It is well recognized that ecological systems generate a spectrum of diverse benefits that are vital to humankind. Sustainable environmental management requires an adequate consideration of ecosystem goods and services. The problem, however, is that many of the ecological and social amenities are not currently incorporated into the decision-making process. A fundamental issue is getting at the ...

Urban ecosystem services are crucial for human well-being and the livability of cities. A central challenge for sustaining ecosystem services lies in addressing scale mismatches between ecological processes on one hand, and social processes of governance on the other. This article synthesizes a set of case studies from urban green areas in Stockholm, Sweden—allotment gardens, urban parks, cemet...

Urbanisation and a changing climate are leading to more frequent and severe flood, heat and air pollution episodes in Britain's cities. Interest in nature-based solutions to these urban problems is growing, with urban forests potentially able to provide a range of regulating ecosystem services such as stormwater attenuation, heat amelioration and air purification. The extent to which these bene...

Choosing a content management system on which you rely your business is challenging because they need a healthy software ecosystem in order to function efficaciously. Unawareness of this will result in content managers having uncertainty about the future suitability of their chosen content management system. This study describes an empirical, inductive approach by comparing the software ecosyst...

Ecosystem services provided by forests (e.g., nutrient cycling) are critical in midwestern landscapes. We conducted collaborative workshops with forest landowners and management professionals using specific strategies to provide information about nutrient dynamics in forests and learn about goals/obstacles for forest management in Iowa. Preparticipation surveys assessed knowledge and goals and ...

Governmental entities are responsible for managing and conserving large numbers of lake, river, and wetland ecosystems that can be addressed only rarely on a case-by-case basis. We present a system for predictive classification modeling, grounded in the theoretical foundation of landscape limnology, that creates a tractable number of ecosystem classes to which management actions may be tailored...

Based on an earlier published ecosystem model, we have explored possible effects of different management scenarios for the Baltic Sea. The scenarios include an oligotrophication of the system, a drastic increase in the number of seals, and changes in the fishery management. From these simulations we conclude that fisheries, seals, and eutrophication all have strong and interacting impacts on th...

Citation: de Groot GA, Jagers op Akkerhuis GAJM, Dimmers WJ, Charrier X and Faber JH (2016) Biomass and Diversity of Soil Mite Functional Groups Respond to Extensification of Land Management, Potentially Affecting Soil Ecosystem Services. Front. Environ. Sci. 4:15. doi: 10.3389/fenvs.2016.00015 Biomass and Diversity of Soil Mite Functional Groups Respond to Extensification of Land Management, P...

Over the past 50 years, human beings have influenced ecosystems more rapidly than at any similar time in human history, drastically altering ecosystem functioning. Along with ecosystem transformation and degradation, a number of studies have addressed the functioning, assessment and management of ecosystems. The concept of ecosystem services has been developed in the scientific literature since...

Ecosystem service assessments have increasingly been used to support environmental management policies, mainly based on biophysical and economic indicators. However, few studies have coped with the social-cultural dimension of ecosystem services, despite being considered a research priority. We examined how ecosystem service bundles and trade-offs emerge from diverging social preferences toward...