Diss. Uppsala : Sveriges lantbruksuniv., 2003.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Alnarp : Sveriges lantbruksuniv. / Härtill 5 uppsatser.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Uppsala : Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet, 2008.

Thesis (M. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 1997. / Includes bibliographical references.

Agriculture is arguably the greatest threat to tropical forest species. Conservation scientists disagree over the relative importance of two opposing strategies for minimising this threat: enhancing on-farm biodiversity, through wildlife-friendly farming practices, or sparing land for nature by using high-yielding farming methods on the smallest possible area to reduce the need to convert natural habitats. Previous theoretical work shows that understanding the relationship between population density and yield for individual species is crucial for determining whether one of these strategies, or a mixed strategy, will maximise their populations for a given food production target. In this thesis, I aim to identify what land-use strategy will permit increases in food production with least impact on species in the forest zone of Ghana. Farm-fallow mosaic landscapes with shifting cultivation and native canopy trees produced only around 15% as much food energy per hectare as the highest-yielding oil palm plantations. In farm mosaics where perennial tree crops dominate, food production and profits were higher, but did not reach those of oil palm plantations. I surveyed birds and trees in forest, farm mosaic, and oil palm plantation, and combined these data with information on yields to assess the likely consequences of plausible future scenarios of land-use change. My results provide evidence of a strong trade-off between wildlife value and agricultural yield. Species richness was high in low-yielding farming systems, but there was considerable turnover between these systems and forests, with widespread generalists replacing narrowly endemic forest-dependent species. Species most dependent on forest as a natural habitat, those with smaller global ranges and those of conservation concern showed least tolerance of habitat modification. For virtually all species, including even widespread generalists, future land-use strategies based on land sparing are likely to support higher populations of most species and minimise their risk of extinction compared to land-use strategies based on wildlife-friendly farming. If food production is to increase in line with Ghana‘s population growth, a combination of efforts to improve forest protection and to increase yields on current farmed land is likely to achieve this at least cost to forest species. Efforts to better protect forests, which require further restrictions on human use, might be most effective if they can be closely linked to support for farmers to improve their yields. In the long term however, this strategy will only delay and not avert biodiversity loss, unless global society can limit its consumption.

Grassland fuels quickly respond to moisture changes in the environment, and successfully ignite more readily compared with other wildland fuel types. In recent years in New Zealand grasslands, wildfire ignitions have increased due to recreational activities on public conservation land. Ignition sources have included off-road vehicles, sparks from machinery, and campfires, cooking stoves, etc. This research investigated ignition thresholds for fully cured tussock (Festuca novae-zelandiae) and exotic (Agrostis capillaris) grasses, with the aim of providing a scientific basis for wildfire prevention through decision-support tools for activity controls. Five ignition sources of concern to the Department of Conservation were tested in the laboratory, and results were validated against field experiments. Experiments were innovative, and were designed to simulate ignitions from: hot exhaust systems on off-road vehicles (hot metal); sparks from vehicle exhausts (carbon emissions); grinding operations (metal sparks); smouldering debris dropped onto grass fuels from hot vehicle parts (organic embers); and ordinary cigarette lighters (open flame). Fuel moisture content (MC), and wind speed were varied, but ambient temperature and relative humidity were kept relatively constant in the laboratory. Logistic regression was used to analyse data for each ignition source, except organic embers because no ignitions occurred. Ignition thresholds were determined for a probability of ignition success of 50%, and all models were statistically significant. The thresholds are listed in terms of model accuracy for each experiment: open flame was 28% MC without wind, and 55% MC with light wind (1 m/s); metal sparks was 37% MC; hot metal, with a wind speed of 2 m/s and MC of 1%, was 398ºC hot metal temperature; and carbon emissions was 65% MC. The results represent a significant contribution to knowledge of the ignition behaviour of grassland fuels. Further research is required to verify and extend the results; but, initial findings provide a scientific basis for management, investigations of wildfire causes, and decisions around controls on recreational activities to protect highly sensitive ecosystems and natural areas from damaging wildfires.

Infiltration, the process of water movement through the soil surface is one of most important hydrological processes to be considered in watershed management. The process depends on rainfall, soil, vegetation and topographic conditions. The last three variables can be influenced by human land-uses. This study is concerned with the influence of landuse types (categories) on infiltration at the upper Ciliwung watershed of West-Java, Indonesia. Sixty six infiltration measurements were carried out in 5 types of land-uses i.e. natural forest, agriculture, settlement, productive (old) tea and new tea plantation areas. The measurements were done using ring infiltrometers. The data obtained were expressed in the form of Philip's equation I = st1I2 + At, where I is cumulative infiltration; S is sorptivity; t is time; A is a parameter which was calculated from saturated hydraulic conductivity (K). Crown cover, slope gradient and soil variables such as soil moisture, organic carbon content, total porosity, bulk density were also analysed from each of the 66 sites. The results of the study shows that land-use types have significant influence on these soil variables and on infiltration. Crown cover and human activities in term of land management are among the most important factors which affect soil condition. These variables mostly influence total porosity of soil which is the most important variable to determine sorptivity and hydraulic conductivity. High percentage of crown cover and less human activity in forest area result in high accumulation of litter and humus and high total porosity of soil. On the other hand, settlement and new tea plantation areas have comparatively low crown cover and more frequent human activity which result in soil compaction. Discriminant function analysis of land-use categories shows that the soil under forest is very distinct from the soils under other land-use types. However, the soils under the remaining land-use types are more similar to each other, especially between the soil of settlement and tea plantations. The rank of infiltration rate from the highest to the lowest magnitude is as follows; natural forest, agriculture, productive tea plantation, new tea plantation and settlement areas. Infiltration rates under natural forest and agriculture are significantly different from each other as well as from those in the last three land- use types. However, there are no significant differences in infiltration rates among the last three land-use types. The result of this study also provides basic information for landuse management and further research in order to solve soil and water conservation and management problems in the watershed.

The public lands of the United States administered by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) are used for multiple purposes, like conservation, recreation, grazing, mining, logging, and oil and gas development. Many of these activities have the potential to disturb the surface of the landscape, which can negatively impact scenic values. While the BLM has a system for managing visual resources and mitigating the potential impacts of development on visual quality, it does not adequately consider cumulative visual effects, which are the combined impacts of the same type of activity on the environment over space and time. This paper studies the challenges and opportunities faced by managers of Canyons of the Ancients National Monument in southwestern Colorado, a landscape particularly affected by oil and gas development, at measuring and managing cumulative visual effects. This paper also reviews the results of a series of interviews conducted with experts in the field of cumulative visual effects and of a visual preference survey that highlight the strengths and limitations of existing methods for assessing cumulative visual effects. This research paper concludes with a list of recommendations for the BLM to incorporate cumulative visual effects into its existing visual resource management system and details directions for future research on this subject.

Land-use intensification in agroecosystems has led to population declines in many taxonomic groups, especially farmland birds. Two contrasting conservation strategies have therefore been proposed: land sharing (the integration of biodiversity conservation in low-intensity agriculture) and land sparing (the spatial separation of high-yielding agriculture and areas for conservation). Despite the large academic interest in this field, only few studies have taken into account stakeholders’ perspectives of these strategies when assessing conservation implications. We modeled the effects of three land-use scenarios (a business-as-usual, a land-sharing, and a land-sparing scenario), developed together with regional stakeholders, on the habitat area of 13 regionally endangered bird species in the Middle Mulde River Basin (Saxony, Germany). We used random forest models based on environmental variables relating to land-use/cover, climate and soil characteristics, occurrence of linear landscape elements (hedges and tree rows), and distance to water and major roads. Responses to the three land-use scenarios were species-specific, but extensively managed permanent grassland and the density of forest edges were positively associated with the occurrence of most bird species. Overall, the land-sharing scenario provided the largest breeding habitat area: 76% of the species had a significant (p < 0.05) increase in breeding habitat, and none showed a significant decrease. Our findings confirm that balancing the different, often contrasting habitat requirements of multiple species is a key challenge in conservation and landscape management. Land sharing, which local stakeholders identified as the most desirable scenario, is a promising strategy for the conservation of endangered birds in agricultural landscapes like our study region.

Heutige Agrarlandschaften stehen in der Kritik sich in ausgeräumte und unspezifische Räume zu wandeln, in denen wenige Fruchtarten auf immer größeren Schlägen angebaut werden und ein fortwährender Rückgang von Offenlandarten und artenreichen Biotopen stattfindet. In der bisherigen Forschung wurden vor allem die Ursachen für eine Homogenisierung landwirtschaftlicher Fluren betrachtet. Die vorliegende Dissertation untersucht hingegen durch welche Mechanismen ein höheres Maß an Heterogenität in Agrarlandschaften entsteht, entsprechend der Forschungsfrage: Unter welchen Voraussetzungen und durch welche Prozesse bilden sich unterschiedliche physische Erscheinungsformen in der heutigen Agrarlandschaft in einer bestimmten Anordnung heraus, um eine Vielfalt an Nischen für typische Arten und Wiedererkennungspunkte für den menschlichen Betrachter zu bieten? Im theoretischen Teil der Dissertation wurden Wirkungszusammenhänge für strukturbildende Prozesse in Agrarlandschaften aus den Forschungsfeldern der Landschaftsökologie sowie den Planungs- und Sozialwissenschaften ermittelt. Anschließend verknüpfte die Autorin diese Grundlagen zu einem Untersuchungsdesign, um die Forschungsfrage systematisch untersuchen zu können. Im angewandten Teil der Arbeit wurden drei landwirtschaftliche Fluren (Arnsgrün und Colmnitz in Sachsen, Lugau in Brandenburg) hinsichtlich der Mannigfaltigkeit und Dynamik der vorgefundenen physischen Erscheinungsformen in mehrmaligen Begehungen analysiert. Weiterhin führte sie leitfadenbasierte Interviews mit den landnutzenden Akteuren der untersuchten Fluren. Diese dienten u.a. zur Entwicklung einer Typologie, nach welcher die landnutzenden Akteure vertiefend betrachtet werden konnten. Im Ergebnis der Dissertation konnten Ursachen offen gelegt werden, welche zu einem höheren Maß an Nutzungsheterogenität beitragen. Hierzu zählten unterschiedliche, räumlich benachbarte Nutzungsziele und Alterszustände der Vegetation. Heterogene Nutzungsintensitäten und vielfältig angebaute landwirtschaftliche Kulturen zeigten im räumlichen Nebeneinander ebenfalls strukturbildende Wirkung. Die in der Dissertation festgestellten Zusammenhänge legten jedoch offen, dass einer Diversifizierung der Nutzung allein nicht ausreicht, um Agrarlandschaften positiv zu verändern. Vielmehr muss die Bedeutung der landnutzenden Akteure in die Planung einbezogen werden. So ließen sich bestimmte Merkmale der Landnutzer bzw. Akteurstypen feststellen, die mit einer hervorgehobenen Bedeutung für die Entstehung von Lebensräumen wildlebender Arten sowie für die menschliche Orientierung einhergingen. Gleichwohl verdeutlichten die Ergebnisse der Untersuchung, dass in erster Linie das Zusammentreffen verschiedener Akteure die Unterschiedlichkeit von physischen Erscheinungsformen in Agrarlandschaften befördert. Auf Grundlage des erhobenen Datenmaterials leitete die Autorin darüber hinaus acht strukturbildende Prinzipien für die drei untersuchten Fluren ab.