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• State-of-the-art research tools and methodologies to assess environmental benefits. • Proposed methodology to identify habitat area change using global Copernicus data. • Translation of land use, land cover classes to habitat classification system. • ArcGIS toolbox developed and applied to Denmark and Netherlands study area. • Positive or negative effect evaluation of the measure from biodiversity response. Nature-Based solutions (NBS) are the measures supported by natural processes that can adapt to changing climates and generate diverse social, economic, and environmental benefits. Recognising the potential for additional NBS benefits, and quantifying these benefits is essential as it encourages decision-makers to implement and scale-up NBS initiatives. This paper presents findings from a systematic literature review. The review focused on tools and methodologies used for assessing the environmental benefits of implementing NBS. This review provides a detailed compilation of environmental indicators supported by assessment tools. It also includes a catalogue of tools for evaluating environmental benefits, thereby identifying research gaps. Moreover, this research proposes a methodology that uses an ArcGIS (Architecture of Geographic Information Systems) toolbox to identify habitat changes resulting from the implementation of NBS. The methodology translates CORINE (Coordination of Information on the Environment) land cover classes to EUNIS (European Nature Information System) habitat classes. The developed toolbox was applied to two case studies: Denmark (12 NBS) and the Netherlands (3 NBS). The assessment aimed to compare the habitat changes between 2000 and 2018 as two extreme time points for NBS implementation for both case studies. Results indicate that NBS implementation can change habitats leading to an increase in the Red-necked Grebe population in Denmark and a decline in the Black-tailed Godwit population in the Netherlands (two threatened species). The population change highlights the potential positive and potential negative impacts of NBS in their respective cases. These findings suggest Denmark could benefit from lake construction and restoration projects. At the same time, the Netherlands could invest in wetlands and meadows construction and restoration projects to protect the respective species. They could establish designated breeding zones to ensure their population does not decline rapidly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] The environment where we live and recreate can have a significant effect on our well-being. More beautiful landscapes have considerable benefits to both health and quality of life. When we chose where to live or our next holiday destination, we do so according to some perception of the environment around us. In a way, we value nature and assign an ecosystem service to it. Landscape aesthetics, or scenicness, is one such service, which we consider in this paper as a collective perceived quality. We present a deep learning model called ScenicNet for the large-scale inventorisation of landscape scenicness from satellite imagery. We model scenicness with an interpretable deep learning model and learn a landscape beauty estimator based on crowdsourced scores derived from more than two hundred thousand landscape images in the United Kingdom. Our ScenicNet model learns the relationship between land cover types and scenicness by using land cover prediction as an interpretable intermediate task to scenicness regression. It predicts landscape scenicness and land cover from the Corine Land Cover product concurrently, without compromising the accuracy of either task. In addition, our proposed model is interpretable in the sense that it learns to express preferences for certain types of land covers in a manner that is easily understandable by an end-user. Our semantic bottleneck also allows us to further our understanding of crowd preferences for landscape aesthetics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Surface water pollution by pesticides is a primary concern in many parts of the world. Therefore, an effective monitoring program is essential to assess the environmental state of aquatic ecosystems and evaluate mitigation strategies. In the Puglia Region (southern Italy), a complex seasonal monitoring program for detecting pesticide residues in water was initiated in 2018 and is still underway (over four years). The program was based on site-specific assessments and identified 170 Plant Protection Products (PPPs) to identify residues in the surface water bodies of Puglia. In this context, the present work aims to analyse pesticide data obtained from the regional monitoring of rivers over four years using a multidisciplinary approach, which includes statistical methods, data mining, and mapping tools to extract as much information as possible.To this end, data mining was applied to identify the prevalent mixtures of pesticide residues found at the monitoring stations and correlate these results with possible causative factors. The results showed that surface water bodies are subject to different pressures derived from the massive use of PPPs, and several seasonal and territorial-related factors were identified to be strictly correlated with pesticide concentration results. Nine main PPPs mixtures have been identified in the Puglia River. Glyphosate, AMPA, imidacloprid, and azoxystrobin represent the main residues detected in the surface aquatic environments regarding the amount and frequency revealed. The methodological approach proposed in the present work can represent a good "model study" to be used by researchers to interpret water quality trends and data variability from long-term monitoring studies. Moreover, our results can significantly support the decision-making process and implementation of environmental mitigation measures by optimising the results of complex monitoring programs. [Display omitted] • A synergic data processing approach improves knowledge of pesticides monitoring. • Data mining techniques were applied to the analytical results. • The primary pesticide mixtures of Puglia region have been identified. • AMPA-glyphosate-imidacloprid and AMPA-carbendazim-glyphosate show a high dependence. • The main advantage of our approach is the possibility to apply it to similar regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Legacy databases provide unique information on soil properties and act as a guide for the setup of monitoring processes. However, their use requires an evaluation of their drawbacks, especially when aiming to model the soil traits by depth. We set up a procedure for the integration and error correction of a soil legacy database. This database consisted of 6994 records in its original form and 6674 records after correction. These records were collected from 2886 locations in the south of Italy on a 25,711-km2 island (Sicily, Italy). Samples were taken in arable lands (5471 records), orchards, vineyards and seminatural lands (3010 records), and woodland and natural areas (1203 records). The procedure for the integration and error highlighting improved the prediction of soil organic carbon (SOC), and a general linear model with covariate selection by Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator (LASSO) tested the procedure. We focussed on exploring the amount of legacy information as georeferenced soil properties. SOC and fine earth fractions were analysed for each sample. Bulk density was provided for only 20% of the samples. These results will help to account for the legacy data available and propose an analysis to harmonize an SOC dataset; highlight missing or incorrect data; summarize data; and offer synthesis criteria for benchmarking SOC in different land uses and pedological areas. In addition, the results may stimulate funding bodies to support research in an open data frame, which can be turned into more sustainable use of resources, improved communication between governments and farmers, and the production of standard datasets that meet and facilitate the requirements for regional agro-environmental modelling. Highlights • SOC legacy database analysis, integration and correction by data clearing • The correction can drive data expansion without taking redundant data. • 4.5% uninformative records removed • Correction fosters the use of legacy soil data for Space 3D-time soil mapping [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • Czech and Polish agroecosystems have changed profoundly over the last two decades. • Poland has a higher share of animal husbandry and it is less energy efficient. • Economic factors are the main driving forces. • Both agricultures moved from a subsistence mode to a market oriented one. • Poland is an important exporter of food while Czechia mainly exports raw materials. Abstract We explore the agroecosystem energy flows in two former communist countries, Czechia and Poland, in the two decades after the fall of the totalitarian regimes. Energetic agroecosystem productivity, i.e., the energy content of crops, livestock products per unit of area is compared to energy inputs, i.e., external inputs from society, i.e., labour, industrial inputs, and external biomass inputs and linked to land use change and demographic and economic changes. Using the social metabolism concept and the Material and Energy Flow Accounting method, our analysis looks at the system from a biophysical perspective and explores the interactions between the economic system and nature. We calculate the Energy Return On Investment (EROI) indicators and also present an easily understandable index for policy makers, the Input/Output Index. After the end of communism in both countries in 1989, they both joined the EU in 2004. Along with this, both states started the integration towards a global economy. Our main research questions are 1) to what extent does the development of the energy flows and energy efficiency depend on the political organisation and the socioeconomic conditions and 2) if it follows rather more general trends or if it depends on the socioeconomic structure of the agricultural system. In the first decade immediately after 1990, the agricultural production radically slumped in both countries together with an overall slowdown of the economic performance. The production started to grow again and stabilised in the second decade mainly due to joining the EU in 2004. The integration to the global markets raised the volume of trade by a factor of 5 in Czechia and 10 in Poland. The number of agricultural workers decreased 1/3 in both countries over the whole period. Also, the cropland has been decreasing in both countries by about 20% and production has concentrated to more fertile areas, while the abandonment of agricultural area occurred mainly in less favoured areas. Both agricultural systems underwent structural changes in respect of change of ownership, economic conditions and subsequently the structure of production. Recently, the crops of economic significance dominate and Czechia exports raw materials as e.g., cereals and oil crops, and imports mainly fruits, vegetables and processed food. Poland has become an important producer and exporter of agricultural products in Europe (fruits, meat). But this is rather an issue of scale than of gaining efficiency. Poland is less efficient in the case of its share of inputs per outputs of energy flows with 21% while Czechia is 17%. Final EROI is stable in both countries. In Czechia, it is slightly improving from 0.6 in 1993 to 1 in 2012, while in Poland, the FEROI is stagnating around 0.6. The External Final EROI has slightly improved in Czechia from 2.8 to 3.8, while in Poland, it has been continuously decreasing from 2.6 to 2.2. The Internal Final EROI shows a declining share of the biomass reused in Czechia: from 0.8 to 1.4, while keeping its volumes in Poland at the value of 0.8. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The aim of this work was to assess the accuracy of direct runoff depth calculated according to an original Soil Conservation Service – Curve Number (SCS-CN) method and a modified Sahu - Mishra - Eldho (SME) method based on different sources of information on land cover. Main novelty of this work is using Database of topographic objects (BDOT10k) instead of Corine Land Cover (CLC) for the assessment of land cover in a catchment. The research was performed in the Kamienica river, a right tributary of the Dunajec, Poland. The effect of land cover data on runoff depth was assessed with the original SCS-CN method, and modified SME method. The value of CN parameter was estimated using two databases on land use, CLC and BDOT10k. BDOT10k was proven to be a considerably more precise land cover database that enabled more accurate interpretation. The study demonstrated the highest accuracy of direct runoff calculation with SME-CN method, irrespective of the approach used for determination of the catchment land use. The use of SME-CN instead of the original SCS-CN method provides much more accurate prediction of direct runoff in a catchment. Highlights • BDOT10k should be used to determine a catchment land cover for smaller map scales. • Differences in CN according to BDOT10k or CLC were minor for large-scale maps. • Modified SME-CN model provided an accurate estimation of direct. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • The socio-political transformation in Hungary and Poland after 1989 have contributed significantly to the land use change. • Surface areas of individual land use types in Hungary and Poland show similar trends but the degree of change is different. • A reduction of agricultural land and increased forest and uncultivated land coverage was observed in Poland and Hungary. • The most intensive anthropogenic changes were identified near the cities (Budapest and Kraków). • The decrease in agricultural land noted in the land cover of the study area coincided with European and global trends. Abstract This study has analysed changes in land use and land cover (LUCC) in two post-socialist countries – Hungary and Poland, based upon cadastral data, statistical data, and CORINE Land Cover data. This is a new approach aimed to perform a synergy analysis carried out in accordance with the 'top-down' principle, i.e. from the level of countries (in the case of land use) to the level of provinces/counties (land cover). This approach facilitates more reliable results. The authors analysed LUCC in northern Hungary (the Pest County) and southern Poland (the Małopolska Province) using GIS and statistical methods. The main aim of the research was to identify and assess the ongoing LUCC changes and compare them in the assumed field of research. The results indicate the existence of a trend in each time series. A downward trend was revealed for agricultural land in Hungary and Poland as well as for uncultivated land in Hungary. An upward trend was found in other variables (uncultivated land in Poland and forest land in both countries). Changes in land cover in the Pest County and the Małopolska Province (in 2000 and 2012) show a decrease in agricultural areas and an increase in artificial surfaces, forest and semi-natural areas with the change in Poland being more intensive than that in Hungary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several international initiatives, including the European Biodiversity Strategy to 2020, promote the identification and mapping of ecosystems as basic tools for the conservation of biodiversity and related services. On coarse scales, the spatial representation of ecosystems is usually based on broad land cover categories that largely overlook important ecological and biogeographic features of the biotic communities they are meant to exemplify. This paper presents a nationwide ecosystem mapping approach that promotes a degree of thematic detail, which is more suited than that found in the continental maps to meeting biodiversity conservation targets in Italy. The approach is based on the rationale that current and potential vegetation cover are valuable proxies for outlining ecosystems. The resulting Ecosystem Map of Italy includes 43 types of forest ecosystems instead of the 5 woodland, forest and other wooded land types recognized at the European level. We outline the expected advantages of this enhanced thematic detail for a number of conservation purposes and highlight how the resulting maps may help to meet biodiversity conservation targets at the national level. In particular, we refer to the assessment of conservation status, the definition of restoration priorities, the planning of green infrastructure and the identification of collapse risks for the ecosystems identified. Comprehensively, the definition, characterization and assessment of ecosystem types represent the carrying structure of the recently launched national system of natural capital accounting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Natural cover regenerates as otherland transitions to grassland and grassland to tree-covered area. • Main trend is cultivated land loss to artificial surfaces during both observation periods. • Proposed method of annual land cover mapping has potential to fill gaps in Swiss Corine and Arealstatistik data for Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN). • Adapt land cover change criteria to Swiss context for consistent interpretation of land degradation processes. Land degradation impacts most terrestrial biomes across all world regions. To address global change challenges emanating from degrading natural resources, many countries voluntarily set themselves the goal of achieving Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN). Baseline conditions are to be established over a reference period (2000 – 2015). With seven more years to monitor this Sustainable Development Goal 15 indicator — SDG15.3.1 until the year 2030, the scientific basis for operationalizing LDN is still evolving. The non-availability of annual land use-land cover maps of sufficient resolution in various countries, among them Switzerland, is a major factor hampering the assessment at national and local levels. Land cover change is assessed for seven land categories (that is, Tree-covered area, Grassland, Cropland, Wetland, Artificial Surfaces, Otherland, and Waterbody). Land cover change is a major LDN sub-indicator required to assess the proportion of degraded land to total land area (SDG15.3.1). Annual land cover datasets from 2015 to 2020 were produced at 10 m from Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 images using a Remote Sensing and Geographic Information System-based workflow. An evaluation of degradation in land cover is presented in support of the operationalization of LDN in Switzerland. Drawing upon the understanding that changes made to land use-land cover may act as precursors to land degradation processes, transitions relating to the loss of natural cover were identified based on the land cover change criteria during the reference and the monitored periods. The criteria were developed for relating land cover transitions to degrading and non-degrading processes. Such transitions were grasslands to tree-covered areas and croplands to artificial surfaces due to settlement development. For example, the amount of cropland converted to artificial surface areas was greater in absolute terms during the monitored period than during the reference period. Also, the regeneration of natural cover involving transitions from otherland to grassland and from grasslands to tree-covered areas was found. Overall trends between 2000 and 2020 in Switzerland are the increasing settlement areas in the Central Plateau, the Alpine valleys of Valais and Ticino, largely at the expense of croplands and the bush encroachment of pastures such as in the Jura. This study's contributions include an enhanced workflow for annual land cover mapping for the entire Switzerland and the adaptation of the land cover change criteria to fit the Swiss context. The proposed mapping method has the potential to fill the gap between the production cycles of the Swiss Corine and Arealstatistik land use data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work aimed to assess the effectiveness of several resilience strategies to mitigate extreme urban heat episodes in Porto (Portugal). Different resilience scenarios were studied with the WRF urban modelling system, using as case-study a future heat wave occurring in Porto urban area. The resilience factors considered were the increase of urban green areas and the application of cool (green and white) roofs. The results showed that the most effective resilience strategies to mitigate high urban temperatures are the application of cool roofs. These resilience strategies produced the strongest reduction in the average and maximum surface temperatures over Porto urban area under a future heat wave. Considering that white roofs are considerably easier and cheaper to apply in urban areas than green roofs, this resilience strategy can be seen as the most viable, cost-effective and economically attractive approach for mitigating extreme urban temperatures. This study proposed several different urban resilience strategies to extreme temperature episodes for the first time for Porto urban area, proved their effectiveness and compared their ability to reduce urban heat. Such findings can be of great importance for Porto urban planning stakeholders given the expected increase in the heat waves frequency and intensity in future climate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rural development is closely related to the transformation of land space in the immediate vicinity. The fast growth of Large Urban Zones (LUZ) entails rapid changes in land use not only within the city but also outside its territory, even covering whole regions. The impact of LUZ on social and economic communities living in areas close to the urban zones is noticed by many authors and it's especially manifested in forming and thus in land use. Based on these considerations, on the basis of free access spatial data and GIS technology, the authors tried to identify some relationships in the transformation of the structure of spatial capabilities in suburban areas. The study was based on Corine Land Cover (CLC) - surface data obtained by the visual interpretation of satellite images made at the request of the European Environment Agency (EEA), in order to monitor changes in coverage and land use in Europe. Collected in the previous campaign, and now updated every five years the data provide interesting and valuable source of information for analysing and modelling of spatial processes. Based on the obtained data set, the authors using the entropy index, then an indicator of multifunctionality decided to capture the dynamics of change and indicate possible trends of development in the coming years. Definition of entropy follows directly from the Second law of Thermodynamics, and frequently researchers used this value to study the changes of states of various phenomena, including the dynamic development of the area under urbanization pressure. Based on the results obtained erected the argument that the high value of entropy, which is a measure of disorder, is associated with a greater diversity of the area, thus a confirmation of the high dynamics of changes in land use. The authors decided to analyze these issues based on comprehensive and standardized data sets, which is CLC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The quantification and integration of ecosystem services (ES) into urban planning decisions is becoming increasingly important. However, studies that quantify and analyze the impacts in terms of ES changes are still scarce. We analyzed multiple ES provided by the landscape of the Urban Community of Bordeaux (CUB), in France, between 1990 and 2006 as a result of land use and cover change (LUCC) with Corine Land Cover and other open data. These ES were selected with the help of local stakeholders and were calculated using a spatially explicit modeling approach with InVEST and own-produced models. It was found that all ES, except erosion regulation, have decreased as a consequence of LUCC. Results also suggest that LUCC change decisions which do not consider policy measures for ES protection tend to generate land use patterns providing lower levels of ES. This spatial explicit approach to ES modeling enables an informed discussion with stakeholders and may be used to effectively implement, monitor, and communicate future planning policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Numerical simulations with the Advanced Research-Weather Research and Forecasting model (WRF-ARW) have been performed in order to simulate water vapor mixing ratio (WVMR) vertical profiles over southeastern Italy. An optimal setup of the model has been identified changing the default model land cover database and using a fine model vertical resolution in the lower levels. Among different tests, the selected implementation is the one that best reproduced the experimental WVMR profiles retrieved from the Brindisi radiosounding station and the ground-based Raman lidar measurements at Lecce site. The use of the WRF model to simulate WVMR profiles along the tracks of the spaceborne lidar CALIOP (Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization) on two case studies has revealed that numerical models are reliable tools, particularly useful when no ground measurements of water vapor are available. In particular, it is shown that the inhomogeneous distribution of moisture in the domain, as emerging from the model simulations, may significantly affect the CALIOP validation procedures. Such procedures are based on the intercomparison of the satellite retrieved aerosol profiles with those measured, nearly at the same time, with a ground-based lidar located few km away from the sites where CALIOP aerosol products are delivered in the selected events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Detailed SEEA ecosystem extent accounts can be built from the CORINE land cover accounting data set. • CORINE land cover as proxy for ecosystem types divided in tiers of increasing ecological detail. • Over the 2000 to 2018 period European urban land cover increased by 16,606 km2 (or 7.1%). • Geo-spatial database enables targeted geographic analysis of ecosystem trends in support of policy. This paper describes the set-up and results for ecosystem extent accounts at European level, developed in the context of the United Nations System of Environmental-Economic Accounting - Ecosystem Accounting (SEEA EA). These accounts inform on the opening and closing 'stocks' of ecosystems and provide essential geo-spatial data to support the calculation of ecosystem condition and services accounts. The paper presents the first set of ecosystem extent accounts for Europe, covering the period 2000–2018. These show that ecosystems are relatively stable at the European scale, with significant increases in Urban ecosystems and some decrease in Heathland and shrub and Grassland ecosystems. The paper demonstrates the use of a flexible geo-spatial database to gain analytical insights for different ecosystem accounting areas, using European biogeographical regions and Natura 2000 areas as examples. More detailed ecosystem extent accounts (tier II and tier III) show trends inter alia for Agro-forestry, Peat Bog, Beaches, dunes and sands as well as Salt marsh ecosystems, important for biodiversity and ecosystem services. The accounting approach presented delivers a geo-spatial data foundation that can support further ecosystem analysis and accounts. This enables the targeting of ecosystem analysis on specific geographic areas and policy instruments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study integrates the use of multi-source and multi-resolution remote sensing, topographic and field-based datasets to quantify land-use and land-cover (LULC) changes along a coastal stretch of Thua Thien Hue Province (central Vietnam). The LULC change analysis involves the Tam Giang-Cau Hai lagoon, the largest lagoon system in Southeast Asia, which is running nearly 70 km along the coast and having about 22,000 ha of water surface. The LULC change analysis was performed by computer-aided visual interpretation for 5 years (1965, 1989, 2000, 2006 and 2014) using satellite imagery from LANDSAT MSS, TM, ETM+ and 8, ASTER and SPOT5. National topographic maps were also used for the 1965 and 2000 years. To adequately represent the LULC features and peculiarities of central Vietnam coastal areas, an adapted CORINE Land Cover nomenclature was used where new 3rd and 4th level classes were adopted. Due to their intrinsic relative high spatial and radiometric resolution, SPOT5 images from 2006 were assumed as a reference for interpretation keys and first delineation. Changes were mapped by editing those vectors representing features which underwent LULC change prior or after 2006. Spatial and temporal changes were analyzed by post-classification approach and validated by ground truth information. High detail object-based classification was finally performed to infer the capability of medium spatial resolution imagery for extracting cadastral scale pond maps. The accuracy of classification was checked by a polygon by polygon comparison with an existing aquaculture facility inventory. Five LULC maps were obtained by applying a legend of 21 classes including two newly defined: “Aquaculture ponds” and “Mangrove forest”. The overall classification accuracy of the LULC map is 85% while the KHAT statistics 0.81 for the year 2006. Accuracy of the object-based aquaculture facilities classification is 84% or better for the SPOT5 imagery and 47.9% for the ASTER imagery. The study provides a synoptic LULC representation for the largest lagoon system of Southeast Asia and delivers quantitative estimates of main changes occurred during the last 50 years. Moreover, it reveals the adaptability of the CORINE Land Cover method outside European environment. Finally, SPOT5 provides good results to map aquaculture features at cadastral scale, even if in some circumstances (e.g. tidal areas), the integration with higher spatial resolution multispectral sensors should be envisaged. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The goal of this study is to investigate the impact of the high resolution Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) 90 m × 90 m topography data, together with the 100 m × 100 m resolution Corine Land Cover 2006 on the simulated gas and particulate matter (PM10) concentrations by WRF-Chem. We focused our analysis on the well-known highly urbanized region of the Po Valley. Large differences are found in the geographical distribution of the land cover classes between Corine Land Cover and 30 arc seconds USGS. The simulation with the SRTM and Corine Land Cover increases modelled temperature at 2 m and reduces wind speeds due to more friction at the surface induced by the Corine Land Cover. Latent and sensible heat fluxes show large differences between the two simulations and the related boundary layer development and depth. The simulation with the SRTM and Corine Land Cover favours the precipitation amount over a large of part the Alps and follows the pattern of the difference in topography between the two topography data sets. In term of air quality indicators, impacts are also large and geographical dependent. Monthly average of CO, NO and SO 2 concentrations over a large part of the Po Valley are higher when using Corine Land Cover, up to ∼20, ∼50 and ∼55%, respectively. With respect to PM10, the impacts are also geographical dependent. Over the Po valley area, calculated PM10 concentrations are in general higher using Corine Land Cover (up to 6.7 ug/m 3 [∼26%] westerly of Milan) while differences are smaller over the Alps (∼0.25ug/m 3 [∼20%]). Although the scope of this work is not to evaluate the model performance in calculated meteorological parameters and gas and PM10 concentrations, calculated values by the simulation with SRTM and Corine Land Cover show a better agreement with the observations than the simulation with the USGS topography and land cover data sets. A quantitative comparison between modelled and observed monthly average PM10 concentrations shows that both simulations underestimate the observed PM10 concentrations by a factor ∼4. The agreement is much better during episodes for the simulation with the SRTM and Corine Land Cover. For CO, SO 2 and NO x , the modelled monthly mean concentrations are similar for the two simulations. Larger differences are found during some episodes and regions with the SRTM and Corine LC simulation being in better agreement with the observations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Better integration of knowledge from ecological, social and economic science is necessary to advance the understanding and modelling of socio-ecological systems. To model ecosystem integrity (EI) and ecosystem services (ES) at the landscape scale, assessment matrices are commonly used. These matrices assign capacities to provide different services to different land cover types. We revised such an existing matrix and examined the regional heterogeneity in EI and ES provision in Europe and searched for spatial gradients in their provision to elucidate their suitability for large-scale EI and ES mapping in Europe. Overall, 28 sites belonging to the Long-Term Ecological Research network in Europe participated in this study, covering a longitudinal gradient from Spain to Bulgaria and a latitudinal gradient from Italy to Sweden. As a primary outcome, an improved and consolidated EI and ES matrix was achieved with 17.5% of all matrix fields updated. For the first time, this new matrix also contains measures of uncertainty for each entry. EI and ES provision assessments were more variable for natural and semi-natural than for more anthropogenically dominated land cover classes. Among the main types of EI and ES, cultural service provision was rated most heterogeneously in Europe, while abiotic provisioning services were more constant. Longitudinal and latitudinal EI and ES gradients were mostly detected in natural and semi-natural land cover types where temperature and precipitation are major drivers. In anthropogenically determined systems in which cultural services play a dominant role, temperature and precipitation gradients were less important. Our results suggest that this matrix approach to assess EI and ES provision principally works on broad spatial scales; however, local assessments for natural systems seem to be less generalizable than assessments from anthropogenically determined systems. Provisioning and regulating services are more generalizable than cultural services. Particularly in natural and semi-natural systems, spatial gradients need to be considered. We discuss uncertainties associated with this matrix-based EI and ES assessment approach and suggest that future large-scale studies should include additional land cover information and ecosystem disservices and may determine ES fluxes by differentiating between ES provision and consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Landscapes in national parks bear at least slight traces of human activity. • The proposed method could be the basis for designating protected areas. • The method enables calculation of the degree of landscape transformation by humans. • A supra-regional land cover map with greater detail should be developed. Establishing national parks should result from a desire to protect natural or near natural landscapes with the lowest degree of anthropogenic transformation. This paper tries to ascertain whether national parks in Poland protect the most natural landscapes and how far they have been affected by humans. The level of anthropogenic transformation of natural landscapes was assessed based on an analysis of the percentage of natural, semi-natural and anthropogenic land cover. The vast majority of national parks in Poland (21 out of 23) protect landscapes which have been minimally transformed by humans (RAT TNP ranges from 1.01 to 1.16). Only two kinds of natural landscapes, those that are the most transformed by humans, are not represented within the set of the Polish national parks. Hence, the distribution of national parks reflects the degree of anthropogenic landscape transformation. The proposed method could be applied to any type of spatial unit and thus be the basis for designating areas that should be protected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] The present work proposes a methodology for analyzing the urban–rural gradient. [•] It can be used anywhere in Europe allowing analyses over different periods of time. [•] There are huge differences in speed of urbanization compared to other transformations. [•] Urbanization was the predominant land use transformation in the study area. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Agricultural land abandonment represents one of the most significant processes affecting today's European landscapes. This process occurs more intensively in the post-socialist Central and Eastern European countries, where the adoption of a market-oriented economy after the era of socialism and the implementation of EU policies were the greatest challenges of recent decades. In this article, we analyse the spatial determinants of abandonment of large-scale arable lands and grasslands in two time periods: the transition period (1990–2000) and the EU accession period (2000–2006). The analyses were performed on a country-wide and region-specific scale. The abandoned fields were identified based on CORINE land cover change analyses, then the role of morphometric, biophysical, distance and demographic variables was analysed with the use of logistic regression estimations and AUC (Area Under Curve) statistics. Similar to other studies from post-socialist countries we observed much higher rates of abandonment during the transition period. The abandonment was more likely to occur on fields with lower soil quality located on less accessible areas close to non-farmed land. Particularly in the transition period we found that the abandonment was largely influenced by the migration and changes of population structure in rural areas. Fewer determinants played a role during the EU accession period compared to the transition period. The dominance of abandonment in the mountainous region and changes in the determinants underline the importance of topographic disaggregation in the region-based modelling of agricultural land-use change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies that explore species-environment relationships at a broad scale are usually limited by the availability of sufficient habitat description, which is often too coarse to differentiate natural habitat patches. Therefore, it is not well understood how the distribution of natural habitats affects broad-scale patterns in the distribution of animal species. In this study, we evaluate the role of field-mapped natural habitats, land-cover types derived from remote sensing and climate on the composition of assemblages of five distinct animal groups, namely non-volant mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and butterflies native to the Czech Republic. First, we used variation partitioning based on redundancy analysis to evaluate the extent to which the environmental variables and their spatial structure might underlie the observed spatial patterns in the composition of animal assemblages. Second, we partitioned variations explained by climate, natural habitats and land-cover to compare their relative importance. Finally, we tested the independent effects of each variable in order to evaluate the significance of their contributions to the environmental model. Our results showed that spatial patterns in the composition of assemblages of almost all the considered animal groups may be ascribed mostly to variations in the environment. Although the shared effects of climatic variables, natural habitats and land-cover types explained the largest proportion of variation in each animal group, the variation explained purely by natural habitats was always higher than the variation explained purely by climate or land-cover. We conclude that most spatial variation in the composition of assemblages of almost all animal groups probably arises from biological processes operating within a spatially structured environment and suggest that natural habitats are important to explain observed patterns because they often perform better than habitat descriptions based on remote sensing. This underlines the value of using appropriate habitat data, for which high-resolution and large-area field-mapping projects are necessary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this study is to evaluate the impact of the high resolution SRTM topography and Corine Land Cover data on simulated meteorological variables (wind speed at ten metres height, temperature at 2 m height and precipitation) in WRF. We compare the results with the WRF simulation using the standard 30-arc second USGS Land Cover and topography, and with observations of the ARPA network. We focus on the Lombardy region (north Italy) for the periods January–February and July–August 2008. Our analysis shows that simulated average wind speeds are in general lower by the WRF simulation with the SRTM and Corine Land Cover than the WRF simulation with the 30-arc second USGS and agrees better with the observations. The reason for this is that the Corine Land Cover shows a larger fraction of the ‘urban and built-up’ category than the USGS data set, which leads to more friction and higher roughness in the domain and lowers the wind speeds at ground level. For the winter period, the WRF simulation with the SRTM and Corine Land Cover calculates on average higher temperatures over the model domain (between ~0.2 and ~1.0°C and up to ~1.2°C for Milan) than the simulation using USGS data. For the summer period the differences in average temperatures are larger up to 2.7°C, while for Milan the differences are around 0.7°C. The differences are related to the higher fraction of urban and built-up area in the Corine Land Cover, which affects the sensible and latent heat fluxes in the model domain and holds the heat between the buildings. R2 values are on average a factor of 1.03 and 1.14 higher for the winter and summer periods, respectively. Comparing the hit rate statistics of the precipitation events reveals that probability of detection of the precipitation event and the Hansen–Kuipers score is on average 1% higher by the simulation with SRTM and Corine Land Cover than the WRF simulation with the standard USGS data set. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The acquisition of information about growing stock is a fundamental step in the framework of forest management planning and scenario modeling, besides being essential for assessing the amount of carbon stored within forest ecosystems. Gallaun et al. (2010) produced a pan-European map of forest growing stock by the combination of ground and remotely sensed data. The first objective of the current paper is to assess the accuracy of this map versus the ground data collected during the latest Italian National Forest Inventory (INFC). Next, a new wall-to-wall estimation of growing stock is obtained by combining ground measurements of four regional forest inventories with the CORINE land cover map of Italy and the global canopy height map derived from Geoscience Laser Altimeter System (GLAS) and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data. More particularly, the growing stock measurements of the four inventories are stratified by ecosystem type and extended over all Italian forest areas through the application of locally weighted regressions to the GLAS/MODIS canopy height map. When compared to the INFC measurements, the new map shows higher accuracy than that by Gallaun et al., particularly for high growing stock values. The coefficient of determination between estimated and INFC growing stocks is improved by about 0.5, whilst the mean square error is reduced from 90 to 48 m 3 ha −1 . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] Evaluation of urban sprawl statistics using raster data. [•] Development of simple visual tools jointly accounting for size and morphology. [•] Development of computational algorithms to model the high volumes of raster data. [•] Demonstration of properties of Moran's I when applied to binary raster data. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Highlights: [•] Scale and “ecological” dependence of ecosystem services evaluation. [•] We tested the effectiveness of the CORINE land cover dataset to assess the spatial extension of freshwater biomes in Italy. [•] Different buffer widths are assigned to Italian rivers and streams using a georeferenced hydrographic network database. [•] Spatial data from the CORINE and the modified hydrographic network database are compared. [•] The economic value of Italian freshwaters is greatly underestimated by the CORINE dataset. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Floods exert significant pressure on human societies. Assessments of an ecosystem''s capacity to regulate and to prevent floods relative to human demands for flood regulating ecosystem services can provide important information for environmental management. In this study, the capacities of different ecosystems to regulate floods were assessed through investigations of water retention functions of the vegetation and soil cover. The use of the catchment based hydrologic model KINEROS and the GIS AGWA tool provided data about peak rivers’ flows and the capability of different land cover types to “capture” and regulate some parts of the water. Based on spatial land cover units originating from CORINE and further data sets, these regulating ecosystem services were quantified and mapped. Resulting maps show the ecosystems’ flood regulating service capacities in the case study area of the Malki Iskar river basin above the town of Etropole in the northern part of Bulgaria. There, the number of severe flood events causing significant damages in the settlements and infrastructure has been increasing during the last few years. Maps of demands for flood regulating ecosystem services in the study region were compiled based on a digital elevation model, land use information and accessibility data. Finally, the flood regulating ecosystem service supply and demand data were merged in order to produce a map showing regional supply-demand balances. The resulting map of flood regulation supply capacities shows that the Etropole municipality''s area has relatively high capacities for flood regulation. Areas of high and very high relevant capacities cover about 34% of the study area. The flood regulation ecosystem service demand map shows that areas of low or no relevant demands far exceed the areas of high and very high demands, which comprise only 0.6% of the municipality''s area. According to the flood regulation supply-demand balance map, areas of high relevant demands are located in places of low relevant supply capacities. The results show that the combination of data from different sources with hydrological modeling provides a suitable data base for the assessment of complex function–service–benefit relations. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Among the main effects of human activities on the environment are land use and resulting land cover changes. Such changes impact the capacity of ecosystems to provide goods and services to the human society. This supply of multiple goods and services by nature should match the demands of the society, if self-sustaining human–environmental systems and a sustainable utilization of natural capital are to be achieved. To describe respective states and dynamics, appropriate indicators and data for their quantification, including quantitative and qualitative assessments, are needed. By linking land cover information from, e.g. remote sensing, land survey and GIS with data from monitoring, statistics, modeling or interviews, ecosystem service supply and demand can be assessed and transferred to different spatial and temporal scales. The results reveal patterns of human activities over time and space as well as the capacities of different ecosystems to provide ecosystem services under changing land use. Also the locations of respective demands for these services can be determined. As maps are powerful tools, they hold high potentials for visualization of complex phenomena. We present an easy-to-apply concept based on a matrix linking spatially explicit biophysical landscape units to ecological integrity, ecosystem service supply and demand. An exemplary application for energy supply and demand in a central German case study region and respective maps for the years 1990 and 2007 are presented. Based on these data, the concept for an appropriate quantification and related spatial visualization of ecosystem service supply and demand is elaborated and discussed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Urban regions are important places of ecosystem service demands and, at the same time, are the primary source of global environmental impacts. Although there is broad agreement on the importance of incorporating the concept of ecosystem services into policy strategies and decision-making, the lack of a standardized approach to quantifying ecosystem services at the landscape scale has hindered progress in this direction. Moreover, tradeoffs between ecosystem services and the supply/demand ratio of ecosystem services in urban landscapes have rarely been investigated. In our paper, we present a method to quantify and map the supply and demand of three essential provisioning services – energy, food, and water – along the rural–urban gradient of the eastern German region Leipzig–Halle. This urban region has experienced significant socio-economic dynamics and land use changes since the German reunification in 1990. The results show that both the demand and the supply of ecosystem services changed considerably during the time span under consideration (1990–2007). We identified an increasing supply/demand ratio of food and water but a decreasing supply/demand ratio of energy. In addition, the pattern of ecosystem demands shows a levelling of rural–urban gradients, reflecting profound modifications of traditional rural–urban relationships. The changes of ecosystem service supply gradients are determined more by land use intensity, such as the intensification of agricultural production, than by land cover changes such as urban sprawl. The comparison of supply/demand ratios and rural–urban patterns of ecosystem services can help decision-makers in landscape management in striving for a sustainable balance between resource supply and demand. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The Algarve region in Portugal is often considered as one of the most appealing regions for tourism in the country. Its attractive location and moderate climate have since the mid-1960s brought increasing economic prosperity. As a result of the development of mass tourism, available land-use resources were widely exploited to create an integrated tourist industry. In this area, economic prosperity has led to an increasing population and a significant growth of infrastructures to cope with the demand from the hospitality sector. The far-reaching land-use changes have, however, led to high pressures on the coastal areas of the Algarve. This region has shown an increasing loss of ecosystems resulting from the expansion of urban areas. This paper proposes a dynamic assessment of urban growth in the Algarve based on non-linear complex system modelling by using cellular automata converging on qualitative story lines with quantitative spatial methodologies. This new methodology utilizes both quantitative and qualitative spatial results by a comparative validation of built scenarios, in order to highlight future land use trends. In particular, three scenarios will be explored, each with distinct specific socio-economic paths. Our analysis to identify the scenario with the best fit, based on the evolution of the actual 2006 land cover, enabled us to build a future urban growth model for 2020 which was quantitatively assessed. The outcome suggests a picture of continuing growth for the region of the Algarve within the framework of current policies and regressive spatial trends. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Land use has significantly changed during the recent decades at global and local scale, while the importance of ecosystems as sources/sinks of C has been highlighted, emphasizing the global impact of land use changes. Land use changes can increase C loss rates which are extremely difficult to reverse, in the short term, opposite to organic carbon (OC) which accumulates in soil in the long-term. The aim of this research is to improve and test methodologies to assess land cover change (LCC) dynamics and temporal and spatial variability in C stored in vegetation at a wide scale. LCCs between 1956 and 2007 in Andalusia (Southern Spain) were selected for this pilot study, assessed by comparison of spatial data from 1956 to 2007 and were reclassified following land cover flows (LCFs) reported in major areas in Europe. Carbon vegetation densities were related to land cover, and C vegetation stocks for 1956 and 2007 were calculated by multiplying C density for each land cover class with land cover areas. The study area has supported important changes during the studied period with significant consequences for vegetation C stocks, mainly due to afforestation and intensification of agriculture, resulting in a total vegetation C stock of 156.08Tg in 2007, with an increase of 17.24Tg since 1956. This study demonstrates the importance of LCC for C sequestration in vegetation from Mediterranean areas, highlighting possible directions for management policies in order to mitigate climate change as well as promoting land conservation. The methodologies and information generated in this project will be a useful basis for designing land management strategies helpful for decision makers. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Four out of five European citizens life in urban areas, and urban form – like the density or compactness of a city – influences daily life and is an important factor for both quality of life and environmental impact. Urban planning can influence urban form, but due to practicality needs to focus on a few indicators out of the numerous indicators which are available. The present study analyses urban form with respect to landscape metrics and population-related indicators for 231 European cities. Correlations and factor analysis identify the most relevant urban form indicators. Furthermore, a cluster analysis groups European cities according to their urban form. Significant differences between the clusters are presented. Results indicate that researchers, European administration and urban planners can select few indicators for analysing urban form due to strong relationships between single indicators. But they should be aware of differences in urban form when comparing European cities or working on planning policies for the whole of Europe. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The purpose of this study was twofold: to develop a methodology for the estimation of land surface temperature for non-urban areas and to analyze the sensitivity of the methodology. The key element of the methodology was the development of emissivity maps based on CORINE Land Cover and the ASTER spectral library. Land surface temperatures were derived from NOAA/AVHRR data and the methodology was applied at a national scale in Greece, with emphasis given to non-urban areas. A sensitivity analysis was performed in order to determine the variables that mainly affect the estimation of land surface temperature. A varying propagation error was identified depending on the temperature and humidity of the atmosphere, as well as the land cover type. The methodology was applied to a series of 25 AVHRR images and the results were compared to in-situ measurements from representative stations. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Europe has unique natural values but also has the highest level of ecosystem fragmentation. Evaluating the effectiveness of protected area management is becoming an increasingly common practice. Our main goal was to assess the dynamics of LULC changes in the buffer zones of 159 national parks in 11 selected European countries on the basis of the CORINE Land Cover database in the period from 1990 to 2018. We used five landscape metrics in order to investigate whether high natural and landscape values in the areas surrounding national parks affect the degree and rate of landscape fragmentation and isolation. We checked the statistical significance of the differences in the measured values among different distances to parks (1, 2 and 3 km) in different years and countries using the two-way ANOVA test. Furthermore, the classical principal component analysis method was applied to measure data grouped by country and then averaged by year and distance factor. We showed that high natural and landscape values in the surrounding areas of national parks affect the degree and rate of landscape fragmentation. The patch density index shows an evident increase, both in dynamic terms (1990–2018) and, mainly, in the spatial aspect. In 2018, there was an increasing rate of the patch density index of approximately 5–7% compared to that in 1990. It should be kept in mind that management efforts focused on the buffer zones of national parks may have limited success. Undoubtedly, the obtained results will contribute to the development of landscape ecology and spatial developments in the context of the effective management of national parks and their surroundings. • This paper assesses the state of LULC changes in the surrounding areas of national parks at the example of 159 national parks from 11 EU countries. • One-way linear regression was carried out, which allowed us to obtain the slope coefficients of the regression curve for each country and each of the analyzed measures. • The patch density (PD) index shows an evident increase, both in dynamic terms (1990–2018) and, mainly, in the spatial aspect (1–3 km). • High natural and landscape values in the surrounding areas of national parks affect the degree and rate of landscape fragmentation. • It is necessary to design and implement relevant policy decisions to strictly regulate buffer zones around national parks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

CORINAIR atmospheric emission inventories are frequently used input data for air quality models with a domain situated in Europe. In CORINAIR emission inventories, sources are broken down over 11 major source categories. This paper presents spatial surrogates for the disaggregation of CORINAIR atmospheric emission inventories for input of air pollutants and particulate matter to grid or polygon based air quality model domains inside Europe. The basis for the disaggregation model was the CLC2000 land cover data to which statistical weights were added. Weights were population census data for residential emissions, employment statistics for agricultural and industrial area emissions, livestock statistics for ammonia emissions and annual aircraft movements for emissions realized by air transport. Additional road and off-road network information was used to disaggregate emissions realized by traffic. A comparison of top down produced emission estimates with spatially resolved national emission data for The Netherlands and the United Kingdom gave confidence in the present spatial surrogates as a tool for the top down production of atmospheric emission maps. Explained variance at a spatial resolution of 5km was >70% for CO, NMVOC and NO x , >60% for PM10 and almost 50% for SO2. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Real-time assessment of the ambient air quality has gained an increased interest in recent years. To give support to this evolution, the statistical air pollution interpolation model RIO is developed. Due to the very low computational cost, this interpolation model is an efficient tool for an environment agency when performing real-time air quality assessment. Beside this, a reliable interpolation model can be used to produce analysed maps of historical data records as well. Such maps are essential for correctly checking compliance with population exposure limit values as foreseen by the new EU Air Quality Directive. RIO is an interpolation model that can be classified as a detrended Kriging model. In a first step, the local character of the air pollution sampling values is removed in a detrending procedure. Subsequently, the site-independent data is interpolated by an Ordinary Kriging scheme. Finally, in a re-trending step, a local bias is added to the Kriging interpolation results. As spatially resolved driving force in the detrending process, a land use indicator is developed based on the CORINE land cover data set. The indicator is optimized independently for the three pollutants O3, NO2 and PM10. As a result, the RIO model is able to account for the local character of the air pollution phenomenon at locations where no monitoring stations are available. Through a cross-validation procedure the superiority of the RIO model over standard interpolation techniques, such as the Ordinary Kriging is demonstrated. Air quality maps are presented for the three pollutants mentioned and compared to maps based on standard interpolation techniques. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The aim of the study was to elaborate a methodology for forest mapping based on high resolution satellite data, relevant for reporting on forest cover and spatial pattern changes in Europe. The Carpathians were selected as a case study area and mapped using 24 Landsat scenes, processed independently with a supervised approach combining image segmentation, knowledge-based rules to extract a training set and the maximum likelihood decision rule. Validation was done with available very high resolution imagery. Overall accuracies per scene ranged from 93 to 96%. The labelling disagreement in overlapping areas of adjacent scenes was 6.8% on average. The proposed methodology is easily applicable to other regions in Europe. It allows an accurate forest–non-forest map to be obtained in a quick and cost effective manner, spatially more detailed than the currently available European data sets. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: To analyze all wind data available in the French meteorological stations, to elaborate a new extreme wind speeds map, an homogenization tool is developed that allow the detection and the correction of breaks due to sensor change and modification of measurement environment. Breaks are detected on annual mean wind speed series. Daily maximal wind speed values for about 150 wind speed stations have been selected using this method. The meteorological station environment influence is corrected with the help of the Danish software WAsP that takes into account the relief, the roughness of the land within a radius of 5km as well as the near wakes in a radius of 500m. The relief is described by the numeric model of terrain of Institut Geographique National (IGN) on a 50m grid step and the roughness of the land, by an interpretation of the database CORINE land cover by the Geographic Information System software MapInfo, coupled with a description of environment of each station by Météo-France. The time series of the maximal daily mean wind speed built from the maximal daily peak velocity are analyzed by the method of independent storms, first proposed by Cook [1982. Towards better estimation of extreme winds. J. Wind Eng. Ind. Aerodyn. 9, 295–323] already applied for UK by Miller et al. [2001. Towards a revised base wind speed map for the United Kingdom. Wind Struct. 4(3), 197–212]. The normalized mean wind speed of 50 years return period irrespective of wind direction is obtained for each meteorological station, by fitting the cumulative distribution by a Pareto law. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: For numerous model applications in the earth and environmental sciences, digital land-use data are indispensable as a source of information on the geographical distribution of the land-use/cover. Therefore, the land-use data sets ATKIS, CORINE Land Cover, and Landsat TM classifications are widely used in Germany. However, the users of these data mostly do not have information on their quality. In this study, the accuracy of the three above-mentioned digital land-use maps was evaluated a posteriori based on the results of a field inventory in two test areas with a total area of 17km2. The results show that the overall accuracy of the land-use maps varies from 0.692 to 0.876. For the individual land-use classes, the user accuracy ranged from less than 0.001 to 0.991. In this paper, the positional congruency of the land-use class polygons among the three maps was also evaluated for a larger study region of 670km2 in the state of Hessen (Germany). This region is a small structured landscape with a relatively high portion of fallow land. In the analysis, the following six land-use classes were considered: urban and traffic areas, forest, water, arable land, pastures and meadows, and fallow land (including other uses). The results showed that the congruency of the land-use classes forest and urban and traffic areas is higher than the congruency of the land-use classes of the open land (arable land, pastures and meadows, fallow). [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper describes an operational application of AVHRR satellite imagery in combination with the satellite-based land cover database CORINE Land Cover (CLC) for the comprehensive observation and follow-up of 10000 fire outbreaks and of their consequences in Greece during summer 2000. In the first stage, we acquired and processed satellite images on a daily basis with the aim of smoke-plume tracking and fire-core detection at the national level. Imagery was acquired eight times per day and derived from all AVHRR spectral channels. In the second stage, we assessed the consequences of fire on vegetation by producing a burnt-area map on the basis of multi-annual normalised vegetation indices using AVHRR data in combination with CLC. In the third stage we used again CLC to assess the land cover of burnt areas in the entire country. The results compared successfully to available inventories for that year. Burnt area was estimated with an accuracy ranging from 88% to 95%, depending on the predominant land cover type. These results, along with the low cost and high temporal resolution of AVHRR satellite imagery, suggest that the combination of low-resolution satellite data with harmonised CLC data can be applied operationally for forest fire and post-fire assessments at the national and at a pan-European level. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

• Human activities can strongly influence the flood regulating ecosystem services; • Assessment of the flood regulating services supply of different CORINE land cover; • Quantification of the flood regulating services demand; • The role of green areas is fundamental to assure future flood regulation. The effects of land use alteration, migration and urbanization are key aspects in flood management, as human activities can strongly influence the capacity of ecosystems to provide flood regulating ecosystem services and determine their demand. This study analyzes spatio–temporal dynamics of flood regulating ecosystem services to support watershed management planning. A methodology for mapping the supply and demand of flood regulation is proposed and applied to the Arno River basin, in central Italy. The spatial explicit analysis of flood regulating ecosystem services supply is carried out with SWAT - Soil and Water Assessment Tool, whose outputs are synthetized by two indicators to evaluate the retention capacity of each land use class originating from CORINE data sets. Quantification of demand for flood regulating ecosystem services is based on flood hazard classes derived from the existing local flood management plans (i.e., PAI-Piano per l'Assetto Idrogeologico and PGRA-Piano di Gestione del Rischio Alluvioni). Supply and demand data are then combined to obtain budget maps of flood regulating ecosystem services and their evolution, between 1990 and 2018. The results show how both demand and supply of ecosystem services have changed in the last decades, highlighting the main hotspots at the catchment and sub-catchment scales. With the increasing urbanization, the demand values have grown in the Arno floodplains, where residential, industrial and commercial zones are located. At the same time, land use changes have altered the water regulation supply, resulting in a generalized decrease of the basin capacity to provide flood regulation services. The maps and tables obtained show the fundamental role of forest and other vegetated areas whose protection is a priority to assure future flood regulation and associated co-benefits (e.g., regulation of air quality, reduction of erosion, improvement of water quality, wood fuel). The assessment of flood regulating here proposed is a powerful tool for decision makers to improve flood regulation and provides a sound base of knowledge to identify and locate flood prevention and mitigation measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Peri-urbanisation is a dynamic process consisting primarily of the expansion of artificial areas into natural, semi-natural, and agricultural areas. This process reduces peri-urban open spaces, thus it is threatening peri-urban biodiversity and hampers the provision of ecosystem services. In this manuscript, we introduced the concept of peri-urban open spaces and exemplified it on the level of regional policy-making in the following six European case study regions: Basque Country (Spain), Flanders (Belgium), Gorenjska (Slovenia), Hajdú-Bihar (Hungary), Mazovia (Poland), and Saxony-Anhalt (Germany). Our study aimed (1) to analyse land cover changes related to peri-urban open spaces in the case study regions, (2) to identify and classify policy improvements that are useful to protect peri-urban open spaces, and (3) to provide recommendations for regional policy instruments to improve the protection of peri-urban open spaces. We designed a mixed-method approach combining Geographical Information Systems, an explorative questionnaire, and a semi-quantitative survey to fulfil our research aims. Our results showed that peri-urban open spaces are decreasing in all case study regions but with different scale and dynamics over time. Mostly (non-irrigated) arable land was transformed into non-peri-urban open space. Moreover, we identify 15 policy improvements that are suitable to support the protection of peri-urban open spaces at the level of regional policy-making. Our results indicated a potential for improving the regulatory instruments and showed the usefulness of multi-level governance that better address the protection of peri-urban open spaces at regional level. Using our research results, we provided recommendations for regional policy-makers who are willing to pay more attention to the protection of peri-urban open spaces. • We provide a concept and analysis of peri-urban open spaces. • A mixed-method approach was applied to six European regions. • Mainly green urban areas and leisure facilities are threatened by land cover changes. • Multi-level governance, green-blue corridors and re-use of brownfields are needed. • Regulatory instruments need to integrate better the protection of open spaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We assessed stakeholders' perception of ES supply in Portugal using CLC land cover. • Drought regulation was ranked the most important ecosystem service. • We show the potential impact of different scenarios on ecosystem service supply. • Agriculture and forests/semi-natural areas provide two thirds of the total ES. • Agriculture was considered the most important contributor to climate regulation. Understanding where ecosystem services (ES) are and quantifying their supply using stakeholderś information is key for effective sustainable management. This paper describes a participatory methodology for extracting stakeholders' ES perception for continental Portugal based on land cover using analytical hierarchy process (AHP), matrix-based approach with data visualization techniques, and scenario analysis. Results show that drought regulation was the most valued ES by stakeholders and recreation was considered the least important. Results also show that the "Agricultural areas and "Forests and semi-natural areas" land cover classes provide about two-thirds of the total ES for the country. An "Economic development" scenario will yield negative values for all ES except recreation and food supply, whereas an "Environmental development" scenario will increase all ES, except food supply. Finally, a "Sustainable development" scenario, presents values between the previous two scenarios and is the best for food supply. This operational methodology for extracting information from stakeholders and to report information on the mapping and assessment of ES can be helpful for sustainable planning in Portugal and elsewhere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Invasive tree species are relevant elements of urban landscape transformation. • We studied patterns of Ailanthus altissima natural regeneration in Poznań city. • Its spread was limited by distance from propagule source and microhabitats. • Revealing patterns of spread allows prediction of which areas require monitoring. • Knowledge of A. altissima natural regeneration will increase management efficiency. Invasive species are drivers of urban ecosystem transformation. However, their management requires cost-demanding distributional data. Here we proposed an approach using floristic surveys, land-use maps, and field observations to reveal the patterns responsible for the spread of invasive trees using open-source software. We used the tree of heaven – Ailanthus altissima (Mill.) Swingle as a model species, one of the most common invasive tree species in cities. We conducted our study in Poznań city (W Poland). Although there were no spontaneous individuals of A. altissima recorded in the 1980s, in 2015 we found it in 18 out of 242 1 km2 grid squares. We used a random forest model to show that the probability of A. altissima natural regeneration is positively associated with high cover of medium dense urban fabric (10–50%), recreational areas, and water. It was negatively correlated with the cover of forests, dense urban fabric (50−100%), and agricultural areas. We also found that most of the naturally regenerated individuals occurred up to 20 m from parental trees, and densities of natural regeneration were five times higher in paved surfaces and ruderal vegetation compared to lawns and bare ground. Despite model limitations, these patterns are consistent with other studies, revealing a set of rules facilitating prediction of A. altissima natural regeneration occurrence. Hence, our approach can facilitate narrowing the area of fieldwork required for mapping invasive tree species in urban ecosystems, help to design effective policy and management of invasive species in urban areas, and reduce costs of monitoring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Barcelona Metropolitan Area (BMA) is located in Catalonia, northeastern Spain. With a population of over 3 billion people, the BMA is one of the most populous metropolitan areas on the Mediterranean coast. A local climatic modification known as the urban heat island (UHI) occurs in the urban areas. The UHI is usually quantified by means of air temperature, although remote sensing can be used to extract a thermal image of the earth's surface to provide temperature values throughout the study area. Estimation of the land surface temperature (LST) for the BMA enabled us to establish the spatial patterns of LST and to detect the poles of heat and cold within the BMA on 24 dates during the 2013–2018 period, distributed among the 4 seasons of the year. To this end we performed a principal component analysis (PCA) and a cluster analysis (CA). Moreover, we employed the Random Forest (RF) regression method to quantify the influence and variation of diverse geographic covariates according to season and location in the study area. Finally, to determine the influence of land covers on temperature, the thermal values of the 4 land covers included in the Corine Land Cover dataset were analyzed: industrial units, continuous urban fabric, green urban areas, and forest areas. Results show that the heat poles are concentrated in industrial areas primarily, followed by urban fabric areas. On the contrary, the cold pole is found in green urban areas, as well as forested areas. The maximum temperature range between land covers was detected in spring and summer, while in winter this difference was negligible. Our study showed that green urban areas presented temperatures up to 2.5 °C lower than in urban areas. The results of the present research are intended to serve as a roadmap for enhancing thermal comfort in the BMA. Unlabelled Image • We extracted the main LST spatial patterns in the BMA. • Industrial areas and urban fabric exhibited the highest LST on all seasons. • Forest and green urban areas clearly reduced LST on all seasons. • Green urban areas presented up to 2.5 °C lower than urban fabric. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]