| 1. |
- Andersson-Sköld, Yvonne, et al.
(författare)
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A framework for assessing urban greenery's effects and valuing its ecosystem services
- 2018
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Ingår i: Journal of Environmental Management. - : Academic Press. - 0301-4797 .- 1095-8630. ; 205, s. 274-285
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Ongoing urban exploitation is increasing pressure to transform urban green spaces, while there is increasing awareness that greenery provides a range of important benefits to city residents. In efforts to help resolve associated problems we have developed a framework for integrated assessments of ecosystem service (ES) benefits and values provided by urban greenery, based on the ecosystem service cascade model. The aim is to provide a method for assessing the contribution to, and valuing, multiple ES provided by urban greenery that can be readily applied in routine planning processes. The framework is unique as it recognizes that an urban greenery comprises several components and functions that can contribute to multiple ecosystem services in one or more ways via different functional traits (e.g. foliage characteristics) for which readily measured indicators have been identified. The framework consists of five steps including compilation of an inventory of indicator; application of effectivity factors to rate indicators' effectiveness; estimation of effects; estimation of benefits for each ES; estimation of the total ES value of the ecosystem. The framework was applied to assess ecosystem services provided by trees, shrubs, herbs, birds, and bees, in green areas spanning an urban gradient in Gothenburg, Sweden. Estimates of perceived values of ecosystem services were obtained from interviews with the public and workshop activities with civil servants. The framework is systematic and transparent at all stages and appears to have potential utility in the existing spatial planning processes.
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| 2. |
- Blicharska, Malgorzata, 1979-, et al.
(författare)
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Shades of grey challenge practical application of the Cultural Ecosystem Services concept
- 2017
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Ingår i: Ecosystem Services. - : Elsevier BV. - 2212-0416 .- 2212-0416. ; 23, s. 55-70
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Despite rapid advances in development of the ecosystem services (ES) concept, challenges remain for its use in decision making. Cultural ES (CES) have proven particularly difficult to pin down and resultant “shades of grey” impede their consideration by decision-makers. This study undertakes a literature review of CES to highlight the shades of grey, briefly illustrates findings by reference to the Swedish mountain landscape, then addresses potential implications for practical decision making. The concept of CES is complex and difficult to operationalize. The root of confusion appears to be a lack of rigour in identifying CES, hindering identification of proper methods for determining: the ecosystem elements that underpin CES; the beneficiaries of CES and how they value benefits delivered; and how CES may vary in space and time. We conclude by proposing a framework of questions, which we relate to the ES cascade model, that is intended to help researchers and decision-makers to reflect when considering CES. Answers to the questions should enable decision-makers to prioritise policy development or implementation in relation to the differing needs of potentially competing beneficiaries and what needs to be done or not done to the ecosystem, where, when and by whom.
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| 3. |
- Busse Nielsen, Anders, et al.
(författare)
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Spatial configurations of urban forest in different landscape and socio-political contexts: identifying patterns for green infrastructure planning
- 2017
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Ingår i: Urban Ecosystems. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1083-8155 .- 1573-1642. ; 20, s. 379-392
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Abstract Rapid urbanisation and climate change have motivated the development of urban green infrastructure (UGI) as a planning strategy to support the wellbeing of urban people and ecosystems while parallel adapting cities to climate change. Forest (tree-covered areas >0.5 ha) is a key UGI component that afford a wider range of ecosystem services and mitigate urban heat islands more effectively than non-wooded green spaces. However, understanding of spatial configurations (variation in patch size and frequency) of forests across the gradient of urbanisation and between cities is limited to case studies. This represents a considerable knowledge gap for identification of general patterns that can inform integration of forest resources in UGI planning that have value beyond the individual city level. In this study we used Geographic Information Systems to explore the spatial configuration of forests across cities located within landscapes characterised by different levels of anthropogenic modification (degree of forest cover) and socio-political contexts, i.e. all Danish and Swedish cities >10,000 inhabitants (n = 176). We applied general linear modelling to investigate the relationship between forest cover, patch size and frequency with 1) regional landscape type, 2) demographic trends 1960-2010, and 3) the gradient of urbanisation (measured in three zones: urban core (0.2 km from city boundary), urban fringe (0.2-2 km), and urban periphery (2-5 km)). Regardless of demographic trends, forest cover was lowest in cities settled in large-scale agricultural regions, higher in regions with mosaics of forest and farming, and highest in forest-dominated regions. However, in all cities forest cover was lowest in the urban zone and peaked on the urban fringe rather than on the urban periphery. Furthermore, pocket woods (0.5-2 ha) accounted for over 50 % of patches in all three urban zones, irrespective of regional landscape type. We conclude by discussing how these general patterns could inform strategies for integration of urban forests in UGI planning.
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| 4. |
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| 5. |
- Cerwén, Gunnar, et al.
(författare)
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Sverige behöver investera i tystnad
- 2019
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Ingår i: Sydsvenskan. - 1652-814X.
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Tidskriftsartikel (populärvet., debatt m.m.)abstract
- Precis som det finns tysta kupéer på tågen borde det gå att upprätthålla en vardagstystnad i utvalda friluftsområden och kanske även på vissa håll i städerna, skriver fyra ljudmiljöforskare.
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| 6. |
- Fredman, Peter, et al.
(författare)
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Friluftsliv 2014 : nationell undersökning om svenska folkets friluftsvanor
- 2015
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Denna rapport redovisar resultaten från en nationell enkätundersökning avseende svenskarnas friluftsvanor år 2014 (december 2013 till november 2014). Enkäten utgör en viktig del i arbetet med uppföljning av friluftsliv i miljömålssystemet samt målen för friluftspolitiken (se Naturvårdsverket, 2014). Undersökningen genomfördes som en elektronisk panelundersökning (8410 intervjuer med personer bosatta i Sverige i åldersintervallet 16-84 år) och utfördes av Mittuniversitetet (i samarbete med undersökningsföretaget Norstat) på uppdrag av Naturvårdsverket. Resultaten redovisas i fyra delar som omfattar (i) friluftslivet enligt nyckelbegreppen (utövande av friluftsliv, deltagande i friluftsaktiviteter, värna och bibehålla värden för friluftslivet, tillgänglighet och buller), (ii) friluftslivet hos olika grupper, (iii) friluftslivet i miljökvalitetsmålen, samt (iv) friluftslivets förändring över tid. Från undersökningen kan bland annat noteras; - att 83 procent är ute i naturen "ganska eller mycket ofta" på längre ledigheter, 60 procent på helger och 51 procent på vardagar. - att nöjes- och motionspromenader, vistelser i skog och mark och trädgårdsarbete är de vanligaste friluftsaktiviteterna (bad är populärast på sommaren medan kälkåkning, tur- och längdskidor är populäras på vintern). - att lövskogar är den naturtyp som uppskattas mest att utöva friluftsliv i, följt av barrskogar, fjäll, odlingslandskapet och myrar (äldre skogar är betydligt mer attraktiva än ungskog och kalhyggen). - att över hälften av de svarande i hög grad haft upplevelser av trygghet, återhämtning och en naturpräglad miljö vid det senaste friluftstillfället. - att nästan hälften av de svarande i någon grad upplever brist på lämpliga platser eller områden för att ägna sig åt friluftsaktiviteter i den utsträckning man önskar. - att friluftsliv till havs, i skärgård eller till fjälls ofta sker långt från hemmet. - att ca 30 procent har upplevt någon grad av buller vid senaste friluftstillfället (främst från trafik, vägar och flyg). - att på vardagar är kvinnor ute oftare i naturen än män, äldre personer är ute oftare än yngre, personer bosatta på landsbygden är ute oftare än personer i storstäder, personer utan hemmavarande barn under 18 år är ute oftare än personer med barn i samma ålder, och personer som vuxit upp i Europa är ute oftare i naturen än personer som själva, eller vars far eller mor, växt upp utanför Europa. - att brist på tid är det vanligaste hindret för utövande av friluftsaktiviteter (andra vanliga hinder är att man saknar någon att utöva aktiviteten med, att man saknar lämpliga områden eller familjesituationen). - att yngre personer har sämre kunskaper om allemansrätten jämfört med äldre personer.
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| 7. |
- Gao, Tian, et al.
(författare)
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Reviewing the strength of evidence of biodiversity indicators for forest ecosystems in Europe
- 2015
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Ingår i: Ecological Indicators. - : Elsevier BV. - 1470-160X .- 1872-7034. ; 57, s. 420-434
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- With a growing number of forest biodiversity indicators being applied in forest policy documents and even more being suggested by the scientific community, there is a need to evaluate, review and critically assess the strength of evidence for individual indicators, their interrelationships and potential overlaps and gaps. Biodiversity indicators proposed for forest ecosystems in Europe were reviewed with the over-arching aim of providing advice on strategic selection and combination of indictors. The objectives were to (1) establish interrelationships between indicators and their indicandum (i.e. the indicated aspect of biodiversity); (2) assess the strength of scientific evidence for individual indicators; and (3) identify a set of indicators with confirmed validity for further scientific testing and inclusion in long-term reporting and decision-making regarding forest biodiversity. Ten indicator groups and 83 individual indicators were identified with application from stand scale up to landscape scale in 142 eligible scientific papers. In 62 of the 142 studies no statistical correlations between indicator(s) and indicandum were performed and 42 (out of the 62) did not even present a clear indicandum. In the remaining 80 studies, 412 correlations between indicator and indicandum were identified. However, only six correlations were assessed as being supported by strong evidence, i.e. three or more studies found statistical correlation between the indicator and indicandum, and no studies reported contradictory results. For the species richness relationships, there was strong evidence for positive correlations between deadwood volume and wood-living fungal species richness; deadwood volume and saproxylic beetle species richness; deadwood diversity and saproxylic beetle species richness; age of canopy trees and epiphytic lichen species richness. There was strong evidence for a negative correlation between tree canopy cover and spider species richness. Concerning species composition-related correlation, there was strong evidence that the species composition of epiphytic lichens changed with the age of canopy trees. These results imply that the validity of most indicators on which monitoring and conservation planning are based are weakly scientifically supported and that further validation of current biodiversity indicators for forest ecosystems is needed. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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| 8. |
- Gunnarsson, Bengt, 1954, et al.
(författare)
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Effects of biodiversity and environment-related attitude on perception of urban green space
- 2017
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Ingår i: Urban Ecosystems. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1083-8155 .- 1573-1642. ; 20:1, s. 37-49
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Green space in cities contributes to the quality of life for city dwellers, e.g., by increasing the opportunity for recreation. However, perception of urban green space is influenced by multiple factors. We investigated effects of biodiversity and environment-related attitudes on visual and auditory perceptions of urban green space. Field measurements of biodiversity were conducted in six sites across an urban gradient in Gothenburg, Sweden, and three categories of biodiversity—high, medium, low—were established. Households were sent a survey on aesthetic perception of urban green space, sound perception and the importance of trees and plants for the perception of bird species. Each respondent focused on the site that was located nearby. The environment-related attitudes comprised “Nature-oriented” and “Urban-oriented” persons and were based on participants’ own attitude estimations. It was shown that participants’ “subjective” aesthetic and sound-related perception of urban greenery were in line with the “objectively” measured subdivisions of high, medium and low biodiversity. So also were their estimations of the importance of trees and plants for perception of bird species in urban greenery, although differing only between high and medium/low biodiversity conditions. Persons rating themselves as highly nature-oriented were shown to give higher scores to urban green space aesthetics and to value greenery-related sounds higher, and to attach greater importance to trees and plants in their perception of bird species in urban greenery, than less nature-oriented persons. Highly urban-oriented persons compared to less urban-oriented persons did the same, but only regarding urban greenery-related aesthetics and sounds of nature. We conclude that environment-related attitudes influence perceptions of green space. Moreover, our findings support the idea that biodiversity per se also influences perceptions; people value green space significantly more with high than with low measured biodiversity. Urban planning needs to provide city inhabitants with green spaces that are species-rich, lush, varied and rich with natural sounds.
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| 9. |
- Hedblom, Marcus, et al.
(författare)
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Bird diversity improves the well-being of city residents
- 2017
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Ingår i: Ecology and Conservation of Birds in Urban Environments. - Cham : Springer. - 9783319433141 - 9783319433127 ; , s. 287-306
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Bokkapitel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Humans are increasingly becoming urbanized. Because a number of bird species readily live in urban areas and birds are relatively easily observed, birds are becoming the largest everyday encounter with wild fauna people will have, globally. Despite, few studies have been made on how visual (or acoustic) bird encounter affects humans. The few existing studies show that birds provide humans with increased self-evaluated well-being when seeing and hearing them. These values provided by birds can be recognized as a cultural ecosystems service. Here we review extant literature to consider why certain species fascinate humans more than others, and some can increase well-being and provide ecosystem services, while others offer disservices through unappealing characteristics. We particularly highlight indications of links between species diversity and well-being. Finally, we discuss possible reasons for variations in our responses to birds and birdsong associated with age, gender, childhood, contact with nature, and the biophilia theory. If interaction with birds truly increases quality of life, then this value should be considered in the planning of sustainable cities. Both conservation and proper management of existing urban green areas are needed to increase possibilities to encounter many bird species. © Springer International Publishing AG 2017.
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| 10. |
- Hedblom, Marcus, et al.
(författare)
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Conclusions and recommendations
- 2015
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Ingår i: Innovative tools to support cooperation among stakeholders in Baltic landscapes : a handbook. - 9789157693600 ; , s. 91-96
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Bokkapitel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)
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