests with sufficient light in the understory and competitively inferior tree species can be considered most sensitive to invasion. To mitigate any potential negative effect of both NNT, management approaches may involve buffer zones around sensitive ecosystems. When natural regeneration of NNT is systematically recorded, the approach could also be applied in other countries or regions. A new methodological framework was developed to mitigate risks associated with the use of NNT in European forestry while taking advantage of their ecosystem services. In contrast to the previously developed risk assessment approaches, the proposed method takes different ecosystem sensitivities to NNT into consideration as well as existing silvicultural methods to control or exclude potential risks. The framework comprises eight steps and is based on the existing knowledge as well as collecting new data. In addition to the use of the proposed method, several changes of environmental policy and forest management are recommended in order to achieve positive outcomes in the sustainable management of NNT. Conclusions The analysis of existing risk assessment tools (first objective) has shown that the results of the different risk assessment methods applied in Central Europe cannot be used as a reliable decision support tool for both forest and risk management of NNT. To strengthen the evidence base for risk assessments (second objective), forest inventories can provide important data for assessing the establishment and spreading potential of widespread NNT across a range of sites, thus identifying sensitive ecosystem types. The risk assessment criteria developed in this thesis enable NNT with a low current risk to be identified and considered for planting. The criteria thus provide a framework for integrating risk mitigation into forest management and represent an important step towards reliable, Pan-European risk assessments of NNT (third objective). The knowledge derived from such risk assessments should be made available for various stakeholders. In addition, clear communication is necessary between practitioners, policymakers, and the public about the risks of NNT regarding different forest types, sites and regions, as well as available management options and uncertainties in the data. At the same time, further monitoring of NNT and more research on potential impacts are required to continuously improve the information basis for risk assessments. To strengthen the benefits of NNT while mitigating their risks, new political approaches based on unifying principles are needed in Europe. These issues need to be addressed to arrive at risk assessments that are of high practical value for the responsible use of NNT in European forestry.
... Erecting towers is often not practical in the urban environment and repeat-photography in such settings raises privacy concerns. There may be opportunities to leverage existing imagery platforms such as camera infrastructure in cities (i.e., traffic monitoring cameras) or public posts on social media platforms to extract vegetation indices, though significant spatial and temporal resolution obstacles remain (Vaz et al., 2019;Morris et al., 2013). Despite the advances, sensor-based phenological studies (whether using near-surface or remotely sensed data) are limited in their ability to capture some phenophases, such as the start and progression of flowering (Sunoj et al., 2016). ...
Article
Trees are bioindicators of global climate change and regional urbanization, but available monitoring tools are ineffective for fine-scale observation of many species. Using six accelerometers mounted on two urban ash trees (Fraxinus americana), we looked at high-frequency tree vibrations, or change in periodicity of tree sway as a proxy for mass changes, to infer seasonal patterns of flowering and foliage (phenophases). We compared accelerometer-estimated phenophases to those derived from digital repeat photography using Green Chromatic Coordinates (GCC) and visual observation of phenophases defined by the USA National Phenology Network (NPN). We also drew comparisons between two commercial accelerometers and assessed how placement height influenced the ability to extract seasonal transition dates. Most notably, tree sway data showed a greenness signal in an urban environment and produced a clear flowering time-series and peak flowering signal (PF), marking the first observations of a flower phenophase using accelerometer data. Estimated start of spring (SOS) from accelerometers and time-lapse GCC were more similar than start of autumn (SOA); accelerometers lagged behind the time-lapse camera dates by three and four days for SOS and 13 and 14 days for SOA for each tree. Estimates for SOS and SOA from accelerometers and time-lapse cameras aligned closely with different NPN phenophases. The two commercial accelerometers produced similar season onset: a difference of 2.4 to 3.8 days for SOS, 2.1 days for SOA, and 0.5 to 2.0 days for PF. Accelerometers placed at the main crown branch point versus higher in the canopy showed a difference of 0.2 to 4.9 days for SOS and -1.5 to 1.7 days for PF. Our results suggest accelerometers present a novel opportunity to objectively monitor reproductive tree biology and fill gaps in phenology observations. Furthermore, widely available accelerometers show promise for scaling up from individual trees to the landscape level to aid forest management and assessing climate change impacts to tree phenology.
... This body of work has largely used social media to quantify recreationists' preferences for cultural ecosystem services. Distinct types of cultural ecosystem services in parks (e.g., recreation, aesthetic, scientific/educational, etc.) have most commonly been assessed through manual coding and classification of shared text or photographs (Clemente et al., 2019;Johnson et al., 2019;Muñoz et al., 2020;Retka et al., 2019;Van Berkel et al., 2018;Vaz et al., 2019;Vieira et al., 2018). One study compared manual content analysis of social media photos in a national park to stated preferences for biodiversity from a visitor survey and found preferences for largebodied mammals were over-represented in social media images, but small bodied mammals, plants, and reptiles were under-represented in images compared to survey-derived preferences (Hausmann et al., 2018). ...
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The ubiquitous use of the internet and social media has provided social and spatial scientists with a wealth of data from which inferences about landscape preferences can be gained. These data are increasingly being used as an alternative to data collected from surveys of recreationists. While the rapidly growing body of research using social media is impressive, little work has been done to compare the image content of social media to preferences elucidated via more traditional methods. We compare the landscape features derived through a computer vision algorithm used to analyze social media photographs with preferences derived through a traditional on-site intercept survey. We found that landscape features identified through the computer vision algorithm were, by and large, significantly different compared to landscape features that park users said improved their recreational experiences. Additionally, we did not find substantial differences in landscape preferences between visitors who share photographs of their park visit on social media and those who do not. We suggest a diversity of data sources and analytical methods should be used in a complementary and comparative way. Our analysis here suggests both surveys and social media images can provide important insights about landscape preferences, but neither in isolation is perfect.
... For example, the Google Vision Cloud API can not only provide detailed labels on the contents of images but can also be applied to detecting landmarks and image properties. Through the detection of landmarks, the Google Vision Cloud API provides the possibility to assess the distribution of non-geotagged images in a novel approach that could complement the geotagging method presented in Chapter 7. Assessing the properties of images, such as the colour spectrum found within images, may help to provide novel insights into how we interact with the natural environment, such as how tree colours impact visual-sensory landscape qualities (Vaz et al. 2019). Furthermore, we have demonstrated the value of enriching social media data with textual sentiment analysis to better show positive human-nature interactions, rather than assuming all interactions are positive. ...
Thesis
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To provide a more holistic approach to the conservation of ecosystem services (ES) there is a need to further develop our understanding of how features of biotic and abiotic nature, as well as people and society, interact to provide them. However, the role of geodiversity – the diversity of geology, geomorphology, sediments and soils and hydrology – is overlooked in ES literature and frameworks. Furthermore, geosystem services (GS) – the services that geodiversity provides in isolation of interactions with biotic nature – are also currently underrepresented in ES science. This thesis will focus on the role of geodiversity in providing cultural ecosystem services (CES), in particular how we interact with geodiversity when undertaking recreational actives. Here, social media datasets from the website Flickr and, for the first time in the field of CES, Reddit are used to assess human-nature interactions through a range of analytical methods including image content analysis, textual sentiment analysis and distribution modelling. The results of these methods contribute to our understanding of both the complex relationship between geodiversity and CES and to the applications of social media data to CES studies. First, the empirical methods highlight that geodiversity is important at driving both the distribution of CES as well as the positive experience of the activity undertaken. It is demonstrated that geomorphological features, such as topography, and hydrological features, such as coastal waters and lakes, play an important role in determining the distribution and experience of the recreational activity of hiking. The results also highlight the complex relationships between geodiversity and biodiversity features, such as trees and plants, as well as between geodiversity and human-made features, such as trails and roads, in providing CES. The results of these studies can help inform future geoconservation management with the aim of promoting the sustainable use of geodiversity to ensure the future of the ES it provides. Second, this work advances current uses of social media data by providing novel methods of obtaining data through an accessible R package, photosearcher, as well as informing on the best practice for enriching social media datasets. Furthermore, we investigate Reddit as a novel source of data for CES and demonstrate its usefulness in assessing a range of CES. It is suggested that future work continues to investigate the role of geodiversity on ES, using both social media data and other analytical methods, to better inform the holistic conservation of ES for now and for future generations.
... Against the problem of spatial resolution of GT analysis (including less-populated regions), integrating various data sources will reveal the spatial and temporal dynamics of phenological phenomena. Photographs and videos provide, sometimes without the intention of users, the in situ reality of species habitats (ElQadi et al., 2017), phenology (Silva et al., 2018), and ecosystem services such as recreational and aesthetic landscapes (Richards and Friess, 2015;Vaz et al., 2019). Posted texts in social media also provide location-specific events about vegetation phenology (Silva et al., 2018). ...
Article
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The phenology of berry-producing plants, particularly their harvest season, is of human interest and also reflects the ecosystem’s response to the changing environment. We investigated the seasonal dynamics of human interest in berries growing in boreal, subarctic and Arctic ecosystems, mainly in Russia, based on internet search data via Google Trends. There is a typical and culture-specific pattern of seasonal variations in search volume concerning berries across Russia, Finland, and Canada. Generally, the seasonal peak of search corresponds to the common berry harvest season across these countries. We discussed the potential and limitation for detecting ecological factors from the internet search data, in which physical phenomena and socio-cultural aspects are fundamentally superimposed, and its applicability to phenological studies.
... A total of 29 papers considered the theme of urban park use, 17 papers studied environmental protection, 7 papers focused on human mobility patterns, and 5 papers researched biodiversity and landscape characterisation. In relation to cultural ecosystem services in UGS, various data platforms such as Flickr, Instagram, Twitter, Panoramio [75] and Wikiloc [98] have been utilised. Amongst these platforms, Flickr was the most commonly used [95,99], whilst research examining the theme of park use has most commonly used Twitter and Weibo [24,74]. ...
Article
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Volunteered Geographical Information (VGI) and social media can provide information about real-time perceptions, attitudes and behaviours in urban green space (UGS). This paper reviews the use of VGI and social media data in research examining UGS. The current state of the art is described through the analysis of 177 papers to (1) summarise the characteristics and usage of data from different platforms, (2) provide an overview of the research topics using such data sources, and (3) characterise the research approaches based on data pre-processing, data quality assessment and improvement, data analysis and modelling. A number of important limitations and priorities for future research are identified. The limitations include issues of data acquisition and representativeness, data quality, as well as differences across social media platforms in different study areas such as urban and rural areas. The research priorities include a focus on investigating factors related to physical activities in UGS areas, urban park use and accessibility, the use of data from multiple sources and, where appropriate, making more effective use of personal information. In addition, analysis approaches can be extended to examine the network suggested by social media posts that are shared, re-posted or reacted to and by being combined with textual, image and geographical data to extract more representative information for UGS analysis.
... Because of these advantages, passive crowdsourced data, and, among them, geotagged photographs in particular, have been widely used in the context of nature conservation to: estimate the socio-economic value of a landscape (Sonter et al., 2016); investigate the potential of a site to support tourism and recreation (Ghermandi et al., 2020a;Teles da Mota and Pickering, 2020;van Zanten et al., 2016); identify popular locations and visitor flows (Orsi and Geneletti, 2013); and easily link visitation intensity to salient features of the landscape (e.g., types of forest, water bodies, particular species of trees and animals), allowing for assessing the relationships between these elements of the landscape and the supply of CES (Bernetti et al., 2019;Hausmann et al., 2018;Martínez Pastur et al., 2016;Oteros-Rozas et al., 2018;Sonter et al., 2016;Tenerelli et al., 2016;Van Berkel et al., 2018;Vaz et al., 2019;Willemen et al., 2015;Wood et al., 2013;Wu, 2013). Another strength of the social media method is that it provides a source of passive and nonauthoritative crowdsourced geographic information which is independent of explicit and specific planning and policy goals, in contrast to PPGIS (Heikinheimo et al., 2017;See et al., 2016). ...
Article
Cultural ecosystem services (CES) are important components of urban quality of life. Public participation GIS (PPGIS) is widely used to assess and map these services. However, it is often a time-consuming exercise with which only small spatial and temporal scales can be addressed. Assessments based on geolocated, passively crowdsourced data from social media present new opportunities to assess CES through a large amount of available data and for broad spatial and temporal scales. We assess the potential of these two methods to substitute , supplement or complement each other in terms of the qualitative information they provide (i.e., landscape features of interest and CES). We take as a case study seven green and blue open spaces of the city of Haifa (Israel), each presenting different elements of interest in the landscape and degrees of accessibility. Results indicate that the two methods provide unique results and are complementary in many instances. We discuss the representativeness of the social media data, the strength of the two methods with respect to the qualitative information obtained, the specificities related to the urban context and the instances of complementarity. We suggest that crowdsourced social media data should be included in broad, multi-methodological approaches to CES.
... As biological invasions are highly impacting the Mediterranean Sea biodiversity, and many coastal zones and shallow waters are vulnerable to NIS invasion, the use of cost-effective systems, e.g., citizen science and remote sensing, may offer many important contributions to the knowledge and management of NIS [19,[46][47][48]. ...
Article
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Tracking Marine Alien Macroalgae in the Mediterranean Sea: The Contribution of Citizen Citizen and Remote Sensing Anna Maria Mannino, Flavio Borfecchia, Carla Micheli Journal of Marine Science and Engineering, Vol 9, 3, 288, Ed. MDPI ABSTRACT The accelerating rate of the introduction of non-indigenous species (NIS) and the magnitude of shipping traffic make the Mediterranean Sea a hotspot of biological invasions. For the effective management of NIS, early detection and intensive monitoring over time and space are essential. Here, we present an overview of possible applications of citizen science and remote sensing in monitoring alien seaweeds in the Mediterranean Sea. Citizen science activities, involving the public (e.g., tourists, fishermen, divers) in the collection of data, have great potential for monitoring NIS. The innovative methodologies, based on remote sensing techniques coupled with in situ/laboratory advanced sampling/analysis methods for tracking such species, may be useful and effective tools for easily assessing NIS distribution patterns and monitoring the space/time changes in habitats in order to support the sustainable management of the ecosystems. The reported case studies highlight how these cost-effective systems can be useful complementary tools for monitoring NIS, especially in marine protected areas, which, despite their fundamental role in the conservation of marine biodiversity, are not immune to the introduction of NIS. To ensure effective and long-lasting management strategies, collaborations between researchers, policy makers and citizens are essential.
... As biological invasions are highly impacting the Mediterranean Sea biodiversity, and many coastal zones and shallow waters are vulnerable to NIS invasion, the use of cost-effective systems, e.g., citizen science and remote sensing, may offer many important contributions to the knowledge and management of NIS [19,[46][47][48]. ...
Article
Full-text available
The accelerating rate of non-indigenous species (NIS) introductions and the magnitude of shipping traffic, make the Mediterranean Sea a hotspot of biological invasions. For the effective management of NIS, early detection and intensive monitoring over time and space are essential. Here, we present an overview on possible applications of citizen science and remote sensing in monitoring alien seaweeds in the Mediterranean Sea. Citizen science activities, involving the public (e.g., tourists, fishermen, divers) in the collection of data, have great potential for monitoring NIS. The innovative methodologies based on remote sensing techniques coupled with in situ/laboratory advanced sampling/analysis methods for tracking such species, may be useful and effective tools in easily assessing NIS distribution patterns and monitoring the space/time changes in the habitats for supporting the sustainable management of the ecosystems. The reported case studies highlighted how these cost-effective systems can be useful complementary tools for monitoring NIS, especially in Marine Protected Areas which, despite their fundamental role in the conservation of marine biodiversity, are not immune to NIS introduction. To ensure effective and long-lasting management strategies collaborations between researchers, policy makers and citizens are essential. Keywords: non-indigenous species; Mediterranean Sea; monitoring; managing; citizen science; remote sensing; Landsat 8 OLI
... As biological invasions are highly impacting the Mediterranean Sea biodiversity, and many coastal zones and shallow waters are vulnerable to NIS invasion, the use of cost-effective systems, e.g., citizen science and remote sensing, may offer many important contributions to the knowledge and management of NIS [19,[46][47][48]. ...
Article
Full-text available
The accelerating rate of non-indigenous species (NIS) introductions and the magnitude of shipping traffic, make the Mediterranean Sea a hotspot of biological invasions. For the effective management of NIS, early detection and intensive monitoring over time and space are essential. Here, we present an overview on possible applications of citizen science and remote sensing in monitoring alien seaweeds in the Mediterranean Sea. Citizen science activities, involving the public (e.g., tourists, fishermen, divers) in the collection of data, have great potential for monitoring NIS. The innovative methodologies based on remote sensing techniques coupled with in situ/laboratory advanced sampling/analysis methods for tracking such species, may be useful and effective tools in easily assessing NIS distribution patterns and monitoring the space/time changes in the habitats for supporting the sustainable management of the ecosystems. The reported case studies highlighted how these cost-effective systems can be useful complementary tools for monitoring NIS, especially in Marine Protected Areas which, despite their fundamental role in the conservation of marine biodiversity, are not immune to NIS introduction. To ensure effective and long-lasting management strategies collaborations between researchers, policy makers and citizens are essential. Keywords: non-indigenous species; Mediterranean Sea; monitoring; managing; citizen science; remote sensing; Landsat 8 OLI
... Recent work has focused less on the use of social media to quantify visitation within a particular park, focusing instead on using these data to identify distinct types of users (Gosal, Geijzendorffer, Václavík, Poulin, & Ziv, 2019), parameterize models of visitor flows (Orsi & Geneletti, 2013), and quantify the value of parks and protected areas (Sinclair, Ghermandi, & Sheela, 2018). Recent work has also used social media to measure preferences for (e.g., Clemente et al., 2019;Gosal et al., 2019;Hausmann et al., 2017;Johnson, Campbell, Svendsen, & McMillen, 2019;Muñoz, Hausner, Runge, Brown, & Daigle, 2020;Retka et al., 2019;Vaz et al., 2019;Vieira, Bragagnolo, Correia, Malhado, & Ladle, 2018;Yoshimura & Hiura, 2017), or inequitable access to (Martinez-Harms et al., 2018), ecosystem services. ...
Article
We used nine years of geotagged social media posts uploaded to Flickr and Panoramio to investigate the ability of social media to measure and map spatial patterns in visitation to national parks, national forests, and state parks in Utah, USA. Our analysis shows support for the use of geotagged social media to supplement data collected through traditional means (e.g., on-site counts of visitors) as part of visitor use monitoring protocols. However, we did observe notable differences in the amount of variance in reported visitation explained by geotagged social media. Social media posts made within national parks and national forests captured substantially more of the variation in reported visitation relative to posts made within state parks. We attribute this to a variety of factors including the unique types of sites managed within the state park system, lower levels of visitation relative to national parks and forests within the state, and the method by which the state estimates visitation. We use exploratory spatial analyses to investigate spatial patterns of visitation across public lands. The analysis, performed at three different spatial scales (statewide, region, and county) illustrate the diversity of ways in which geotagged social media can inform outdoor recreation and tourism planning efforts and supplement traditional methods of measuring visitation. Our investigation demonstrates how social media can serve as a useful tool to inform proactive planning and management efforts.
... The volume of information uploaded to online social media platforms, like Instagram or Flickr, can provide an important source of information to assess Preprint submitted to: Ecosystem Services Page 2 peoples' preferences and values through a cost-effective approach (Clemente et al., 2019;Retka et al., 2019;Vaz et al., 2019). Social media platforms continuously store information people upload from any location in the planet. ...
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Cultural Ecosystem Services (CES) assessment at large scales is crucial in marine ecosystems as they reflect key physical and cognitive interactions between humans and nature. The analysis of social media data with graph theory is a promising approach to provide global information on users' perceptions for different marine ecosystems. Fourteen areas were selected to illustrate the use of graph theory on social media data. The selected areas, known to protect key recreational, educational and heritage attributes of marine ecosystems, were investigated to identify variability in users' preferences. Instagram data (i.e., hashtags associated to photos) was extracted for each area allowing an in-depth assessment of the CES most appreciated by the users. Hashtags were analysed using network centrality measures to identify clusters of words, aspects not normally captured by traditional photo content analysis. The emergent properties of networks of hashtags were explored to characterise visitors' preferences (e.g., cultural heritage or nature appreciation), activities (e.g., diving or hiking), preferred habitats and species (e.g. forest, beach, penguins), and feelings (e.g., happiness or place identity). Network analysis on Instagram hashtags allowed delineating the users' discourse around a natural area, which provides crucial information for effective management of popular natural spaces for people.
... Ecological RS applications with the different sensors have proven to be useful, such as the monitoring of blue carbon ecosystems [227,283], habitat [284], and valuation of ecosystem services [285,286]. For instance, coral reef restoration as a measure could be addressed by using RS technologies as they provide information on various abiotic conditions and other site characteristics [287]. ...
Article
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Coastal and marine management require the evaluation of multiple environmental threats and issues. However, there are gaps in the necessary data and poor access or dissemination of existing data in many countries around the world. This research identifies how remote sensing can contribute to filling these gaps so that environmental agencies, such as the United Nations Environmental Programme, European Environmental Agency, and International Union for Conservation of Nature, can better implement environmental directives in a cost-effective manner. Remote sensing (RS) techniques generally allow for uniform data collection, with common acquisition and reporting methods, across large areas. Furthermore, these datasets are sometimes open-source, mainly when governments finance satellite missions. Some of these data can be used in holistic, coastal and marine environmental management frameworks, such as the DAPSI(W)R(M) framework (Drivers–Activities–Pressures–State changes–Impacts (on Welfare)–Responses (as Measures), an updated version of Drivers–Pressures–State–Impact–Responses. The framework is a useful and holistic problem-structuring framework that can be used to assess the causes, consequences, and responses to change in the marine environment. Six broad classifications of remote data collection technologies are reviewed for their potential contribution to integrated marine management, including Satellite-based Remote Sensing, Aerial Remote Sensing, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, Unmanned Surface Vehicles, Unmanned Underwater Vehicles, and Static Sensors. A significant outcome of this study is practical inputs into each component of the DAPSI(W)R(M) framework. The RS applications are not expected to be all-inclusive; rather, they provide insight into the current use of the framework as a foundation for developing further holistic resource technologies for management strategies in the future. A significant outcome of this research will deliver practical insights for integrated coastal and marine management and demonstrate the usefulness of RS to support the implementation of environmental goals, descriptors, targets, and policies, such as the Water Framework Directive, Marine Strategy Framework Directive, Ocean Health Index, and United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Additionally, the opportunities and challenges of these technologies are discussed.
... The results showed that the EVI produced the best model for grass and shrub cover, and NDVI was the best predictor of tree density and cover, whereas FPAR was the best predictor of biomass. Vaz et al. [89] used the EVI in the MOD13Q1 product for describing seasonal vegetation changes in Peneda-Gerês National Park, Portugal. Ibrahim et al. [90] developed a remote sensing model that included linear, logarithmic, and polynomial regressions to retrieve woody cover in African savanna based on the NDVI and soil-adjusted vegetation index (SAVI) derived from MODIS data and field data from 28 sites in KNP. ...
Article
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Terrestrial protected areas (PAs) play an essential role in maintaining biodiversity and ecological processes worldwide, and the monitoring of PAs is a useful tool in assessing the effectiveness of PA management. Advanced remote sensing technologies have been increasingly used for mapping and monitoring the dynamics of PAs. We review the advances in remote sensing-based approaches for monitoring terrestrial PAs in the last decade and identify four types of studies in this field: land use & land cover and vegetation community classification, vegetation structure quantification, natural disturbance monitoring, and land use & land cover and vegetation dynamic analysis. We systematically discuss the satellite data and methods used for monitoring PAs for the four research objectives. Moreover, we summarize the approaches used in the different types of studies. The following suggestions are provided for future studies: (1) development of remote sensing frameworks for local PA monitoring worldwide; (2) comprehensive utilization of multisource remote sensing data; (3) improving methods to investigate the details of PA dynamics; (4) discovering the driving forces and providing measures for PA management. Overall, the integration of remote sensing data and advanced processing methods can support PA management and decision-making procedures.
... Social media opens new avenues for data mining to locate CES in the space and time. Social networks containing geo-tagged data allow collecting information about CES at the fastest pace ever (Oteros-Rozas et al., 2018;Vaz et al., 2019). This new trend to gather CES data will be useful only if, and when, ecotourism increases in Sahara-Sahel to levels that will allow assembly such data. ...
Article
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Human-mediated global environmental change threatens ecosystem services worldwide. Detailed cultural ecosystem services mapping is crucial to counteract ecosystem degradation, but such mapping exercises have been confined to small-scale analyses in developed countries. Additionally, disturbances constraining the supply of cultural ecosystem services transboundary have never been mapped, which hampers the accurate management of ecosystems, particularly in underdeveloped countries affected by human conflicts. The Sahara-Sahel ecoregions of Africa represent an excellent model to map the distribution of transboundary attractions and constraints to cultural ecosystem services due to the many conflicts affecting its drylands. We mapped and analysed the supply of cultural ecosystem services in the Sahara-Sahel, using a multicriteria approach that includes transboundary attractions and constraints playing at broader scales. We wanted to understand where are located the hotspots of cultural ecosystem services and which regions displaying the highest levels of attractions may be simultaneously threatened by constraint features. Overall, 35.4% of the study area displays high (27.9%) to very high (7.5%) levels of attractions to cultural ecosystem services supply, while 8.6% of the area displays high (7.5%) to very high (1.1%) levels of constraints that limit the usufruct of these services in the region. Our findings showed that the main mountains and wetlands of the region are supplying high levels of cultural ecosystem services but are threatened in some parts of their range by transboundary constraints. Some country-borders displayed a high concentration of constraints impacting desert biodiversity and human communities. This highlights the urgency of policymakers to reinforce transboundary strategic actions to halt the ongoing destruction of natural resources in the region. The developed approach is scalable and replicable in any ecosystem, including in those located in data-scarce regions. Including constraints to ecosystem services supply is paramount to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
... Research on the application of remote sensing in the field of alien species and ES continues to progress as technology and our understanding of the ways in which ES are mediated by alien species improves (e.g. Lafortezza and Giannico 2017;Pettorelli et al. 2017;Vaz et al. 2019). ...
Article
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Background Natural resources within and around urban landscapes are under increasing pressure from ongoing urbanisation, and management efforts aimed at ensuring the sustainable provision of ecosystem services (ES) are an important response. Given the limited resources available for assessing urban ES in many cities, practical approaches for integrating ES in decision-making process are needed. Methods We apply remote sensing techniques (integrating LiDAR data with high-resolution multispectral imagery) and combined these with supplementary spatial data to develop a replicable approach for assessing the role of urban vegetation (including invasive alien plants) in providing ES and ecosystem disservices (EDS). We identify areas denoting potential management trade-offs based on the spatial distribution of ES and EDS using a local-scale case study in the city of Cape Town, South Africa. Situated within a global biodiversity hotspot, Cape Town must contend with widespread invasions of alien plants (especially trees and shrubs) along with complex socio-political challenges. This represents a useful system to examine the challenges in managing ES and EDS in the context of urban plant invasions. Results Areas of high ES provision (for example carbon sequestration, shade and visual amenity) are characterized by the presence of large trees. However, many of these areas also result in numerous EDS due to invasions of alien trees and shrubs – particularly along rivers, in wetlands and along the urban edge where tall alien trees have established and spread into the natural vegetation (for example increased water consumption, increased fire risk and reduced soil quality). This suggests significant trade-offs regarding the management of species and the ES and EDS they provide. Conclusions The approach applied here can be used to provide recommendations and to guide city planners and managers to fine-tune management interventions at local scales to maximise the provision of ES.
... Remote sensing has been particularly useful to identify and map animal and plant invaders (Müllerová et al., 2017;Safonova et al., 2019) as well as to predict their current and future potential distributions and impacts (Rocchini et al., 2015;Hellmann et al., 2017). Remote sensing applications have been rapidly developing in the arena of invasions, and as technology evolves it is also becoming a prominent tool to manage alien species (and invaded areas) and their impacts (Vaz et al., 2018(Vaz et al., , 2019. ...
... Capitalize the experience of all the existing networks for the benefit of the society ACH, one of the core carriers of cultural diversity on our planet, is a driver and enabler of sustainable development of the society (ICOMOS, 2017). Discovering, documenting and understanding ACH sites and their changes in space and time are crucial to promptly provide monitoring and management practices against damage and cultural diversity loss (Vaz et al., 2019). This is explicitly taken into account by the SDGs of the United Nations (Guo, 2018;Guo et al., 2017Guo et al., , 2018UN, 2015), with Goal 11.4 explicitly aiming to "strengthen efforts to protect and safeguard the world's cultural and natural heritage to make our cities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable". ...
Article
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Archaeological and cultural heritage (ACH), one of the core carriers of cultural diversity on our planet, has a direct bearing on the sustainable development of mankind. Documenting and protecting ACH is the common responsibility and duty of all humanity. It is governed by UNESCO along with the scientific communities that foster and encourage the use of advanced non-invasive techniques and methods for promoting scientific research into ACH and conservation of ACH sites. The use of remote sensing, a non-destructive tool, is increasingly popular by specialists around the world as it allows fast prospecting and mapping at multiple scales, rapid analysis of multisource datasets, and dynamic monitoring of ACH sites and their surrounding environments. The cost of using remote sensing is lower or even zero in practical applications. In this review, in order to discuss the advantages of airborne and spaceborne remote sensing (ASRS), the principles that make passive (photography, multispectral and hyperspectral) and active (synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and light detection and ranging radar (LiDAR)) imaging techniques suitable for ACH applications are first summarized and pointed out; a review of ASRS and the methodologies used over the past century is then presented together with relevant highlights from well-known research projects. Selected case studies from Mediterranean regions to East Asia illustrate how ASRS can be used effectively to investigate and understand archaeological features at multiple-scales and to monitor and assess the conservation status of cultural heritage sites in the context of sustainable development. An in-depth discussion on the limitations of ASRS and associated remaining challenges is presented along with conclusions and a look at future trends.
Article
Rivers offer cultural ecosystem services (CES) that improve people's quality of life. Advancements in computing and data storage have primarily focused on terrestrial CES, neglecting riverine areas. This study aims to develop a methodology to assess CES in riverine landscapes from social media and citizen science images related to environmental information. We collected georeferenced pictures from Flickr and iNaturalist for three main test rivers in northwest Portugal (Minho, Lima and Cávado) and classified them based on content such as ‘biodiversity’, ‘recreation/river beaches’, ‘historical heritage’ and ‘landscape’, as well as environmental spatial variables. A multimodel inference approach was applied to predict the spatial distribution of the pictures and environmental variables to support CES mapping. The methodology was applied during two time periods, before and during the most restrictive period of the COVID-19 pandemic. Results showed that estuaries were identified as ‘hotspots’ for CES related to rivers provision. There was distinct prevalence of pictures depending on the targeted river: pictures exhibiting ‘recreation/river beaches’ prevailed in Cávado (62%), ‘biodiversity’ in Lima (70%) and ‘historical heritage’ in Minho (39%). Only the values and patterns from the category ‘biodiversity’ were maintained on the two analysed periods, with the other categories not having posts in social media during COVID-19 most restrictive period. The methodology for CES assessment in rivers can be replicated using different time periods and regions due to its simple stepwise framework. The study provides valuable insights for sociocultural approaches, aiding in decision-making on freshwater environment management, despite potential limitations in image distribution.
Article
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Existing research on the social and cultural (S&C) values of treescapes tends to be limited in scope, for example to recreation, aesthetic or health values, and much is primarily qualitative, which provides rich detail but does not lend itself easily to incorporation into decision‐making. Having a way to quantify the range of S&C values associated with treescapes is important if decision‐makers are to effectively take these into account. This issue is particularly important currently with ambitious plans to increase tree cover alongside growing threats to treescapes from climate change and tree pests and diseases. This paper outlines the development of a new composite measure to quantify the S&C values associated with treescapes. The development of the measure resulted in a set of 19 statements across six categories of S&C value. We present results from using the measure in a survey with a representative sample of 5000 people across England together with the results of a factor analysis, which suggests a way to simplify the measure into five statements. We examine the measure through the lens of relational values and suggest that a majority of the values in our measure are relational. Policy implications. The composite measure can be used by decision‐makers looking to develop their evidence base regarding the value of treescapes in their area, or for exploring the impact of tree pests and diseases. It has already been used by more than one local authority in England. While data collection was limited to England, we suggest that the measure is applicable across a wider range of countries. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.
Chapter
The chapter explores how digital innovation can be utilized to advance sustainable development goals in rural areas, focusing specifically on marketing intangible cultural heritage. It highlights the importance of preserving rural cultural traditions and the role of marketing in raising awareness and generating economic opportunities. Traditional marketing approaches are insufficient in the digital era, necessitating the exploration of digital tools like virtual reality, mobile apps, and social media platforms. The chapter emphasizes the alignment of digital innovation with sustainable development goals, such as supporting local economies and preserving cultural authenticity. Collaboration and capacity-building initiatives are crucial to empower rural communities in effectively utilizing digital platforms. The chapter provides valuable insights and recommendations for policymakers, researchers, and practitioners in this field.
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Significance Statement Reconciling nature conservation and cultural ecosystem services (CES) has become fundamental to manage mountain protected areas. The timely monitoring of CES opportunities at large scales is therefore a pressing need. We combined social media data and Earth observations (EO) into a multi model inference framework to assess CES opportunities in two contrasting mountain Biosphere Reserves in Southern Europe: Peneda-Gerês (Portugal) and Sierra Nevada (Spain). EO indicators expressing people’s accessibility to leisure elements and landscape visual-sensory characteristics appear to be effective candidates for the monitoring of attributes underlying CES. Our findings recognise EO as complementary tools to socio-cultural approaches for the evaluation of CES, aiding stakeholders in their management decisions focused on the resilience and sustainability of mountain protected areas.
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Rural tourism continues to evolve toward an experience economy. Along with rural tourism activities, travelers often enjoy intangible heritage as part of their cultural tourism experience. Digital technologies could aid in the development of online preservation, learning tool, and a set of guidelines based on intangible cultural heritage to assist small rural businesses in designing and promoting sustainable tourist products. The digital revolution has the potential to foster mutual learning among tour operators, tourists, and host communities, in addition to boosting access to cultural material and making it publicly available. However, there is a lack of digital technology in creating a favorable environment to promote the inheritance and enhancement of the value of intangible cultural heritage through rural tourism development. Moreover, the digital optimization of intangible cultural heritage and rural tourism development needs special attention. The chapter provides insights on digitalizing intangible cultural heritage and rural tourism for sustainable destination development.
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The competitiveness of the tourism sector in Portugal is crucial for economic performance in the Portuguese context. The new paradigms created by the pandemic have compromised this competitiveness and the alternatives are, for now, not well perceived or understood by the several stakeholders. For example, the possibility of reconverting employees from the tourism sector into the social sector was not well received by the various key players involved. To better support the design of new policies, namely to find alternatives for the unemployment that will be created by the Covid-19 pandemic, the objective of this study is to present a perspective of tourism revenue before and after the pandemic. The main outcomes suggest that it will be urgent to find new alternatives of business and employment in order to mitigate the impacts from these new paradigms, due to the decrease across the several dimensions of revenue which has been accentuated and the perspectives for the summer months are not promising enough to overcome the dramatic context created.
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Social media are being increasingly used to inform visitor use management in parks and protected areas. We review the state of the scientific literature to understand the ways social media has been, and can be, used to measure visitation, spatial patterns of use, and visitors' experiences in parks and protected areas. Geotagged social media are a good proxy for actual visitation; however, the correlations observed by previous studies between social media and other sources of visitation data vary substantially. Most studies using social media to measure visitation aggregate data across many years, with very few testing the use of social media as a visitation proxy at smaller temporal scales. No studies have tested the use of social media to estimate visitation in near real-time. Studies have used geotags and GPS tracks to understand spatial patterns of where visitors travel within parks, and how that may relate to other variables (e.g., infrastructure), or differ by visitor type. Researchers have also found the text content, photograph content, and geotags from social media posts useful to understand aspects of visitors' experiences, such as behaviors, preferences, and sentiment. The most cited concern with using social media is that this data may not be representative of all park users. Collectively, this body of research demonstrates a broad range of applications for social media. We synthesize our findings by identifying gaps and opportunities for future research and presenting a set of best practices for using social media in parks and protected areas.
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Cultural Ecosystem Service (CES) evaluation is the basis for various environmental management and policymaking for nature-based tourism destinations including national parks. As an innovative data sourcing method, geolocated social media data promotes the rapid growth in CES research. Based on 58 empirical research articles using geolocated social media data, we review the current status and challenges of CES research and suggest some future CES research directions. We find that current geolocated social media based quantitative CES evaluation studies concentrate in photo density analysis, quantitative analysis of photo contents, photo viewshed analysis and economic values analysis. We also find that factors affecting CES spatial and temporal distributions fall in two major categories: biophysical and social/infrastructure. We think that future CES research can be improved by theoretical extension, methodological integration and service co-creation.
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With less than a decade left to attain the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), this communication aims to improve understanding of the enabling environment that is essential for Earth observations (EO) to be fully adopted within the institutional settings that drive the implementation of the SDGs and the Global Indicator Framework, an effective review mechanism for tracking progress at global to national and local levels. This paper also serves as an introduction to the Remote Sensing of Environment's Special Issue (SI) on Earth Observation for the Sustainable Development Goals. The seventeen contributions published in this SI showcase the application of EO data, methods, and tools to support countries in target setting for the SDGs, including baseline determination, as well as tracking of progress on SDG implementation and informing sustainable development planning and decision making. The majority of published articles focus on Goals 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation), 14 (Life below Water) and 15 (Life on Land). We also present our own analysis of existing EO systems available to generate data for SDG indicators addressed via the SI contributions, including main resolution characteristics, and assess factors that hinder the full integration of EO solutions for the SDGs within country processes, institutions of government, and policies. We conclude that an urgent need exists for the EO community to work more closely with local and regional governments and other relevant stakeholders to promote the operationalization of EO solutions for implementing the 2030 Agenda at global to local levels. Our review also illustrates the need for transitioning towards new EO for SDG frameworks that are focused on the knowledge element of the data-information-knowledge-wisdom paradigm, rather than the data and information aspects.
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Acacia dealbata Link is an invasive plant that threatens the conservation of natural habitats at Peneda-Gerês National Park (NW Portugal). The present MSc thesis focuses on invasive plants and the challenges they impose, on A. dealbata characteristics and on the National Park case study. In this protected area, efforts to control the invasive species and recover natural habitats haven’t yet succeeded. Control actions are analysed, some critical points are discussed and an alternative way for a more efficient ecological restoration program is presented.
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Google Earth Engine is a cloud-based platform for planetary-scale geospatial analysis that brings Google's massive computational capabilities to bear on a variety of high-impact societal issues including deforestation, drought, disaster, disease, food security, water management, climate monitoring and environmental protection. It is unique in the field as an integrated platform designed to empower not only traditional remote sensing scientists, but also a much wider audience that lacks the technical capacity needed to utilize traditional supercomputers or large-scale commodity cloud computing resources.
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Can social media data be used as an alternative to traditional surveys to understand tourists´ preferences for nature-based experiences in protected areas? We explored this by comparing preferences for biodiversity obtained from a traditional survey conducted in Kruger National Park, South Africa, with observed preferences assessed from over 13,600 pictures shared on Instagram and Flickr by tourists visiting the park in the same period. We found no significant difference between the preferences of tourists as stated in the surveys and the preferences revealed by social media content. Overall, large-bodied mammals were found to be the favorite group, both in the survey and on social media platforms. However, Flickr was found to better match tourists’ preference for less-charismatic biodiversity. Our findings suggest that social media content can be used as a cost-efficient way to explore, and for more continuous monitoring of, preferences for biodiversity and human activities in protected areas.
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The construction of culture as a class of ecosystem service presents a significant test of the holistic ambitions of an ecosystems approach to decision making. In this paper we explore the theoretical challenges arising from efforts to understand ecosystems as objects of cultural concern and consider the operational complexities associated with understanding how, and with what consequences, knowledge about cultural ecosystem services are created, communicated and accounted for in real world decision making. We specifically forward and develop a conceptual framework for understanding cultural ecosystem services and related benefits in terms of the environmental spaces and cultural practices that arise from interactions between humans and ecosystems. The types of knowledge, and approaches to knowledge production, presumed by this relational, non-linear and place-based perspective on cultural ecosystem services are discussed and reviewed. The framework not only helps navigate more fully the challenge of operationalising ‘cultural ecosystem services’ but points to a more relational understanding of the ecosystem services framework as a whole. Extending and refining understanding through more ambitious engagements in interdisciplinarity remains important.
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Due to the high cost of traditional forest plot measurements, the availability of up-to-date in situ forest inventory data has been a bottleneck for remote sensing image analysis in support of the important global forest biomass mapping. Capitalizing on the proliferation of smartphones, citizen science is a promising approach to increase spatial and temporal coverages of in situ forest observations in a cost-effective way. Digital cameras can be used as a relascope device to measure basal area, a forest density variable that is closely related to biomass. In this paper, we present the Relasphone mobile application with extensive accuracy assessment in two mixed forest sites from different biomes. Basal area measurements in Finland (boreal zone) were in good agreement with reference forest inventory plot data on pine (R2=0.75, RMSE=5.33 m2/ha), spruce (R2=0.75,RMSE=6.73 m2/ha) and birch (R2=0.71,RMSE=4.98 m2/ha), with total relative RMSE(%)=29.66%. In Durango, Mexico (temperate zone), Relasphone stem volume measurements were best for pine (R2=0.88, RMSE=32.46 m3/ha) and total stem volume (R2=0.87, RMSE=35.21 m3/ha). Relasphone data were then successfully utilized as the only reference data in combination with optical satellite images to produce biomass maps. The Relasphone concept has been validated for future use by citizens in other locations.
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Geo-tagged photographs are used increasingly as a source of Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI), which could potentially be used for land use and land cover applications. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the feasibility of using this source of spatial information for three use cases related to land cover: Calibration, validation and verification. We first provide an inventory of the metadata that are collected with geo-tagged photographs and then consider what elements would be essential, desirable, or unnecessary for the aforementioned use cases. Geo-tagged photographs were then extracted from Flickr, Panoramio and Geograph for an area of London, UK, and classified based on their usefulness for land cover mapping including an analysis of the accompanying metadata. Finally, we discuss protocols for geo-tagged photographs for use of VGI in relation to land cover applications.
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Mountain regions meet an increasing demand for pleasant landscapes, offering many cultural ecosystem services to both their residents and tourists. As a result of global change, land managers and policy makers are faced with changes to this landscape and need efficient evaluation techniques to assess cultural ecosystem services. This study provides a spatially explicit modelling approach to estimating aesthetic landscape values by relating spatial landscape patterns to human perceptions via a photo-based survey. The respondents attributed higher aesthetic values to the Alpine landscape in respect to areas with settlements, infrastructure or intensive agricultural use. The aesthetic value of two study areas in the Central Alps (Stubai Valley, Austria and Vinschgau, Italy) was modelled for 10,215 viewpoints along hiking trails according to current land cover and a scenario considering the spontaneous reforestation of abandoned land. Viewpoints with high aesthetic values were mainly located at high altitude, allowing long vistas, and included views of lakes or glaciers, and the lowest values were for viewpoints close to streets and in narrow valleys with little view. The aesthetic values of the reforestation scenario decreased mainly at higher altitudes, but the whole area was affected, reducing aesthetic value by almost 10% in Stubai Valley and 15% in Vinschgau. Our proposed modelling approach allows the estimation of aesthetic values in spatial and qualitative terms for most viewpoints in the European Alps. The resulting maps can be used as information and the basis for discussion by stakeholders, to support the decision-making process and landscape planning. This paper also discusses the role of mountain farming in preserving an attractive landscape and related cultural values.
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Recreation and wildlife observations occur often in hiking trails. In terms of recreation planning, few studies have combined ecological and cultural features to assess ecotourism potential of hiking trails. Seasonality has been also neglected in tourism research. In order to disperse tourists over the year and alleviate the negative impacts of mass tourism events, we propose an integrated framework to assess the ecotourism potential of hiking trails that encompasses species, habitats, landscape and local heritage values, and takes into consideration their seasonal differences. By doing so, this methodology aims to contribute to local sustainable development. Our findings showed that, though some attractions may not be available during certain seasons, there are others which can bring tourists to the region all year long. We discuss some of the limitations, as well as future improvements to the use of this framework in trail development.
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Context Although there is a need to develop a spatially explicit methodological approach that addresses the social importance of cultural ecosystem services for regional planning, few studies have analysed the spatial distribution on the cultural ecosystem services based on social perceptions. Objective The main objective of this study was to identify cultural ecosystem service hot-spots, and factors that characterize such hot-spots and define the spatial associations between cultural ecosystem services in Southern Patagonia (Argentina). Methods The study was carried out in Southern Patagonia (243.9 thousand km2) located between 46° and 55° SL with the Andes mountains on the western fringe and the Atlantic Ocean on the eastern fringe of the study area. The study region has a range of different vegetation types (grasslands, shrub-lands, peat-lands and forests) though the cold arid steppe is the main vegetation type. We used geo-tagged digital images that local people and visitors posted in the Panoramio web platform to identify hot-spots of four cultural ecosystem services (aesthetic value, existence value, recreation and local identity) and relate these hot-spots with social and biophysical landscape features. Results Aesthetic value was the main cultural service tagged by people, followed by the existence value for biodiversity conservation, followed by local identity and then recreational activity. The spatial distribution of these cultural ecosystem services are associated with different social and biophysical characteristics, such as the presence of water bodies, vegetation types, marine and terrestrial fauna, protected areas, urbanization, accessibility and tourism offer. The most important factors are the presence of water in Santa Cruz and tourism offer in Tierra del Fuego. Conclusions Our results demonstrate that this methodology is useful for assessing cultural ecosystem services at the regional scale, especially in areas with low data availability and field accessibility, such as Southern Patagonia. We also identify new research challenges that can be addressed in cultural ecosystem services research through the use of this method.
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Volunteered data sources are readily available due to advances in electronic communications technology. For example, smartphones provide tools to collect ground-based observations over broad areas from a diverse set of data collectors, including people with, and without, extensive training. In this study, volunteers used a smartphone application to collect ground-based observations. Forest structural components were then estimated over a broader area using high spatial resolution RapidEye remote sensing imagery (5 spectral bands 440-850 nm, 5 m spatial resolution) and a digital elevation model following a three nearest neighbor approach (K-NN). Participants with professional forestry experience on average chose high-priority fuel load locations near buildings, while nonprofessional participants chose a broader range of conditions over a larger extent. When used together, the professional and nonprofessional observations provided a more complete assessment of forest conditions. A generalized framework is presented that utilizes K-NN imputation tools for estimating the distribution of forest fuels using remote sensing and topography variables, ensuring spatial representation, checking attribute accuracy, and evaluating predictor variables. Frameworks to integrate volunteered data from smartphone platforms with remote sensing may contribute toward more complete Earth observation for Digital Earth.
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Several of the most important conservation prioritization approaches select markedly different areas at global and regional scales. They are designed to maximize a certain biodiversity dimension such as coverage of species in the case of hotspots and complementarity, or composite properties of ecosystems in the case of wilderness. Most comparisons between approaches have ignored the multidimensionality of biodiversity. We analyze here the results of two species-based methodologies—hotspots and complementarity—and an ecosystem-based methodology—wilderness—at local scale. As zoning of protected areas can increase the effectiveness of conservation, we use the data employed for the management plan of the Peneda-Gerês National Park in Portugal. We compare the approaches against four criteria: species representativeness, wilderness coverage, coverage of important areas for megafauna, and for regulating ecosystem services. Our results suggest that species- and ecosystem-based approaches select significantly different areas at local scale. Our results also show that no approach covers well all biodiversity dimensions. Species-based approaches cover species distribution better, while the ecosystem-based approach favors wilderness, areas important for megafauna, and for ecosystem services. Management actions addressing different dimensions of biodiversity have a potential for contradictory effects, social conflict, and ecosystem services trade-offs, especially in the context of current European biodiversity policies. However, biodiversity is multidimensional, and management and zoning at local level should reflect this aspect. The consideration of both species- and ecosystem-based approaches at local scale is necessary to achieve a wider range of conservation goals. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s00267-015-0453-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
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Tree species have been planted widely beyond their native ranges to provide or enhance ecosystem services such as timber and fibre production, erosion control, and aesthetic or amenity benefits. At the same time, non-native tree species can have strongly negative impacts on ecosystem services when they naturalize and subsequently become invasive and disrupt or transform communities and ecosystems. The dichotomy between positive and negative effects on ecosystem services has led to significant conflicts over the removal of non-native invasive tree species worldwide. These conflicts are often viewed in only a local context but we suggest that a global synthesis sheds important light on the dimensions of the phenomenon. We collated examples of conflict surrounding the control or management of tree invasions where conflict has caused delay, increased cost, or cessation of projects aimed at invasive tree removal. We found that conflicts span a diverse range of taxa, systems and countries, and that most conflicts emerge around three areas: urban and near-urban trees; trees that provide direct economic benefits; and invasive trees that are used by native species for habitat or food. We suggest that such conflict should be seen as a normal occurrence in invasive tree removal. Assessing both positive and negative effects of invasive species on multiple ecosystem services may provide a useful framework for the resolution of conflicts.
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Scientists have traditionally studied recreation in nature by conducting surveys at entrances to major attractions such as national parks. This method is expensive and provides limited spatial and temporal coverage. A new source of information is available from online social media websites such as flickr. Here, we test whether this source of "big data" can be used to approximate visitation rates. We use the locations of photographs in flickr to estimate visitation rates at 836 recreational sites around the world, and use information from the profiles of the photographers to derive travelers' origins. We compare these estimates to empirical data at each site and conclude that the crowd-sourced information can indeed serve as a reliable proxy for empirical visitation rates. This new approach offers opportunities to understand which elements of nature attract people to locations around the globe, and whether changes in ecosystems will alter visitation rates.
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Human perceptions of nature and the environment are increasingly being recognised as important for environmental management and conservation. Understanding people's perceptions is crucial for understanding behaviour and developing effective management strategies to maintain, preserve and improve biodiversity, ecosystem services and human well-being. As an interdisciplinary team, we produced a synthesis of the key factors that influence people's perceptions of invasive alien species, and ordered them in a conceptual framework. In a context of considerable complexity and variation across time and space, we identified six broad-scale dimensions: (1) attributes of the individual perceiving the invasive alien species; (2) characteristics of the invasive alien species itself; (3) effects of the invasion (including negative and positive impacts, i.e. benefits and costs); (4) socio-cultural context; (5) landscape context; and (6) institutional and policy context. A number of underlying and facilitating aspects for each of these six overarching dimensions are also identified and discussed. Synthesising and understanding the main factors that influence people's perceptions is useful to guide future research, to facilitate dialogue and negotiation between actors, and to aid management and policy formulation and governance of invasive alien species. This can help to circumvent and mitigate conflicts, support prioritisation plans, improve stakeholder engagement platforms, and implement control measures.
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Available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969718322101
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Landscapes are increasingly recognized for providing valuable cultural ecosystem services with numerous non-material benefits by serving as places of rest, relaxation, and inspiration that ultimately improve overall mental health and physical well-being. Maintaining and enhancing these valuable benefits through targeted management and conservation measures requires understanding the spatial and temporal determinants of perceived landscape values. Content contributed through mobile technologies and the web are emerging globally, providing a promising data source for localizing and assessing these landscape benefits. These georeferenced data offer rich in situ qualitative information through photos and comments that capture valued and special locations across large geographic areas. We present a novel method for mapping and modeling landscape values and perceptions that leverages viewshed analysis of georeferenced social media data. Using a high resolution LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) derived digital surface model, we are able to evaluate landscape characteristics associated with the visual-sensory qualities of outdoor recreationalists. Our results show the importance of historical monuments and attractions in addition to specific environmental features which are appreciated by the public. Evaluation of photo-image content highlights the opportunity of including temporally and spatially variable visual-sensory qualities in cultural ecosystem services (CES) evaluation like the sights, sounds and smells of wildlife and weather phenomena. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons. org/licenses/by/4.0/).
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Satellite data, and the tools that ecologists use to analyse them, are more accessible and plentiful than ever.
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In ecology, the true causal structure for a given problem is often not known, and several plausible models and thus model predictions exist. It has been claimed that using weighted averages of these models can reduce prediction error, as well as better reflect model selection uncertainty. These claims, however, are often demonstrated by isolated examples. Analysts must better understand under which conditions model averaging can improve predictions and their uncertainty estimates. Moreover, a large range of different model averaging methods exists, raising the question of how they differ regarding in their behaviour and performance. Here, we review the mathematical foundations of model averaging along with the diversity of approaches available. We explain that the error in model‐averaged predictions depends on each model's predictive bias and variance, as well as the covariance in predictions between models and uncertainty about model weights. We show that model averaging is particularly useful if the predictive error of contributing model predictions is dominated by variance, and if the covariance between models is low. For noisy data, which predominate in ecology, these conditions will often be met. Many different methods to derive averaging weights exist, from from Bayesian over information‐theoretical to cross‐validation optimised and resampling approaches. A general recommendation is difficult, because the performance of methods is often context‐dependent. Importantly, estimating weights creates some additional uncertainty. As a result, estimated model weights may not always outperform arbitrary fixed weights, such as equal weights for all models. When averaging a set of models with many inadequate models, however, estimating model weights will typically be superior to equal weights. We also investigate the quality of the confidence intervals calculated for model‐averaged predictions, showing that they differ greatly in behaviour and seldom manage to achieve nominal coverage. Our overall recommendations stress the importance of non‐parametric methods such as cross‐validation for a reliable uncertainty quantification of model‐averaged predictions. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Article
Understanding and monitoring pressures on ecosystems and their consequences for ecosystem services (ES) is essential for management decisions and verification of progress towards national and international policies (e.g. Aichi Biodiversity Targets, Sustainable Development Goals). Remote sensing (RS) offers a unique capability to assess ES systematically and regularly across spatial and temporal scales. We aim to evaluate the benefits of RS to monitor spatio-temporal variations of ES by assessing several ES in Switzerland between 2004 and 2014. We coupled mechanistic ES models and RS data to estimate time series of three regulating (i.e. carbon dioxide regulation (CO2R), soil erosion prevention (SEP), and air quality regulation (AQR)) and one cultural ES (recreational hiking (RH)). The resulting ES were used to assess spatial and temporal changes, trade-offs and synergies of ES potential supply and flow in Switzerland between 2004 and 2014. Resulting ES trends showed diverse spatial patterns across Switzerland with largest changes in CO2R and AQR. ES interactions revealed a scale and elevation dependency. We identified weak to strong synergies between all ES combinations except for trade-offs between CO2R–AQR and AQR–RH at Swiss scale. Spatially, all ES interactions revealed a heterogeneous mix of synergies and trade-offs within Switzerland. Our results demonstrate the strength of RS for systematic and regular spatio-temporal ES monitoring and contribute insights to the large potential of RS, which will be extended with future Earth observation missions. Derived spatially explicit ES information will facilitate decision-making in landscape planning and conservation and will allow examining progress towards environmental policies.
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Achieving well-being for all, while protecting the environment, is one of the most pressing global challenges of our time, and a central idea in the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). We believe that integrating ecosystem services, the benefits nature provides to people, into strategies for meeting the SDGs can help achieve this. Many development goals are likely underpinned by the delivery of one or more ecosystem services. Understanding how these services could support multiple development targets will be essential for planning synergistic and cost-effective interventions. Here we present the results of an expert survey on the contributions of 16 ecosystem services to achieving SDG targets linked to environment and human well-being, and review the capacity of modelling tools to evaluate SDG-relevant ecosystem services interactions. Survey respondents judged that individual ecosystem services could make important contributions to achieving 41 targets across 12 SDGs. The provision of food and water, habitat & biodiversity maintenance, and carbon storage & sequestration were perceived to each make contributions to >14 SDG targets, suggesting cross-target interactions are likely, and may present opportunities for synergistic outcomes across multiple SDGs. Existing modelling tools are well-aligned to support SDG-relevant ecosystem service planning. Together, this work identifies entry points and tools to further analyze the role of ecosystem services to support the SDGs. [[ Full text available for 50 days from this link: https://authors.elsevier.com/c/1W8zq7szSIqzhl ]]
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Limitations in the assessment of cultural ecosystem services through quantifiable approaches have constrained our knowledge of how these services can be altered by drivers of global change, such as non-native tree species. Here, we address this caveat by evaluating the effects of non-native tree species, in comparison to native ones, on several categories of cultural services, i.e., recreation and ecotourism, aesthetics, inspiration, and cultural heritage. We propose an indicator-based approach that includes the use of a meta-analysis statistics, the odds ratio, to evaluate photographic, internet and catalogue data, and to infer on the effects of non-native trees on cultural services. We apply our approach to the Iberian Peninsula, exploring potential environmental and socioeconomic predictors of non-native tree effects across NUTS-2 administrative regions. Overall, non-native tree effects differed among categories of cultural services and varied with the data type. Non-native trees increased recreation and ecotourism services, when considering data from official tourism entities, but not from nature route users. Data from inventories of urban parks and catalogues of ornamental plant dealers suggested that non-native trees decreased aesthetics services, particularly in Spain, but not in Portugal. Non-native trees also increased cultural heritage services, but no significant effects were observed on inspiration services. Overall, non-native trees showed higher increases in cultural services across regions with lower levels of development (in terms of income, employment and education) and life satisfaction. We suggest that management should emphasise awareness on non-native trees, including the risks involved in promoting the expansion of potentially invasive species. Efforts to raise awareness should prioritise official tourism entities and ornamental plant dealers, with a special focus on less developed regions. Our proposed approach represents a pioneer assessment of the relations between non-native trees and cultural ecosystem services, supporting strategic management in Iberia. The focus on widely available data sources enables reproducibility and application in assessments worldwide.
Article
Paper available in HAL archive for free: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01681621 Global sustainability policies, such as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) or the Aichi Targets, aim to ensure sustainable development, including improved human well-being and the conservation of nature. Although not yet explicitly used to evaluate the progress towards sustainable development, the ecosystem service concept implies a direct link between biodiversity and human well-being. This study explores how and which ecosystem services are currently considered in the SDGs and the Aichi Targets. We also identify which information might be already available for monitoring the progress towards their goals by reviewing national ecosystem assessments. This allows the identification of the main knowledge gaps for monitoring progress towards these global sustainability targets. There is a wealth of information on all major ecosystem services categories which is directly relevant for the Aichi Targets and the SDGs. The top 25% most cited ecosystem services across both policy documents are: Natural heritage and diversity, Capture fisheries, Aquaculture, Water purification, Crops, Cultural heritage & diversity and Livestock. Most monitoring information recommended for the global sustainability goals, as well as in the information available from national assessments, is biased towards supply related aspects of ecosystem services flows. In contrast, there is much less information on social behaviour, use, demand and governance measures. Indicators are rarely available for all aspects of a specific ecosystem service. The national statistical bureaus currently in charge of providing observations for reporting on SDGs, could be well placed to address this bias, by integrating ecological observations with socio-economic statistics into socio-ecological indicators for ecosystem services flows. IPBES can potentially address the gaps identified in this paper by improving coverage of the different dimensions of ecosystem services flows.
Article
Managing ecosystem services in the context of global sustainability policies requires reliable monitoring mechanisms. While satellite Earth observation offers great promise to support this need, significant challenges remain in quantifying connections between ecosystem functions, ecosystem services, and human well-being benefits. Here, we provide a framework showing how Earth observation together with socioeconomic information and model-based analysis can support assessments of ecosystem service supply, demand, and benefit, and illustrate this for three services. We argue that the full potential of Earth observation is not yet realized in ecosystem service studies. To provide guidance for priority setting and to spur research in this area, we propose five priorities to advance the capabilities of Earth observation-based monitoring of ecosystem services.
Article
We proposed a mapping method for landscape aesthetic demand and potential supply area based on viewsheds, which is a direct method that provides robust results. Moreover, we mapped the aesthetic value of Hokkaido as a case study in Asia. The Aichi Biodiversity Target refers to the importance of ecosystem service (ES) mapping methodologies. However, ES mapping in policy and practice has rarely been reported. Robust, reliable indicators are required. Recently, studies estimating aesthetic value have used geotagged photos on social networking services instead of survey results of user preferences. The methods used in these studies were cost effective and provided spatially explicit results. However, these methods used the photography positions. Using the photographed sites is a more direct method to estimate the aesthetic demand. Therefore, we used geotagged photos on Flickr and viewsheds from each photography position to identify the photographed sites. The demand area was estimated using the viewshed. The potential supply area was estimated using MaxEnt. The demand and potential supply areas were concentrated in natural parks. Comparing the demand and potential supply areas indicates areas with potential supply despite their low demand in forest, farmland, and natural parks. This method will contribute to CES research and decision-making. Document is here http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212041616301395
Article
Cultural ecosystem services, such as aesthetic and recreational enjoyment, as well as sense of place and local identity, play an outstanding role in the contribution of landscapes to human well-being. Online data shared on social networks, particularly geo-tagged photos, are becoming an increasingly attractive source of information about cultural ecosystem services. Landscape photographs tell about the significance of human relationships with landscapes, human practices in landscapes and the landscape features that might possess value in terms of cultural ecosystem services. Despite all the recent advances in this emerging methodological approach, some challenges remain to be explored: (a) how to assess a broad suite of cultural ecosystem services, beyond aesthetic beauty of landscapes, (b) how to identify the landscape features that are relevant for providing cultural ecosystem services and determine trade-offs and synergies among cultural ecosystem services. To address these challenges, we have developed a method-ological approach suitable for eliciting the importance of cultural ecosystem services and the landscape features underpinning their provision across five different sites in Europe (in Estonia, Greece, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland). We have performed a content analysis of 1.404 photos uploaded in Flickr and Panoramio platforms that can represent cultural ecosystem services. Four bundles of landscapes features and cultural ecosystem services showed the relation of recreation with mountain areas (terrestrial recreation) and with water bodies (aquatic recreation). Cultural heritage, social and spiritual values were particularly attached to landscapes with woodpastures and grasslands, as well as urban features and infrastructures, i.e. to more anthropogenic landscapes. A positive though weak relationship was found between landscape diversity and cultural ecosystem services diversity. Particularly wood-pastures and shrubs were more frequently portrayed in all study sites in comparison with their actual land cover. The results can be of interest both for methodological purposes in the face of an increasing trend in the use of geo-tagged photos in the ecosystem services research and for the elicitation and comparison of landscape values across European cultural landscapes.
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How humans perceive and judge nature and relate it to their life is shaped by emotional, cognitive, cultural, and social factors. Whether a species is considered native, non-native, or invasive can affect such aesthetics of nature by interacting with our emotions, affronting or confirming our cognitive categories, or engaging in our social, economic, and cultural worlds. Consequently, how humans perceive and judge the presence of such species, or how they judge an ecosystem or landscape change triggered by them, is not fixed or easy to define. Here, some of the psychological, cognitive, and social dimensions that influence how humans judge non-native and invasive species and their effects on ecosystems are reviewed. It is concluded, at least in the case of non-native species, that the reduction of aesthetics to a ‘service’ is problematic, for it occludes the complex psychological and social processes that shape divergent perceptions of changing species distributions.
Article
There is growing interest in ecosystem disservices, i.e. the negative effects of ecosystems on humans. The focus on disservices has been controversial because of the lack of clarity on how to disentangle ecosystem services and disservices related to human wellbeing. A perspective that considers both services and disservices is needed to inform objective decision-making. We propose a comprehensive typology of ecosystem disservices, and present a framework for integrating ecosystem services and disservices for human wellbeing linked to ecosystem functioning. Our treatment is underpinned by three key assumptions: (1) ecosystem attributes and functions are value-free; (2) the perception of benefits or nuisances are however dependent on societal context, and preferences and actions by societal actors may trigger, enhance or alleviate benefits or nuisances derived from ecosystems; and (3) the notion of disservices must account for the role of human management in assessments of ecosystem values, i.e. the social and technological measures that identify, protect, promote or restore desirable levels of services, and concurrently minimise, mitigate or adapt to disservices. We illustrate our ideas with examples from plant invasions as a complex social-ecological phenomenon.
Article
Landscape views and the enjoyment people derive from them, represent an important cultural ecosystem service (CES) as recognised in frameworks such as the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (2005) and TEEB (2010). We present a method to evaluate the quality of the landscape view, created for the assessment and monitoring of Welsh rural landscapes. This consists of: (i) a Visual Quality Index (VQI) and (ii) a viewshed model to calculate a Zone of Visual Influence (ZVI). From existing literature, we selected 19 landscape components commonly found to influence landscape quality ratings. Using vegetation surveys and GIS datasets each component was measured and assigned a numeric value based either on presence or quantity and/or extent for 150, 1 km2 survey sites across Wales. Totalling these values, then scaling and weighting them provided an index for each site between 0 and 1 (VQI). Each site was then evaluated for a range of potential users (pedestrians, cyclists, car-users) to calculate a modelled viewshed (ZVI). By combining the VQI and the ZVI, we capture two elements: firstly the intrinsic landscape quality (its aesthetics) and secondly, how much of the landscape can be seen by the public in order to enjoy the view.
Article
Significance In many landscapes across the globe, we are witnessing an ongoing functional shift away from landscapes managed for extractive activities (e.g., agriculture, mining, forestry) and toward landscapes managed for recreation and leisure activities. Understanding the spatial configuration of this functional shift at regional and continental scales will be crucial for the development of effective landscape and rural development policies in coming decades. We present a rigorous comparison between three social media platforms’ suitability for mapping and quantifying landscape values. We also introduce a predictive model capable of quantifying landscape values at a continental scale. The utility of the model is illustrated through the identification of specific landscape features that best explain high densities of ascribed value (i.e., landscape value locations).
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Invasive alien species (IAS) are a major threat to biodiversity all over the world and Portugal is no exception. The problem is so serious that such species are recognized by the Portuguese legislation since 1999 which includes 32 species of invasive animal and plants. Nevertheless, a large proportion of the population is still unaware of the problem. Considering that citizens represent a vector of introduction and spread of IAS and, on the other hand, can play a major role in helping to prevent and control IAS, this lack of awareness can be largely detrimental. In an attempt to reduce this gap, and aiming to contribute for a more sustainable environment and society, researchers from CFE/UC and from ESAC/IPC have been raising public awareness and engaging the public with the IAS problem, namely with invasive plants. Since 2003, several strategies have been used, including the website invasoras. pt which aims to aggregate several elements of these strategies. The most recent version of the website is online since 2013 and includes as core element a citizen science platform that aims to engage the public countrywide, voluntarily, to report sightings of invasive plants. Publications about invasive plants in Portugal, including a field guide and other printed materials, workshops and social media have been used to engage the public with the WebMapping platform. Additionally, field-work projects for university students and training courses for professionals dealing with alien plants and for school teachers have been organized. In this chapter, the different strategies implemented and the results of an effort to evaluate the effectiveness and outreach of these various approaches are presented. Overall, awareness about IAS is increasing amongst the Portuguese population, with citizens more educated about the problem and contributing more to the prevention and control of IAS, but much more work is needed. The challenge to reach publics other than the peers or professionals related to the topic is still daunting.
Article
Ecological monitoring programmes are designed to detect and measure changes in biodiversity and ecosystems. In the case of biological invasions, they can contribute to anticipating risks and adaptively managing invaders. However, monitoring is often expensive because large amounts of data might be needed to draw inferences. Thus, careful planning is required to ensure that monitoring goals are realistically achieved. Species distribution models ( SDM s) can provide estimates of suitable areas to invasion. Predictions from these models can be applied as inputs in optimization strategies seeking to identify the optimal extent of the networks of areas required for monitoring risk of invasion under current and future environmental conditions. A hierarchical framework is proposed herein that combines SDM s, scenario analysis and cost analyses to improve invasion assessments at regional and local scales. We illustrate the framework with Acacia dealbata Link. (Silver‐wattle) in northern Portugal. The framework is general and applicable to any species. We defined two types of monitoring networks focusing either on the regional‐scale management of an invasion, or management focus within and around protected areas. For each one of these two schemes, we designed a hierarchical framework of spatial prioritization using different information layers (e.g. SDM s, habitat connectivity, protected areas). We compared the performance of each monitoring scheme against 100 randomly generated models. In our case study, we found that protected areas will be increasingly exposed to invasion by A. dealbata due to climate change. Moreover, connectivity between suitable areas for A. dealbata is predicted to increase. Monitoring networks that we identify were more effective in detecting new invasions and less costly to management than randomly generated models. The most cost‐efficient monitoring schemes require 18% less effort than the average networks across all of the 100 tested options. Synthesis and applications . The proposed framework achieves cost‐effective monitoring networks, enabling the interactive exploration of different solutions and the combination of quantitative information on network performance with orientations that are rarely incorporated in a decision support system. The framework brings invasion monitoring closer to European legislation and management needs while ensuring adaptability under rapid climate and environmental change.
Article
Increasingly, people are becoming less likely to have direct contact with nature (natural environments and their associated wildlife) in their everyday lives. Over 20 years ago, Robert M Pyle termed this ongoing alienation the “extinction of experience”, but the phenomenon has continued to receive surprisingly limited attention. Here, we present current understanding of the extinction of experience, with particular emphasis on its causes and consequences, and suggest future research directions. Our review illustrates that the loss of interaction with nature not only diminishes a wide range of benefits relating to health and well-being, but also discourages positive emotions, attitudes, and behavior with regard to the environment, implying a cycle of disaffection toward nature. Such serious implications highlight the importance of reconnecting people with nature, as well as focusing research and public policy on addressing and improving awareness of the extinction of experience.
Article
Ecosystems and human beings are inter-related. People receive benefits from ecosystems named Ecosystem Services such as provisioning, regulating, supporting, and cultural services. Aesthetic value from cultural services is the interaction of people with the environment related to natural beauty. Over the time, traditional approaches for evaluating aesthetic value have been developed. The main goal of this thesis was to evaluate the aesthetic value in Nebraska by using social media data from Panoramio and Flickr since they became a huge source of information available for multiple uses. We analyzed the clusters of pictures with the location of potential areas of aesthetic value in Nebraska, discovered new areas with aesthetic value, and compared to the population. We used the Application Programming Interface (API) to obtain the latitude and longitude of the photographs and analyzed using ArcGIS Spatial Statistical tools. Then, we overlapped them with areas of potential aesthetic value: natural landmarks, biologically unique landscapes, state parks, national parks, national forests and grasslands, national wildlife refuges, and surface water bodies. Also, we compared them to population. Finally, we identified hot spots and cold spots of clusters in the north, west, and southeast parts of Nebraska; areas of study have a direct relationship with the hotspots; there are three new areas with aesthetic values; and there was not a strong statistically significant relationship between the clusters and population. Also, we stated some implications to Planning, research limitations, and future research areas. Advisor: Zhenghong Tang