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Biosphere reserves (BR) balance biodiversity protection and sustainable use through different management restrictions in three zones: core areas, buffer zones, and transition areas. Information about the links between zoning and ecosystem services (ES) is lacking, particularly in terms of the relative roles of natural contributions (ecosystem properties and functions) and anthropogenic contributions (human inputs such as technology and infrastructure) in coproducing ES. This study aimed to: (1) analyse how coproduction of four ES (crop production, grazing, timber production, recreation) differs across the three zones of BRs; and (2) understand which predictors (zoning, natural and anthropogenic contributions, other environmental characteristics) best explain ES provision within BRs. To do this, we collected spatial data on 137 terrestrial BRs in the European Union and on 16 indicators of ES coproduction. We used non-parametric pairwise Wilcoxon rank sum tests to calculate differences in indicators between zones. We used model selection and multiple linear regression to identify predictors of ES provision patterns. Anthropogenic contributions showed most differences between zones, with contributions generally increasing from buffer zones to transition areas. Natural contributions did not, on average, differ between zones, however, for recreation and crop production they decreased from buffer zones to transition areas. ES provision differed between zones only for crop production and grazing, which increased from buffer zones to transition areas. Regression analysis showed that natural contributions are the best predictors of ES provision for all four services. Our results indicate that zoning of BRs has implications for ES coproduction. © 2021 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. AB, JP and JF were (partly) funded through the Boost Fund of the Klaus Tschira Foundation (KT08, BIOSHARE) granted to MS. AB and MFL gratefully acknowledge the support of iDiv funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG-FZT 118, 202548816). We thank Mick Wu for statistical support. We thank Berta Martín-López for participation in the workshop and helpful comments on an earlier draft of this paper. We thank UNESCO-MAB and UNEP-WCMC for their useful advice on zoning data collection. We are grateful to all national agencies, organisations and biosphere reserve administrations, who helped through providing zoning data, in particular, the Spanish Organismo Autónomo Parques Nacionales and the German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN). We thank Carlo Rega (JRC) for providing data. This work was supported by the Klaus Tschira Stiftung [KT08, BIOSHARE]; German Research Foundation [DFG-FZT 118, 202548816]. AB, JP and JF were (partly) funded through the Boost Fund of the Klaus Tschira Foundation (KT08, BIOSHARE) granted to MS. AB and MFL gratefully acknowledge the support of iDiv funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG-FZT 118, 202548816). We thank Mick Wu for statistical support. We thank Berta Mart?n-L?pez for participation in the workshop and helpful comments on an earlier draft of this paper. We thank UNESCO-MAB and UNEP-WCMC for their useful advice on zoning data collection. We are grateful to all national agencies, organisations and biosphere reserve administrations, who helped through providing zoning data, in particular, the Spanish Organismo Aut?nomo Parques Nacionales and the German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN). We thank Carlo Rega (JRC) for providing data.

The ecosystem service (ES) community aspires to illuminate how nature contributes to human well-being, and thereby elevate consideration of nature in decision making. So far, however, policy impact of ES research has been limited. To understand why, we identify five key elements of ES research that help inform decisions by connecting the supply of ES to those who benefit from them. Our structured review of the ES literature reveals that only 13% of assessments included the full ES chain from place to value. Only 7% of assessments considered the distribution of ES benefits explicitly across demographic or other beneficiary groups (for example, private landowners versus the broader public), although disaggregation across regions or spatial units was more common (44%). Finally, crucial mediating factors that affect who benefits and how (for example, the vulnerability of beneficiaries or the availability of substitutes for ES) were considered in only 35% of assessments. Our results suggest that increasing the decision relevance of ES research requires more effectively predicting the impacts of specific decisions on the value and distribution of ES across beneficiary groups. Such efforts will need to integrate ecological models with socioeconomic and cultural dimensions of ES more closely than does the current ES literature. To increase the policy relevance of ecosystem service benefits research, studies need to better predict the impact of specific decisions, according to an analysis of the literature.

Understanding how landscape fragmentation affects functional diversity, defined as the distribution of functional traits in an assemblage, is critical for managing landscapes for biodiversity and ecosystem functions. Despite some scattered evidence, we lack a clear understanding of how patterns of fragmentation drive changes in functional diversity, and its relationship with species richness as habitat is lost from a landscape. To develop testable predictions about how landscape fragmentation, relative to the effects of habitat loss, impacts functional diversity and its relationship with species richness. We used a spatially explicit metacommunity model that evaluates communities that vary in the distribution of response traits (traits involved in species responses to environmental change) and the correlation between response and effect traits (traits associated with species’ effects on ecosystem functioning). Compared to effects of habitat loss, relative effects of fragmentation on functional diversity increased as the variance in the distribution of response traits was high and the correlation among traits was high. Functional richness decreased faster than species richness in highly fragmented landscapes as habitat was lost. However, functional diversity remained unchanged or even increased in fragmented landscapes when either response and effect traits were not correlated (or weakly correlated), or when the proportion of generalist species with high dispersal capacities was high. Compared to effects of habitat loss, the relative effects of fragmentation on functional diversity and species richness are more dependent on the type of community evaluated. A careful evaluation of the variance in the distribution of response traits within a community, as well as the correlation among response and effect traits, can help to determine when it is important to manage landscape fragmentation to protect functional diversity.

Made available in DSpace on 2020-12-12T02:47:58Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2020-01-01 Context: Planning for multifunctional landscapes is a way to restore ecological processes that benefit human well-being (ecosystem services—ES). By accounting for the effects of the spatial arrangement of restored areas, planners can enhance the positive outcomes of restoration activities. However, while there are many models for individual ES provision, the direct influence of landscape structure on multiple ES has not been integrated into practical tools that planners can use. Objectives: We aimed to develop a modelling framework to support a landscape-scale evaluation of multiple services, by identifying bundles of ES that respond similarly to landscape structure and providing a tool to support the prioritization of restoration efforts. Methods: Based on current literature for examples and scientific support, our framework first considers stakeholders’ interests, and then states the main ES features that planners need to identify to understand which landscape structure to pursue with restoration actions. We also developed a tool that uses simple, readily available data to prioritize locations for restoration across landscapes. Results: With our framework, it becomes possible to integrate ES preferences and context-dependent management options that are understandable to a broad audience. We identified ten ES bundles with a unique response to landscape structure. We used eight of them in our tool, simplifying planner's management decisions for multiple benefits. Conclusion: Our framework and tool have a great potential to support landscape planning and management decisions that aim to increase landscape multifunctionality and will encourage actions towards landscape sustainability across both public and private lands. Instituto de Ciências Biológicas Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais - UFMG, Av. Antonio Carlos, 6627 Institute for Resources Environment and Sustainability University of British Columbia – UBC, 429-2202 Main Mall Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia e Manejo de Recursos Naturais Universidade Federal do Acre – UFAC, Rodovia BR 364, Km 04 - Distrito Industrial Instituto de Biociências Universidade Estadual Paulista - UNESP, Av. 24A, 1515 Instituto de Biociências Universidade Estadual Paulista - UNESP, Av. 24A, 1515

Primary parasitoid species, usually Hymenopteran wasp species, contribute to pest regulation services in agroecosystems by parasitizing crop pests and reducing their abundance. However, this positive effect can be limited if primary parasitoids themselves are parasitized by secondary parasitoids, also known as hyperparasitoids. These trophic dynamics that influence pest regulation take place within the context of changes to agricultural landscape structure including loss of natural habitat and landscape simplification. Therefore, there is great interest in understanding how landscape structure influences pest, primary parasitoid, and hyperparasitoid dynamics. We investigated how the structure of agricultural landscapes in Southern Quebec affects primary and hyperparasitism rates of soybean aphid (Aphis glycines). We found that pests, primary parasitoids, and hyperparasitoids responded in contrasting ways to landscape structure. While aphid abundances and hyperparasitoid rates increased with increasing distance-from-forest in soybean fields and as the proportion of forest in the surrounding landscape decreased, primary parasitoid rates showed the opposite trends. Relationships with forest fragment size and isolation were complex, with contrasting positive, negative, and neutral effects across the three groups. Finally, wider fields consistently had lower aphid abundances, primary parasitoid rates, and hyperparasitoid rates. Our results highlight the complexity of the trophic dynamics that underlie pest regulation and how changes to landscape structure can lead to conflicting and contradictory effects on pest regulation.

1. Agriculture's influence on humanity is a dichotomy of promise and peril. Research on the food‐environment dilemma has highlighted the environmental consequences of food production, yet the identification of management solutions is an ongoing challenge. 2. We suggest “bright spots” as a promising tool to identify levers of change by finding areas that exceed expectations for goals, such as agricultural landscape multifunctionality and biodiversity. 3. We identified bright, dark and average spots within a complex agricultural landscape and explored the associated socioeconomic patterns. We found that areas exceeding expectations for biodiversity and landscape multifunctionality were neither spatially congruent nor in conflict. It was more common for areas to underperform (dark spots) for both biodiversity and multifunctionality than over perform for both (bright spots). 4. While dark spots for multifunctionality were alike in their ecosystem service composition, bright spots were bright in multiple, diverse ways. The socioeconomic attributes that characterize bright and darks spots included both farm characteristics as well as farming practices, suggesting that both have potential to be levers of change. 5. Synthesis and applications. Our results suggest that while biodiversity and landscape multifunctionality show similar spatial patterns due to underlying biophysical drivers, managing for biodiversity or landscape multifunctionality alone will not implicitly achieve the other in this system. Bright spots (areas exceeding expectations) in multifunctionality were associated with many different combinations of ecosystem services, but dark spots were uniquely agricultural intensive areas devoted to maximizing crop production at the expense of all other services. From a management perspective, specific farm characteristics and farming practices may impact the potential for multifunctionality: increased mechanization, increased agricultural inputs and larger farm size and capital were associated with dark spots, while smaller farms with potentially greater space for innovation were associated with bright spots.

How green spaces in cities benefit urban residents depends critically on the interaction between biophysical and socio-economic factors. Urban ecosystem services are affected by both ecosystem characteristics and the social and economic attributes of city dwellers. Yet, there remains little synthesis of the interactions between ecosystem services, urban green spaces, and socio-economic factors. Articulating these linkages is key to their incorporation into ecosystem service planning and management in cities and to ensuring equitable outcomes for city inhabitants. We present a conceptual model of these linkages, describe three major interaction pathways, and explore how to operationalize the model. First, socio-economic factors shape the quantity and quality of green spaces and their ability to supply services by influencing management and planning decisions. Second, variation in socio-economic factors across a city alters people’s desires and needs and thus demands for different ecosystem services. Third, socio-economic factors alter the type and amount of benefit for human wellbeing that a service provides. Integrating these concepts into green space policy, planning, and management would be a considerable improvement on ‘standards-based’ urban green space planning. We highlight the implications of this for facilitating tailored planning solutions to improve ecosystem service benefits across the socio-economic spectrum in cities.

We describe current approaches that evaluate how the influence of species traits on the relationship between environmental variables and ecological responses varies among scales (i.e. the scale-dependent role of traits). We quantify which traits and ecological responses have been assessed, and discuss the main challenges associated with quantifying the scale-dependent effect of traits. We identify three main approaches used to evaluate the scale-dependent role of traits, based on whether 1) traits are used as predictors or responses, 2) intraspecific variation in single traits is considered, or 3) trait diversity indices are used. Our review identifies several gaps that include the following: 1) evidence of the scale-dependent role of traits is biased towards studies of plants; 2) we lack evidence of whether the traits of interacting species groups are consistently related across spatial scales; and 3) interactions between species traits and landscape structure are usually ignored. The explicit inclusion of landscape structure effects in trait-based approaches at multiple scales will benefit the integration of approaches from community ecology and landscape ecology. This is important for describing the mechanisms that operate simultaneously across scales and for predicting the impact of landscape change on a broad range of ecological responses, including species diversity and interspecific interactions.

How can we tell if the ecosystem services upon which we rely are at risk of being lost, potentially permanently? Ecosystem services underpin human well-being, but we lack a consistent approach for categorizing the extent to which they are threatened. We present an assessment framework for assessing the degree to which the adequate and sustainable provision of a given ecosystem service is threatened. Our framework combines information on the states and trends of both ecosystem service supply and demand, with reference to two critical thresholds: demand exceeding supply and ecosystem service 'extinction'. This framework can provide a basis for global, national, and regional assessments of threat to ecosystem services, and accompany existing assessments of threat to species and ecosystems.

Summary Vegetation vertical structure is important for biodiversity and ecosystem service provision. In cities, however, while variation in the spatial extent and distribution of vegetation has been widely investigated, vertical vegetation structure and its potential drivers have not. Understanding how vegetation vertical structure varies across cities and identifying the potential drivers of this variation will improve the management of urban vegetation for biodiversity and ecosystem services. We used light detection and ranging (LiDAR) data to quantify the vertical structure of vegetation across Brisbane, Australia, at 1-km2 and 1-ha spatial scales and investigated how this structure varied in response to biophysical, socioeconomic, urban form and landscape structure variables. Using model selection techniques, we found that landscape structure variables related to tree cover (tree cover extent and spatial configuration) best explained the vegetation vertical structure at both spatial scales. Biophysical and urban form variables were also important, but only in combination with landscape structure. Mean vegetation vertical complexity, foliage projective cover and canopy height at a site all decreased as the treed proportion of the surrounding urban landscape decreased. In general, these vertical structure variables also increased where patches of vegetation were clustered together spatially. Synthesis and applications. Using light detection and ranging (LiDAR) data and model selection techniques, we show that the extent and vertical structure of urban vegetation are not independent and that reduced extent and increased fragmentation of urban vegetation are associated with simplification of its vertical structure. If common, this relationship means that managing urban vegetation for biodiversity and ecosystem services should not focus solely on the amount of tree cover or green space present across cities, but also on identifying where interventions to improve vegetation vertical complexity are required. Our study provides important insights into where these locations may be in cities.

The spatial arrangement and vertical structure of vegetation in urban green spaces are key factors in determining the types of benefits that urban parks provide to people. This includes opportunities for recreation, spiritual fulfilment and biodiversity conservation. However, there has been little consideration of how the fine-scale spatial and vertical structure of vegetation is distributed in urban parks, primarily due to limitations in methods for doing so. We addressed this gap by developing a method using Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data to map, at a fine resolution, tree cover, vegetation spatial arrangement, and vegetation vertical structure. We then applied this method to urban parks in Brisbane, Australia. We found that parks varied mainly in their amount of tree cover and its spatial arrangement, but also in vegetation vertical structure. Interestingly, the vertical structure of vegetation was largely independent of its cover and spatial arrangement. This suggests that vertical structure may be being managed independently to tree cover to provide different benefits across urban parks with different levels of tree cover. Finally, we were able to classify parks into three distinct classes that explicitly account for both the spatial and vertical structure of tree cover. Our approach for mapping the three-dimensional vegetation structure of urban green space provides a much more nuanced and functional description of urban parks than has previously been possible. Future research is now needed to quantify the relationships between vegetation structure and the actual benefits people derive from urban green space.

Effectively conserving ecosystem services in order to maintain human wellbeing is a global need that requires an understanding of where ecosystem services are produced by ecosystems and where people benefit from these services. However, approaches to effectively identify key locations that have the capacity to supply ecosystem services and actually contribute to meeting human demand for those services are lacking at broad spatial scales. We developed new methods that integrate measures of the capacity of ecosystems to provide services with indicators of human demand and ability to access these services. We then identified important areas for three ecosystem services currently central to protected area management in Canada—carbon storage, freshwater, and nature-based recreation—and evaluated how these hotspots align with Canada’s current protected areas and resource development tenures. We find that locations of ecosystem service capacity overlap only weakly (27–36%) with actual service providing areas (incorporating human access and demand). Overlapping hotspots of provision for multiple ecosystem services are also extremely limited across Canada; only 1.2% (∼56 000 km2) of the total ecosystem service hotspot area in Canada consists of overlap between all three ecosystem services. Canada’s current protected area network also targets service capacity to a greater degree than provision. Finally, one-half to two-thirds of current ecosystem service hotspots (54–66%) overlap with current and planned resource extraction activities. Our analysis demonstrates how to identify areas where conservation and ecosystem service management actions should be focused to more effectively target ecosystem services to ensure that critical areas for ecosystem services that directly benefit people are conserved. Further development of these methods at national scales to assess ecosystem service capacity and demand and integrate this with conventional biodiversity and conservation planning information will help ensure that both biodiversity and ecosystem services are effectively safeguarded.

International audience; The Montérégie Connection project aimed to help the community of this agricultural region just southeast of Montreal to improve management of multiple ecosystem services by developing and empirically testing a modeling framework that quantitatively linked landscape connectivity, biodiversity, and ecosystem services in this region. We will use this framework to build scenarios and other practical decision support tools with communities to help them grapple with the challenges of environmental management in the face of local, regional, and global change. We focused especially on how forest connectivity and forest corridors might help the local landscape maintain biodiversity and provide the desired ES in the face of these changes.

International audience; Ecological intensification of agro-ecosystems, based on the optimization of ecological functions such as biological pest control, to replace agrochemical inputs is a promising route to reduce the ecological footprint of agriculture while maintaining commodity production. However, the performance of organic farming, often considered as a prototype of ecological intensification, in terms of pest control remains largely unknown. Here, using two distinct meta-analyses, we demonstrate that, compared to conventional cropping systems, (i) organic farming promotes overall biological pest control potential, (ii) organic farming has higher levels of overall pest infestations but (iii) that this effect strongly depends on the pest type. Our study shows that there are lower levels of pathogen infestation, similar levels of animal pest infestation and much higher levels of weed infestation in organic than in conventional systems. This study provides evidence that organic farming can enhance pest control and suggests that organic farming offers a way to reduce the use of synthetic pesticide for the management of animal pests and pathogens without increasing their levels of infestation.

Positive (synergistic) and negative (trade-off) relationships among ecosystem services are influenced by drivers of change, such as policy interventions and environmental variability, and the mechanisms that link these drivers to ecosystem service outcomes. Failure to account for these drivers and mechanisms can result in poorly informed management decisions and reduced ecosystem service provision. Here, we review the literature to determine the extent to which drivers and mechanisms are considered in assessments of ecosystem service relationships. We show that only 19% of assessments explicitly identify the drivers and mechanisms that lead to ecosystem service relationships. While the proportion of assessments considering drivers has increased over time, most of these studies only implicitly consider the drivers of ecosystem service relationships. We recommend more assessments explicitly identify drivers of trade-offs and synergies, which can be achieved through a greater uptake of causal inference and process-based models, to ensure effective management of ecosystem services. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1007/s13280-018-1127-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Landscape structure and fragmentation have important effects on ecosystem services, with a common assumption being that fragmentation reduces service provision. This is based on fragmentation's expected effects on ecosystem service supply, but ignores how fragmentation influences the flow of services to people. Here we develop a new conceptual framework that explicitly considers the links between landscape fragmentation, the supply of services, and the flow of services to people. We argue that fragmentation's effects on ecosystem service flow can be positive or negative, and use our framework to construct testable hypotheses about the effects of fragmentation on final ecosystem service provision. Empirical efforts to apply and test this framework are critical to improving landscape management for multiple ecosystem services.

The idea that noncrop habitat enhances pest control and represents a win–win opportunity to conserve biodiversity and bolster yields has emerged as an agroecological paradigm. However, while noncrop habitat in landscapes surrounding farms sometimes benefits pest predators, natural enemy responses remain heterogeneous across studies and effects on pests are inconclusive. The observed heterogeneity in species responses to noncrop habitat may be biological in origin or could result from variation in how habitat and biocontrol are measured. Here, we use a pest-control database encompassing 132 studies and 6,759 sites worldwide to model natural enemy and pest abundances, predation rates, and crop damage as a function of landscape composition. Our results showed that although landscape composition explained significant variation within studies, pest and enemy abundances, predation rates, crop damage, and yields each exhibited different responses across studies, sometimes increasing and sometimes decreasing in landscapes with more noncrop habitat but overall showing no consistent trend. Thus, models that used landscape-composition variables to predict pest-control dynamics demonstrated little potential to explain variation across studies, though prediction did improve when comparing studies with similar crop and landscape features. Overall, our work shows that surrounding noncrop habitat does not consistently improve pest management, meaning habitat conservation may bolster production in some systems and depress yields in others. Future efforts to develop tools that inform farmers when habitat conservation truly represents a win–win would benefit from increased understanding of how landscape effects are modulated by local farm management and the biology of pests and their enemies., This work was supported through the National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center (SESYNC) National Science Foundation Award DBI-1052875 for the project “Evidence and Decision-Support Tools for Controlling Agricultural Pests with Conservation Interventions” organized by D.S.K. and R.C.-K

Urban areas are sources of land use change and CO2 emissions that contribute to global climate change. Despite this, assessments of urban vegetation carbon stocks often fail to identify important landscape-scale drivers of variation in urban carbon, especially the potential effects of landscape structure variables at different spatial scales. We combined field measurements with Light Detection And Ranging (LiDAR) data to build high-resolution models of woody plant aboveground carbon across the urban portion of Brisbane, Australia, and then identified landscape scale drivers of these carbon stocks. First, we used LiDAR data to quantify the extent and vertical structure of vegetation across the city at high resolution (5 × 5 m). Next, we paired this data with aboveground carbon measurements at 219 sites to create boosted regression tree models and map aboveground carbon across the city. We then used these maps to determine how spatial variation in land cover/land use and landscape structure affects these carbon stocks. Foliage densities above 5 m height, tree canopy height, and the presence of ground openings had the strongest relationships with aboveground carbon. Using these fine-scale relationships, we estimate that 2.2 ± 0.4 TgC are stored aboveground in the urban portion of Brisbane, with mean densities of 32.6 ± 5.8 MgC ha− 1 calculated across the entire urban land area, and 110.9 ± 19.7 Mg C ha− 1 calculated within treed areas. Predicted carbon densities within treed areas showed strong positive relationships with the proportion of surrounding tree cover and how clumped that tree cover was at both 1 km2 and 1 ha resolutions. Our models predict that even dense urban areas with low tree cover can have high carbon densities at fine scales. We conclude that actions and policies aimed at increasing urban carbon should focus on those areas where urban tree cover is most fragmented.

The cross section for neutron capture in the continuum region has been difficult to calculate accurately. Previous results for $^{238}\mathrm{U}$ show that including an $M1$ scissors-mode contribution to the photon strength function resulted in very good agreement between calculation and measurement. This paper extends that analysis to $^{234,236}\mathrm{U}$ by using $\ensuremath{\gamma}$-ray spectra measured with the Detector for Advanced Neutron Capture Experiments (DANCE) at the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center to constrain the photon strength function used to calculate the capture cross section. Calculations using a strong scissors-mode contribution reproduced the measured $\ensuremath{\gamma}$-ray spectra and were in excellent agreement with the reported cross sections for all three isotopes.

Knowledge of how landscape structure impacts the diversity and abundance of beneficial and harmful arthropods, pest regulation, and ultimately crop yield has the potential to significantly improve management of agricultural landscapes. We examined how landscape structure in southern Quebec affected soybean herbivores, predators of aphids, pest regulation including aphid and herbivory regulation, and crop production. Local-scale field characteristics and landscape structure at distances less than 2 km around each field were the most important predictors for these variables. Increasing field width consistently decreased arthropod diversity and abundance for both predators of aphids and soybean herbivores, but the effects of these changes on pest regulation were inconsistent. Increased field width resulted in less damage to soybean plants from herbivores; but in contrast, aphid numbers were greatest in more complex landscapes where fields were generally narrower. Distance-from-forest within fields and no-till planting methods also decreased pest regulation. Despite these results, soybean yield was not strongly related to pest regulation and instead varied most with distance-from-forest. Thus, patterns of arthropod diversity and abundance may not necessarily coincide with those of pest regulation or crop yield.

Agricultural landscapes provide the essential ecosystem service of food to growing human populations; at the same time, agricultural expansion to increase crop production results in forest fragmentation, degrading many other forest-dependent ecosystem services. However, surprisingly little is known about the role that forest fragments play in the provision of ecosystem services and how fragmentation affects landscape multifunctionality at scales relevant to land management decisions. We measured the provision of six ecosystem services (crop production, pest regulation, decomposition, carbon storage, soil fertility and water quality regulation) in soya bean fields at different distances from adjacent forest fragments that differed in isolation and size across an agricultural landscape in Quebec, Canada. We observed significant effects of distance-from-forest, fragment isolation and fragment size on crop production, insect pest regulation, and decomposition. Distance-from-forest and fragment isolation had unique influences on service provision for each of the ecosystem services we measured. For example, pest regulation was maximized adjacent to forest fragments, while crop production was maximized at intermediate distances-from-forest. As a consequence, landscape multifunctionality depended on landscape heterogeneity: the range of field and forest fragment types present. We also observed strong negative and positive relationships between ecosystem services that were more prevalent at greater distances-from-forest. Synthesis and applications. Our study is one of the first to empirically measure and model the effects of forest fragments on the simultaneous provision of multiple ecosystem services in an agro-ecosystem at the landscape and field scales relevant to landowners and managers. Our results demonstrate that forest fragments, irrespective of their size, can affect the provision of multiple ecosystem services in surrounding fields, but that this effect is mediated by fragment isolation across the landscape. Our results also suggest that managing habitat fragmentation and landscape structure will improve our ability to optimize ecosystem service provision and create multifunctional agricultural landscapes. Our study is one of the first to empirically measure and model the effects of forest fragments on the simultaneous provision of multiple ecosystem services in an agro-ecosystem at the landscape and field scales relevant to landowners and managers. Our results demonstrate that forest fragments, irrespective of their size, can affect the provision of multiple ecosystem services in surrounding fields, but that this effect is mediated by fragment isolation across the landscape. Our results also suggest that managing habitat fragmentation and landscape structure will improve our ability to optimize ecosystem service provision and create multifunctional agricultural landscapes.

A new measurement of the 238 U(n, γ ) cross section using a thin 48 mg/cm 2 target was made using the DANCE detector at LANSCE over the energy range from 10 eV to 500 keV. The results confirm earlier measurements. Measurements of the gamma-ray emission spectra were also made for 238 U(n, γ ) as well as 234,236 U(n, γ ). These measurements help to constrain the radiative strength function used in the cross-section calculations.

Multi-step cascade γ -ray spectra from neutron capture at isolated resonances of 152 , 154 − 158 Gd nuclei were measured at the LANSCE/DANCE time-of-flight facility in Los Alamos National Laboratory. The main objective of these experiments was to obtain new information on photon strength functions with emphasis on the role of the M 1 scissors mode vibration. An analysis of the data obtained shows that the scissors mode plays a significant role in the ground state transitions, as well as in the transitions populating all excited states of the studied nuclei. The estimates of the scissors mode strength indicate that for 157 , 159 Gd this strength is significantly higher than in neighboring even–even nuclei 156 , 158 Gd. The results are compared with the ( γ , γ ′ ) data for the ground-state scissors mode and the results from 3 He-induced reactions.

Human activities are rapidly changing ecosystems, landscapes and ecosystem service provision, yet there remain significant gaps in our understanding of the spatial ecology of ecosystem services. These gaps hinder our ability to manage landscapes effectively for multiple ecosystem services. In particular, we do not fully understand how changes in landscape connectivity affect ecosystem service provision, despite theory suggesting that connectivity is important. Here, we perform a semi-quantitative review of the literature that investigates how landscape connectivity affects the provision of specific ecosystem services. The vast majority of studies, including reviews, models, and field studies, suggest that decreased connectivity will have negative effects on ecosystem service provision. However, only 15 studies provided empirical evidence of these effects. Average effect sizes from these 15 studies suggest negative effects of connectivity loss on pollination and pest regulation. We identify a number of significant gaps in the connectivity-ecosystem services literature, including: a lack of multiple service studies, which precludes identification of trade-offs between services as connectivity changes; few studies that directly measure organism movement and its effects on ecosystem services; and few empirical studies that investigate the importance of abiotic flows on service provision. We propose that future research should aim to understand how different aspects of connectivity affect ecosystem service provision; which services are most influenced by connectivity; and how connectivity influences how humans access and benefit from ecosystem services. Studies that answer these questions will advance our understanding of connectivity-ecosystem service provision relationships and allow for better ecosystem and landscape management and restoration.

A careful new measurement of the {sup 238}U(n,{gamma}) cross section from 10 eV to 100 keV has been made using the DANCE detector at LANSCE. DANCE is a 4{pi} calorimetric scintillator array consisting of 160 BaF{sub 2} crystals. Measurements were made on a 48 mg/cm{sup 2} depleted uranium target. The cross sections are in general good agreement with previous measurements. The gamma-ray emission spectra, as a function of gamma multiplicity, were also measured and compared to model calculations.

FT30 type thin film composite membranes used for reverse osmosis water purification are very difficult to analyze. With the remarkably thin polyamide layer and surface modification of the polymers now being reported, a new analytical technique is needed to determine the surface structure and chemical distribution in the active layer. In this study we show that scanning transmission X-ray microscopy (STXM) can be used to determine the spatial distribution of polyamide and polysulfone and we report on the detection of an unexpected new phase. The new phase was identified as a homopolymer of the meta-phenylene diamine (MPD) that forms in MPD solutions and can be incorporated into the discrimination layer during the interfacial reaction with the TMC to produce a mixed polyamide polyMPD layer. The detection of this second phase was only made possible by STXM. At the levels detected in membranes in this study (less than 8%) the second phase had no effect on the flux or salt passage of the membranes, however at higher levels a change in the membrane properties most likely would occur and the quantity of the polyMPD present should be eliminated or controlled.

The multiplicity of γ ‐ ray emission following neutron capture at isolated resonances carries valuable information on the resonance spin. Several methods utilizing this information have been developed. The latest method was recently introduced for analyzing the data from time-of-flight measurements with 4 π γ ‐ calorimetric detection systems. The present paper describes a generalization of this method. The goal is the separation of the γ ‐ emission yields belonging to the two neutron capturing state spins of isolated (or even unresolved) s-wave neutron resonances on targets with non-zero spin. The formalism for performing this separation is described and then tested on artificially generated data. This new method was applied to the γ ‐ multiplicity data obtained for the Sm 147 ( n , γ ) Sm 148 reaction using the DANCE detector system at the LANSCE facility at Los Alamos National Laboratory. The analyzing power of the upgraded method is supported by combined dicebox and geant4 simulations of the fluctuation properties of the γ ‐ multiplicity distributions.

Cross-section measurements were made of prompt discrete γ -ray production as a function of incident neutron energy ( E n = 1 – 135 MeV ) on a 150Sm sample of 1550 mg / cm 2 of Sm 2 O 3 enriched to 95.6% in 150Sm. Results are compared with enhanced Hauser–Feshbach model calculations including the pre-equilibrium reactions. Energetic neutrons were delivered by the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center facility. The prompt-reaction γ -rays were detected with the compton-suppressed germanium array for neutron-induced excitations (GEANIE). Incident neutron energies were determined by the time-of-flight technique. Excitation functions for thirteen individual γ -rays up to E x = 0.8 MeV in 149Sm and one γ -ray transition between the first excited and ground state in 148Sm were measured. Partial γ -ray cross-sections were calculated using GNASH, an enhanced Hauser–Feshbach statistical nuclear reaction model code, and compared with the experimental results. The particle transmission coefficients were calculated with new systematic “global” optical model potential parameters. A coupled-channels optical model based on a soft rotor model was employed to calculate the particle transmission coefficients. The pre-equilibrium part of the spin-distribution in 150Sm was calculated using the quantum mechanical theory of Feshbach, Kerman, and Koonin (FKK) and incorporated into the GNASH reaction model code. The partial cross-sections for discrete γ -ray cascade paths leading to the ground state in 149Sm and 148Sm have been summed (without double counting) to estimate lower limits for reaction cross-sections. These lower limits are combined with Hauser–Feshbach model calculations to deduce the reaction channel cross-sections. These reaction channel cross-sections agree with previously measured experimental and ENDF/B-VII evaluations.

We investigated whether plant interaction intensity in a subarctic-alpine meadow is important for determining community structure and species abundance. Using two common species as phytometers, we measured interaction intensity using a neighbor removal approach. Eight biotic and abiotic variables known to influence species abundance and community structure were measured, with regression trees used to examine how plant interactions and the biotic and abiotic variables were related to species evenness, richness, and phytometer spatial cover. A range of interactions was present, with both strong competition and facilitation present over small-scale abiotic and biotic gradients. Despite the variation in interaction intensity, it was generally unrelated to either community structure or phytometer cover. In other words, plant interactions were intense in many cases but were not important to community structure. This may be due to the prevalence of clonal species in this system and the influence of previous year's interactions on plant survival and patterns of community structure. These results also suggest how conflicting theories of the role of competition in unproductive environments may be resolved. Our findings suggest that plant interactions may be intense in reducing individual growth, while simultaneously not important in the context of community structure. Plant interactions need to be viewed and tested relative to other factors and stresses to accurately evaluate their importance in plant communities, with continued differentiation between the intensity of plant interactions and their relative importance in communities.

Evidence for the applicability of random-matrix theory to nuclear spectra is reviewed. In analogy to systems with few degrees of freedom, one speaks of chaos (more accurately, quantum chaos) in nuclei whenever random-matrix predictions are fulfilled. An introduction into the basic concepts of random-matrix theory is followed by a survey over the extant experimental information on spectral fluctuations, including a discussion of the violation of a symmetry or invariance property. Chaos in nuclear models is discussed for the spherical shell model, for the deformed shell model, and for the interacting boson model. Evidence for chaos also comes from random-matrix ensembles patterned after the shell model such as the embedded two-body ensemble, the two-body random ensemble, and the constrained ensembles. All this evidence points to the fact that chaos is a generic property of nuclear spectra, except for the ground-state regions of strongly deformed nuclei.

The utility of resonant soft x-ray scattering (RSoXS) and reflectivity (RSoXR) is extended and exemplified through the characterization of thin films of polymers relevant to organic solar cells and of dilute polymer solutions. RSoXS and RSoXR are methods that utilize anomalous scattering principles at soft x-ray energies. Soft X-rays cover the carbon, nitrogen and oxygen absorption edges, elements very relevant for polymers and colloids. The rapid changes of optical properties near these absorption edges provide selectivity to specific moieties and high contrast. RSoXR is shown to be a powerful tool for the characterization of bilayers of conducting polymers. The RSoXR results point to an interesting strategy that will allow the chemical interdiffusion and physical roughness at a buried polymer/polymer interface to be determined independently. The high scattering cross sections also allows the investigation of thin films of conjugated polymer blends in transmission at thicknesses for which hard X-rays or neutrons would yield relatively little scattering. By scattering at photon energies that provide strong scattering contrast, even very dilute polymeric solutions yield a useable signal.

Three-dimensional chemical mapping using angle scan nanotomography in a soft X-ray scanning transmission X-ray microscope (STXM) has been used to investigate the spatial distributions of a low density polyacrylate polyelectrolyte ionomer inside submicron sized polystyrene microspheres. Acquisition of tomograms at multiple photon energies provides true, quantifiable 3-d chemical sensitivity. Both pre-O 1s and C 1s results are shown. The study reveals aspects of the 3-d distribution of the polyelectrolyte that were inferred indirectly or had not been known prior to this study. The potential and challenges for extension of the technique to studies of other polymeric and to biological systems is discussed.

Nuclear level densities and radiative strength functions (RSFs) in 56Fe and 57Fe were measured using the 57Fe(3He, αγ) and 57Fe(3He, 3He′γ) reactions, respectively, at the Oslo Cyclotron Laboratory. A low-energy enhancement in the RSF below 4-MeV energy was observed. This finding cannot be explained by common theoretical models. In a second experiment, two-step cascade intensities with soft primary transitions from the 56Fe(n, 2γ) reaction were measured. The agreement between the two experiments confirms the low-energy enhancement in the RSFs. In a third experiment, the neutron evaporation spectrum from the 55Mn(d, n)56Fe reaction was measured at 7-MeV deuteron energy at the John Edwards Accelerator Laboratory at Ohio University. Comparison of the level density of 56Fe obtained from the first and third experiments gives an overall good agreement. Furthermore, observed enhancement for soft γ rays is strengthened by the last experiment.

Prompt γ-ray production cross sections were measured on a 48 Ti sample for incident neutron energies from I to 200 MeV. Partial γ-ray cross sections for transitions in 45-48 Ti, 45-48 Sc, and 43-45 Ca were determined. The observation of about 130 transitions from 11 different isotopes in the present work provides a demanding test of reaction model calculations, and is the first study in this mass region to extract partial γ-ray cross sections for many different reaction channels over a wide range of incident neutron energies. The neutrons were produced by the Los Alamos National Laboratory spallation neutron source located at the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center/Weapons Neutron Research facility. The prompt-reaction y rays were detected with the large-scale Compton-suppressed GErmanium Array for Neutron Induced Excitations (GEANIE). Event neutron energies were determined by the time-of-flight technique. The γ-ray excitation functions were converted to partial γ-ray cross sections and then compared with model calculations using the enhanced GNASH reaction code. Compound nuclear, preequilibrium emission, and direct reaction mechanisms are included. Overall, the model calculations of the partial γ-ray cross sections are in good agreement with measured values.

Cross-section measurements were made of prompt gamma-ray production as a function of incident neutron energy (E{sub n} = 1 to 35 MeV) on an enriched (95.6%) {sup 150}Sm sample. Energetic neutrons were delivered by the Los Alamos National Laboratory spallation neutron source located at the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center (LANSCE) facility. The prompt-reaction gamma rays were detected with the large-scale Compton-suppressed Germanium Array for Neutron Induced Excitations (GEANIE). Neutron energies were determined by the time-of-flight technique. The {gamma}-ray excitation functions were converted to partial {gamma}-ray cross sections taking into account the dead-time correction, target thickness, detector efficiency and neutron flux (monitored with an in-line fission chamber). Partial {gamma}-ray cross sections were predicted using the Hauser-Feshbach statistical reaction code GNASH. Above E{sub n} {approx} 8 MeV the pre-equilibrium reaction process dominates the inelastic reaction. The spin distribution transferred in pre-equilibrium neutron-induced reactions was calculated using the quantum mechanical theory of Feshbach, Kerman, and Koonin (FKK). These pre-equilibrium spin distributions were incorporated into a new version of GNASH and the {gamma}-ray production cross sections were calculated and compared with experimental data. The difference in the partial {gamma}-ray cross sections using spin distributions with and without pre-equilibrium effects is discussed.

The motivation and design is outlined for the experiment to measure the neutron–neutron singlet scattering length directly with thermal neutrons at the pulsed reactor YAGUAR. A statistical accuracy of 3% can be reached, though achieving the goal of an overall accuracy of 3–5% for the nn-scattering length depends on the background level. Possible sources of background are discussed in depth and the results of extensive modeling of the background are presented. Measurements performed at YAGUAR to test these background calculations are described. The experimental results indicate an anticipated background level up to 30% relative to the expected nn effect at the maximal energy burst of the reactor. The conclusion is made that the nn experiment at YAGUAR is feasible to produce the first directly measured value for the neutron–neutron scattering length.

In a recent opinion article [1], we presented a framework that conceptualized the effects of landscape fragmentation on ecosystem service (ES) provision by considering its impacts on both ES supply and flow. Andrieu et al. [2] assert that our framework contains three errors that weaken its contribution to understanding how landscape changes affect ES provision. However, the three points they raise do not constitute, as they propose, ‘difficulties that undermine’ our framework. Rather, they largely demonstrate the flexibility and utility of our framework across different landscapes and ESs, and we encourage others further to develop, adapt, and test our framework. Below we address each of Andrieu et al.’s points in turn.

Spectra of $\ensuremath{\gamma}$ rays following the $^{97}\mathrm{Mo}(n,\ensuremath{\gamma})$ reaction were measured as a function of incident neutron energy with the DANCE (Detector for Advanced Neutron Capture Experiments) array of $160 {\mathrm{BaF}}_{2}$ scintillation detectors at the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center using an enriched $^{97}\mathrm{Mo}$ target. These spectra were used for the assignment of spins of the $^{97}\mathrm{Mo}$ resonances up to neutron energy ${E}_{n}=1.7$ keV, as well as in the study of photon strength functions (PSFs) in $^{98}\mathrm{Mo}$. Analysis of the spectra with the nuclear statistical model showed that they can be well reproduced with the same PSF models which well described the $\ensuremath{\gamma}$ decay following slow neutron capture in $^{95}\mathrm{Mo}$. On the other hand, the spectra are inconsistent with PSFs describing some other experimental data in $^{98}\mathrm{Mo}$.

The Direct Investigation of a nn Association (DIANNA) is finalizing the design of a direct measurement of the nn-scattering length to be performed at the YAGUAR reactor in Snezhinsk, Russia. Extensive modeling of the neutron field, nn-scattering kinematics, and sources of detector background have verified the plan for a 3% measurement of a nn . Measurements of the neutron flux support the neutron field modeling. Initial test measurements of the neutron field inside the underground channel have confirmed calculations of the thermal neutron background.

The radiative strength function (RSF) is key for understanding nuclear reaction rates in areas ranging from astrophysics to radiochemical diagnostics. The RSF also provides a tool for understanding the characteristics of gamma-ray cascades. Unresolved transitions in nuclear deexcitation processes are best described by statistical properties such as the radiative strength function. The sequential extraction method developed at the Oslo Cyclotron Laboratory provides data for radiative strength functions for gamma-ray energies from 1 MeV to the neutron binding energy. The data are averaged over about 100 keV energy bin and normalized to the average total radiative width of neutron resonances. The radiative strength functions in all nuclei studied show a characteristic increase with increasing gamma-ray energy. However, the detailed structures in the radiative strength function for various nuclei show different behavior in various mass regions. In rare-earth nuclei, a resonance structure near 3 MeV is observed. For several lighter nuclei (A

A direct measurement of nn-scattering by colliding free neutrons has never been performed. Indirect measurements continue to provide inconsistent results, leaving the issue of charge symmetry in the nuclear force unresolved. At present the Russian pulsed reactor YAGUAR is the best neutron source for such a measurement. A neutron moderator is installed in the central through channel and the scattered neutrons are detected at a distance of 12 m from the reactor. An instantaneous value of 1.1 × 1018/cm2s was obtained for the thermal neutron flux density. The experiment will be performed by the DIANNA Collaboration as ISTC project No. 2286.