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Arctic food systems are increasingly challenged by rapid climate change, loss of food security and subsequent weakening of food sovereignty, and destabilization of Indigenous practices. Despite growing scientific knowledge on Arctic food systems, Indigenous communities continue to struggle with a plethora of sustainability challenges. To develop a systemic understanding of these challenges, we performed a systematic review of 526 articles published between 1998 and 2021 on Arctic Indigenous food systems. We used the leverage points framework to structure our analysis to understand to what extent the existing Western scientific body of literature provides the necessary knowledge to understand the food system characteristics that give rise to the current sustainability challenges. We combined deductive qualitative and inductive quantitative approaches to identify gaps in the systemic understanding of Arctic Indigenous food systems. We characterized existing research across the four levels of systemic depth—parameters, feedbacks, design, intent—and identified promising directions for future research. Our analyses show that research on food systems is clustered within six main domains, we term environmental contaminants, diet and health, food security, food culture and economy, changing socio-ecological systems and marine and coast. Based on our analysis, we identify three directions for future research that we believe to be of particular importance to enable sustainability transformations of Arctic Indigenous food systems: (i) the decolonization of research practices, (ii) acknowledging the significance of systemic interdependencies across shallow and deep leverage points, and (iii) transdisciplinary action-oriented research collaborations directing transformative system interventions.

Human-wildlife conflicts (HWC) are complex conservation challenges that impair both wildlife populations and human livelihood. Research on HWC, however, has traditionally approached ecological and human components separately, hampering a broader understanding of connections between ecological drivers and human dimensions of conflicts. We developed a model that integrates ecological and human components of HWC to investigate how the amount of remaining native forest (forest cover, a key ecological variable known to influence species occurrence and abundance) affects human experiences with wildlife (contact with species and attacks on livestock) and how such experiences influence tolerance via beliefs, emotions, and attitudes. We tested the model with piecewise structural equation modeling and data on human interactions with 3 mammals with different rarity and body size: opossum (Didelphis aurita), crab-eating fox (Cerdocyon thous), and puma (Puma concolor). Data were obtained by interviewing 114 landowners across 13 Atlantic Forest landscapes (10-50% forest cover). Forest cover was associated with high chance of attacks on livestock, and thus with low tolerance, only in the case of the puma. Effects of distinct experiences with wildlife on beliefs and emotions varied across species. Beliefs and emotions toward wildlife influenced tolerance toward all species, but negative emotions affected tolerance toward only with the puma. Conflicts with large carnivores, such as pumas, can then be understood as disservices provided by forests, indicating the relevance of framing HWC more broadly to consider trade-offs with ecosystems services. For some species, positive experiences with wildlife may counteract the negative effects of attacks on livestock in shaping tolerance. Models such as ours-that link ecological and human dimensions-can help identify more effective leverage points to improve HWC mitigation.Vinculación de componentes humanos y ecológicos para entender los conflictos humano-fauna a nivel paisaje y especies Resumen Los conflictos humano-fauna (CHF) son retos complejos para la conservación pues perjudican tanto a las poblaciones de fauna como al sustento humano. Sin embargo, las investigaciones sobre los CHF por tradición han manejado a los componentes humanos y ecológicos de manera separada, dificultando un entendimiento más amplio de las conexiones entre los conductores ecológicos y las dimensiones humanas de estos conflictos. Desarrollamos un modelo que integra a los componentes ecológicos y humanos de los CHF para investigar cómo la cantidad de bosque nativo remanente (la cobertura de bosque, una variable ecológica importante que se sabe influye sobre la presencia y abundancia de las especies) afecta a las experiencias que las personas tienen con la fauna (contacto con especies y ataques al ganado) y cómo dichas experiencias influyen en la tolerancia por medio de creencias, emociones y actitudes. Probamos el modelo con un modelado de ecuación estructural por partes y datos sobre las interacciones humanas con tres mamíferos de diferente tamaño y rareza: la zarigüeya (Didelphis aurita), el zorro cangrejero (Cerdocyon thous) y el puma (Puma concolor). Los datos se obtuvieron por medio de entrevistas realizadas a 114 terratenientes distribuidos en 13 paisajes de bosque atlántico (10-50% de cobertura de bosque). La cobertura de bosque estuvo asociada con una alta probabilidad de ataques al ganado, y por lo tanto con una baja tolerancia, sólo para el caso del puma. Los efectos de las distintas experiencias con la fauna sobre las creencias y las emociones variaron con cada especie. Las creencias y las emociones hacia la fauna influyeron en la tolerancia hacia todas las especies, aunque las emociones negativas afectaron la tolerancia solamente hacia el puma. Los conflictos con los grandes carnívoros, como el puma, pueden entenderse como servicios negativos proporcionados por los bosques, lo que indica la relevancia de enmarcar a los CHF de manera más amplia para considerar las compensaciones con los servicios ambientales. Para algunas especies, las experiencias positivas con la fauna pueden contrarrestar los efectos negativos de los ataques al ganado en cuanto a la formación de la tolerancia. Los modelos como el nuestro - que conectan las dimensiones ecológicas y humanas - pueden ayudar a identificar puntos de ventaja más efectivos para mejorar la mitigación de los CHF.人兽冲突威胁着野生动物种群, 同时也损害了人类生计, 是一项复杂的保护挑战。然而, 对人兽冲突的研究习惯于把生态和人类组分分别考虑, 而这有碍于更广泛地理解冲突的生态驱动因素与人类维度之间的联系。本研究开发了一个模型, 整合了人兽冲突中的生态和人类组分, 以调查残余原始林的数量 (即森林覆盖度, 为已知会影响物种出现和丰度的关键生态变量) 如何影响人类与野生动物相关的经历 (人与野生动物接触及野生动物袭击家畜), 以及这些经验如何通过信念、情感和态度影响对野生动物的容忍度。我们利用分段结构方程模型和人类与三种稀有程度和体型各不相同的哺乳动物 (负鼠 Didelphis aurita、食蟹狐 Cerdocyon thous 和美洲狮 Puma concolor) 相互作用的数据, 对模型进行了检验。数据来源于对 13 个大西洋森林景观 (10-50% 森林覆盖度) 中114名土地所有者的采访。结果显示, 仅对美洲狮来说, 森林覆盖度与较高的牲畜袭击几率有关, 因此, 人类对其容忍度较低。人类与不同野生动物相关的经历对其信念和情感的影响因物种而异。对野生动物的信念和情感会影响对所有物种的容忍度, 但负面情感只会影响对美洲狮的容忍度。与大型食肉动物 (如美洲狮) 的冲突可以被看作森林对人类造成的危害, 这表明应考虑与生态系统服务的权衡以更广泛地构建人兽冲突框架。对某些物种来说, 在培养容忍性时, 人类与野生动物间积极的经历可能会抵消野生动物攻击家畜的负面影响。类似本研究提出的将生态和人类的维度联系起来的模型可以帮助确定更有效的杠杆点, 以减缓人兽冲突的影响。 翻译:胡怡思;审校:聂永刚.

Aim: Past land use legacy effects—extinction debts and immigration credits—might be particularly pronounced in regions characterized by complex and dynamic landscape change. The aim of this study was to evaluate how current woody plant species distribution, composition and richness related to historical and present land uses. Location: A smallholder farming landscape in south-western Ethiopia. Methods: We surveyed woody plants in 72 randomly selected 1-ha sites in farmland and grouped them into forest specialist, generalist and pioneer species. First, we investigated woody plant composition and distribution using non-metric multidimensional scaling. Second, we modelled species richness in response to historical and current distance from the forest edge. Third, we examined diameter class distributions of trees in recently converted vs. permanent farmland. Results: Historical distance was a primary driver of woody plant composition and distribution. Generalist and pioneer species richness increased with historical distance. Forest specialists, however, did not respond to historical distance. Only few old individuals of forest specialist species remained in both recently converted and permanent farmlands. Main conclusions: Our findings suggest that any possible extinction debt for forest specialist species in farmland at the landscape scale was rapidly paid off, possibly because farmers cleared large remnant trees. In contrast, we found substantial evidence of immigration credits in farmland for generalist and pioneer species. This suggests that long-established farmland may have unrecognized conservation values, although apparently not for forest specialist species. We suggest that conservation policies in south-western Ethiopia should recognize not only forests, but also the complementary value of the agricultural mosaic—similar to the case of European cultural landscapes. A possible future priority could be to better reintegrate forest species in the farmland mosaic.

Cultural landscapes and their social–ecological values are threatened by changing lifestyles, policies and land-use practices, making their appropriate management a key sustainability challenge. Drawing on five years of interdisciplinary research in Transylvania, we conceptualise the notion of a ‘landscape interface’ – the intersection between the ecological and social subsystems, which through time, shapes and is shaped by the local value system. The landscape interface is a source of system continuity and stability. In Transylvania, many locals still act according to the value system associated with a disappearing landscape interface, a phenomenon we term a ‘value change debt.’ We argue that the erosion of the old value system, together with the weakening of the landscape interface, threatens sustainability – whereas reconnecting social–ecological feedback and thus strengthening the landscape interface could foster sustainability. The new conceptual perspective proposed here could foster greater understanding of cultural landscapes, including the social dimension of human–environment interactions.

Given the serious limitations of production-oriented frameworks, we offer here a new conceptual framework for how to analyze the nexus of food security and biodiversity conservation. We introduce four archetypes of social-ecological system states corresponding to win–win (e.g., agroecology), win–lose (e.g., intensive agriculture), lose–win (e.g., fortress conservation), and lose–lose (e.g., degraded landscapes) outcomes for food security and biodiversity conservation. Each archetype is shaped by characteristic external drivers, exhibits characteristic internal social-ecological features, and has characteristic feedbacks that maintain it. This framework shifts the emphasis from focusing on production only to considering social-ecological dynamics, and enables comparison among landscapes. Moreover, examining drivers and feedbacks facilitates the analysis of possible transitions between system states (e.g., from a lose–lose outcome to a more preferred outcome).

Global discourses on the governance of food security span competing approaches. For example, a neoliberal approach advocates commercialized, industrial agriculture, while food sovereignty and resilience are part of an alternative discourse to food security that prioritizes locally-based agroecological food production. Understanding how global discourses play out locally and how they impact the environment and biodiversity is important to identify appropriate pathways towards sustainability. In addition to their effects on food security, different approaches could reinforce or impede the success of biodiversity conservation because of the strong interdependence of food security and ecosystems. We applied the Q-methodology to examine alternative approaches to food security and biodiversity conservation pursued by 50 stakeholders from local to national levels in southwestern Ethiopia. We identified four distinct approaches, focusing on (1) smallholder commercialization, (2) agroecology and resilience, (3) local economy and equity, and (4) market liberalization. All approaches prioritized smallholders, but perspectives on how to achieve food security varied. Agricultural intensification, commercialization, and profit were widely considered important, while support for agroecology and resilience was largely restricted to non-government organizations. With the exception of supporters of the agroecology and resilience approach, biodiversity conservation was considered as a secondary goal. We conclude it is important to acknowledge plurality of food security approaches because local conditions are characterized by a multiplicity of stakeholder interests, and because food security is a complex problem that requires a multidimensional approach. However, major contradictions among existing approaches need to be reconciled, and the agroecology and resilience approach should be strengthened to ensure the sustainable achievement of food security and biodiversity conservation.

We conducted a systematic review of 502 articles, published between 2000 and 2016, to characterize the research on human-carnivore relations according to (i) temporal and geographical distribution, (ii) biology, (iii) relations between carnivores and humans, (iv) social actors, (v) drivers of change, (vi) management, and (vii) applied methods. We performed a detrended correspondence analysis and Kruskal-Wallis tests to identify and describe thematic clusters used in human-carnivore relations research. Our results show that research is deeply biased so far, and four important knowledge gaps were detected. First, we found more studies had been conducted in the Global North than in the Global South, although risks and benefits of living alongside carnivores exist in the Global South equally. Second, most research focused on large predators, while small and medium-sized carnivores are also source of damages and ecosystem services. Third, relations were often framed around conflicts, with little attention to possible ecosystem services. Fourth, most research was carried out using natural sciences methods, despite methods from the social sciences having much to offer in this context. Research fell into seven thematic clusters focusing on: (1) North-American bears, (2) African large carnivores, (3) social research in America, (4) meso-carnivores, (5) Asian felids, (6) conflicts with the grey wolf, and (7) damages to human property. These results highlight the need for more integrative, social-ecological research on human-carnivore relations. We discuss how addressing existing knowledge gaps could contribute to mitigating conflicts as well as fostering coexistence between humans and carnivore species., This study is part of the scientific project ‘Understanding human-carnivore relationships: from social conflicts to ecosystem services’ funded by Leuphana University of Lüneburg. AJC was supported by the NSF Idaho EPSCoR Program and by the National Science Foundation under award number IIA-1301792. MM and AFM were supported by Ramon y Cajal contracts (MEC, RYC-2015-19231 and MINECO, RYC-2016-21114, respectively). ACA was supported by a ‘Programa Viçent Mut’ contract (Government of Illes Balears, Spain; PD/039/2017).

Context: Cultural landscapes provide essential ecosystem services to local communities, especially in poor rural settings. However, potentially negative impacts of ecosystems—or disservices—remain inadequately understood. Similarly, how benefit–cost outcomes differ within communities is unclear, but potentially important for cultural landscape management. Objectives: Here we investigated whether distinct forest ecosystem service–disservice outcomes emerge within local communities. We aimed to characterize groups of community members according to service–disservice outcomes, and assessed their attitudes towards the forest. Methods: We interviewed 150 rural households in southwestern Ethiopia about locally relevant ecosystem services (provisioning services) and disservices (wildlife impacts). Households were grouped based on their ecosystem service–disservice profiles through hierarchical clustering. We used linear models to assess differences between groups in geographic and socioeconomic characteristics, as well as attitudes toward the forest. Results: We identified three groups with distinct ecosystem service–disservice profiles. Half of the households fell into a “lose–lose” profile (low benefits, high costs), while fewer had “lose–escape” (low benefits, low costs) and “win–lose” (high benefits, high costs) profiles. Location relative to forest and altitude explained differences between the “lose–escape” profile and other households. Socioeconomic factors were also important. “Win–lose” households appeared to be wealthier and had better forest use rights compared to “lose–lose” households. Attitudes towards the forest did not differ between profiles. Conclusions: Our study demonstrates the importance of disaggregating both ecosystem services and disservices, instead of assuming that communities receive benefits and costs homogenously. To manage cultural landscapes sustainably, such heterogeneity must be acknowledged and better understood.

We investigated how smallholder farming households in southwestern Ethiopia coped with challenges related to lack in capital assets and food shortage. We focused on interactions between capital assets using, in particular, capital asset substitution as an analytical lens to classify and unpack the interactions. The most commonly mentioned challenges were related to natural and economic capitals, and these frequently caused seasonal food shortages. Households responded to the lack in capital assets or food through processes that drew on more readily available capital assets. Common ways in which households coped involved drawing on social and human capitals (i.e. increasing labor input) to address lack in other types of capital assets and lack in food. These types of asset substitution tended to facilitate the maintenance of a household’s capital asset base. In contrast, some households liquidated physical and economic capital assets to cope, but these types of substitution tended to erode their capital asset base. In sum, our findings highlight the natural environment as well as social and human capitals as foundational to smallholder livelihoods and food security. In practical terms, the study provides information on coping strategies that should be avoided or modified to prevent capital asset erosion, and highlights those that should be supported and strengthened to enable the maintenance (and eventual growth) of households’ capital assets. Conceptually, the study contributes to livelihoods research by highlighting the usefulness of capital asset substitution for investigating interactions between different capital assets.

Many people in less developed countries depend on woody plants, but sustainable management of woody plants often remains a challenge. We assessed people’s use, perceived property rights and management of woody plants in farmland and forests in a landscape of southwestern Ethiopia. We interviewed 180 households and surveyed woody plants in 192 plots. We found that 95 species were used for eleven major purposes. The majority of plants (52) were used for house construction followed by farming tools (42), fuelwood (38) and honey production (37). These benefits were sourced from farmland, forest with coffee management and forest without coffee management. Our study found that local people perceived land tenure security and tree use rights to be limited, especially for forests. We found abundant regeneration of the most widely used tree species in all land use types. However, some of these species, including important pole and timber species, appeared to be overharvested in forests. To improve biodiversity outcomes and sustainable use, it would be beneficial to recognize local people’s diverse needs for woody plants and grant them appropriate property rights. Conservation policies should encompass the entire landscape and empower local farmers to proactively manage tree populations while providing safeguards against overuse.

Integrating food security and biodiversity conservation is an important contemporary challenge. Traditionally, food security and biodiversity conservation have been considered as separate or even incompatible policy goals. However, there is growing recognition of their interdependence, as well as of the need to coordinate solutions across multiple policy sectors and levels of governance. Despite such recognition, there has been no empirical analysis of governance networks that specifically integrates food security and biodiversity. Focusing on southwestern Ethiopia, this paper used social network analysis to investigate three main questions: how stakeholders interact in the governance of food security and biodiversity in a multi-level governance context; how the goals of food security and biodiversity are integrated in such a multi-level governance context; and which stakeholders are popular and play connecting roles between stakeholders in the governance network. The study was conducted in a subsistence dominated farming landscape, where we interviewed 244 stakeholders ranging from local to national levels. We found that the governance of food security and biodiversity conservation was strongly hierarchical, with virtually no horizontal linkages between adjacent districts, and very few vertical direct interactions of stakeholders spanning two or more levels of governance. Introducing a novel analytical distinction of collaborative vs individual integration, we found that only a minority of the collaborations between stakeholders took both food security and biodiversity into account, despite the majority of actors being individually involved in both sectors. Stakeholders with positional power, sociological power (popularity) and formal authority played a liaison role in the governance network. To further improve integration of food security and biodiversity conservation, a governance network that harnesses stakeholder collaboration across sectors and governance levels is essential. However, given the central role of many government administrative organizations, possible problems of power capture by some stakeholders need to be carefully managed.

Agricultural land use is a key interface between the goals of ensuring food security and protecting biodiversity. “Land sparing” supports intensive agriculture to save land for conservation, whereas “land sharing” integrates production and conservation on the same land. The framing around sparing versus sharing has been extensively debated. Here, we focused on a frequently missing yet crucial component, namely the governance dimension. Through a case‐study in Ethiopia, we uncovered stakeholder preferences for sparing versus sharing, the underlying rationale, and implementation capacity challenges. Policy stakeholders preferred sparing whereas implementation stakeholders preferred sharing, which aligned with existing informal institutions. Implementation of both strategies was limited by social, biophysical, and institutional factors. Land use policies need to account for both ecological patterns and social context. The findings from simple analytical frameworks (e.g., sparing vs. sharing) therefore need to be interpreted carefully, and in a social‐ecological context, to generate meaningful recommendations for conservation practice.

Moist evergreen forests of southwestern Ethiopia host high levels of biodiversity and have a high economic value due to coffee production. Coffee is a native shrub that is harvested under different management systems; its production can have both beneficial and detrimental effects for biodiversity. We investigated how bird community composition and richness, and abundance of different bird groups responded to different intensities of coffee management and the landscape context. We surveyed birds at 66 points in forest habitat with different intensities of coffee management and at different distances from the forest edge. We explored community composition using detrended correspondence analysis in combination with canonical correspondence analysis and indicator species analysis, and used generalized linear mixed models to investigate the responses of different bird groups to coffee management and landscape context. Our results show that (1) despite considerable bird diversity including some endemics, species turnover in the forest was relatively low; (2) total richness and abundance of birds were not affected by management or landscape context; but (3) the richness of forest and dietary specialists increased with higher forest naturalness, and with increasing distance from the edge and amount of forest cover. These findings show that traditional shade coffee management practices can maintain a diverse suite of forest birds. To conserve forest specialists, retaining undisturbed, remote forest is particularly important, but structurally diverse locations near the forest edge can also harbour a high diversity of specialists.

Context: Ecological impacts of past land use can persist for centuries. While present-day land use is relatively easy to quantify, characterizing historical land uses and their legacies on biodiversity remains challenging. Southern Transylvania in Romania is a biodiversity-rich area which has undergone major political and socio-economic changes, from the Austro-Hungarian Empire to two World Wars, communist dictatorship, capitalist democracy, and EU accession—all leading to widespread land-use changes. Objectives: We investigated whether present-day community composition of birds, plants, and butterflies was associated with historical land use. Methods: We surveyed birds, plants, and butterflies at 150 sites and classified those sites as forest, arable land, or managed grassland for six epochs using historical maps from the 1870s, 1930s, and 1970s, satellite imagery from 1985 to 2000, and field visits in 2012. Sites were labelled permanent if they had the same land use at all epochs and non-permanent otherwise. We used clustering and PERMANOVA based on community similarity to test for associations between community composition and land-use history. Results: We found significant differences (p = 0.030) in bird communities between permanent and non-permanent forest sites, and permanent and non-permanent grassland sites (p = 0.051). No significant associations were found among plants or butterflies and land-use history. Conclusions: Bird communities were associated with historical land use, though plants and butterflies were not. Historical land-use change in our study area was likely not sufficiently intense to cross relevant ecological thresholds that would lead to legacy effects in present-day plant and butterfly communities.

Facilitating human-carnivore coexistence is a major conservation concern in human-dominated landscapes worldwide. Useful insights could be gained by studying and understanding the dynamics of human-carnivore coexistence in landscapes in which carnivores and humans have coexisted for a long time. We used a two-pronged approach combin- ing ecological and social data to study coexistence of the brown bear (Ursus arctos) and humans in Tran- sylvania, Romania. First, we surveyed 554 km of walking transects to estimate activity via a bear sign index, namely the proportion of anthills disturbed by bears, and used spatially explicit predictive models to test which biophysical and anthropogenic variables influenced bear activity. Second, we interviewed 86 shepherds and 359 villagers and community represen- tatives to assess conflicts with bears and attitudes of shepherds towards bears. Our interdisciplinary study showed that bears and humans coexisted relatively peacefully despite occasional conflicts. Coexistence appeared to be facilitated by: (1) the availability of large forest blocks that are connected to the source population of bears in the Carpathian Mountains; (2) the use of traditional livestock management to min- imize damage from bears; and (3) some tolerance among shepherds to occasional conflict with bears. In contrast, bear activity was unrelated to human settle- ments, and compensation for livestock losses did not influence people's attitudes toward bears. Our study shows that coexistence of humans and carnivores is possible, even without direct economic incentives. A key challenge for settings with a discontinuous history of human-carnivore coexistence is to reinstate both practices and attitudes that facilitate coexistence.

Central place foragers, such as breeding seabirds, need to commute between their nests and foraging grounds, thus close proximity of the breeding colony to productive oceanographic features might be beneficial for seabird reproduction. We tested this hypothesis by investigating the at-sea foraging and breeding behavior of thick-billed murres ( Uria lomvia) nesting at three colonies (Bogoslof, St. Paul, and St. George Islands) in the Bering Sea located at different distances from the productive continental shelf-break. We found that distances to feeding areas differed only during night trips among colonies. St. Paul murres foraged entirely on the shelf, whereas St. George murres commuted to the continental shelf-break at night and foraged on the shelf during the day. Bogoslof murres foraged in oceanic waters in close proximity to the colony. Murres breeding at the both Pribilof colonies spent less time attending nests and had higher levels of stress hormone corticosterone compared to murres breeding at Bogoslof, although chick-provisioning rates and fledging success were similar among the three colonies. Lower nest attendance and higher corticosterone suggest lower food availability in the Pribilof domain compared to the Bogoslof region. Murres breeding at the Pribilofs used different foraging strategies to buffer effects of food shortages on their reproduction: flight costs associated with longer distance night trips at St. George were presumably balanced by benefits of higher density and/or more lipid rich prey in the continental shelf-break regions, whereas the additional distance of St. Paul from the continental shelf-break may have outweighed any energetic gain. Murres exhibited a remarkable degree of plasticity of foraging strategies in response to changes in their food availability, but the breeding success of murres did not reflect either food limitations or the colony proximity to productive oceanographic features.

We thank Seppelt et al. [1] for their thoughts on our paper, and welcome debate regarding how to best move forward in harmonizing food security and biodiversity conservation. We consider it useful to exchange ideas, including in areas where there may be disagreement, recognizing that reflection will help the scientific community to identify constructive ways forward. On the topic of food security and biodiversity conservation, we believe that what is needed, most of all, is qualitative change – we need to think in an entirely different, more holistic, and more visionary way about how to achieve good outcomes for both food security and biodiversity conservation.

Individual growth and the timing of life history events determine the course of individual body sizes. Hence, these factors can influence size-dependent species interactions, such as predation. In the Wadden Sea, predation by crustaceans plays an important role in the survival of pre-recruit bivalves. To investigate growth rates and size-dependent loss in 2 distant regions of the Wadden Sea, in situ marking with the fluorochrome calcein was combined with cage experiments. Through marking, we obtained, for the first time, size-increment data for the fragile newly settled juveniles of the species Macoma balthica and Cerastoderma edule in the field. Growth and size-selective mortality were analysed separately, whereas hitherto both have usually been inferred from size distributions at this life stage. Fluorescent marking also revealed that growth rates were very variable among individuals. Growth was temporarily higher at Texel than at Sylt in both species. In combination with the exclosure experiments and the sampling of predators and migrating bivalves, selective loss of smaller individuals was detected in both regions and was related to predation pressure. Climate influences on phenology have potentially strong effects on species interactions, altering survival and thus recruitment and population dynamics. © Inter-Research 2013.

Climate change might affect marine top predators by altering availability and nutritional quality of their prey. Climate effects vary on a regional basis, and our understanding of the relationships between fluctuations in climate and food resources in sub-arctic regions with seasonal ice cover is limited. We studied the effects of inter-annual climate variability (as reflected in the Pacific Decadal Oscillation, PDO, and the timing of the winter ice retreat) on zooplankton– planktivorous predator linkages in one of the most productive regions of the southeastern Bering Sea, the ‘Green Belt’. We examined changes in diets (species composition of chick meals and stable isotope signatures of adult blood) and relative food availability (as reflected in blood plasma concentrations of the stress hormone corticosterone) of planktivorous least auklets Aethia pusilla breeding on St. George I. (shelf-break) and St. Paul I. (shelf) during 2003 to 2005 and 2008 to 2009. We found that isotopic signatures of blood and composition of chick meals differed between the colonies. The proportion of energy-rich oceanic copepods Neocalanus spp. in the diet declined during warm years (high PDO and early ice retreat) on St. Paul but not on St. George. However, inter-annual and seasonal dynamics of corticosterone were similar between the colonies, and auklets experienced higher nutritional stress during warm compared to cold years. Our results suggest that the influx of prey-bearing water masses from the ocean basin and the retention time of oceanic copepods on the shelf are the main factors affecting composition of prey and its availability to auklets. We conclude that anticipated climate warming will negatively affect food availability of planktivorous predators in the Green Belt region of the southeastern Bering Sea.

Aim Cultural landscapes and their biodiversity are threatened by land use changes and the abandonment of traditional farming techniques. Conceptualizing cultural landscapes as social–ecological systems can be useful to develop strategies for biodiversity conservation. First, this study aimed to develop a typology of social–ecological units based on land use patterns. Second, we sought to relate this typology to biophysical and socio-demographic drivers as well as to biodiversity outcomes. Location Southern Transylvania (Romania). Methods We developed a typology of villages in Southern Transylvania based on land use data. We collected species richness data for plants, butterflies and birds, modelled local richness data for each village and related these values to the village typology. Also, we related village typology to biophysical and socio-demographic variables. Results We identified four types of villages that showed distinct species richness patterns. Bird richness was highest in forest-dominated and mixed-land use villages; plant richness was highest in pasture-dominated villages; and butterfly richness was high in arable-dominated, mixed-land use and pasture-dominated villages. The four types of villages had distinct topographic characteristics and also differed in terms of ethnic composition, migration patterns and geographic location. Drawing on a combined understanding of social–ecological variables, different conservation actions could be prioritized for each of the four village types. Main conclusions Applying social–ecological approaches has the potential to inform biodiversity conservation in cultural landscapes. Social–ecological typologies can improve our understanding of complex systems and provide useful input for the development of effective strategies for biodiversity conservation.

A rapidly growing body of the literature reveals the important roles apex predators play in shaping the composition and functioning of ecological communities worldwide. The principal effects of apex predators—namely herbivore and mesopredator population suppression—are often evident following their removal from environments, or their reintroduction, including rewilding initiatives. What remains less clear, however, is to what extent humans versus other apex predators affect ecosystems, how both interact across gradients of anthropogenic pressure and how such interactions can be affected by underlying bottom-up processes. Such questions are critical to answer in the Anthropocene, where effective management of ecosystems and conservation of biodiversity requires a better understanding of how top-down and bottom-up processes vary according to anthropogenic influences.

Traditional farming landscapes have evolved as tightly coupled socioecological systems that support high biodiversity. However, land‐use change severely threatens the high biodiversity of these landscapes. Navigating nature conservation in such landscapes requires a thorough understanding of the key drivers underpinning biodiversity. Through empirical research on mammals, birds, butterflies, and plants in a traditional cultural landscape in Romania, we revealed seven hypothesized drivers facilitating biodiversity conservation. Similar proportions of three main land‐use types support the landscape species pool, most likely through habitat connectivity and frequent spillover between land‐use types. Landscape complementation and supplementation provide additional habitat for species outside their core habitats. Gradients of woody vegetation cover and gradients in land‐cover heterogeneity provide mosaic landscapes with wide ranges of resources. Traditional land‐use practices underpin landscape heterogeneity, traditional land‐use elements such as wood pastures, and human–carnivore coexistence. Top‐down predator control may limit herbivore populations. Lastly, cultural ties between humans and nature have a central influence on people’s values and sustainable use of natural resources. Conservation approaches should aim to maintain or restore these socioecological drivers by targeting the heterogeneous character of the forest–farmland mosaic at large scales through “broad and shallow” conservation measures. These large‐scale measures should be complemented with “deep and narrow” conservation measures addressing specific land‐use types, threats, or species. In both cases, conservation measures should integrate the entire socioecological system, by recognizing and strengthening important links between people and the environment.

Context: The loss of landscape heterogeneity is causing declines of farmland biodiversity around the world. Traditional farmland regions are often highly heterogeneous and harbor high biodiversity, but are under threat of land cover homogenization due to changing agricultural practices. One species potentially affected by landscape homogenization is the Corncrake (Crex crex), which is threatened in Western Europe but remains widespread in the traditional farmland regions of Eastern Europe. Objectives: In this study we present a case study aiming to assess the potential threat of landscape homogenization for the Corncrake in Romania. We first examined current Corncrake distribution in relation to woody vegetation cover, landscape heterogeneity, and topography (measured at three different spatial scales), as well as human disturbance, throughout the existing agricultural mosaic. Second, we predicted potential future distribution of suitable Corncrake habitat in response to land cover homogenization by simulating a reduction in land cover diversity. Results: Corncrakes were present in grassland and arable fields, and preferentially occupied remote areas that were wet and flat, and had high land cover diversity at the 100 ha scale. The simulation of land cover diversity loss revealed that even a moderate reduction of land cover diversity could drastically reduce the extent of suitable Corncrake habitat. Conclusions: Our findings show the high conservation value of traditional heterogeneous farmland for the Corncrake. Therefore, to protect the Corncrake in traditional farmland, pro-active policy measures should encourage the continuation of mixed farming practices to maintain a diversity of land covers.

Facilitating human–carnivore coexistence depends on the biophysical environment but also on social factors. Focusing on Central Romania, we conducted 71 semi-structured interviews to explore human–bear (Ursus arctos) coexistence. Qualitative content and discourse analysis identified three socially mediated thematic strands, which showed different ways in which perceived interactions between people, bears and the environment shape coexistence. The “landscape-bear strand” described perceptions of the way in which the landscape offers resources for the bear, while the “landscape-human strand” related to ways in which humans experience the landscape. The “management strand” related to the way bears was managed. All three strands highlight both threats and opportunities for the peaceful coexistence of people and bears. Management and policy interventions could be improved by systematically considering the possible effects of interventions on each of the three strands shaping coexistence. Future research should explore the relevance of the identified thematic strands in other settings worldwide.

Traditional agricultural landscapes represent mosaics of land use covers that often support high species diversity. Many Eastern European countries contain large areas of High Nature Value (HNV) farmland. However, these landscapes are likely to change under current EU regulations and global market pressure, with potentially negative consequences for biodiversity. The conservation value of Romania’s grasslands is widely recognized, but the potential conservation value of other parts of the landscape mosaic has not been assessed to date. For this reason, we sought to assess patterns of plant diversity across the entire landscape mosaic. We sampled vascular plants at 139 sites (comprising 8 plots of 1 m 2 /ha) in forest ( n = 23), grassland ( n = 57) and within the arable mosaic ( n = 59). To examine potential differences in species richness and composition between these land cover types, we used analysis of variance and detrended correspondence analysis. We also modeled total species richness, richness of HNV indicator plants and richness of arable weeds in response to variables representing topography as well as structural and configurational heterogeneity. Species composition differed strongly between grassland, the arable mosaic and forests. Richness was highest in grasslands, but surprisingly, the arable mosaic and grassland contributed similarly to the cumulative number of recorded species. Models of species richness revealed a wide range of responses of plant groups to topographical conditions and to structural and configurational heterogeneity, which often differed between land use types. Plants were affected by conditions measured at both local (1 ha) and landscape (50 ha) scales. Noting the substantial, and hitherto under-recognised, contribution of the agricultural mosaic to regional-scale plant diversity, we recommend consideration of the entire landscape mosaic in future conservation schemes.

Cultural landscapes all over the world harbor species communities that are taxonomically and functionally diverse. In Eastern Europe, but also in many other regions of the world, the conservation of this farmland biodiversity is threatened by land use intensification and abandonment. In order to counteract the negative effects of land use change in such landscapes, a thorough understanding of the functional relationships between species and their environment is crucial. In this study, we investigated the relationshipof functional traits of butterfly and bird communities and environmental conditions in 120 sites in traditional farmlands of southern Transylvania, Romania. First, we compared taxonomic diversity (i.e., Shannon diversity) with functional diversity (i.e., functional dispersion), and second, we linked species traits to environmental variables by performing RLQ analyses. Functional traits indicating reproduction, movement, and feeding behavior related with environmental variables describing heterogeneity, amount of woody vegetation, and topography at three different spatial scales. We found positive relationships between taxonomic and functional diversity, as well as strong linkages between species traits and environmental conditions for both groups. Specifically, butterfly composition was most strongly influenced by land use type and life-history strategies. Bird composition was most strongly related to the amount of woody vegetation and nesting and foraging strategies. We conclude that maintaining the typical features of traditional farming landscapes, especially a small-scale heterogeneity in arable land and gradients of woody vegetation cover, would be desirable in order to sustain a high functional diversity in southern Transylvania in the future. Cultural landscapes all over the world harbor species communities that are taxonomically and functionally diverse. In Eastern Europe, but also in many other regions of the world, the conservation of this farmland biodiversity is threatened by land use intensification and abandonment. In order to counteract the negative effects of land use change in such landscapes, a thorough understanding of the functional relationships between species and their environment is crucial. In this study, we investigated the relationship of functional traits of butterfly and bird communities and environmental conditions in 120 sites in traditional farmlands of southern Transylvania, Romania. First, we compared taxonomic diversity (i.e., Shannon diversity) with functional diversity (i.e., functional dispersion), and second, we linked species traits to environmental variables by performing RLQ analyses. Functional traits indicating reproduction, movement, and feeding behavior related with environmental variables describing heterogeneity, amount of woody vegetation, and topography at three different spatial scales. We found positive relationships between taxonomic and functional diversity, as well as strong linkages between species traits and environmental conditions for both groups. Specifically, butterfly composition was most strongly influenced by land use type and life‐history strategies. Bird composition was most strongly related to the amount of woody vegetation and nesting and foraging strategies. We conclude that maintaining the typical features of traditional farming landscapes, especially a small‐scale heterogeneity in arable land and gradients of woody vegetation cover, would be desirable in order to sustain a high functional diversity in southern Transylvania in the future.

Global change presents risks and opportunities for social-ecological systems worldwide. Key challenges for sustainability science are to identify plausible future changes in social-ecological systems, and find ways to reach socially and environmentally desirable conditions. In this context, regional-scale studies are important, but to date, many such studies have focused on a narrow set of issues or applied a narrow set of tools. Here, we present a holistic approach to work through the complexity posed by cross-scale interactions, spatial heterogeneity and multiple uncertainties facing regional social-ecological systems. Our approach is spatially explicit and involves assessments of (i) social conditions and natural capital bundles, (ii) social-ecological system dynamics, and (iii) current development trends. The resulting understanding are, in turn, used in combination with scenario planning to map how current development trends may be amplified or dampened in the future. We illustrate our approach via a detailed case study in Southern Transylvania, Romania – one of Europe’s most significant biocultural refugia. Our goal was to understand current social-ecological dynamics and assess risks and opportunities for sustainable development. Our findings show that historical events have strongly shaped current conditions and current development trends in Southern Transylvania. Moreover, although external drivers (including EU policies) set the general direction of regional development trajectories, local factors – including education, leadership and the presence of bridging organizations – can enhance or counteract their effects. Our holistic approach was useful for generating an in-depth understanding of a regional social-ecological system, and could be transferred to other parts of the world.

During the past century, habitat fragmentation and increased human impacts have reduced populations of large carnivores throughout the world. Although bears have been extirpated from human-dominated landscape in most parts of Europe, they still occur in multiuse cultural landscapes in Southern Transylvania, Romania. Wood-pastures—grazed permanent grasslands with scattered or clumped trees and shrubs—are important elements of these cultural landscapes and provide habitat for a wide range of species. However, wood-pastures are under threat from land-use change, including intensified agricultural use and land abandonment. In 2012 we assessed the level of activity of brown bears (Ursus arctos) and environmental factors influencing bear activity in 54 wood-pastures in Southern Transylvania. As an index of bear activity, we measured the proportion of anthills that were destroyed by bears. The variables were combined in 3 groups (anthropogenic effects, local variables, and landscape context) to test which group most strongly influenced bear activity. Bear activity was found in 47 (87%) wood-pastures. Bear activity was best explained by variables describing the landscape context, with proximity to the Carpathian Mountains, terrain ruggedness, and amount of surrounding woody vegetation positively related to bear activity. Local variables (distance to forest edge and anthill density) had no effect, and surprisingly, variables related to anthropogenic features (distance to major roads, distance to villages) were positively related to bear activity (albeit weakly). Most of the wood-pastures in Southern Transylvania were used by bears for foraging on ant larvae. For the conservation of brown bears in Southern Transylvania, it is important to maintain large areas of forest but also consider cultural landscape elements such as wood-pastures. To conserve European wood-pastures, we suggest they be explicitly considered in national nature conservation policies and in major European Union (EU) policies such as the EU Habitats Directive. During the past century, habitat fragmentation and increased human impacts have reduced populations of large carnivores throughout the world. Although bears have been extirpated from human-dominated landscape in most parts of Europe, they still occur in multi-use cultural landscapes in Southern Transylvania, Romania. Wood-pastures-grazed permanent grasslands with scattered or clumped trees and shrubs-are important elements of these cultural landscapes and provide habitat for a wide range of species. However, wood-pastures are under threat from land-use change, including intensified agricultural use and land abandonment. In 2012 we assessed the level of activity of brown bears (Ursus arctos) and environmental factors influencing bear activity in 54 wood-pastures in Southern Transylvania. As an index of bear activity, we measured the proportion of anthills that were destroyed by bears. The variables were combined in 3 groups (anthropogenic effects, local variables, and landscape context) to test which group most strongly influenced bear activity. Bear activity was found in 47 (87%) wood-pastures. Bear activity was best explained by variables describing the landscape context, with proximity to the Carpathian Mountains, terrain ruggedness, and amount of surrounding woody vegetation positively related to bear activity. Local variables (distance to forest edge and anthill density) had no effect, and surprisingly, variables related to anthropogenic features (distance to major roads, distance to villages) were positively related to bear activity (albeit weakly). Most of the wood-pastures in Southern Transylvania were used by bears for foraging on ant larvae. For the conservation of brown bears in Southern Transylvania, it is important to maintain large areas of forest but also consider cultural landscape elements such as wood-pastures. To conserve European wood-pastures, we suggest they be explicitly considered in national nature conservation policies and in major European Union (EU) policies such as the EU Habitats Directive.

European farmland biodiversity is declining due to land use changes towards agricultural intensification or abandonment. Some Eastern European farming systems have sustained traditional forms of use, resulting in high levels of biodiversity. However, global markets and international policies now imply rapid and major changes to these systems. To effectively protect farmland biodiversity, understanding landscape features which underpin species diversity is crucial. Focusing on butterflies, we addressed this question for a cultural-historic landscape in Southern Transylvania, Romania. Following a natural experiment, we randomly selected 120 survey sites in farmland, 60 each in grassland and arable land. We surveyed butterfly species richness and abundance by walking transects with four repeats in summer 2012. We analysed species composition using Detrended Correspondence Analysis. We modelled species richness, richness of functional groups, and abundance of selected species in response to topography, woody vegetation cover and heterogeneity at three spatial scales, using generalised linear mixed effects models. Species composition widely overlapped in grassland and arable land. Composition changed along gradients of heterogeneity at local and context scales, and of woody vegetation cover at context and landscape scales. The effect of local heterogeneity on species richness was positive in arable land, but negative in grassland. Plant species richness, and structural and topographic conditions at multiple scales explained species richness, richness of functional groups and species abundances. Our study revealed high conservation value of both grassland and arable land in low-intensity Eastern European farmland. Besides grassland, also heterogeneous arable land provides important habitat for butterflies. While butterfly diversity in arable land benefits from heterogeneity by small-scale structures, grasslands should be protected from fragmentation to provide sufficiently large areas for butterflies. These findings have important implications for EU agricultural and conservation policy. Most importantly, conservation management needs to consider entire landscapes, and implement appropriate measures at multiple spatial scales. European farmland biodiversity is declining due to land use changes towards agricultural intensification or abandonment. Some Eastern European farming systems have sustained traditional forms of use, resulting in high levels of biodiversity. However, global markets and international policies now imply rapid and major changes to these systems. To effectively protect farmland biodiversity, understanding landscape features which underpin species diversity is crucial. Focusing on butterflies, we addressed this question for a cultural-historic landscape in Southern Transylvania, Romania. Following a natural experiment, we randomly selected 120 survey sites in farmland, 60 each in grassland and arable land. We surveyed butterfly species richness and abundance by walking transects with four repeats in summer 2012. We analysed species composition using Detrended Correspondence Analysis. We modelled species richness, richness of functional groups, and abundance of selected species in response to topography, woody vegetation cover and heterogeneity at three spatial scales, using generalised linear mixed effects models. Species composition widely overlapped in grassland and arable land. Composition changed along gradients of heterogeneity at local and context scales, and of woody vegetation cover at context and landscape scales. The effect of local heterogeneity on species richness was positive in arable land, but negative in grassland. Plant species richness, and structural and topographic conditions at multiple scales explained species richness, richness of functional groups and species abundances. Our study revealed high conservation value of both grassland and arable land in low-intensity Eastern European farmland. Besides grassland, also heterogeneous arable land provides important habitat for butterflies. While butterfly diversity in arable land benefits from heterogeneity by small-scale structures, grasslands should be protected from fragmentation to provide sufficiently large areas for butterflies. These findings have important implications for EU agricultural and conservation policy. Most importantly, conservation management needs to consider entire landscapes, and implement appropriate measures at multiple spatial scales.

Small rural Alaskan communities face many challenges surrounding rapid social and ecological change. The role of local subsistence resources may change over time because of changes in social perception, economic need, and cultural patterns of use. We look at the Bering Sea's Pribilof Islands, comprising two very small communities, and investigate the relationship between the local residents and seabirds as a natural resource. Seabirds may strengthen ties to older ways of life and have potential for future economic opportunities, or modernization may direct interest away from seabirds as a cultural and economic resource. We conducted a survey and interviews of residents of the two Pribilof Island communities, St. Paul and St. George, to assess opinions toward seabirds and harvest levels. Seabirds were generally regarded as important both to individuals and the wider community. However, current levels of subsistence harvest are low, and few people continue to actively harvest or visit seabird colonies. Respondents expressed desire for greater knowledge about seabirds and also concerns about the current economy of the islands and a lack of future development prospects. Despite the challenging economic conditions, the villages retain a strong sense of community and place value on their environment and on seabirds. Surveys indicated an interest in developing eco-tourism based around local resources, including seabirds, as a way to improve the economy.

Wood-pastures are among the oldest land-use types in Europe and have high ecological and cultural importance. They are under rapid decline all over Europe because of changes in land use, tree cutting, and lack of regeneration. In this study we characterized the structure, condition and threats of wood-pastures in a traditional rural region in Romania. Forty-two wood-pastures were surveyed, as well as 15 forest sites for comparison. All wood-pasture sites were described via four groups of variables: condition, management, site, and landscape context. Forest sites were dominated by Hornbeam ( Carpinus betulus ) and Beech ( Fagus sylvatica ), whereas wood-pastures were dominated by Oak ( Quercus sp.) and various species of fruit trees. Most wood-pastures contained trees classified as ‘ancient’ but no such trees were found in forests. The proportion of dead trees was positively related to forest cover within 300 m around the wood-pasture. Models that included management, site and landscape-related variables best explained the prelevance of Oak, Beech, Hornbeam and Pear trees in wood-pastures. Large oaks and hornbeams were more likely to be dead or affected by uncontrolled pasture burning than small oaks and other tree species. Our results show that ancient wood-pastures are common in this rural region, and they may be more common in Eastern Europe than previously thought. There is an urgent need for research, legal recognition and conservation management of wood-pastures as distinct landscape elements for their cultural, ecological and agricultural importance.

Land use change is a major threat to global biodiversity. Forest species face the dual threats of deforestation and intensification of forest management. In regions where forests are under threat, rural landscapes that retain structural components of mature forests potentially provide valuable additional habitat for some forest species. Here, we illustrate the habitat value of traditional wood pastures for a woodpecker assemblage of six species in southern Transylvania, Romania. Wood pastures are created by long-term stable silvo-pastoral management practices, and are composed of open grassland with scattered large, old trees. Because of their demanding habitat requirements, woodpeckers share habitat with many other bird species, and have been considered as possible indicator species for bird species diversity. We first compared woodpecker assemblages between forests and wood pastures. Second, we grouped features of wood pastures into three spatial contexts and addressed how these features related to the occurrence of three woodpecker species that are formally protected. Woodpecker species composition, but not the number of species, differed between forests and wood pastures, with the green woodpecker occurring more commonly in wood pastures, and the lesser spotted woodpecker more commonly in forests. Within wood pastures, the intermediate context (especially surrounding forest cover) best explained the presence of the grey-headed and middle spotted woodpecker. By contrast, variables describing local vegetation structure and characteristics of the surrounding landscape did not affect woodpecker occurrence in wood pastures. In contrast to many other parts of Europe, in which several species of woodpeckers have declined, the traditional rural landscape of Transylvania continues to provide habitat for several woodpecker species, both in forests and wood pastures. Given the apparent habitat value of wood pastures for woodpeckers we recommend wood pastures be explicitly considered in relevant policies of the European Union, namely the Habitats Directive and the EU Common Agricultural Policy.

Apex predators perform important functions that regulate ecosystems worldwide. However, little is known about how ecosystem regulation by predators is influenced by human activities. In particular, how important are top-down effects of predators relative to direct and indirect human-mediated bottom-up and top-down processes? Combining data on species' occurrence from camera traps and hunting records, we aimed to quantify the relative effects of top-down and bottom-up processes in shaping predator and prey distributions in a human-dominated landscape in Transylvania, Romania. By global standards this system is diverse, including apex predators (brown bear and wolf), mesopredators (red fox) and large herbivores (roe and red deer). Humans and free-ranging dogs represent additional predators in the system. Using structural equation modelling, we found that apex predators suppress lower trophic levels, especially herbivores. However, direct and indirect top-down effects of humans affected the ecosystem more strongly, influencing species at all trophic levels. Our study highlights the need to explicitly embed humans and their influences within trophic cascade theory. This will greatly expand our understanding of species interactions in human-modified landscapes, which compose the majority of the Earth's terrestrial surface.

Telomeres are an increasingly studied component of physiological ecology. However, in longlived birds a large telomere loss with chronological age is not the norm. Telomeres are now regarded less as a chronological aging tool and more as an indicator of individual quality, residual lifespan, or biological age. If telomeres indicate biological aging processes, then they should also be associated with other variables that change with age, especially foraging and reproductive behaviors. This study compared telomere length to a suite of foraging parameters in Thick-billed Murres breeding on three colonies in the Bering Sea. Telomere length, environmental conditions at colonies, and sex played pivotal roles in determining foraging habitat selection. Spatial habitat use, foraging efficiency, and prey selection variables all changed with telomere length. The behavioral evidence indicates that despite losing telomeres, birds with short telomere length retain their ability to use the environment efficiently. This indicates that aging birds remain behaviorally flexible, despite paying physiological costs. Changes in spatial use were largely sex-dependent: females and males differed in their use of the environment as telomere lengths declined. Prey selection was related to telomere length and colony; changes in murre trophic level depended on telomere length, but their direction also depended on habitat quality. We found much support for the continued able functioning of birds with shorter telomeres, indicating that physiological aging does not carry only costs. Murres appear to modify their behavior depending on environmental conditions as their physiological reserves decline.