Anthropogenic Infrastructure Research Articles

Longshore Sediment Transport Across a Tombolo Determined by Two Adjacent Circulation Cells

AbstractLongshore sediment transport (LST) is essential for shaping sandy shorelines. Many shorelines are complex and indented, containing headlands, offshore islands and tombolos. Tombolos often form between islands and the mainland; however, the conditions for LST across tombolos are unclear. This question is important because tombolos are often reinforced with anthropogenic infrastructure, potentially causing sediment starvation of downdrift beaches. Along many shorelines, the return to a tombolo's natural condition has been proposed to promote sediment connectivity and counteract erosion. Nevertheless, the implications of such restorations remain uncertain. In this study, we employ the Delft3D wave‐current model to investigate hydrodynamics and sediment dynamics across a tombolo, examining its role as a connector between adjacent beaches. Contrary to expectations, our simulations show only diminutive longshore currents from the updrift beach across the tombolo unless offshore wave heights exceed 8 m. Instead, predominant currents crossing the tombolo originate from offshore of the island, driven by storm‐induced water level differences and circulation cells on both sides of the tombolo. The offshore island shelters the downdrift domain, resulting in higher wave energy and dissipation updrift of the tombolo. Further, increasing wave height or wave approach angle not only intensifies water level differences but also relocates circulation cells, enhancing total sediment transport from the updrift beach across the tombolo. However, in general, the deposition of sediment from the updrift side of the domain does not compensate for the sediment loss on the downdrift beach. We conclude that LST across tombolos is limited and occurs only under extreme wave conditions.

Revealing functional responses in habitat selection of rocky features and rugged terrain by Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx) using LiDAR data

ContextMany carnivores are attracted to rugged terrain, rocky areas, and conspicuous relief features. However, most of the previous research is limited to general topographical habitat characteristics and rarely consider the effects of microhabitat characteristics.ObjectivesWe used the Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx) as a model species to investigate the effects of microhabitat characteristics and human infrastructure on habitat selection. We also tested whether there is evidence for a functional response in habitat selection across a large gradient of habitat availability.MethodsWe developed a new approach for detecting rocky outcrops from airborne LiDAR data. In combination with other remote sensing techniques and GPS-telemetry data, we assessed lynx habitat selection and functional responses across two geologically contrasting areas in Europe.ResultsWe detected > 1 million rocky outcrops and confirmed their strong selection by lynx. Lynx also selected steep, rugged, and rocky areas, especially for day-resting sites. Furthermore, lynx avoided paths during the day but selected them and other linear anthropogenic infrastructure during the night, indicating the behaviour-specific impact of human infrastructure. We also observed a functional response in the selection of rocky and rugged areas, as lynx’ selection of such habitats increased with their lower availability. This highlights the importance of preserving such terrains, especially when they are rare in a landscape.ConclusionsOur results highlight the importance of incorporating remote sensing techniques and data on microhabitat features in animal habitat selection research. We also recommend caution when developing new infrastructure for human recreation or promoting its use near geomorphological features and in rugged terrain.

Novel application of two- and four-lobed noise-canceling passive integrated transponder antennas for tracking fish in areas of high ambient electromagnetic interference.

Passive integrated transponder (PIT) technology is a leading tool for tracking fish in freshwater systems. PIT is highly applicable for assessing fish passage at anthropogenic infrastructure (e.g., dams and floodgates); however, there are often complications in operating PIT antennas near these structures due to the ambient electromagnetic interference of metal and power-supply equipment. We designed a PIT antenna that is resistant to the effects of ambient electromagnetic interference (AEMI). This design uses lobes with balanced polarity within the antenna to neutralize AEMI within the vicinity of the antenna. This novel PIT antenna provides a more effective and cost-efficient option for researchers tracking fish in environments with high AEMI.

Distribution modelling of the Caucasian endemic Fritillaria latifolia against the background of climate change

Current climate change, habitat degradation, pastoralism, shoot and bulb harvesting pose serious threats to the rare Caucasian endemic Fritillaria latifolia throughout its range. Knowledge of the limiting factors, species range dynamics in relation to climate change and the role of Protected Areas in species distribution are necessary to develop an effective conservation system at present and in the future. This was aimed (1) to determine the most suitable set of abiotic predictors for modelling Fritillaria latifolia localisation, (2) to formalise environmental and anthropogenic factors in species distribution models, (3) to predict the possible changes in the species range in relation to climatic changes, (4) to identify refugia with a consistently high probability of the species occurrence despite climatic changes. We applied Maxent software for species habitat modelling to build current and climatic models of the Fritillaria latifolia distribution, considering the abiotic variables and anthropogenic predictors such as the distance to Protected Areas and grasslands. Distances to anthropogenic infrastructure were calculated with the Path Distance measure considering the horizontal straight-line distance, surface distance and vertical factor. We also formalised the area accessibility (movement factor) through the distance to optimal sites (plots with 0.8 threshold of habitat suitability), where the probability of species occurrence was higher than 0.5. The most important abiotic variables in the species distribution were the Emberger's pluviothermic quotient, with optimal values corresponding to humid and perhumid climates, and the terrain roughness index, with optimal values ranging from nearly level (81–116) to intermediately rugged (162–239) slopes. Distance to Protected Areas (0–1 km) was the third important predictor of the Fritillaria latifolia current distribution, while the distance to grasslands contributed less to the model. The distance of suitable areas from optimal habitats (area accessibility) was 15 km. The species current core ranges are localised in the Western and Central Caucasus, Western and Central Transcaucasia, and the northwestern ridges of the Lesser Caucasus within a network of Protected Areas covering most of the highlands. The optimistic socio-economic pathway SSP1-2.6 predicted a 1.6-fold decrease in the area of species optimal habitats from 2021 to 2100. The pessimistic SSP5-8.5 scenario predicted 122-fold habitat area reduction. According to SSP1-2.6 climatic models, by 2100 the refugia area would be 172.4 km2 in the highlands of the western and central parts of the Greater Caucasus, including the Caucasus State Nature Reserve and Teberda National Park. These areas should be prioritised for the conservation of Fritillaria latifolia populations.

Impact of anthropogenic infrastructure on aquatic and avian predator–prey interactions in a modified lowland river

Abstract The relationship between aquatic and avian predators and prey is a fundamental process that influences the ecological dynamics of freshwater communities; a landscape of fear underpins spatial and temporal habitat use of prey, i.e., non‐consumptive predation effects. For example, complex marginal vegetation and other natural in‐river refuges are known to be important for prey to manage predation risk and predators must alter their behaviour in response to habitat patches prey occupy. However, it is unclear how prey respond to predators, and vice versa, in heavily modified degraded lowland rivers with a high degree of river maintenance measures; a component critical for flood risk management globally. Such modifications could lead to prey seeking refuge at hazardous anthropogenic infrastructure, but a robust quantification of predator–prey interactions in this context is required to develop this understanding. Using multi‐beam sonar (Dual‐Frequency Identification Sonar), we non‐invasively and simultaneously quantified the temporal rate of predator–prey interactions, the attack behaviour of predators, and the refuge seeking behaviour of prey at a pumping station intake during winter in a heavily modified lowland river. Prey fish experienced temporally dynamic, density‐dependant, and species‐specific predation risks from two dissimilar predators (i.e., aquatic vs. avian); pike (Esox lucius) and cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo). Generalised linear modelling revealed that prey refuge use was positively associated with predator attack rate. Non‐consumptive effects were evidenced by quantified changes to shoal structure (density, area), shoaling (group aggregation), and schooling (coordinated directional movement), including diurnal migrations to and from the pumping station intake for refuge. Our results show that in the absence of natural refuge habitats the natural landscape of fear shifted and speculate that prey fish were paradoxically dependant on hazardous anthropogenic infrastructure, i.e., a pumping station intake, for refuge from predators in a degraded lowland river. These findings strongly enhance our understanding of the impact of anthropogenic infrastructure on predator–prey interactions by demonstrating how flood risk management, including river maintenance measures, and associated anthropogenic infrastructure can impact the behavioural game played between aquatic and avian predators and their prey.

Mapping offshore anthropogenic infrastructure associated with Cannery Row, Monterey Peninsula, California USA

“Cannery Row” is well known from the novel of the same name written by John Steinbeck in 1945. It historically extends back to the early 1940’s when sardines were being heavily fished in Monterey Bay and an extensive network of canneries were established in Monterey. To support these canneries and the fishing vessels delivering fish to the shore-based processing facilities, an extensive network of seabed infrastructure was developed. Once the fisheries collapsed, the canneries shut down and the “Row” became derelict with the seabed infrastructure left to deteriorate in place. Today the row has been revitalized by an invigorating tourist industry brought to the peninsula with the establishment of the Monterey Bay Aquarium (MBA) nearly 40 years ago. New seabed infrastructure was constructed to support the aquatic exhibits of the MBA but unlike the previous canneries’ infrastructure, this infrastructure was constructed with the conservation of the unique and spectacular nearshore marine environment in mind.Using modern geophysical instrumentations consisting of Multi-Beam Echosounder (MBES) and 3.5 kHz Compressed High Intensity Radar Pulse (CHIRP) sub-bottom profiling systems we mapped the seafloor geology, imaged abandoned and present-day seabed infrastructure, and characterized the benthic habitats. From this mapping effort we were able to assess the artifacts of the seafloor and illustrate how modern seafloor processes such as sediment transport is altering the infrastructure. Much of the abandoned submarine infrastructure provides hard substrate within a dynamic unconsolidated sand bottom that is habitat for encrusting and sessile organisms, contributing to the diversity and complexity of the marine ecosystem of the area. In addition, a prominent granodiorite exposure upon which the dynamic sand onlaps is prime holdfast foundation for kelp that in turn provides habitat for fish. Although not pristine, the impacts of previous industrial disturbances and anthropogenic impacts are now well mitigated with the area set aside as a natural reserve and educational center piece within the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary.

Proglacial slopes are protected against erosion by trait diverse and dense plant communities associated with specific microbial communities

Soil erosion is a severe threat for ecosystems and anthropogenic infrastructure. Glaciers are retreating rapidly due to global warming and the receding ice leaves unvegetated depositions of sediment, which are prone to mobilisation during precipitation events. Vegetation is known to serve as erosion protection, but how above- and belowground plant traits, vegetation cover and plant diversity on community level are jointly affecting erosion is unclear. Additionally, soil microbial communities may have effects on slope stability by promoting plant growth and function. We measured sediment transport on 30 plots of 2 × 3 m size on proglacial slopes of the Gepatschferner glacier (Kaunertal, Austria) over three years in a natural pristine high alpine environment. Vegetation cover, species abundances and relevant above- and belowground traits were measured for each occurring plant species on community level. Path model analysis revealed that dense and species-rich plant cover characterized by specific plant growth strategies and trait diversity was best suited to decrease erosion. Vegetation properties were also closely linked to the composition of soil microbial communities characterised by next generation amplicon sequencing, which may facilitate soil formation and further enhance the plants’ soil stabilising potential. Our study illustrates that erosion control may benefit from a high vegetation cover, which is facilitated by diverse plant communities with complementary morphological traits. These vegetation properties also affect soil microbiota, but their impact on slope protection in combination with the vegetation remains to be elucidated. Our findings may inform nature-based solutions against erosion such as revegetation of alpine slopes using specific seed mixtures.

Patterns of the red-listed epiphytic species distribution in coniferous-deciduous forests of the Moscow Region

Epiphytes model the diversity of forest communities and indicate the integrity of natural ecosystems or the threat to their existence. The high sensitivity of epiphytic species to the environmental quality makes them good indicators in anthropogenic landscapes. The study deals with the distribution patterns of rare indicator epiphytic species at the border of their range in the broadleaved– coniferous forest zone, in the central part of the East European Plain within the Moscow region. The distribution and abundance of eight lichen species Anaptychia ciliaris, Bryoria fuscescens, B. implexa, Usnea dasopoga, U. glabrescens, U. hirta, U. subfloridana and the epiphytic moss Neckera pennata were studied. The main environmental factors at the regional level were climate variables based on the Worldclim database, water indices based on Sentinel-2 multispectral remote sensing data, and the anthropogenic impact factor in terms of the Nighttime lights of the earth’s surface based on the Suomi NPP satellite system. It was revealed that the vast majority of records were in the western and northern sectors of the region, i.e. in the broad-leaved–coniferous forest zone, while the vast majority of 0-records were in the southern and eastern sectors, in the area of broad-leaved and pine forests and extensive reclaimed wetlands. The association with different types of communities and biotopes, as well as tree species, was assessed at the ecosystem level, using field data. It has been established that the distribution of the studied species is governed by natural-geographic features of the territory. The principal limiting factors are air pollution, ecological restrictions (high humidity requirement of sites), cutting of mature forests and formation of local anthropogenic infrastructure. In perspective the study of ecology and living conditions of the studied rare species will help determine the optimal conditions contributing to biodiversity conservation in forests near large metropolitan areas and optimization of habitat diversity.

Finding common ground: A methodology for city-scale subsurface thermal modelling

The presence of anthropogenic infrastructure within the ground under cities can act to increase the temperature of the subsurface in a phenomenon known as the subsurface urban heat island effect. Large city-scale numerical subsurface temperature models accounting for both the heat fluxes stemming from human-made structures as well as hydrogeological variation are often computationally prohibitive due to the vastly different scales of modelling required. We present a novel and scalable methodology for the determination of the subsurface thermal climate beneath urban centres at a holistic scale, grouping volumes of ground into archetypes according to common thermal behaviours, identified using supervised machine learning algorithms. We apply this methodology to two boroughs in the centre of London, UK, with the results showing good agreement with a higher-resolution model for one of the boroughs. We further demonstrate the scalability of the approach by modelling the boroughs sequentially, where the second borough was modelled at little to no additional computation cost at a loss of accuracy in the local depth-averaged temperature between 0.10 and 0.23 degrees Celsius. This methodology is an important step towards determining large-scale subsurface climate beneath cities, providing insights for various applications, such as an improved understanding of geothermal energy potential.

The use of cellular telecommunication towers as nesting sites by pied crows (Corvus albus) in an urban mosaic landscape

Corvids are known for their urban exploitation, often using artificial infrastructure to roost and nest. In many areas of its distribution range, the pied crow (Corvus albus) is often common in areas of anthropogenic land use, often breeding and foraging near human settlements. In this study, we monitored pied crow use of cellular telecommunication towers as nesting sites in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, during three breeding seasons. We found that of the 36 towers situated across the urban mosaic landscape, pied crows used 17 (47.2%) as nesting sites while 19 were not used. Many towers were used in subsequent years as nesting sites. Overall, 41 pied crow nests on towers in urban mosaic landscapes were counted by the end of the study. Towers had a mean (± SE) distance of 1595.2 ± 151.0 m between them and were located mainly in the suburbs of Edendale and Northdale. As shown by the hotspot analysis and spatial distribution of used and unused towers, it was unclear why some towers were not being used as nesting sites. We assessed the relationship between pied crow nesting sites and land cover features. We found that tower nesting was best explained by cropland (wi = 0.58), forest (wi = 0.94), grassland (wi = 0.66), schools (wi = 0.56) and relief (wi = 0.56). The continued persistence of pied crows in urban mosaic landscapes with natural and /or managed green spaces, the availability of anthropogenic infrastructure and food in these, and their behavioural plasticity will likely increase their numbers in such landscapes.

Challenging the new blue deal by embedding interactions with the non-humans in the offshore renewable energy development

This paper is challenging the new blue deal outlining the need for a change in the expectative. Offshore wind farms (OWFs) are not only a climate-friendly way of producing electricity but also a shifting paradigm unique opportunity, acknowledging the increasing presence of anthropogenic infrastructure in the marine environment and seeing them as the place for recreating relations with non-humans and work with them. We give some ideas that could ground a research program pairing both positive and negative aspects of OWF and study the conditions of realization of mutual beneficial relationship coming from the “mosaic of open-ended assemblages of entangled ways of life.”

20thto 21stCentury Relative Sea and Land LevelChanges in Northern California:Tectonic Land Level Changes and theirContribution to Sea-Level Rise, Humboldt BayRegion, Northern California

Sea-level changes are modulated in coastal northern California by land-level changes due to the earthquake cycle along the Cascadia subduction zone, the San Andreas plate boundary fault system, and crustal faults. Sea-level rise (SLR) subjects ecological and anthropogenic infrastructure to increased vulnerability to changes in habitat and increased risk for physical damage. The degree to which each of these forcing factors drives this modulation is poorly resolved. We use NOAA tide gage data and ‘campaign’ tide gage deployments, Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) data, and National Geodetic Survey (NGS) first-order levelling data to calculate vertical land motion (VLM) rates in coastal northern California. Sea-level observations, highway level surveys, and GNSS data all confirm that land is subsiding in Humboldt Bay, in contrast to Crescent City where the land is rising. Subtracting absolute sea-level rate (~1.99 mm/year) from Crescent City (CC) and North Spit (NS) gage relative sea-level rates reveals that CC is uplifting at ~2.83 mm/year and NS is subsiding at ~3.21mm/year. GNSS vertical deformation reveals similar rates of ~2.60 mm/year of uplift at Crescent City. In coastal northern California, there is an E-W trending variation in vertical land motion that is primarily due to Cascadia megathrust fault seismogenic coupling. This interseismic subsidence also dominates the N-S variation in vertical land motion in most of the study region. There exists a second-order heterogeneous N-S trend in vertical land motion that we associate to crustal fault-related strain. There may be non-tectonic contributions to the observed VLM rates.

Thrushes (Aves: Passeriformes) as indicators of microplastic pollution in terrestrial environments

Microplastic pollution is one of the leading global conservation issues. The aim of this study was to investigate the occurrence of microplastics in the gastrointestinal tracts of Common Blackbirds Turdus merula (N = 16) and Song Thrushes Turdus philomelos (N = 18), songbirds with exceptionally terrestrial lifestyles and a wide distribution range. We searched for microplastics of over 100 μm in size and assessed whether their contamination differed regarding the age of the birds and the time of year. We used birds that had died as a result of collision with anthropogenic infrastructure, which were sampled during wildlife monitoring of anthropogenic infrastructures and citizen science projects in north-eastern Poland. We found that all the analysed individuals contained microplastic in their gastrointestinal tracts, which were classified as fibers, fragments, films and pellets. A total number of 1073 microplastics were observed, mostly consisting of fibers (84 %) and films (10 %) below 1 mm in size. The dominant colours of microplastics were transparent (75 %) and brown (14 %). The species average microplastic concentration was higher in Song Thrushes (40.1) than Common Blackbirds (21.9), however the difference was not statistically significant. Moreover, we found no seasonal or age-related differences in microplastic ingestion in either species. While our results show a ubiquity of microplastics in terrestrial environments, they also indicate that thrushes have the potential to be used as indicators of microplastic pollution in terrestrial ecosystems.

Biofouling assemblages on anthropogenic structures reflect seafloor access for benthic predators

The design of anthropogenic marine structures can have unintended consequences for ecological communities. We describe differences in biofouling assemblages between two primary anthropogenic habitats—pontoons and pilings—in a marina in British Columbia, Canada, using multiple measures of diversity (i.e., richness, evenness, and Shannon indices) and multiple metrics of variability in taxonomic composition (i.e., Jaccard and modified Gower methods) using two complementary surveys. First, a video-transect survey revealed abundances of crawling benthic predators to be 19 times greater on pilings than on pontoons. Second, a photo-quadrat survey of sessile invertebrates revealed moderate differences in diversity but differences of 86% in taxonomic composition and 88% in non-indigenous species (NIS), owing largely to the dominance of mussels (Mytilus species complex) on pontoons and their absence on pilings. We discuss several environmental factors associated with the design of anthropogenic infrastructure and propose that contact with the seafloor is the key driver of observed differences between the biofouling assemblages at this site. Contact with the seafloor permits access to crawling predators and thereby drives the abundances of ecosystem-engineering taxa. Patterns of taxonomic composition and assemblage dispersion indicate that biofouling organisms are affected by these phenomena according to their roles either as prey or as competitors with mussels and not whether they are native or NIS. Finally, we consider how the growing body of ecological studies on biofouling communities such as ours can inform the implementation of infrastructure for the purposes of enhancing biotic diversity and resilience.

Construction Waste Management for Improving Resource Efficiency in The Reconstruction of War-Destroyed Objects

Introduction. Social and hostility conflicts in Ukraine have caused global changes and deterioration of the ecological and economic situation in numerous countries, resulting in higher risks to the population and giving the impetus to create a new innovative, cultural, and technological society. Greening principles, which have become popular in developed countries, are impossible to implement without the coordinated cooperation of states and their genesis in accordance with joint programs and development vectors. As a result, an increasing number of foundations and grants have recently been established to support eco-friendly products and solutions, assist in their adoption, and develop the organizational structure of an efficient system based on green economy principles, thereby improving global standards and regulations.
 Aim and tasks. The aim of the study is to develop a methodology for planning the modernization of constructed infrastructure, better resource efficiency, and reduce waste in the reconstruction of war-destroyed objects.
 Results. The best option for post-war waste disposal is the construction of mobile waste recycling complexes based on fractional waste recycling and its secondary use in further reconstruction of Ukrainian infrastructure, which after final restoration will be moved to safe areas around large cities and used as stationary waste recycling plants. To improve the environmental situation, one suggests building landscaped parks that will operate due to state-of-the-art technologies (obtaining natural energy, etc.) and creating a system of harmonious combination of anthropogenic infrastructure and natural areas, businesses, and public accessibility.
 Conclusions. The key goal of the reconstruction of Ukrainian territories is to establish an innovative, sustainable, and safe system of social existence by increasing the efficiency of actions and methods based on the principles of rational environmental management and increasing responsibility. When calculating the cost of the restoration of Ukrainian territories, one should take into account additional expenses caused by hostilities, which will be further considered as a stress factor having a cumulative negative impact and leading to disastrous consequences that can be estimated in monetary equivalent as the sum of the price of restoration of components of the ecological, economic, and social system under the effect of a set of factors resulting in negative changes and damages.

A model for simulating emergent patterns of cities and roads on real-world landscapes

Emergence of cities and road networks have characterised human activity and movement over millennia. However, this anthropogenic infrastructure does not develop in isolation, but is deeply embedded in the natural landscape, which strongly influences the resultant spatial patterns. Nevertheless, the precise impact that landscape has on the location, size and connectivity of cities is a long-standing, unresolved problem. To address this issue, we incorporate high-resolution topographic maps into a Turing-like pattern forming system, in which local reinforcement rules result in co-evolving centres of population and transport networks. Using Italy as a case study, we show that the model constrained solely by topography results in an emergent spatial pattern that is consistent with Zipf’s Law and comparable to the census data. Thus, we infer the natural landscape may play a dominant role in establishing the baseline macro-scale population pattern, that is then modified by higher-level historical, socio-economic or cultural factors.

Differential seasonal avoidance of anthropogenic features and woody vegetation by Lesser Prairie-Chickens

Abstract The influence of seasonal variation on animal behavior is a critical component of habitat selection analyses. To examine this relationship, we conducted multi-scale analyses of Lesser Prairie-Chicken (Tympanuchus pallidicinctus) habitat selection in relation to anthropogenic infrastructure associated with oil and gas development, mesquite, and trees during the spring and summer at home range and lek area scales. We tracked 159 Lesser Prairie-Chickens using VHF radiotelemetry or PTT-GPS transmitters in the sand shinnery oak prairie region of eastern New Mexico, USA. We used discrete choice models and logistic regression to assess seasonal patterns of habitat selection at home range and lek area scales, respectively. The static habitat features we examined allowed us to observe differential patterns of habitat selection between the two seasons, revealing an overall increase in the degree of avoidance following the spring season. Results of our home range scale analysis indicate that utility pole density, mesquite cover, and proximity to active well pads, private roads, and mesquite have significant negative effects on habitat selection during both seasons. Avoidance of high utility pole densities was significantly greater during the summer compared to spring. Lek area habitat selection results were similar, but differences in sensitivity to features between seasons were stronger. Avoidance of high mesquite cover and utility pole and tree densities, in particular, was significantly greater in the summer. The effects of density and cover of these features, which have previously been understudied in Lesser Prairie-Chicken research, provide critical information for future conservation practices. Furthermore, our study highlights the importance of accounting for potential seasonal patterns of study species to best examine habitat selection.

Current distribution and spatial spread patterns of Halyomorpha halys in Germany

AbstractThe brown marmorated stinkbug (Halyomorpha halys Stål) is a polyphagous insect from the Pentatomidae family that is originally from Asia. This contaminating (i.e. hitchhiking) species, often found in urban areas and along anthropogenic infrastructure, is fast spreading in Germany and other European countries. As a pest in those countries for agriculture and as a nuisance pest for the public it is important to have a solid database of the current distribution for spread modelling, risk assessment and further analysis to contain infestations and reduce or prevent further spread. The authors present here the current phytosanitary status and trends of distribution of the brown marmorated stinkbug in Germany.

Bayesian parameter inference for shallow subsurface modeling using field data and impacts on geothermal planning

Abstract Understanding the subsurface is crucial in building a sustainable future, particularly for urban centers. Importantly, the thermal effects that anthropogenic infrastructure, such as buildings, tunnels, and ground heat exchangers, can have on this shared resource need to be well understood to avoid issues, such as overheating the ground, and to identify opportunities, such as extracting and utilizing excess heat. However, obtaining data for the subsurface can be costly, typically requiring the drilling of boreholes. Bayesian statistical methodologies can be used towards overcoming this, by inferring information about the ground by combining field data and numerical modeling, while quantifying associated uncertainties. This work utilizes data obtained in the city of Cardiff, UK, to evaluate the applicability of a Bayesian calibration (using GP surrogates) approach to measured data and associated challenges (previously not tested) and to obtain insights on the subsurface of the area. The importance of the data set size is analyzed, showing that more data are required in realistic (field data), compared to controlled conditions (numerically-generated data), highlighting the importance of identifying data points that contain the most information. Heterogeneity of the ground (i.e., input parameters), which can be particularly prominent in large-scale subsurface domains, is also investigated, showing that the calibration methodology can still yield reasonably accurate results under heterogeneous conditions. Finally, the impact of considering uncertainty in subsurface properties is demonstrated in an existing shallow geothermal system in the area, showing a higher than utilized ground capacity, and the potential for a larger scale system given sufficient demand.

Demographic, natural and anthropogenic drivers for coastal Cultural ecosystem services in the Falkland Islands

People of remote oceanic islands show a clear connection to their natural environment. Our study provides a case study example of how the location of coastal Cultural Ecosystem Services in small islands can be analysed, providing useful information to managers and conservationists alike. Using a series of analyses, we here show how groups of people place Cultural Ecosystem Services in different places driven by their socio-demographic identity and the environment that surrounds them. We found that a range of different socio-demographic factors affects the grouping of people and that both natural and anthropogenic infrastructure environments affect the location of recreational and aesthetic services. For recreation and aesthetic services, we found that a range of environmental features, including the travel distance and accessibility, habitat types, biodiversity indicators and proximity to Invasive Species impacted the location of these coastal services. As a result, our demographic identity can identify places where services are located.