Human Landscape Research Articles

The Flows of Nature to People, and of People to Nature: Applying Movement Concepts to Ecosystem Services

To date, the provision of ecosystem services has largely been estimated based on spatial patterns of land cover alone, using benefit transfer analysis. Although it is increasingly being recognised that the distribution of the human population affects whether a potential service translates into a realised service, this misses key steps in the process and assumes that everyone accesses ecosystem services in the same way. Here we describe a conceptual approach to ecosystem services in terms of movement and flows. We highlight that ecosystem service flows can be broken down into ‘nature to people’ (the movement of nature towards beneficiaries) and ‘people to nature’ (the movement of beneficiaries towards nature). The former has been relatively well described. Here, we explore the latter by reviewing research on human migration, animal foraging and landscape connectivity. We assess if and how existing theories might be useful in describing how people seek out ecosystem services. We consider some of the ways in which flows of people to nature can be measured. Such measurements may reveal which movement theories best represent how people seek out and access ecosystem services. Overall, our review aims to improve the future modelling of ecosystem services by more explicitly considering how people access potential services and therefore realise them.

Spatial variation in population-density of snow leopards in a multiple use landscape in Spiti Valley, Trans-Himalaya.

The endangered snow leopard Panthera uncia occurs in human use landscapes in the mountains of South and Central Asia. Conservationists generally agree that snow leopards must be conserved through a land-sharing approach, rather than land-sparing in the form of strictly protected areas. Effective conservation through land-sharing requires a good understanding of how snow leopards respond to human use of the landscape. Snow leopard density is expected to show spatial variation within a landscape because of variation in the intensity of human use and the quality of habitat. However, snow leopards have been difficult to enumerate and monitor. Variation in the density of snow leopards remains undocumented, and the impact of human use on their populations is poorly understood. We examined spatial variation in snow leopard density in Spiti Valley, an important snow leopard landscape in India, via spatially explicit capture-recapture analysis of camera trap data. We camera trapped an area encompassing a minimum convex polygon of 953 km2. Our best model estimated an overall density of 0.5 (95% CI: 0.31–0.82) mature snow leopards per 100 km2. Using AIC, our best model showed the density of snow leopards to depend on estimated wild prey density, movement about activity centres to depend on altitude, and the expected number of encounters at the activity centre to depend on topography. Models that also used livestock biomass as a density covariate ranked second, but the effect of livestock was weak. Our results highlight the importance of maintaining high density pockets of wild prey populations in multiple-use landscapes to enhance snow leopard conservation.

Mapping fine-scale human disturbances in a working landscape with Landsat time series on Google Earth Engine

Large fractions of human-altered lands are working landscapes where people and nature interact to balance social, economic, and ecological needs. Achieving these sustainability goals requires tracking human footprints and landscape disturbance at fine scales over time—an effort facilitated by remote sensing but still under development. Here, we report a satellite time-series analysis approach to detecting fine-scale human disturbances in an Ohio watershed dominated by forests and pastures but with diverse small-scale industrial activities such as hydraulic fracturing (HF) and surface mining. We leveraged Google Earth Engine to stack decades of Landsat images and explored the effectiveness of a fuzzy change detection algorithm called the Bayesian Estimator of Abrupt change, Seasonality, and Trend (BEAST) to capture fine-scale disturbances. BEAST is an ensemble method, capable of estimating changepoints probabilistically and identifying sub-pixel disturbances. We found the algorithm can successfully capture the patterns and timings of small-scale disturbances, such as grazing, agriculture management, coal mining, HF, and right-of-ways for gas and power lines, many of which were not captured in the annual land cover maps from Cropland Data Layers—one of the most widely used classification-based land dynamics products in the US. For example, BEAST could detect the initial HF wellpad construction within 60 days of the registered drilling dates on 88.2% of the sites. The wellpad footprints were small, disturbing only 0.24% of the watershed in area, which was dwarfed by other activities (e.g., right-of-ways of utility transmission lines). Together, these known activities have disturbed 9.7% of the watershed from the year 2000 to 2017 with evergeen forests being the most affected land cover. This study provides empirical evidence on the effectiveness and reliability of BEAST for changepoint detection as well as its capability to detect disturbances from satellite images at sub-pixel levels and also documents the value of Google Earth Engine and satellite time-series imaging for monitoring human activities in complex working landscapes.

Estimating poaching risk for the critically endangered wild red wolf (Canis rufus).

The reintroduced red wolf (Canis rufus) population in northeastern North Carolina declined to 7 known wolves by October 2020, the majority of which is due to poaching (illegal killing), the major component of verified anthropogenic mortality in this and many other carnivore populations. Poaching is still not well understood and is often underestimated, partly as a result of cryptic poaching, when poachers conceal evidence. Cryptic poaching inhibits our understanding of the causes and consequences of anthropogenic mortality, which is important to conservation as it can inform us about future population patterns within changing political and human landscapes. We estimate risk for marked adult red wolves of 5 causes of death (COD: legal, nonhuman, unknown, vehicle and poached) and disappearance, describe variation in COD in relation to hunting season, and compare time to disappearance or death. We include unknown fates in our risk estimates. We found that anthropogenic COD accounted for 0.78–0.85 of 508 marked animals, including poaching and cryptic poaching, which we estimated at 0.51–0.64. Risk of poaching and disappearance was significantly higher during hunting season. Mean time from collaring until nonhuman COD averaged 376 days longer than time until poached and 642 days longer than time until disappearance. Our estimates of risk differed from prior published estimates, as expected by accounting for unknown fates explicitly. We quantify the effects on risk for three scenarios for unknown fates, which span conservative to most likely COD. Implementing proven practices that prevent poaching or hasten successful reintroduction may reverse the decline to extinction in the wild of this critically endangered population. Our findings add to a growing literature on endangered species protections and enhancing the science used to measure poaching worldwide.

Human-climate interactions shape fire regimes in the Cerrado of São Paulo state, Brazil

The Cerrado is the most diverse tropical savanna in the world. As a fire-prone ecosystem, natural fire in the Cerrado shapes plant communities and drives evolutionary processes. Human activities and landscape management can alter natural fire regimes and reshape Cerrado dynamics, making biodiversity conservation a challenge, particularly in densely populated areas. We reconstructed the historical fire regime of three protected areas (PA) and their buffer zones in São Paulo state to understand how current fire exclusion policies are affecting fire regimes and to measure how human-climate-fire relationships can change in areas under different land management. We used Landsat satellite imagery, from 1984 to 2017, with 30 m of spatial resolution and 16 days of temporal resolution. In total, we mapped 49,471 ha of burned area, and we detected variations in fire frequency and fire size among sites. PA dominated by open savanna in Itirapina concentrated 93 % of all observed fires, while PA dominated by forest-like formations in Assis represented only 2% of the fires. Annual rainfall showed a very weak relationship (R2 = 0.04) with annual total burned area, while the rainfall split between dry and wet seasons showed a tendency to have a fuel moisture effect which determined the vegetation available to burn in the dry season (R² = 0.09). Fire regimes in PA were similar to those observed in buffer zones suggesting that fire-exclusion policies do not effectively prevent fires in PA that are surrounded by an anthropic matrix where fire is often used. When we included human factors in addition to rainfall, our models explained 44 % of variation of burned areas. We conclude that fire regimes in São Paulo Cerrado have been modified by humans and that fire exclusion is not a suitable policy for protected areas in this fire-prone ecosystem.

A Bird's Eye View: More-Than-Human Migrations

With a focus on bird migrations, this essay seeks to understand Derrida’s (2000) concept of hospitality and its corollary, the relationship between guest and host, in the more-than-human world. The essay begins by considering the implications of migratory movement on the more-than-human “hosts” residing in both summer and winter habitats. It then considers how, depending on one’s perspective, migratory bird populations might be considered both guests and hosts simultaneously in/of two locals, and yet also foreigners as they move out, through, and into various territories. I use this three-part paradox to tease out subtle distinctions toward an understanding of hospitality in relation to both humans and more-than-human contexts. This essay also draws on key related concepts from Deleuze and Guattari (1987) and uses Barad’s (2007) diffractive methodology to understand the intersection of hospitality and migration in more-than-human and human landscapes.

Land cover along hiking trails in a nature tourism destination: the Azores as a case study

Tourists have become increasingly interested in certain aspects of their destination, including landscape and biodiversity elements, thereby promoting the development of nature-based tourism. The Azores are considered a sustainable tourism destination, with various natural attractions, including hiking trails. Based on the hypothesis that natural vegetation/forest might have a relevant role as a tourist attraction along trails, we performed a quantitative GIS-based analysis to determine the predominant types of land cover found along hiking trails in the Azores. Different statistical approaches indicated that agriculture/pastureland dominated land cover along most trails and that land cover distribution was correlated with global land cover partitioning in the respective island. A reduced number of trails showed a distinct land cover, intersecting areas of natural vegetation/forest. Therefore, we concluded that land cover across hiking trails in this nature tourism destination was dominated by a humanized landscape, which raises questions regarding the more adequate tourist interpretation strategy to adopt in the Azores.

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[inline-graphic 01i] Doron Bar [End Page 229] Click for larger view View full resolution [End Page 230] [End Page 231] [End Page 232] [End Page 233] [End Page 234] [End Page 235] [End Page 236] [End Page 237] [End Page 238] Click for larger view View full resolution [End Page 239] Click for larger view View full resolution [End Page 240] Click for larger view View full resolution [End Page 241] [End Page 242] Click for larger view View full resolution [End Page 243] Click for larger view View full resolution [End Page 244] [End Page 245] [End Page 246] [End Page 247] Doron Bar Schechter Institute for Jewish Studies Jerusalem, Israel Footnotes 1. 2. James Duncan and David Ley, "Representing the Place of Culture," Place / Culture / Representation, ed. James Duncan and David Ley (London: Routledge, 1993), 1–24; Don Mitchell, Cultural Geography: A Critical Introduction (Oxford: Blackwell, 2000), 37-65; Yi-Fu Tuan, "Centennial Forum: Cultural Geography: Glances Backward and Forward," Annals of the Association of American Geographers 94 (2004): 729-33. 3. Julia Brauch, Anna Lipphardt, and Alexandra Nocke, eds., Jewish Topographies: Visions of Space, Tradition and Place (London: Routledge, 2016) 4. Ruth Kark, The Land That Became Israel: Studies in Historical Geography (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1990); Maoz Azaryahu, Tel Aviv, Mythography of a City (Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 2007); Stanley Waterman, "Ideology and Events in Israeli Human Landscapes Revisited," Jewish Journal of Sociology 57 (2015): 77-104. 5. Harold Brodsky, ed., Land and Community: Geography in Jewish Studies (Bethesda: University of Maryland Press, 1998), 147-52. 6. Yoram Bilu, The Saints' Impresarios: Dreamers, Healers, and Holy Men in Israel's Urban Periphery (Boston: Academic Studies Press, 2010). 7. Jamie Scott and Paul Simpson-Houseley, Sacred Places and Profane Spaces (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1991); Simon Coleman and John Elsner, Pilgrimage: Past and Present (London: British Museum Press, 1995); Robert H. Stoddard and Alan Morinis, eds., Sacred Places, Sacred Spaces: The Geography of Pilgrimage (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1997). 8. Ian Reader, "Pilgrimage Growth in the Modern World: Meanings and Implications," Religion 27, no. 3 (2007): 210-29; S. Brent Plate, "Introduction: The Varieties of Contemporary Pilgrimage," Crosscuents 59, no. 3 (2009): 260-67; Simon Coleman, "Ritual Remains: Studying Contemporary Pilgrimage," in A Companion to the Anthropology of Religion, ed. Janice Boddy and Michael Lambeck (Oxford: Wiley Blackwell, 2013), 294-308. 9. R. Stoddard, "Defining and Classifying Pilgrimages," in Stoddard and Morinis, Sacred Places, Sacred Spaces, 41-60. 10. Daniel H. Olsen, "Tourism and Informal Pilgrimage among the Latter-Day Saints," in Tourism, Religion and Spiritual Journeys, ed. Dallen J. Timothy and Daniel H. Olsen (Abingdon: Routledge, 2006), 254-70; Hamlet Melkumyan, "Informal Shrines and Social Transformations: The Murids as New Religious Mediators among Yazidis in Armenia," in Sacred Places, Emerging Spaces: Religious Pluralism in the Post-Soviet Caucasus, ed. Tsypylma Derieva, Florian Muhlfried and Kevin Tuite (New York: Berghahn, 2018), 177-202. 11. Alan Morinis, "Introduction: The Territory of the Anthropology of Pilgrimage," in Sacred Journeys: The Anthropology of Pilgrimage (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1992), 14-15. 12. Susan Sered Sta, "Rachel's Tomb: The Development of a Cult," Jewish Studies Quarterly 2, no. 2 (1995): 103-48. 13. Ian Reader, Pilgrimage: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015), 1-19; Jens Kreinath, "The Seductiveness of Saints: Interreligious Pilgrimage Sites in Hatay and the Ritual Transformations of Agency," in The Seductions of Pilgrimage: Sacred Journeys Afar and Astray in the Western Religious Tradition, ed. Michael A. Di Giovine and David Picard (Suey: Ashgate, 2015), 121-43. 14. Yoram Bilu, "Dreamers in Paradise: The Rise and Fall of a New Holy Site in Beit She'an, Israel," in Jewish Studies at the Crossroads of Anthropology and History: Authority, Diaspora, Tradition, ed. Ra'anan S. Boustan, Oren Kosansky, and Marina Rustow (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2011), 80-101. 15. 16. 17. Shmuel Safrai, "Pilgrimage to Jerusalem at the End of the Second Temple Period," in Studies on the Jewish Background of the New Testament, ed. Otto Michel et al. (Assen: Van Gorcum, 1969), 12-21. 18. Eyal Ben Eliyahu, "'On That Day, His Feet Will Stand on the Mount...

Primer registro de Kaniska canace (Linnaeus, 1763) (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae) del estado de Rajastán, India

The Blue Admiral Kaniska canace (Linnaeus, 1763) is recorded for the first time from Rajasthan and new elevation record from Western India. This observation also states about the feeding alteration of this forest species in human disturbed landscapes.

A strontium isoscape for the Conchucos region of highland Peru and its application to Andean archaeology.

Strontium isotope (87Sr/86Sr) analysis of human skeletal remains is an important method in archaeology to examine past human mobility and landscape use. 87Sr/86Sr signatures of a given location are largely determined by the underlying bedrock, and these geology specific isotope signatures are incorporated into skeletal tissue through food and water, often permitting the differentiation of local and non-local individuals in past human populations. This study presents the results of a systematic survey of modern flora and fauna (n = 100) from 14 locations to map the bioavailable 87Sr/86Sr signatures of the Conchucos region, an area where the extent of geologic variability was previously unknown. We illustrate the necessity to examine the variation in 87Sr/86Sr values of the different geological formations available to human land use to document the range of possible local 87Sr/86Sr values. Within the Conchucos region we found significant variation in environmental 87Sr/86Sr values (0.7078–0.7214). The resulting isoscape represents the largest regionally specific bioavailable 87Sr/86Sr map (3,840 km2) to date for the Andes, and will serve as a baseline for future archaeological studies of human mobility in this part of the Peruvian highlands.

Landslide susceptibility mapping using frequency ratio model: the case of Gamo highland, South Ethiopia

Landslide is the most frequently occurring geo-hazard in mountainous terrains of the world. It affects human life, infrastructures, landscapes, and human properties as well as their day-to-day activities. In the current study area which is found in the Gamo Zone of south Ethiopia, recurrent landslide hazards have occurred. To minimize this landslide hazard on human life and their properties, landslide susceptibility mapping is an important step for environmental planning. For this purpose, 1554 landslides and 9 landslide causative factors (both conditioning and triggering factors) were used. Each thematic layer has different classes and some of these classes influence landslide occurrence more than others. The most influencing factor classes which were identified by the frequency ratio model include slope classes between12 and 45°; convex and concave classes of the curvature; aspect classes of north, northeast, south, and southwest directions; and elevation classes in between 2118 and 2492 m. The distances factors, proximity to streams, and lineaments 0–100 m and 0–200 m respectively have a very high on landslide occurrences. Land use/land cover factor has different classes and they have different levels of direct and indirect influences on landslide occurrences. The landslide susceptibility map was classified as very low, low, moderate, high, and very high classes each accounting for 17.8%, 29.19%, 28.55%, 17.52%, and 6.91% of the area respectively. To evaluate the reliability of this model, the landslide susceptibility map was verified using a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve with a value of 82% and through field observation. Therefore, this can be used by local, zonal, regional, and federal governments for land use planning, disaster prevention, and mitigation as it offers first-hand information.

Native Burmese pythons exhibit site fidelity and preference for aquatic habitats in an agricultural mosaic

Animal movement and resource use are tightly linked. Investigating these links to understand how animals use space and select habitats is especially relevant in areas affected by habitat fragmentation and agricultural conversion. We set out to explore the space use and habitat selection of Burmese pythons (Python bivittatus) in a heterogenous, agricultural landscape within the Sakaerat Biosphere Reserve, northeast Thailand. We used VHF telemetry to record the daily locations of seven Burmese pythons and created dynamic Brownian Bridge Movement Models to produce occurrence distributions and model movement extent and temporal patterns. To explore relationships between movement and habitat selection we used integrated step selection functions at both the individual and population level. Burmese pythons had a mean 99% occurrence distribution contour of 98.97 ha (range 9.05–285.56 ha). Furthermore, our results indicated that Burmese pythons had low mean individual motion variance, indicating infrequent moves and long periods at a single location. In general, Burmese pythons restricted movement and selected aquatic habitats but did not avoid potentially dangerous land use types like human settlements. Although our sample is small, we suggest that Burmese pythons are capitalizing on human disturbed landscapes.

Towards understanding bold behaviour of large carnivores: the case of brown bears in human‐modified landscapes

AbstractHuman–wildlife conflicts sometimes involve bold animals that do not fear humans and their activities. Such behaviour is detrimental to both wildlife and people and may lead to conflicts, which can be especially serious for large carnivores. Like most wildlife, these species have adapted to live in highly humanized landscapes by adopting human avoidance behaviours. However, bold individuals exist, which represent a main cause of conflicts, public fear and negative attitudes, that greatly influence management and conservation actions. Although costly decisions are constantly made to deal with such individuals, evidence‐based knowledge of their behaviour, that is how and when they move, especially in relation to human activities, is lacking. We analysed telemetry data of brown bears (Ursus arctos) that were GPS‐collared across Slovenia and Trentino (Italy) to explore spatial behaviour and rhythms of activity of bears that were identified as bold by managers and to assess if and how their behaviour differs from that of their ‘non‐bold’ conspecifics (hereafter, control individuals). Because other factors such as sex and age of the bear, season, daytime and region may affect behaviour, we also included these variables in our analyses. On one hand, bold bears were more active at the daytime and used open areas considerably more often than control bears. On the other hand, although differences in distance to settlements and roads, movement rates and daily home ranges were also found, they were not as pronounced as expected. Instead, other factors were found to affect bear behaviour and, most importantly, we found strong inter‐individual differences in all behaviours. Such results suggest that, although bold bears have some behavioural attributes in common that distinguish them from control bears, each individual differs from one another. Our study represents a first step towards understanding bold bears’ behaviour and provide novel evidence‐based knowledge that can help to better know and manage these individuals.

Timorese archaeobotany: An anthracological pilot study at the late Holocene Lepu-Kina rockshelter, Atauro Island, East Timor

This paper details an anthracological pilot study for the Lepu-Kina rockshelter site (AT-7), located on Atauro Island, East Timor and considers the implications of the preliminary results for the archaeology of the region. Archaeological wood charcoal analysis can reveal aspects of fuel selection, human landscape modifications and management of vegetal resources. The difficulties inherent in tropical archaeobotany have, however, constrained anthracological research in Island Southeast Asia. This study is therefore principally an attempt to assess the potential for future anthracological investigations to address archaeological questions related to vegetation resource uses and horticultural practices in Island Southeast Asia. Results reveal that the occupants of the Lepu-Kina rockshelter 2500 years ago had access to abundant semi-evergreen tropical forests and savannah. The presence of Artocarpus, identified as either breadnut or breadfruit (A. cf. altilis/camansi) is also recorded. These results confirm that a more expansive anthracological investigation of the Lepu-Kina rockshelter, accompanied by a local or regional reference collection and wood anatomy resource, has significant potential to expand on these initial observations.

Human impact and landscape changes between 3000 and 1000 BC on the Tropea Promontory (Calabria, Italy)

Pollen data were collected from a one-meter peat succession recovered from the top of the Tropea Promontory (Calabria), a territory continuously inhabited throughout Prehistory and Protohistory. The peat was deposited in a small pond/marsh that was gradually filled up. Six14C dates allowed the peat growth to be constrained to between ca. 3000 and 1000 calBC. Considerable landscape and land use changes occurred in the area in that time interval, due to both environmental changes and intensive human activities. An open landscape with scattered oak woods characterized the high plain, whereas on the wet soils surrounding the marsh, wet woodlands ( Alnus), and hygrophilous vegetation (Cyperaceae) developed, their relative abundance being used to mark the local environmental evolution. The occurrence of different anthropogenic indicators reveals that the area was exploited for agricultural practices (cereal cultivation) and livestock grazing, the latter being the main activity practiced around the marsh between the Eneolithic (stable settlements) and the Early-Middle Bronze Age (seasonal presence). The possibility of climatic influence on the peat evolution was studied by comparisons with well-dated isotope records. The marsh contraction phase roughly coincides with the 4.2 ka calBP event, while the end of peat accumulation postdates the 3.0 ka calBP rapid climate change event.

Human arrival and landscape dynamics in the northern Bahamas

The first Caribbean settlers were Amerindians from South America. Great Abaco and Grand Bahama, the final islands colonized in the northernmost Bahamas, were inhabited by the Lucayans when Europeans arrived. The timing of Lucayan arrival in the northern Bahamas has been uncertain because direct archaeological evidence is limited. We document Lucayan arrival on Great Abaco Island through a detailed record of vegetation, fire, and landscape dynamics based on proxy data from Blackwood Sinkhole. From about 3,000 to 1,000 y ago, forests dominated by hardwoods and palms were resilient to the effects of hurricanes and cooling sea surface temperatures. The arrival of Lucayans by about 830 CE (2σ range: 720 to 920 CE) is demarcated by increased burning and followed by landscape disturbance and a time-transgressive shift from hardwoods and palms to the modern pine forest. Considering that Lucayan settlements in the southern Bahamian archipelago are dated to about 750 CE (2σ range: 600 to 900 CE), these results demonstrate that Lucayans spread rapidly through the archipelago in less than 100 y. Although precontact landscapes would have been influenced by storms and climatic trends, the most pronounced changes follow more directly from landscape burning and ecosystem shifts after Lucayan arrival. The pine forests of Abaco declined substantially between 1500 and 1670 CE, a period of increased regional hurricane activity, coupled with fires on an already human-impacted landscape. Any future intensification of hurricane activity in the tropical North Atlantic Ocean threatens the sustainability of modern pine forests in the northern Bahamas.

Late Holocene climate and land-use history in the Mongolian Altai Mountains: Combined evidence from palynological, macro-charcoal and tree-ring analyses

The Mongolian Altai is an ecologically sensitive region in Central Asia where changes in climate and anthropogenic activities have a strong impact on the forest-steppe vegetation. We combine high-resolution data (pollen, non-pollen palynomorphs (NPP), charcoal) of two new sedimentological archives from the Altai Tavan Bogd National Park with dendrochronological analyses on Larix sibirica trees to study climatic changes and human landscape interactions over the last 1,350 cal yr BP. Multi-proxy palaeoenvironmental reconstructions show that the present landscape is a result of both short- and long-term climatic variations and of locally different land use. Combined evidence suggests that in the period from 1,350 to 670 cal yr BP western Mongolia was impacted by a rather cold and dry climate, followed by an episode of improved warmer and wetter climatic conditions from 670 to 400 cal yr BP. From around 400 to 200 cal yr BP, the Little Ice Age influenced the forest-steppe vegetation in the area, favoring an expansion of steppe vegetation. Over the last 70 years, climatic conditions were characterized by markedly high summer temperatures. NPP data reveal periods of increased grazing activities in the forests especially during unfavorable climatic periods. During the late 20th century, a decreasing deposition of coprophilous fungal spores with a simultaneous slight decrease of Larix sibirica forest suggest that economic timber harvesting seemed to be of more significance for forest degradation than pastural activities.

Seascape heterogeneity modifies estuarine fish assemblages in mangrove forests

AbstractMangroves are a dominant structural habitat within tropical and subtropical estuaries that provide a number of ecosystem services, including habitat for a range of crustaceans and fish. However, mangroves are one of the most threatened estuarine habitats globally, having been severely reduced in extent, and replaced by urban structures. Here, we test for the effects of both natural (e.g. seagrass, rock and mangroves habitat extent, and connectivity) and human (e.g. extent of urban area) landscape variables on the number and type of fish inhabiting mangroves forests. We used remote underwater video stations to quantify fish assemblages within mangroves at 150 sites in 30 estuaries across Queensland, Australia. Fish community structure was best explained by the extent of mangroves and seagrasses within an estuary, the distance to the estuary mouth, and the size of the estuary and catchment. Moderate catchment size and proximity to the estuary mouth increased species richness and abundance of harvestable fish at individual mangrove sites. In order to maintain mangrove fish assemblages and the functions they provide, management initiatives should focus on maintaining natural estuarine seascapes that are located closer to the mouth of estuaries, in particular, focusing on estuaries that have lower levels of catchment urbanization.

Human settlement and landscape dynamics on the coastline south of the Gironde estuary (SW France): A multi-proxy approach

The Gironde estuary in SW France is the largest in Western Europe and has attracted human populations since prehistoric times. From the 1970s to the 1990s, intense archaeological research was undertaken on the long and highly dynamic coastline just south of the estuary mouth. In recent years, the combined action of increased coastal erosion and human pressure has proved a serious threat to the integrity of archaeological sites in the area. As a consequence, a whole array of previously unrecorded archaeological remains across the intertidal zone and coastal strip is being exposed. In this context, innovative interdisciplinary research since 2014 is yielding new information about the settlement and landscape dynamics and about the long-term interaction between human societies and the environment. The sedimentary context and the exceptional preservation conditions of organic remains have made possible a multi-proxy approach combining archaeological, geomorphological, palaeobiological, and archaeoentomological methods. In this paper we discuss the different approaches and the way they jointly contribute to the project. The results obtained so far from this multi-proxy approach challenge the traditional view of the historic occupation and the landscape dynamics around the Gironde estuary from prehistoric times to antiquity. They show that the intense occupation of this area during certain periods of human history is related to the development of marshy environments, which can now be analyzed at higher temporal resolution owing to this approach.

Landscape ecological concepts in planning: review of recent developments

ContextLandscape ecology as an interdisciplinary science has great potential to inform landscape planning, an integrated, collaborative practice on a regional scale. It is commonly assumed that landscape ecological concepts play a key role in this quest.ObjectivesThe aim of the paper is to identify landscape ecological concepts that are currently receiving attention in the scientific literature, analyze the prevalence of these concepts and understand how these concepts can inform the steps of the planning processes, from goal establishment to monitoring.MethodsWe analyzed all empirical and overview papers that have been published in four key academic journals in the field of landscape ecology and landscape planning in the years 2015–2019 (n = 1918). Title, abstract and keywords of all papers were read in order to identify landscape ecological concepts. A keyword search was applied to identify the use of these and previously mentioned concepts in common steps of the planning cycle.ResultsThe concepts Structure, Function, Change, Scale, Landscape as human experience, Land use, Landscape and ecosystem services, Green infrastructure, and Landscape resilience were prominently represented in the analyzed literature. Landscape ecological concepts were most often mentioned in context of the landscape analysis steps and least in context of goal establishment and monitoring.ConclusionsThe current literature spots landscape ecological concepts with great potential to support landscape planning. However, future studies need to address directly how these concepts can inform all steps in the planning process.