Decline In Ecosystem Services Research Articles

Exploration on Ecological Restoration Model for the Improvement of Ecosystem Services of Yellow River Floodplains —A Case Study of Zhengzhou Yellow River Floodplain Park Planning and Design

The Yellow River Basin is one of the greatest and most important ecological barrier and economic belt in China. When the Yellow River Basin is seen as an ecosystem in whole, the floodplains in the lower reaches are critical to the basin’s health and biodiversity. However, due to the extreme complexity of the natural environment of the floodplains, current flood control policies, long-term agricultural activities, and extensive rural construction and production dikes, the river ecosystem has suffered from considerable damage and a serious decline of ecosystem services. In the planning and design project of the Zhengzhou Yellow River Floodplain Park, the characteristics of the lower, intermediate, and higher floodplains have been carefully identified, site-specific ecological restoration measures for each floodplain type were implemented, highlighting the authenticity and natural qualities and improving the overall ecosystem services. In addition, a slow traffic system and innovative industries along the Yellow River are introduced to enable high-quality cultural perception and recreational experience of the improved ecosystem services, promote green production and lifestyle. These measures help make the Yellow River a river that truly benefit the locals. In the context of ecological protection and high-quality development of the Yellow River, as a national agenda, the ecological restoration planning strategies proposed in this article provides a reference for the development of ecological management and green economy in other sections of the lower reaches of the Yellow River.

Heterogeneity and regional differences in ecosystem services responses driven by the “Three Modernizations”

AbstractStrengthened anthropogenic activities significantly modify ecosystem services (ES), while there are differences in impacts on ES from various anthropogenic activities. In the literature a specific focus on addressing the spatial heterogeneity of comprehensively measured anthropogenic activities on ES is lacking. From an integrated perspective of the "Three Modernizations", that is: 1) agricultural modernization (AM); 2) industrialization and: 3) urbanization, this article aimed to investigate the heterogeneity of anthropogenic disturbance of ES in an agricultural and pastoral area (APA) involving a pastoral area (PA) and a semi‐agricultural and semi‐pastoral area (SASPA) of the Tibetan Plateau. We found (i) There was remarkable heterogeneity in the responses of ES to the "Three Modernizations". AM was negatively correlated with ES and caused ES decline, while industrialization and urbanization were conducive to reducing the overall pressure of anthropogenic activities and improving ES. (ii) The "Three Modernizations" disturbed ES more intensely in the SASPA than in the PA, indicating industrialization more seriously damaged ecosystems and the unreasonable interactive development mode of local agriculture and animal husbandry exacerbated the threats of the "Three Modernizations" on ES in the SASPA. (iii) The regions featuring low/high degrees of the "Three Modernizations" and showing high ES were mainly distributed in the central and north‐western PA, while the clustered areas of low/high degrees of the "Three Modernizations" with low ES were narrowly distributed in the southern and eastern SASPA. These findings indicate the complex effects of the "Three Modernizations" on ES and provide guidance for better adaptive policy‐making and planning for ecological management and sustainable pathways and patterns for future management of the "Three Modernizations".

Spatial–Temporal Interaction Relationship between Ecosystem Services and Urbanization of Urban Agglomerations in the Transitional Zone of Three Natural Regions

Clarifying the spatial interaction relationship between urbanization and multiple ecosystem services (ESs) is a prerequisite for reducing the impact of urbanization on the ecological environment and coordinating urbanization and ecological environmental protection. Urbanization is especially significant for ecologically fragile areas, where ecosystems are particularly sensitive to changes in urban patterns. This study considered the Lan–Xi (LX) urban agglomeration in three natural transitional regions using socio-economic, ecological environment, and other data, through a variety of methods, to supersede administrative boundaries and to explore the relationship between urbanization and ESs on a grid scale. The results revealed a significant negative spatial correlation between the levels of urbanization and comprehensive ESs, indicating that rapid urbanization has led to a decline in regional ESs. However, with the rapid urbanization trend from 2010 to 2018, the ESs in the LX region showed an upward trend because the implementation of ecological protection and restoration projects greatly offset the decline in ESs caused by urban expansion. We found a positive correlation between nutrient purification and the levels of urbanization among various ESs and four principal types of spatial–temporal interactions between ESs and urbanization levels. Among them, the high–high cluster areas occupied the smallest proportion, and the low–low cluster areas occupied the largest proportion.

Ecosystem Service Multifunctionality: Decline and Recovery Pathways in the Amazon and Chocó Lowland Rainforests

The balance between the supply of multiple ecosystem services (ES) and the fulfillment of society demands is a challenge, especially in the tropics where different land use transition phases emerge. These phases are characterized by either a decline (from intact old-growth to logged forests) or a recovery of ES (successional forests, plantations, and agroforestry systems). This highlights the importance of ecosystem service multifunctionality (M) assessments across these land use transition phases as a basis for forest management and conservation. We analyzed synergies and trade-offs of ES to identify potential umbrella ES. We also evaluated the impact of logging activities in the decline of ES and M, and the influence of three recovery phases in the supply of ES and M. We installed 156 inventory plots (1600 m2) in the Ecuadorian Central Amazon and the Chocó. We estimated indicators for provisioning, regulating, supporting services and biodiversity. M indicator was estimated using the multifunctional average approach. Our results show that above-ground carbon stocks can be considered as an umbrella service as it presented high synergetic relations with M and various ES. We observed that logging activities caused a decline of 16–18% on M, with high impacts for timber volume and above-ground carbon stocks, calling for more sustainable practices with stricter post-harvesting control to avoid a higher depletion of ES and M. From the recovery phases it is evident that, successional forests offer the highest level of M, evidencing high potential to recover multiple ES after human disturbance.

Urbanization Impacts on Natural Habitat and Ecosystem Services in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao “Megacity”

The population aggregation and built-up area expansion caused by urbanization can have significant impacts on the supply and distribution of crucial ecosystem services. The correlation between urbanization and ecosystem services has been well-studied, but additional research is needed to better understand the spatiotemporal interactions between ecosystem services and urbanization processes in highly urbanized areas as well as surrounding rural areas. In this paper, the relationships of urbanization with natural habitat and three key regulating ecosystem services—water retention, soil conservation, and carbon sequestration, were quantified and mapped for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA), a rapidly developing urban agglomeration of over 70 million people, for the period of 2000–2018. Our results showed that urbanization caused a general decline in ecosystem services, and urbanization and ecosystem services exhibited a negative spatial correlation. However, this relationship varied along urban-rural gradients and weak decoupling was the overall trend during the course of the study period, indicating a greater need for the protection and improvement of ecosystem services. Our results provide instructive insights for new urbanization planning to maintain regional ecosystem services and sustainable development in the GBA and other large, rapidly urbanized agglomerations.

A long-term and comprehensive assessment of urbanization-induced impacts on ecosystem services in the capital city of India

Globally, the present rate of urbanization in mega-urban centers is altering ecosystem functions and resultant ecosystem services of the landscapes. The natural and semi-natural ecosystems within the urban regions are under threat of loss and degradation. Estimating the economic values of the ecosystem services obtained from these natural and semi-natural ecosystems can play an important role in urban policy and decision making. The main objective of this paper is to quantify the changes in ecosystem service values (ESVs) in response to land use land cover (LULC) dynamics and urbanization in the capital city of India, Delhi. Using satellite imageries over the past two decades (1998–2018) we show the estimated changes in ESVs with the global value coefficient (VC) of proximate biomes. The study relies on benefit transfer approach of ESs valuation wherein the ESVs of proximate biomes, derived from one/multiple study site, are used in assessing ESVs at another site. For determining the reliability of the study, a sensitivity analysis is performed to check the effectiveness of VC. The results show a total decline of ecosystem services (ESs) in monetary terms by US$ 7.614 million ha−1 year−1 from 1998 to 2018 with prominent changes in LULC. The change analysis shows a loss (US$ 3.6141 million) of regulatory and provisional services. The prominent part (US$ 2.675 million) of this loss was due to decline in city forest cover by 6426.09 ha. The city has benefitted from initiatives in implementation of biodiversity parks and plantation drives, but also suffers widespread loss of forest over the years. The ESs monitoring at the city administrative divisions (i.e. district-wise) highlights the importance of conservation of natural ecosystems within the urban area with distribution equity. The results provide insights that should be considered for urban planning in order to protect natural resources, ESs, and thus overall well-being of residents.

Caribbean reefs of the Anthropocene: Variance in ecosystem metrics indicates bright spots on coral depauperate reefs.

Dramatic coral loss has significantly altered many Caribbean reefs, with potentially important consequences for the ecological functions and ecosystem services provided by reef systems. Many studies examine coral loss and its causes—and often presume a universal decline of ecosystem services with coral loss—rather than evaluating the range of possible outcomes for a diversity of ecosystem functions and services at reefs varying in coral cover. We evaluate 10 key ecosystem metrics, relating to a variety of different reef ecosystem functions and services, on 328 Caribbean reefs varying in coral cover. We focus on the range and variability of these metrics rather than on mean responses. In contrast to a prevailing paradigm, we document high variability for a variety of metrics, and for many the range of outcomes is not related to coral cover. We find numerous “bright spots,” where herbivorous fish biomass, density of large fishes, fishery value, and/or fish species richness are high, despite low coral cover. Although it remains critical to protect and restore corals, understanding variability in ecosystem metrics among low‐coral reefs can facilitate the maintenance of reefs with sustained functions and services as we work to restore degraded systems. This framework can be applied to other ecosystems in the Anthropocene to better understand variance in ecosystem service outcomes and identify where and why bright spots exist.

A Knowledge Brokering Framework for Integrated Landscape Management

Sustainable land management is at the heart of some of the most intractable challenges facing humanity in the 21st century. It is critical for tackling biodiversity loss, land degradation, climate change and the decline of ecosystem services. It underpins food production, livelihoods, dietary health, social equity, climate change adaptation and many other outcomes. However, interdependencies, trade-offs, time lags and non-linear responses make it difficult to predict the combined effects of land management decisions . Policy decisions also have to be made in the context of conflicting interests, values and power dynamics of those living on the land and those affected by the consequences of land use decisions. This makes designing and coordinating effective land management policies and programmes highly challenging. The difficulty is exacerbated by the scarcity of reliable data on the impacts of land management on the environment and livelihoods. This poses a challenge for policymakers and practitioners in governments, development banks, non-governmental organisations and other institutions. It also sets demands for researchers, who are under ever increasing pressure from funders to demonstrate uptake and impact of their work. Relatively few research methods exist that can address such questions in a holistic way. Decision makers and researchers need to work together to help untangle, contextualise and interpret fragmented evidence through systems approaches to make decisions in spite of uncertainty. Individuals and institutions acting as knowledge brokers can support these interactions by facilitating the co-creation and use of scientific and other knowledge. Given the patchy nature of data and evidence, particularly in developing countries, it is important to draw on the full range of available models, tools and evidence. In this paper we review the use of evidence to inform multiple-objective integrated landscape management policies and programmes, focusing on how to achieve multiple sustainable development objectives across diverse landscapes. We set out key success factors for evidence-based decision-making, which are summarised into ten key principles for integrated landscape management knowledge brokering and 12 key skills for knowledge brokers. We finally propose a decision-support framework to organise evidence that can be used to tackle different types of land management policy decision.

Enhancing Marine Biodiversity in Singapore’s Urbanizing Coastal Environment

Urbanization of coastal cities has resulted in extensive physical modification of the coast that is commonly accompanied by habitat destruction or degradation, marine biodiversity loss and ecosystem services decline. Conversion of the natural environment to a human-modified one is often permanent, and it is important that development considerations take into account biodiversity enhancement of the ‘new’ environment. Development of biological communities in the modified environment takes time and is unlikely to return to levels once supported by the original habitats, but efforts can be made to facilitate the establishment of biodiversity that is suited to the new environmental conditions. Active interventions such as water quality management and ecological restoration can help to transform the urbanized coastal environment into a suitable biodiversity support zone. Observations of marine biodiversity in marinas and restoration of corals on artificial structures in Singapore support this prospect. Assessment of the biodiversity in three marinas indicated that they can function as marine biodiversity refugia, especially with their relatively high artificial structural complexity and when designed with basic ecological considerations to enhance marine biodiversity. Separately, reef restoration projects give rise to the possibility of colonizing seawalls with corals and other reef-associated species, as well as improving degraded reefs and creating reef communities in areas originally devoid of corals due to the heavy sediment load of urbanized coastal waters. Maintaining marine biodiversity in challenging environmental conditions resulting from urbanization can help to ensure continued provision of some level of ecosystem services.

Sustainability Dynamics of Traditional Villages: A Case Study in Qiannan Prefecture, Guizhou, China

Rapid urbanization has greatly changed traditional villages in rural areas of China. This paper aims to assess sustainability and obtain its spatio–temporal dynamics, analyze the cause of sustainability changing conditions, and offer suggestions on the sustainable development of traditional villages. We integrated human disturbances into a minimum cumulative resistance (MCR) model based on land use, landscape patterns, and ecosystem service (ES) provision in order to evaluate the sustainability dynamics of traditional villages between 1995 and 2015 in the Qiannan Prefecture, China. The results showed that pronounced declines in sustainability were limited to the northern and eastern regions, where the degradation of forest ecosystems and the rapid increase in construction land have resulted in landscape fragmentation and ES decline. We suggest that scientific land use development plans and ecological restoration should be implemented to protect the ecosystem and improve the sustainability of traditional villages in Qiannan Prefecture.

Designing a network of green infrastructure for the EU

The EU’s Green Infrastructure Strategy aims at developing a strategically planned network of natural and semi-natural areas to support the maintenance of ecosystem services (ESS) and connect protected areas (PAs), promoting in this way multifunctional landscapes. This network of GI aims to address the decline in ESS across the EU and also contribute to achieving the objectives of the Biodiversity Strategy, such as halting biodiversity loss.Here, we demonstrate how a spatial planning tool could be used for designing a network of GI across the EU. We tested two alternative planning scenarios: an EU-based, where the full network is planned at the continental scale, and a country-based scenario, where independent planning exercises are made by each EU member State. Both scenarios pursued the same objectives: to cover the distribution of 767 vertebrate species and 229 habitats under a “conservation management zone” and to warrant the provision of 5 ESS under the GI network, while connecting existing PAs already designated as Natura 2000.A systematically planned GI could warrant ESS provision and increase the connectivity of N2000 sites, while improving the coverage of species of EU-conservation interest beyond current protected areas. This network of GI is allocated in similar proportions on forested and agricultural areas. The EU-based planned GI was more efficient (less area needed for achieving targets) than the Country-based one for intermediate-large targets, including more areas along borders between countries, rather than consolidating connectivity among PAs within each country. Country-based solutions collectively achieved the EU targets. However, while all targets for species, habitats and ESS could be achieved under the EU-based scenario, targets for some ESS (especially Carbon retention) could not be fully achieved under the country-based scenario for some countries.Our results demonstrate the benefits of cross-country collaboration when designing the future network of GI in the EU and highlights the need for more robust policy instruments to support the designation and management of this network to secure integration in other sectorial policies and funding.

A palaeolimnological perspective to understand regime-shift dynamics in two Yangtze-basin lakes.

Natural and human disturbances have caused widespread regime shifts in shallow lakes of the lower Yangtze basin (LYB, China) resulting in a severe decline of ecosystem services. Improved understanding of the relationship between environmental forcing and ecosystem response, and the mechanisms behind regime shifts has significant implications for management. However, the patterns of these regime shifts and the underlying internal mechanisms are less known. In this study, two typical lakes (Chaohu and Zhangdu) from the LYB were selected to determine the trajectories of ecological regime shifts, both of which transitioned from vegetation- to plankton-dominated states several decades ago. Ecological trajectories since the 1900s in both lakes were reconstructed using palaeolimnological proxies, mainly diatom assemblages. Although results show that regime shifts occurred in both lakes in the 1970s and the 1950s, respectively, their inherent mechanisms were different. In Lake Zhangdu, altered hydrological conditions pushed the ecosystem across an ecological threshold, providing an example of a driver-mediated regime shift. In Lake Chaohu, ongoing nutrient loading influenced ecosystem processes and drove the lake to an alternative stable state, potentially presenting an example of a critical transition after a loss of resilience. This research indicates that palaeolimnological perspectives can provide insights into regime shift changes, as well as important information regarding which restoration methods should be tailored to individual lakes.

Urban sprawl decreases the value of ecosystem services and intensifies the supply scarcity of ecosystem services in China

Land use and land cover changes, particularly land take by urbanization, can degrade ecosystems and their capacity to provide humans with numerous benefits, namely, ecosystem services (ES). Many studies on the relationship between urbanization and the supply and demand of ES have been conducted. However, studies on the process and trend of the conflict between ES supply and demand, as well as the spatial differences, are lacking. Developing countries around the world are experiencing rapid urbanization. The aim of this study was to summarize the relationship between urbanization and the supply and demand of ES in China. China has experienced rapid urbanization since the reform and opening up, and the urban population reached 56.10% in 2015. Urban sprawl was twice that of population expansion, and led to a loss in value of ES. We calculated the loss in value of the five ES (food production, water conservation, climate regulation, habitat support and cultural service) due to the increase in construction area by means of spatial analysis. The total loss was US $110.95 billion in China from 1985 to 2015. This result indicated that the increases in construction land area had a negative impact on ES. At the same time, there was a conflict between the scarcity index of ES and their loss in value. The leading cause of this conflict was that economic development was highly dependent on the area of urban construction land. The results suggested that we should adopt “intensive” and “compact” strategic development models, quantify the value of ES, focus on the conflict between the loss in value and ES supply, and try our best to reduce the decline in ES in the future.

Changes in ecosystem services from wetland loss and restoration: An ecosystem assessment of the Danube Delta (1960–2010)

Deltaic flood plains provide critically important ecosystem services, including food production, fresh water, flood control, nutrient cycling, spiritual values and opportunities for recreation. Despite growing recognition of their societal and ecological importance, deltaic flood plains are declining worldwide at alarming rates. Loss of wetland ecosystem services bears socio-environmental costs overlooked in land-use planning. Conversely, wetland restoration can deliver important long-term benefits. This paper examines effects of different land use policies on ecosystem services provided by the Danube Delta, one of Europe’s largest and most outstanding wetlands. First, we identify, characterize and measure the most important ecosystem services provided by the Danube Delta. Second, we assess trends between 1960 and 2010, contrasting periods of economic development (1960–1989) and ecological restoration (1990–2010). Our results indicate that i) the Danube Delta provides important services with benefits accrue from local communities to humanity at large, ii) that two thirds of the Delta’s ecosystem services have declined over the studied period and iii) that ongoing restoration efforts have so far been unable to reverse trends in ecosystem service decline. Benefits from ecological restoration policies are already becoming apparent, but at a scale not yet comparable to the costs from ecosystem decline incurred over previous decades.

Ecosystem service decline in response to wetland loss in the Sanjiang Plain, Northeast China

In the last six decades, natural ecosystems in the Sanjiang Plain have undergone significant disturbance. Our study investigated wetland loss history and revealed the ecosystem service decline caused by wetland loss in this area. Based on multi-source data, we obtained wetland loss history since the mid-1950s. Then ecosystem service value (ESV) changes in response to wetland loss were estimated quantitatively in the Sanjiang Plain. Results indicate that wetland area declined by 73.3% (about 2.77 million ha) since 1954, mainly due to the transformation of wetlands to farmland. Wetland loss has reduced the ecosystem service value by $57.46 billion over the past six decades. The largest reduction in ESVs was due to agricultural expansion, especially that of dry farmland. Ecosystem services of all functions except agricultural product functions decreased in the past 60 years. Agricultural product functions increased at the expense of other functions. Wetland restoration and protection of existing wetlands are necessary to reduce the loss of ecosystem services as well as to promote sustainable development.

Ecosystem services-based multi-criteria assessment for ecologically sensitive watershed management

The decline in ecosystem services (ES) across the world is mostly associated with land use change, which is the basic outcome of ecosystem degradation. The changes associated with land use development often negatively impact ecosystems to sustain their services. The lack of capability of contemporary land suitability (overlay) analysis on ES-based decision support approach necessitates a new way of analytical method integrating ES to promote sustainability more efficiently in spatial decision making and ecosystem management. Although there is a growing attention on ES-based data improvement and spatialization of ES data through mapping and valuation at local and global levels, the configuration of analytical decision support tool of ES has not been developed yet to be used for spatial decision-making purposes. In this paper, a case study for the application of ES-based decision support approach is presented to contribute as a spatial decision support tool. Duzce, a province distinguished with being another major drinking water supplier of Istanbul, is selected as a case. The aim of the paper is to explore the relevancy of ES-based land suitability (ESLS) assessment approach as a decision support tool in spatial decision making by comparing with the contemporary land suitability (overlay) analysis. Both approaches have been developed and superimposed with multilayered/multi-functional spatial assessments to achieve an integrated final output separately. The findings of the research prove that ES-based analytical approach for spatial decision making can better formulate and contribute to more holistic and comprehensive spatial decision making.

Tele-connecting China's future urban growth to impacts on ecosystem services under the shared socioeconomic pathways

Land change, especially urban land expansion, is increasingly triggered by remote demands for goods and services rather than by purely local drivers, exerting pressure on ecosystem services beyond local boundaries. This effect has been termed as ‘tele-connections’. China has become the world's second largest economy. Understanding the tele-connections between China's future urban growth and its impacts on ecosystem services is essential to reconcile the conflict between socioeconomic developments and ecological protection. To this end, we propose to integrate an urban growth simulation model with the multi-region input-output (MRIO) model, thereby illustrating how urban land consumption in one region can cause ecosystem services' degradation in another. We explore the decline in ecosystem services due to urban land tele-connections under five shared socioeconomic pathway (SSP) scenarios. The results yield the direct loss of ecosystem services by 1.14–5.42% in food production, 0.06–0.44% in carbon sequestration, 0.09–0.59% in soil retention, 0.05–0.29% in sandstorm prevention, 0.12–0.80% in water retention and 0.19–1.04% in habitat provision. Uneven ecological consequences caused by domestic urban land displacement are witnessed not only in China's peripheral regions but also in developed regions. Shanghai, as the largest city in China, is expected to exert great impacts in terms of the quantity of ecosystem services decline and its spatial extent as well. Overall, the presented scenario simulations can support the establishment of effective compensation strategies toward balancing the responsibility and rights of stakeholders associated with ecological services protection.

Spatio-temporal investigation of the interactive relationship between urbanization and ecosystem services: Case study of the Jingjinji urban agglomeration, China

Urbanization has altered landscape patterns and ecological functions, which has caused a decline in ecosystem services (ESS) and resulted in many ecological and environmental issues, particularly in areas that are undergoing rapid urbanization. A better understanding of the relationship between urbanization and ESS is important for future regional sustainability and relevant policy development. Most previous studies focus on the interrelationship between urbanization and environment or refer to the effects of urbanization on ESS. The purpose of this study is to assess the relationship between urbanization and ESS in the Jingjinji (JJJ) urban agglomeration in northern China. The results revealed that with the rapid urbanization trend during the period 1996–2014, the value of ESS in the JJJ region increased by 4.63% because the increases in the forest, orchard and water areas greatly offset the decrease in ESS caused by urban sprawl, and both urbanization and ESS showed marked spatial variability. The temporal relationship between urbanization and ESS was represented by an inverse U-shaped curve; the peak was 0.7 for the urbanization index in 2009. Noticeably, there was no unanimous variation in the value of different ecosystem services types, and food production and waste treatment showed dramatic declines. There were negative spatial correlations between different levels of urbanization and ESS and particularly significant negative correlations among land, population urbanization and ESS. The central cities focused more on urbanization development than on ecological protection, whereas the Bashang Plateau and areas in the northern mountains featured unbalanced development and low levels of urbanization, and both the urbanization level and the ecosystem services value were low in the central southern plains. This indicated that, to realize urban ecological sustainability and develop sustainable regional paradigms, it is possible to strengthen socioeconomic urbanization while at the same time controlling the amount and distribution of land and population. The integration plan and action should be put forward to facilitate all measures taken in JJJ urban agglomeration planning and ecological conservation.

Forest cover loss and recovery in an East African remnant forest area: Understanding its context and drivers for conservation and sustainable ecosystem service provision

Understanding of the often complex forest cover change drivers, and the perceived and observed forest cover changes substantially contributes to the sustainable management of tropical forests. This paper aims at developing an integrated view on tropical forest cover change and its drivers by combining the perception of the stakeholders (farmers, forest guards, and forest managers) and five decades forest cover mapping, based on interview and remote sensing respectively, through a case study in the central highlands of Ethiopia. Afforestation and deforestation occurred when law enforcement was stronger and weaker respectively, depending on political regimes. Since 1937 i.e., the early Imperial period, the position of the forest edge has not changed much over time, it rather became sharper. In the late Imperial era (1972–1975), the forest cover declined only by 1.6%. In the subsequent two governments, the socialist and the current federal rule (1975–2014), the forest cover increased by 17%. There was a 3.9% forest cover decline during the transition between the two governments. This pattern of overall net forest cover increase observed by remote sensing data has been correctly perceived by stakeholders. Stakeholders acknowledged the observed forest cover increase, however, they argued that the forest is declining in terms of its quality for several ecosystem services (ES). The ES decline is believed to have resulted from the gradual shift of pure dense indigenous forest to an increasing share of exotic plantations. In the three political regimes, land policy, illegal encroachments, population pressure and social unrest have been the leading drivers of forest cover change. Communities' involvement in forest management activities and sharing benefits were regarded as positive perception of forest management strategies during the federal administration (1993–2007) of the current government by farmers. Among the factors that determine forest management strategies proposed by stakeholders are gender, landholding size, education level and age. Future conservation and development interventions need to consider stakeholders' concerns. Their involvement in forest management is also necessary for improved biodiversity conservation, ecosystem service provision, and social wellbeing.

Development of a method for the simultaneous determination of multi-class pesticides in earthworms by liquid chromatography coupled to tandem electrospray mass spectrometry.

Agricultural intensification, and in particular the use of pesticides, leads over the years to a loss of biodiversity and a decline of ecosystem services in cultivated zones and agricultural landscapes. Among the animal communities involved in the functioning of agro-ecosystems, earthworms are ubiquitous and recognized as indicators of land uses and cultural practices. However, little data is available on the levels of pesticides in such organisms in natura, which would allow estimating their actual exposure and the potentially resulting impacts. Thus, the objective of this study was to develop a sensitive analytical methodology to detect and quantify 27 currently used pesticides in earthworms (Allolobophora chlorotica). A modified QuEChERS extraction was implemented on individual earthworms. This step was followed by liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). The whole analytical method was validated on spiked earthworm blank samples, with regard to linearity (from 1 to 100 method limit of quantification, r2 > 0.95), intra-day precision (relative standard deviation (RSD) < 15%), inter-day precision (RSD < 20%), recoveries (mainly in the range 70-110%), and limits of detection and of quantification (inferior to 5ng/g for most of the pesticides). The developed method was successfully applied to determine the concentrations of pesticides in nine individuals collected in natura. Up to five of the selected pesticides have been detected in one individual. Graphical abstract.