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Abstract As a semi-natural ecosystem, the agroecosystem is both a major provider and a major beneficiary of ecosystem services (ES). The aim of this paper was to contribute to the scientific understanding of the current status of AES research, recognize the knowledge base and influential articles, and uncover the key research themes and how the research themes have evolved over the past decade. Bibliometric methods based on the ISI Web of Science (WoS) database were used to analyse articles related to AES published between 2008 and 2017. A total of 3573 records were evaluated during this study. The results show that there has been a significant increase in research interest in the AES field. The most frequent keywords were "Biodiversity", "Land use change" and "Climate change". This study divides the common keywords into 7 categories and analyses them over two periods. Agrobiodiversity and land use have been emphasized in current AES research, which is a trend that will likely continue in the future. Valuation is indispensable, but AES research has needs beyond monetary valuation. In the future, multisubject and multimethod integrative research for understanding, modelling, evaluating, and managing the AES will be more abundant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Volunteer-based standardized monitoring of birds has been widely implemented in Europe and North America. In France, a breeding bird survey is running since 1989 and offers keen birdwatchers to count spring birds annually during 5 min exactly on 10 fix points within a randomly selected square. The first goal of such breeding bird surveys is to measure temporal trends in order to detect possible species declines. Combining annual indices of species sharing ecological affinities or a protected/red list status further provides biodiversity indicators for policy makers. Because the sampling effort is similar among sites, and because the initial selection of monitored sites is random, the temporal trends can be considered representative of national trends, and spatial comparisons of the obtained metrics are possible. Species abundance, community richness but also community specialization and average trophic level can be estimated for each site and each year and further related to the wide range of habitat and landscape characteristics and to agricultural or forestry practices. The large number of sites allows overcoming the opposition between adaptive and passive monitoring, making such schemes fitted to adaptive monitoring. This provides opportunities to determine which type of management or practices favour biodiversity. The comparison of population fate or community dynamics across a wide range of climates and temperatures, e.g. from southern to northern Europe, revealed how European birds are already affected by climate change. Bird communities are shifting northwards, but at a slower rate than temperatures, while bird populations have larger growth rates away from their hot thermal limit. Finally, such large-scale long-term monitoring data on a complete taxonomic group (Aves) is original and offers the opportunity to compare different measures of biological diversity, such as taxonomic, phylogenetic and functional diversity. Such a citizen science scheme is an efficient scientific tool (numerous papers published in international peer-reviewed journals) which is furthermore highly cost-effective, with a reduced permanent staff in a state insitution coordonating the network and analysing the data, while a similar survey conducted by state staff only would cost more than one million euros annually. The future development of bio-economic dynamic models for providing scenarios of sustainable farming and logging to maintain biodiversity will further highlight the necessity of such volunteer monitoring for policy makers and decision planning. Scientific and logistic partnerships could be proposed to help developing such a monitoring scheme in China. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Within the now extensive recent literature on cultures of nature, agriculture has received less attention than might have been expected given its threshold role in transforming human relations with the earth and with plants and animals. The concept and practice of agriculture can be understood as central to the emergence and maintenance of the culture/nature dichotomy within Western thought and practice. In this paper we use the comparative cases of Sweden and Australia to examine the differential and contingent positioning of agriculture with respect to that which is understood as nature. Broadly speaking, some parts of agriculture are understood to belong to nature in Sweden through a long history. This is not the case in Australia, where the short agricultural history is positioned in contrast to nature. This affects the way in which biodiversity and environmental protection takes place – in Sweden as part of farming, – in Australia in spite of it. We argue that these cultural differences have been more important than generally recognised in debates over multifunctional agriculture. We discuss the environmental management implications of the two different models in a context made more dynamic by climate change. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The CORINE land cover (CLC) data derived from satellite images for the period of the 1990s and 2000 (± one year) provide information about land cover changes for a substantial part of Europe. Availability of these data can contribute to new approaches to the assessment of the European landscape, for instance in the context of environmental and economic accounting, diversity, modelling of its properties, etc. These possibilities are given by the fact that land cover reflects the biophysical state of the real landscape. The paper contains information about frequency and areas of CLC and their changes in the period 1990–2000, but above all in the processes – flows (LCF) that take place in the European landscape. Results of statistical analysis and maps demonstrate the frequency and rate (by two values: one above and another below the mean LCF rates) of the following processes: urbanisation (LCF1), intensification of agriculture (LCF2), extensification of agriculture (LCF3), afforestation (LCF4), deforestation (LCF5) and construction of water bodies (LCF6). LCF1 was most conspicuous in the Netherlands (2.1% of total country''s area), LCF2 in Ireland (3.3%), LCF3 in the Czech Republic (over 3.5%), LCF4 in Portugal (over 4%), LCF5 in Portugal (over 3.5%) and LCF6 in the Netherlands and Slovakia (over 0.1%). The overall area of identified land cover changes in 24 European countries in the period 1990–2000 was around 88,000km2 which equals 2.5% of their total area. Details presented concerning the LCF frequency and rate will certainly contribute to the overall awareness and anticipation of possible developments in the European landscape. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

• Halophytes can desalinize the soil and increase the productivity of crops. • Some halophytes are used as intercropping and rotating species to reduce soil salinity. • Many halophytes are efficient when they are integrated in aquaponic systems. • Many Mediterranean halophytes have potential multipurpose uses. • Halophytes may find niches in the demanding Mediterranean market. The loss of agro-biodiversity, climate changes and food insecurity are major challenges in the Mediterranean countries with potentially multidimensional consequences. With respect to salinity, approximately 18 million ha, corresponding to 25 % of total irrigated land in the Mediterranean area, are salt affected. Intensive cropping and the excessive use of expensive inputs such as water and fertilizers aggravate this situation. Understanding how we could improve crop productivity in salinized environments is therefore critical to face these challenges. Our comprehension of fundamental physiological mechanisms in plant salt stress adaptation has greatly advanced over the last decades. However, many of these mechanisms have been linked to salt tolerance in simplified experimental systems whereas they have been rarely functionally proven in real agricultural contexts. The sustainability of farming systems in salt affected Mediterranean soils can be effectively achieved by the use of salt-tolerant halophyte plants even more effective through the use of intercropping, crop rotation and aquaponics.. Moreover, if these halophyte plants are removed from the soil to grow other species, pressure on generating salt-tolerant crop plants would be reduced and much healthier crop plants would be cultivated in less stressed saline soils. This paper will focus on the sustainable practices based on the cultivation of halophytes in saline soils by highlighting some experimental activities carried out at laboratory and field levels in the last few years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Changes in rural areas, such as depopulation and land abandonment, but also intensification and loss of biodiversity, usually proceed very slowly yet are often irreversible. A scenario study (called EURURALIS) was carried out by Wageningen University and Research Centre in combination with the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (MNP) to stimulate the strategic discussion among both national policy makers and policy makers at the European Union level on the future of Europe''s rural areas and the role of policy instruments. After a review of previous scenario studies, the choice was made to elaborate strategic scenarios, built on a 2×2 matrix, where the axes represent the most critical uncertainties. The four scenarios were structured along two axes: (1) ranging from increasing globalisation to a world of regional economic and cultural blocks and (2) ranging from a future of lean governments to a future with ambitious government regulation. The storylines were inspired by earlier work such as the emission scenarios of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (SRES), the GEO-3 scenarios and scenarios of the Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis (CPB). The current scenario study includes the 25 EU member states and had a time horizon up to 2030. The scenarios were quantified with a chain of models, ranging from global models to a spatially explicit model, which simulated land use on a 1km× 1km grid for the whole EU. The scenarios and their outcomes are presented by means of a CD. This paper describes the steps taken, proceeding from the general aim of the study on to the scenario set-up and then to the actual storylines and quantification of the scenarios. The outcomes of the scenarios are presented in three other articles in this issue. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper presents a synthesis of the results of the ACCELERATES project (Assessing Climate Change Effects on Land Use and Ecosystems from Regional Analysis to the European Scale), obtained in the case study of the Belluno province (north-east Italy), a context chosen as representative of the Alpine area. Selected results of the analysis of the relationships between future scenarios of change, farming systems, land use and biodiversity are presented. An initial historical analysis of the dynamics of land use with respect to the agricultural, socio-economic and demographic dynamics identified the main drivers of change and the positive and negative factors for conservation of the rural land and of biodiversity. In a subsequent stage the scenarios of future climate and land use changes were used to analyse the future for the species selected as indicators of biodiversity in the studied area. The results obtained provided useful information for the identification of suitable agri-environmental policies at the local scale. Maintenance of the livestock production systems typical of mountain agriculture is shown to be the key factor for contrasting land abandonment and the consequent expansion of woodlands, with negative effects in terms of simplification of landscape and impacts on species of naturalistic interest. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]