Long-term Socio-ecological Research Research Articles

Long-term monitoring of the fish community in the Minho Estuary (NW Iberian Peninsula).

The paper presents an extensive fish sampling dataset spanning a long-term period from 2010 to 2019. The data were collected in Lenta Marina, an upstream area in the Minho Estuary of the NW Iberian Peninsula, which belongs to a LTSER (Long-Term Socio-Ecological Research) platform. To capture fish, fyke nets were utilised as the sampling method and deployed at Lenta Marina. This dataset offers valuable insights into the abundance of each collected taxa recorded over time. The dataset reports a comprehensive compilation of data on the abundance of fish species observed in the area during the sampling period (includes zeroes when a given taxonomic entity was absent in a given sampling event). It provides a detailed record of the abundances of the fish community through time in a frequent sampling regime (on average, sampling was done every 6 days). The dataset shows that the amount of fish from invasive taxa exceeds the count of fish from native taxa in the Minho Estuary.

Africa's First Alpine and Transboundary Long-Term Socioecological Research Platform

Africa's First Alpine and Transboundary Long-Term Socioecological Research Platform

Publications reveal how socio-ecological research is implemented: Lessons from the Rhône long term socio-ecological research platform

Socio-ecological research enlists inter- and transdisciplinarity to address complex environmental issues. Yet the “socio-ecological system” concept can be interpreted in many different ways. A characterization of the diverse practices in socio-ecological research could facilitate dialogue between researchers about the possible conceptual and ethical approaches. In this study, we investigated if a detailed analysis of scientific articles would reveal the nature and course of a socio-ecological research network, and the research angle of its members. The example we used was the Rhône River Long-Term Socio-Ecological Research (LTSER) platform in France. We combined a multivariate analysis of a reading grid of publications by Rhône River LTSER researchers and a textual analysis of the scientific narratives. The publications were from a 10-year period and corresponded to those used in a recent international comparative analysis of LTSER platforms. The analysis revealed that the research was dominated by a biophysical approach, with a progressive increase in social aspects. The emergence of a transdisciplinary approach, co-constructed with operational partners, was also shown. The research conducted by the Rhône River LTSER was grounded in the context of managing a river with strong anthropic influences and interests, and the scientific approach aimed to provide knowledge for guiding decisions. Little referencfte was made in the publications to socio-ecological conceptual frameworks. Beyond the example of this LTSER platform, we identified indicators for describing the degree of inter- and transdisciplinarity and the different perceptions of socio-ecological systems. The narrative analysis revealed the angle of the research approach; this method could be used in future studies for a comparison of the diverse approaches of multiple research groups.

Loss of native herbivores triggers diversity decline of ephemeral plant communities

AbstractAimEvaluate the temporal changes in species diversity, composition, and structure of ephemeral plant communities and the seed bank in response to long‐term herbivore exclusion over 11 years in plots with and without herbivores.LocationNorth‐central Chile.MethodsWe obtained information on ephemeral vegetation cover in August and September using the intercept point method and recorded seed abundance in April. The Bosque Fray Jorge National Park Long‐Term Socio‐Ecological Research (LTSER) provided these records covering 11 years (2009–2019). From the original experiment of 20 plots, we used eight plots divided into two treatments: four plots allowed free access to all herbivores (with herbivores), while the other four plots excluded herbivores (without herbivores).ResultsWe found that Hill–Shannon diversity increased in plant communities with herbivores and a temporal increase in the cover of the dominant species, Plantago hispidula, under herbivore exclusion. In wet years, species richness and temporal turnover of plant communities increased independently of treatment. Although seed abundance differed among treatments and years, population structure remained constant over time and among treatments, suggesting that the seed bank acts as a buffer against shocks that modify plant community dynamics. Structural equation modeling revealed that precipitation, via its positive effects on Plantago hispidula, increases native plant richness to a greater extent than herbivores. However, in the absence of herbivores, precipitation directly affects native species richness. Moreover, we found that precipitation also influences the native species richness of the seed bank, both directly and indirectly, although its impacts exhibit a time lag.ConclusionsOur study demonstrates that the temporal dynamics of ephemeral plant communities and seed banks in semi‐arid ecosystems are strongly coupled to climate variability, highlighting the vulnerability of these communities to biodiversity loss and climate change.

Neonicotinoids: Still present in farmland birds despite their ban

Neonicotinoids (neonics) are the most widely used insecticides worldwide and are considered to be of low risk to non-target organisms such as vertebrates. Further, they are reported to be rapidly excreted and metabolized, reducing their potential toxicity. Nevertheless, growing evidence of adverse effects of neonics on farmland bird species raise questions about the purported harmless nature of these pesticides. We attempted to search for pesticide residues in species of different trophic levels and at different life stages, by using multiple bird monitoring programs on a Long-Term Socio-Ecological Research (LTSER) platform. Three passerine birds—the blackbird (Turdus merula), cirl bunting (Emberiza cirlus), and common nightingale (Luscinia megarhynchos)—that feed on seeds and invertebrates were monitored during their reproductive period, and the grey partridge (Perdix perdix) that feeds on seeds was monitored during its wintering period. We also monitored chicks of an apex predator—the Montagu's harrier (Circus pygargus)—that preys mostly upon common voles but also upon insects. We found that the birds' blood samples showed presence of residues of five neonics: three banned since 2018 in France—clothianidin, thiacloprid, and thiamethoxam—and two—dinotefuran and nitenpyram—used for veterinary purposes only. While none of these neonics was detected in blackbirds, all were present in grey partridges. Clothianidin was detected in all species, except blackbirds. Concentrations of the three banned neonics were similar or higher than concentrations found in birds monitored elsewhere before the ban. These findings raise questions about the persistence of neonics within the environment and the mode of exposure to wild fauna. Future investigations on the sublethal effects of these neonics on life-history traits of these farmland birds may help in providing a better understanding of the effects of exposure of bird populations to these insecticides, and also to the consequent effect on human health.

Selecting Graph Metrics with Ecological Significance for Deepening Landscape Characterization: Review and Applications

The usual approaches to describing and understanding ecological processes in a landscape use patch-mosaic models based on traditional landscape metrics. However, they do not consider that many of these processes cannot be observed without considering the multiple interactions between different land-use patches in the landscape. The objective of this research was to provide a synthetic overview of graph metrics that characterize landscapes based on patch-mosaic models and to analyze the ecological meaning of the metrics to propose a relevant selection explaining biodiversity patterns and ecological processes. First, we conducted a literature review of graph metrics applied in ecology. Second, a case study was used to explore the behavior of a group of selected graph metrics in actual differentiated landscapes located in a long-term socioecological research site in Brittany, France. Thirteen landscape-scale metrics and 10 local-scale metrics with ecological significance were analyzed. Metrics were grouped for landscape-scale and local-scale analysis. Many of the metrics were able to identify differences between the landscapes studied. Lastly, we discuss how graph metrics offer a new perspective for landscape analysis, describe the main characteristics related to their calculation and the type of information provided, and discuss their potential applications in different ecological contexts.

Agroforestry trade-offs between biomass provision and aboveground carbon sequestration in the alpine Eisenwurzen region, Austria

Mountain agroecosystems deliver essential ecosystem services to society but are prone to climate change as well as socio-economic pressures, making multi-functional land systems increasingly central to sustainable mountain land use policy. Agroforestry, the combination of woody vegetation with crops and/or livestock, is expected to simultaneously increase provisioning and regulating ecosystem services, but knowledge gaps concerning trade-offs exist especially in temperate industrialized and alpine regions. Here, we quantify the aboveground carbon (C) dynamics of a hypothetical agroforestry implementation in the Austrian long-term socio-ecological research region Eisenwurzen from 2020 to 2050. We develop three land use scenarios to differentiate conventional agriculture from an immediate and a gradual agroforestry implementation, integrate data from three distinct models (Yield-SAFE, SECLAND, MIAMI), and advance the socio-ecological indicator framework Human Appropriation of Net Primary Production (HANPP) to assess trade-offs between biomass provision and carbon sequestration. Results indicate that agroforestry strongly decreases HANPP because of a reduction in biomass harvest by up to − 47% and a simultaneous increase in actual net primary production by up to 31%, with a large amount of carbon sequestered in perennial biomass by up to 3.4 t C ha-1 yr-1. This shows that a hypothetical transition to agroforestry in the Eisenwurzen relieves the agroecosystem from human-induced pressure but results in significant trade-offs between biomass provision and carbon sequestration. We thus conclude that while harvest losses inhibit large-scale implementation in intensively used agricultural regions, agroforestry constitutes a valuable addition to sustainable land use policy, in particular when affecting extensive pastures and meadows in alpine landscapes.

Intermittent rivers and ephemeral streams: Perspectives for critical zone science and research on socio‐ecosystems

AbstractIntermittent rivers and ephemeral streams (IRES) are now recognized to support specific freshwater biodiversity and ecosystem services and represent approximately half of the global river network, a fraction that is likely to increase in the context of global changes. Despite large research efforts on IRES during the past few decades, there is a need for developing a systemic approach to IRES that considers their hydrological, hydrogeological, hydraulic, ecological, and biogeochemical properties and processes, as well as their interactions with human societies. Thus, we assert that the interdisciplinary approach to ecosystem research promoted by critical zone sciences and socio‐ecology is relevant. These approaches rely on infrastructure—Critical Zone Observatories (CZO) and Long‐Term Socio‐Ecological Research (LTSER) platforms—that are representative of the diversity of IRES (e.g., among climates or types of geology. We illustrate this within the French CZO and LTSER, including their diversity as socio‐ecosystems, and detail human interactions with IRES. These networks are also specialized in the long‐term observations required to detect and measure ecosystem responses of IRES to climate and human forcings despite the delay and buffering effects within ecosystems. The CZO and LTSER platforms also support development of innovative techniques and data analysis methods that can improve characterization of IRES, in particular for monitoring flow regimes, groundwater‐surface water flow, or water biogeochemistry during rewetting. We provide scientific and methodological perspectives for which this interdisciplinary approach and its associated infrastructure would provide relevant and original insights that would help fill knowledge gaps about IRES.This article is categorized under: Water and Life > Stresses and Pressures on Ecosystems Science of Water > Hydrological Processes Water and Life > Conservation, Management, and Awareness

Data Browser Matsch | Mazia: Web Application to access microclimatic time series of an ecological research site

Easily accessible data is an essential requirement for scientific data analysis. The Data Browser Matsch | Mazia was designed to provide a fast and comprehensible solution to access, visualize and download the microclimatic measurements of the IT 25 LT(S)ER Match | Mazia research site in South Tyrol, Northern Italy, with the overall aim to provide straightforward data accessibility and enhance dissemination. Data Browser Matsch | Mazia is a user-friendly web-based application to visualize and download micrometeorological and biophysical time series of the Long-Term Socio-Ecological Research site Matsch | Mazia in South Tyrol, Italy. It is designed both for the general public and researchers. The Data Browser Matsch | Mazia drop-down menus allow the user to query the InfluxDB database in the backend by selecting the measurements, time range, land use and elevation. Interactive Grafana dashboards show dynamic graphs of the time series.

First bryophyte records from Diego Ramírez Archipelago: Changing lenses in long-term socio-ecological research at the southernmost island of the Americas

Long-term socio-ecological research requires comprehensive assessments of biodiversity that overcome historical taxonomic biases, such as the strong focus on the vascular flora. This is particularly relevant at high latitudes where the richness of non-vascular plant species exceeds that of vascular species. Additionally, with respect to geographical regions, there is also a marked bias towards ecological and conservation research in the northern hemisphere. In contrast, few studies have investigated patterns of non-vascular species richness in relation to conservation priorities at sub-Antarctic latitudes, particularly in the sub-Antarctic Magellanic ecoregion. In this work, we contribute to overcome such taxonomic, geographical and ecoregional biases by moving outside these limits, and therefore “changing the lenses” that are commonly used to assess and conserve biodiversity. We implemented these new “biocultural lenses” by including, for the first time, bryophytes in the floristic inventory of the southernmost island of the American continent: Gonzalo Island (56°31’16.8’’S; 68°42’53.5’’W) in the Diego Ramirez Archipelago, Chile. The first bryological exploration of the Diego Ramirez archipelago, SW of Cape Horn, revealed a bryophyte flora composed of 14 species, eight liverworts and six mosses. This number of non-vascular plant species almost doubles the eight vascular plants present on the island. Consequently, with our study, we aim to fill a critical gap in the knowledge of the flora of the Diego Ramirez archipelago, and establish an integral floristic characterization for the long-term socioecological research and conservation of the southernmost archipelago of South America. Based on the field material collected, the new nomenclatural combination Chiloscyphus secundifolius (Hook. f. & Taylor) J.J. Engel is proposed. The moss flora comprises Amblystegium serpens, a widespread moss, yet hitherto unknown for sub-Antarctic Chile. The bryoflora of Diego Ramirez has its greatest affinities with that of the sub-Antarctic Magellanic ecoregion and Maritime Antarctica. None of the liverworts present on Gonzalo Island occurs on continental Antarctica; in contrast, four of the six mosses are shared between these two areas.

Flora vascular y formaciones vegetacionales en el sitio de estudios socio-ecológicos a largo plazo, isla Gonzalo, archipiélago Diego Ramírez (56°31’S), Chile

The network of Long-term Socio-ecological Research sites within the Cape Horn Biosphere Reserve (ltser-Cape Horn) extends today to the Gonzalo Island (56°31’S), Diego Ramirez Archipelago, as its southernmost site. This is also the southernmost island of the american continent and of the sub-antarctic ecoregion of Magallanes, housing a huge diversity of marine fauna that was intensely exploited after its discovery, exactly 400 years ago. The general objective of the ltser-Cape Horn network is to detect the impacts of global socio-environmental change and contribute to their mitigation. The specific objective of this work is to provide an updated description of the vascular flora present on Gonzalo Island, a critical monitoring site for the new Diego Ramirez Islands-Paso Drake Marine Park. The Diego Ramirez Archipelago is part of the sub-Antarctic phytogeographic region, harboring vegetation formations that are unique in the Chilean territory. Our work updated the list of vascular plant species of Gonzalo Island, the only one that is permanently inhabited. The records include eight species of vascular plants that comprise all the species of vascular plants previously recorded in the islets as well as in the three major islands of the archipelago (Gonzalo, Bartolome and North). None of the eight collected species has conservation problems. Our sampling confirmed that there has been no establishment of exotic vascular flora in Gonzalo Island. Even places that have been disturbed near the base maintained by the Chilean Navy had no presence of exotic species. Strict monitoring is recommended to prevent the establishment and dissemination of exotic plants that could potentially arrive on this island, and the Diego Ramirez Archipelago.

Un centinela para el monitoreo del cambio climático y su impacto sobre la biodiversidad en la cumbre austral de América: La nueva red de estudios a largo Plazo Cabo de Hornos

Biosphere reserves have among their functions to support scientific research, education, training and monitoring. In the Cape Horn Biosphere Reserve (RBCH), created in 2005, these functions have been accomplished with the creation of the Omora Ethnobotanical Park in 2000, and its implementation in 2008 as a co-founder site of the Chilean Network of Studies Long-term Socio-Ecological (LTSER-Chile). In 2016, this network has been strengthened with the addition of the new Cape Horn Long-Term Socio-Ecological Research Network (LTSER-Cape Horn). The latter includes the Omora Ethnobotanical Park, and three new sites added to the monitoring of the sub-Antarctic Magellanic ecoregion of South America. From south to north, the four sites are: (1) Gonzalo Island (56°31’S; 68°43’O), at the southern end of the Diego Ramirez archipelago, with sub-Antarctic vegetation dominated by grasses and cryptogams, devoid of woody species; (2) Horn Island (55°58’S; 67°13’O), at the southern end of the Cape Horn Islands archipelago, hosting the southernmost forest ecosystems on the planet, which are dominated by Magellan’s coigue (Nothofagus betuloides); (3) Omora Ethnobotanical Park (54°56’S; 67’40’O), Navarino Island, an ideal site for studies on climate change and its impact on biota and sub-Antarctic ecosystems, since it protects a watershed that includes a representative mosaic of characteristic habitats of the RBCH in an altitudinal gradient with a thermal decrease analogous to that which occurs with increases in latitude; and (4) Caleta 2 de Mayo Site (54°52’S; 68’41’O), Yendegaia Bay, in an ecotonal zone between evergreen and deciduous forests (product of the local climate gradient), at a site that will be central to future connectivity between Continental Chile, Tierra del Fuego, Navarino Island, and the RBCH. In 2015, UNESCO approved the Report of the First Periodic Review of the RBCH that proposed the protection of the Diego Ramirez Archipelago and the creation of the Diego Ramirez Islands Marine Park-Drake Pass (creation decree published in the Diario Oficial of Chile in January 2019). In this context, the new LTSER-Cape Horn network acquires great local, national and global relevance. At the local scale, it covers a representative environmental heterogeneity of the great diversity of landscapes and terrestrial, freshwater and marine ecosystems of the RBCH and the sub-Antarctic Magellanic ecoregion. At the national scale, it incorporates sub-Antarctic monitoring sites, located at the southern end of South America, to LTSER-Chile and to the Monitoring Network of the Ministry of the Environment. On a global scale, the terrestrial ecosystems of the LTSER-Cape Horn network stands out for two main reasons: (1) these sub-Antarctic ecosystems lack a geographical replicate in the southern hemisphere, and (2) high latitude ecosystems are especially sensitive to global climate change. Thus, the LTSER-Cape Horn network helps to overcome critical geographical gaps in the implementation of the International Network for Long-Term Ecological Research (ILTER). In order to articulate these four sites and strengthen the training of technical capacities and knowledge transfer to decision makers in the area of special interest tourism and other sustainable economic activities, the LTSER-Cape Horn network will be managed locally from the new Cape Horn Sub-Antarctic Center (Cape Horn Center) that will be inaugurated in Puerto Williams in 2020. The implementation of the LTSER-Cape Horn network is based on a close collaboration with various actors: Ministry of National Assets, Ministry of Environment, Subsecretary of Fisheries and Aquaculture of the Ministry of Economy Development and Tourism, National Forestry Corporation (CONAF), General Water Directorate of the Ministry of Public Works, Navy of Chile, Chilean Police (Carabineros), Municipality of Cape Horn, Provincial Government of Chilean Antarctica, and the Regional Government of Magallanes and Chilean Antarctica. In the following phases, the LTSER-Cape Horn network and the Cape Horn Center aim to strengthen the participation of the local community, especially the Yahgan Indigenous Community of Bahia Mejillones, artisanal fisheries, tour operators, and the educational community, including private actors. Located at the “southern summit” of the Americas, Puerto Williams, capital of the Chilean Antarctic Province emerges as a global hub for transdisciplinary sub-Antarctic research, equipped with a new center and network of long-term socio-ecological studies. Collaboration with regional, national and international actors will allow the LTSER-Cape Horn network and the Cape Horn Center to: (i) provide critical data, which will open up new opportunities for monitoring climate change and its impact on biodiversity and ecosystems in sub-Antarctic latitudes; (ii) consolidate long-term monitoring, which is an essential component to effectively design mitigation and adaptation actions; (iii) strengthen a local sustainable development model that, associated with the Cape Horn Biosphere Reserve, contributes from the south of the world, to a biocultural conservation model that meets the needs of socio-economic well-being and environmental sustainability at multiple regional and planetary scales.

Socio-ecological trajectories in a rural Austrian region from 1961 to 2011: comparing the theories of Malthus and Boserup via systemic-dynamic modelling

ABSTRACT This paper investigates to what extent the theories of Thomas Robert Malthus and Ester Boserup are still useful to analyse population and land-use trajectories in an industrial society at a regional scale. Following a model-based approach toward long-term socio-ecological research, we built two system dynamic models, each representing one theory, and calculated socio-ecological trajectories from 1961 to 2011 for a study region located within the Eisenwurzen region in Austria. Comparing the model trajectories with empirical data reveals opposing results for the fit of the dynamics of ‘population and technology’ compared to ‘land use and technology’. Technology strongly influenced population development, whereas its impact on land-use intensity faded over time. Although these theories are usually seen as opposing, both models identify population development as a main driver for land-use changes, mainly population decreases that contributed to farmland abandonment. We find out-migration to be essential when applying the investigated theories to contemporary societies.

The role of land management and elevation in shaping soil microbial communities: Insights from the Central European Alps

In the last 100 years, climate warming has been affecting the European Alps faster and more severely than globally observed temperature patterns. Temperature changes are known to affect soil properties and microbial community structures, and land-use change in Europe is an expected socio-economic consequence of climate change. However, few studies have simultaneously investigated how land-use and climate-related changes shape microbial (prokaryotic and fungal) communities in this region. Therefore, here we have investigated sites within a Long-Term Socio-Ecological Research (LTSER) area in South-Tyrol (Italian Alps), characterizing soil properties and microbial communities and diversities. We investigated three important land-use types (forests, hay meadows, and pastures) at 1500 m above sea level (a.s.l.), as well as an elevational gradient (1000, 1500, and 2000 m a.s.l.) of pastures.Results showed that land-use did not lead to distinct differences in soil properties, even though the land-uses have been consistent over recent decades (30–160 years). Nevertheless, the meadow sites showed increased soil pH, soil water content, and organic matter content compared with the forest and pasture sites. As a result, the fungal soil microbiome correlated significantly with land-use and fungal diversity increased on the meadow sites, whereas prokaryotic communities were less affected by land-use and did not show significant changes in diversity patterns. Along increasing elevation, the most pronounced changes were a decrease in soil pH, and an increase in organic matter content. The influence of elevation was clearly reflected in the structures of the prokaryotic and fungal communities, with significantly lower diversities and decreased species richness at the highest studied elevation. Indicator taxa for the different land-uses and elevations were established. Russulaceae and Flavobacteriaceae were biomarker families for forests, several Mortierella spp. and Microlunatus sp. were identified as indicator species for meadows and Herpotrichiellaceae spp. and Bacillaceae spp. for pastures. For pastures, increasing elevation led to increased occurrence of Acidobacteria Gp1, Gp2 and Spartobacteria and the fungal genera Hygrocybe and Clavaria, all typical inhabitants of nutrient-poor grasslands.Changes in soil pH across the elevation gradient and according to land-use were shown to play a major role, but we would like to emphasize the complex interplay between pH, organic matter, temperature, and water content. The increased prokaryotic and/or fungal diversity observed on low-elevated pastures and meadows, respectively, is assumed to be not only an association with the changed soil pH but is likely indicative of a disturbed system or a soil site facing repeated disturbances (e.g., temperature, drought, and fertilization).Within the present study, we were able to show that elevation had a strong effect on prokaryotic and fungal communities whereas changes in land-use mainly affected fungi. Thus, the present study contributes to better predict the response of microorganisms to temperature-related future changes in the Central European Alps and could support decisions in upcoming soil management strategies.

FOUR CHALLENGES OF LONG-TERM SOCIO-ECOLOGICAL RESEARCH IN BRAZIL

Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) aims to monitor natural ecological processes that operate over longer time periods than are typically permitted by standard research grants (e.g. species life cycles, natural resource dynamics, and the ecological effects of climate changes). Despite the enormous success of LTER, many of the initial projects largely overlooked the consequences of their study sites being embedded in wider socio-ecological systems. This potential shortcoming led to the development of Long Term Socio-Ecological Research (LTSER), a logical extension of LTER that seeks to fully integrate the human dimension into long term environmental monitoring. LTSER sites have now been successfully established in many countries, although such an approach is still incipient in Brazil´s program of LTER (known by the acronym PELD in Portuguese). The PELD APA Costa de Corais is one of Brazil’s newest PELD sites, and intentionally incorporated a strong socio-ecological focus into its design and implementation. In this brief perspective we draw on our experiences of creating a LTSER, identifying four key challenges that need to be overcome to ensure successful implementation.

THE QUEST FOR HOLY GRAILS IN LONG-TERM ECOLOGICAL RESEARCH PROGRAMS: POTENTIAL DANGERS AND SOLUTIONS

Long-term Ecological Research programs, LTERs, are necessary to understand processes that occur in time-scales longer than the period of theses, dissertations, and grants from most funding agencies. A basic result of a long-term study is the production long-term time series, but the establishment of general patterns and processes require data integration between many long-term studies and networks. These two main targets became like Holy Grails in LTERs, objectives on their own, many times dissociated from the questions they should provide answers. I discuss the advantages and potential pitfalls of these targets becoming Holy Grails in LTER, and Long-Term Socio-Ecological Research as a potential new Holy Grail.

Evaluating transdisciplinary science to open research-implementation spaces in European social-ecological systems

Researchers in multiple, related fields that address complex social and environmental challenges, have shown ongoing enthusiasm for applying transdisciplinary social-ecological systems (SES) research to promote sustainability. However, few studies have evaluated the effectiveness of SES approach, assessed its achievements, and identified challenges to its implementation toward knowledge production for environmental conservation.We report the results of a qualitative, participatory evaluation of several SES projects across Europe using an evaluation methodology tailored to transdisciplinary projects. We conducted 66 stakeholder interviews at four designated Long-Term Socio-ecological Research (LTSER) platforms – Danube Delta and Braila Island (Romania); Cairngorms (Scotland); and Doñana (Spain). Using qualitative analysis, we synthesized data from interviews and then returned to the sites to present findings to stakeholders in focus group discussions in order to incorporate their feedback into conclusions.We conclude that although particular scientists at each platform have taken on entrepreneurial roles to operationalize transdisciplinary science, a business-as-usual attitude tends to dominate institutions, limiting meaningful progress toward transdisciplinary objectives, including: integration of social science research, giving non-researcher stakeholders a more meaningful role in advancing relevant research, and improving knowledge exchange among different stakeholder groups, among other issues. While we found that all the components of transdisciplinary SES research exist at the sites, there is no overarching strategy to link long-term planning and funding, knowledge integration, and priority-setting with stakeholders to ensure the relevance of research for policy and practice. We conclude with reflections about implementing our evaluation methodology, and a call for periodic, participatory evaluation into the future.

Towards sustainable forest management\xa0in the European Union through polycentric forest governance and an\xa0integrated landscape approach

ContextAchieving sustainable development as an inclusive societal process, and securing sustainability and resilience of human societies as well as the natural environment are wicked problems. Realising sustainable forest management (SFM) policy in local landscapes is one example.ObjectivesUsing the European Union as a case study for the implementation of SFM policy across multiple governance levels in different contexts, we discuss the benefits of adopting an integrated landscape approach with place and space, partnership and sustainability as three pillars.MethodsWe map the institutional frameworks for implementing SFM policy within all EU member states. Next, we analyse whether or not there is EU-level forest governance, and how power is distributed among EU, member state and operational levels.ResultsMechanisms to steer a centralized forest governance approach towards SFM in the EU are marginal. Instead, there is a polycentric forest governance with 90 national and sub-national governments, which create and implement own and EU-wide SFM-related policies. Additionally, both among and within regional governance units there is a large variation in governance arrangements linked to land ownership at the operational level.ConclusionsTo effectively translate EU-wide SFM and SFM-related policies into action in local landscapes, it is crucial to acknowledge that there are different land ownership structures, landscape histories and alternative value chains based on multiple ecosystem services. Therefore regionally adapted landscape approaches engaging multiple stakeholders and actors through evidence-based landscape governance and stewardship towards sustainable forest landscape management are needed. Model Forest, Long-Term Socio-Ecological Research platform and Biosphere Reserve are three of many examples.

From Archived Historical Aerial Imagery to Informative Orthophotos: A Framework for Retrieving the Past in Long-Term Socioecological Research

Aerial photographs have been systematically collected from as early as the 1930s, providing a unique resource to describe changes in vegetation and land cover over extended periods of time. However, their use is often limited by technical constraints, such as the lack of ground control information and precise camera parameters, which hamper an accurate orthorectification of the raw imagery. Here, we describe the historical aerial photographs orthorectification (HAPO) workflow, based on a conventional photogrammetric procedure (the direct linear transformation (DLT) Method), integrated as a geographic information systems (GIS) procedure, in order to perform the image orientation and orthorectification, thereby converting historical aerial imagery into high-definition historical orthoimages. HAPO implementation is illustrated with an application to a rugged landscape in Portugal, where we aimed to produce land-cover maps using an aerial photograph coverage from 1947, as part of a study on long-term socioecological dynamics. We show that HAPO produces highly accurate orthoimages and discuss the wider usefulness of our framework in long-term socioecological research.

Towards better traceability of field sampling data

Ensuring traceability of both field experimental data and laboratory sampling data for a reproducible research remains a challenge nowadays. Between the time when geolocalized specimens are taken, and the time the resulting data ends up in analysis published within a study, many manual operations take place that are prone to generate errors. The French nodes of the European Long-Term Socio-Ecological Research Infrastructure called ”Zones Ateliers” propose a solution as generic as possible to this problem of monitoring of the samples and the data associated with them. Compared to existing solutions such as Laboratory Information Management Systems, we target a robust solution for labelling adapted to outdoor working conditions, with the management of storages and movements of samples. We designed and realized a software package tested from end to end, using open source licenses and cheap hardware, including small printers (mobile or not) and Raspberry Pis. This system provides sufficient flexibility so that it can facilitate working with a wide variety of existing protocols. One of the most interesting feature consists to record all contextual data associated with the samples, which constitute important parameters of the subsequent analyses. Furthermore, not only traceability is thus guaranteed, but also we can expect a reduced handling times and an increased streamlining of the storage of samples that will improve the return on investment.