Diversity of pollinators in marigold (Tagetes erecta L.) in a core area of Kathmandu Valley, Nepal

Insect pollinators provide crucial ecosystem services in the urban environment but are under threat and lack comprehensive study and Pollinators’ interaction to change urban land use. Marigold is an important nectar provider for many insects, plays a major role in ecosystem services, and holds a strong cultural and economic value. Therefore, it is important to learn the diversity of insect pollinators in marigolds in an urban environment and assess the impact of urbanization on pollinators. This study aimed to study pollinator diversity, visit frequency, and shift-wise distribution in the core urban area of Kathmandu valley. A total of 21 species of pollinators were recorded from fourteen families and four orders: Hymenoptera, Diptera, Lepidoptera and Coleoptera. Lepidoptera accounted for the highest diversity index of 1.87 followed by Diptera. Furthermore, the study recorded the highest species diversity and abundance during the daytime compared to the morning and the evening hour. The highest diversity of Diptera and Lepidoptera suggests that the urban area is a suitable foraging area whereas, the absence of wild bees further suggests the urbanization as a threat to the wild bee population and demand urgent policy or action for the conservation of pollinators for the conservation of biodiversity and growth in agricultural production.

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Toward Decision-Making Support: Valuation and Mapping of New Management Scenarios for Tunisian Cork Oak Forests

Forests ◽

10.3390/f11020197 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 11 (2) ◽

pp. 197

Author(s):

Mariem Khalfaoui ◽

Hamed Daly-Hassen ◽

Boutheina Stiti ◽

Sihem Jebari

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Spatial Distribution ◽

Ecosystem Services ◽

Economic Value ◽

Cork Oak ◽

Decision Makers ◽

Management Scenarios ◽

Density Decrease ◽

Mediterranean Countries ◽

The Impact

Forest ecosystems are an important anthropogenic pillar to human wellbeing, providing a multitude of ecosystem services. In Mediterranean countries, where climate change effects are exponentially increasing, the value of the forest ecosystem services is even higher and their preservation is more crucial. However, the biophysical and economic value of such services is usually not observable due to their non-marketable characteristics, leading to their underestimation by decision-makers. This paper aims to guide decision-making through a set of new management scenarios based on ecosystem services’ values and their spatial distribution. It is a cumulative multidisciplinary study based on biophysical models results, economically valued and implemented using the geographic information system (GIS) to analyze spatial data. The investigation was based on a biophysical and economic valuation of cork, grazing, carbon sequestration and sediment retention as a selection of ecosystem services provided by cork oak forest (Ain Snoussi, Tunisia). The valuation was made for the actual situation and two management scenarios (density decrease and afforestation of the shrub land), with emphasis on their spatial distribution as a basis to new management. The total economic value (TEV) of the investigated services provided by Ain Snoussi forest (3787 ha) was €0.55 million/year corresponding to €194/ha/year. The assessment of two different scenarios based on the land cover changes showed that the afforestation scenario provided the highest TEV with €0.68 million/year and an average of €217/ha, while the density decrease scenario provided €0.54 million/year and an average of €191/ha. Such results may orient decision-makers about the impact new management may have, however they should be applied with caution and wariness due to the importance of the spatial dimension in this study.

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Ecosystem Services of Hospital Gardens - Based on Microclimate Analyses of Green and Blue Garden Elements

Acta Biologica Marisiensis ◽

10.2478/abmj-2021-0006 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 4 (1) ◽

pp. 60-72

Author(s):

Vera Takácsné Zajacz ◽

Kinga M Szilágyi

Keyword(s):

Ecosystem Services ◽

Urban Environment ◽

Landscape Planning ◽

Large Body ◽

Well Being ◽

Biologically Active ◽

Extreme Weather Events ◽

Local Climate ◽

The Impact

Abstract The increasing urbanization process of the last decades has resulted in negative impacts and changes in the quality of the urban environment, as reflected in mortality and morbidity data (Páldy, 2018). The quality of the environment, the urban climate, the increased frequency and duration of extreme weather events, ultimately threaten human well-being. To design and build liveable cities, the quality of the urban environment must be improved, and improving micro- or local climate is an important factor in this. Increasing the proportion and quality of biologically active surfaces, i.e. the ecosystem services provided by green spaces, is one of the most effective tools for urban conditioning and enhancing human well-being. Determining the proportions of the green area, the design of vegetation, the choice of pavements and microarchitectures all determine the microclimate of an open-space. This has been confirmed by a large body of research and implemented work, but it is also important for designers to make a preliminary prediction of the impact of any intervention on the climatic conditions of the design site. These predictions will help cost-effective designing to determine which intervention will result in climate change. This research uses two specific examples to examine the effectiveness of each landscape designing tool and to show which designing tool produces what and how much climatic impact. For these studies, we used a climate modeling program (ENVI-MET), which runs simulations to infer the climate modifying effects of landscape planning tools. In the course of the research, we have shown that the local climate of hospital gardens could be significantly influenced by favorable, environmental-friend paving, a higher green cover ratio, and a well-developed and sufficiently dense tree canopy, and various water features.

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Assesment of the Impact of Habitat Conditions and Land Use on the Floristic Diversity of Selected Rush Communities

Civil and Environmental Engineering Reports ◽

10.2478/ceer-2021-0012 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 31 (1) ◽

pp. 172-181

Author(s):

Mieczysław Grzelak ◽

Eliza Gaweł ◽

Leszek Majchrzak

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Diversity Index ◽

Economic Value ◽

Habitat Diversity ◽

Floristic Diversity ◽

Habitat Conditions ◽

Habitat Mosaic ◽

River Valleys ◽

The Impact ◽

Diverse Plant

Abstract This study concerned the assessment of the effect of various habitat conditions and land use on the habitat diversity of rush communities classified as Phragmitetea. The investigations were conducted in the years 2015-2019 in an area particularly interesting in terms of its nature value and abundant in localities of diverse plant communities, located in ecological areas of permanent grassland in the river valleys of the Noteć Leniwa and the Noteć Bystra, as well as the interlevee floodplain of the Warta in the area of Rakowo. The study area covered 228 ha. Soil moisture content resulting from the habitat mosaic and intensity of land use had a significant effect on the formation of rush communities, their richness and floristic diversity as well as nature and agricultural value. Most communities of nature value were characterised by a mediocre economic value and low fodder value (FVS ranging from 1.1 to 6.9), while some were barren lands. The calculated floristic diversity index (H’) varied and ranged from 1.9 to 3.5, while the harvested dry matter yields ranged from 2.7 to 16.6 t.ha−1. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of habitat conditions and land use on the formation and diversity of rush communities in the Noteć and the Warta river valleys.

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Scarcity of ecosystem services: an experimental manipulation of declining pollination rates and its economic consequences for agriculture

PeerJ ◽

10.7717/peerj.2099 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 4 ◽

pp. e2099 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Harpinder Sandhu ◽

Benjamin Waterhouse ◽

Stephane Boyer ◽

Steve Wratten

Keyword(s):

New Zealand ◽

Ecosystem Services ◽

Population Decline ◽

Economic Value ◽

Maximum Yield ◽

Economic Loss ◽

Experimental Manipulation ◽

Economic Consequences ◽

Pollination Services ◽

The Impact

Ecosystem services (ES) such as pollination are vital for the continuous supply of food to a growing human population, but the decline in populations of insect pollinators worldwide poses a threat to food and nutritional security. Using a pollinator (honeybee) exclusion approach, we evaluated the impact of pollinator scarcity on production in four brassica fields, two producing hybrid seeds and two producing open-pollinated ones. There was a clear reduction in seed yield as pollination rates declined. Open-pollinated crops produced significantly higher yields than did the hybrid ones at all pollination rates. The hybrid crops required at least 0.50 of background pollination rates to achieve maximum yield, whereas in open-pollinated crops, 0.25 pollination rates were necessary for maximum yield. The total estimated economic value of pollination services provided by honeybees to the agricultural industry in New Zealand is NZD $1.96 billion annually. This study indicates that loss of pollination services can result in significant declines in production and have serious implications for the market economy in New Zealand. Depending on the extent of honeybee population decline, and assuming that results in declining pollination services, the estimated economic loss to New Zealand agriculture could be in the range of NZD $295–728 million annually.

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ORGANIZATION OF METHODS FOR ASSESSING THE STATE OF ECOSYSTEM ASSETS OF TERRITORIAL COMMUNITIES RELATED TO WATER

Environmental Economics and Sustainable Development ◽

10.37100/2616-7689.2021.10(29).6 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 45-50

Author(s):

Valentyna Kolmakova

Keyword(s):

Ecosystem Services ◽

Methodological Approach ◽

Economic Value ◽

The State ◽

Nature Management ◽

Scenario Development ◽

Transfer Benefit ◽

Normative Cost ◽

Territorial Water ◽

The Impact

The purpose of the article is to substantiate scientific approaches to streamlining methods for assessing the state of ecosystem assets of territorial communities related to water, from the standpoint of sustainable nature management on an ecosystem basis. The modern scientific developments on estimation of cost of ecosystem services connected with water, are resulted in the leading international documents are investigated. The peculiarities of application of the methodological approach of ZEC (general economic value) are revealed, which provides taking into account both the real characteristics of the actual use of ecosystem services related to water and the potential (hidden) characteristics of their non-use. It is determined that the most promising in the process of assessing ecosystem services related to water may be the use of methods such as: "market" prices; normative; cost transfer; benefit transfer, scenario development method, subjective assessments. It is emphasized that these methods can be applied both separately and in certain combinations (combinatorics), due to the need to take into account the specifics of ecosystem services produced by ecosystem assets and the impact of integration processes within the ecosystem interaction of territorial spatial formations. In this context, the possibility of applying the concept of ZEC to assess ecosystem services related to water, on the example of the village of Semenivka Blagodatnensky united territorial community of Pervomaisky district of Mykolayiv region according to the author's methodology and formalized them using several methods. Further research has prospects in the following areas: formation of a comprehensive system approach to streamlining the methods of cost measurement of water-related ecosystem assets; development and introduction of effective methodological approaches to the assessment of ecosystem assets, which are based on the use of combinatorics of possible assessment methods, which are selected in accordance with the characteristics of the local territorial water resource potential.

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Status and economic valuation of ecosystem services of Tanguar haor: A wetland of Bangladesh

Journal of the Bangladesh Agricultural University ◽

10.3329/jbau.v16i2.37968 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 16 (2) ◽

pp. 237-243

Author(s):

HM Solayman ◽

Md Abdul Baten ◽

Md Badiuzzaman Khan

Keyword(s):

Ecosystem Services ◽

Social Relations ◽

Anthropogenic Activities ◽

Land Use Changes ◽

Economic Valuation ◽

Economic Value ◽

Health Benefit ◽

Anthropogenic Factors ◽

Baseline Survey ◽

The Impact

Tanguar haor wetland is one of the listed Ramsar sites enrich with biodiversity variety and provides several ecosystem services with significant contribution to the national economy of Bangladesh. But these services were decreasing day by day due to natural and anthropogenic activities. The purposes of this study were to identify the utilized ecosystem services by communities, economic values of utilized ecosystem services and the basic reasons for depleting of ecosystem services. Data were collected through baseline survey, checklists, face to face questionnaire survey and focus group discussion (FGD) from 120 residential respondents and 50 tourist respondents by accepting random sampling techniques during November, 2016 to September, 2017. Physiochemical characteristics of the water were determined where the mean temperature and pH were 28.26°C and 7.72 respectively. The highest TDS, EC, DO, NO3 and PO4 values were 1020 (mg L−1), 1460 (μS cm−1), 8.56 (mg L−1), 1.769 (mg L−1) and 0.078 (mg L−1), respectively. Commonly utilized ecosystem services were crops, vegetables, fuel, fresh water, fishes and migratory birds, climate regulation, water purification, natural hazards protection, aesthetic, social relations, recreation & tourism, health benefit, primary production, nutrient cycling, water cycling habitats for species and provision of habitat etc. Market Value Method (MVM) and Contingent Value Method (CVM) were applied to measure the economic value of Tanguar haor wetland services. DPSIR framework and Impact Matrix (IM) were applied for conceptual analysis to identify the effects on ecosystem services. Total economic value of 39 ecosystem services of Tanguar haor was estimated at 174039980 BDT year−1. Mismanagement of biodiversity, over exploitation, sedimentation of haor, climate change, illegal hunting, land use changes and habitat changes were the responsible factors for depleting ecosystem services. The impact factor (4.161) was identified by natural and anthropogenic factors on ecosystem services. There have a vast prospect of the Tanguar haor wetland services for near communities. Finally the research suggested several sustainable management approaches which have the potentiality to protect the services of the wetland.J. Bangladesh Agril. Univ. 16(2): 237-243, August 2018

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The Impact of Direct Expenditures of Diving Tourism Towards The Economy of Coastal Balinese

Udayana Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities (UJoSSH) ◽

10.24843/ujossh.2017.v01.i02.p06 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 1 (2) ◽

pp. 157

Author(s):

I Wayan Suardana ◽

Saroyeni Piartini ◽

Ni Made Ariani

Keyword(s):

Ecosystem Services ◽

Coral Reefs ◽

Marine Ecosystem ◽

Economic Value ◽

Environmental Issues ◽

Local Communities ◽

Local Economy ◽

Marine Ecosystem Services ◽

The Government ◽

The Impact

This research illustrates the extent of correlation between the local economy and marine ecosystem services. Apart from being recreational destinations oriented to the economy, Tulamben and Pemuteran are places where coral reefs ecosystem grows and develops. Hence, it needs to be properly conserved. This study found the estimated number of tourists who dive and snorkel in these two areas, it reaches 297.752 per year, with actual annual expenditures amount to US$ 283.2 million. The economic impact of the whole diving tourism in Tulamben and Pemuteran approximately ranges from US$ 396.4 million to US$ 1.059.7 million per year. The high economic value achieved by the government and the local communities as a whole indicates a significant increase of diving activities in both areas. This result suggests that local economy and marine ecosystem services are closely related. However, tourism and the perception aroused about the environmental issues and values not only provide opportunities for macro business improvement but also pose a threat to the sustainability of the underwater ecosystem.

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Spatial Distribution of Soil Inorganic Carbon in Urbanized Territories

Advanced Materials Research ◽

10.4028/www.scientific.net/amr.726-731.188 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 726-731 ◽

pp. 188-193 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Nai Zheng Xu ◽

Hong Ying Liu

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Urban Area ◽

Inorganic Carbon ◽

Urban Ecosystem ◽

Urban Land Use ◽

Soil Inorganic Carbon ◽

Soil Carbon Stock ◽

Urbanized Area ◽

The Impact ◽

Soil Inorganic

Soil carbon stock changes induced by land-use change play an essential role in the global greenhouse effect and carbon circulation. This paper studies the spatial characteristics of soil inorganic carbon (SIC) distribution in urbanized territories of main cities in Jiangsu Province, China, based on the data of regional geochemical survey. Urbanization process in study area has been quickened greatly since the 1980s. The SIC density in urban area is 0.64±0.70 kg m-2, which mean density is 1.33 times of that in suburban and 1.52 times of that in countryside, and SIC distribution in urbanized area shows accumulation and obvious spatial variability. By comparison of SIC distribution in the central urban area, urbanized area during 1980-2000, 2000-2005 and suburban, the SIC obviously accumulates in central urban area, furthermore, the SIC density increases with urban land use duration extending and urban ecosystem evolving. This paper provides the characteristics of SIC distribution and evolution during the course of urbanization, which may be useful for assessing the impact of land-use and urban development on SIC pools in urban ecosystem.

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Genetic Diversity of White Clover (Trifolium Repens L.) from the Urban Area of Rīga Baltā Āboliņa (Trifolium Repens L.) Ģenētiskā Daudzveidība Rīgas Pilsētvidē

Proceedings of the Latvian Academy of Sciences Section B Natural Exact and Applied Sciences ◽

10.1515/prolas-2015-0018 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 69 (3) ◽

pp. 132-134 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Dace Grauda ◽

Kalvis Avotiņš ◽

Oksana Fokina ◽

Agnese Kolodinska-Brantestam ◽

Isaak Rashal

Keyword(s):

Urban Environment ◽

Urban Area ◽

White Clover ◽

Trifolium Repens ◽

Diversity Index ◽

Genetic Distances ◽

Principal Coordinates Analysis ◽

Principal Coordinates ◽

Plant Groups ◽

Trifolium Repens L

Abstract White clover (Trifolium repens L.) is well represented in the urban environment and wide areas. The goal of this study was to compare the genetic features and to determine the genetic distances and similarities between some populations of white clover using iPBS (inter primer binding sites) technique in a retrotransposon-based method in samples from ecologically different areas in Latvia. Comparisons were made between three plant groups: urban environment (different areas in Rīga), Latvian countryside territory (four different localities), and the commercial variety ‘Daile’. The Shannon diversity index was not high (0.2974 for Rīga, 0.3079 in countryside territories, and 0.3367 for the variety ‘Daile’), but the polymorphic bands present in all evaluated plant sets were higher than 89%. Using principal coordinates analysis the white clover formed three clusters. One cluster included plants from the variety ‘Daile’. The plants from Rīga urban area and different sites of Latvia formed two clusters.

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