This thesis aims to establish analytical frameworks to map urban growth patterns with spaceborne remote sensing data and to evaluate environmental impacts through Landscape Metrics and Ecosystem Services. Urbanization patterns at regional scale were evaluated in China's largest urban agglomerations and at metropolitan scale in Shanghai, Stockholm and Beijing using medium resolution optical satellite data. High-resolution data was used to investigate changes in Shanghai’s urban core. The images were co-registered and mosaicked. Tasseled Cap transformations and texture features were used to increase class separabilities prior to pixel-based Random Forest and SVM classifications. Urban land cover in Shanghai and Beijing were derived through object-based SVM classification in KTH-SEG. After post-classification refinements, urbanization indices, Ecosystem Services and Landscape Metrics were used to quantify and characterize environmental impact. Urban growth was observed in all studies. China's urban agglomerations showed most prominent urbanization trends. Stockholm’s urban extent increased only little with minor environmental implications. On a regional/metropolitan scale, urban expansion progressed predominately at the expense of agriculture. Investigating urbanization patterns at higher detail revealed trends that counteracted negative urbanization effects in Shanghai's core and Beijing's urban-rural fringe. Beijing's growth resulted in Ecosystem Services losses through landscape structural changes, i.e. service area decreases, edge contamination or fragmentation. Methodological frameworks to characterize urbanization trends at different scales based on remotely sensed data were developed. For detailed urban analyses high-resolution data are recommended whereas medium-resolution data at metropolitan/regional scales is suggested. The Ecosystem Service concept was extended with Landscape Metrics to create a more differentiated picture of urbanization effects.​ / <p>QC 20160205</p>

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Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2014. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Insect pollination contributes in various degrees toward the production of a variety of agricultural crops that ensure diversity and nutritional value in the human diet. Although managed honeybees (Apis mellifera L.) are still the most economically valuable pollinators of monoculture crops cultivated globally, wild pollinator communities can contribute substantially toward crop pollination through pollination ecosystem services sourced from neighbouring natural habitats. Pollination ecosystem services are thus valuable and can motivate for the protection of natural ecosystems hosting diverse insect pollinator communities. F1 onion hybrid seed production is entirely dependent on high insect pollinator activity to ensure cross pollination, seed set and profitable seed yields. Data was collected on 18 onion hybrid seed crops grown in the semi‐arid Klein Karoo and southern Karoo regions of the Western Cape, South Africa. These two main production regions are located within the Succulent Karoo biome, recognized as a global biodiversity hotspot of especially high plant diversity. It is also habitat to the indigenous Cape honeybee (Apis mellifera capensis Esch.). Sites selected varied in the percentages of available natural habitat and managed honeybee hives stocking density. Diverse anthophile assemblages were sampled with pan traps within all the onion fields, regardless of the percentage of available natural habitat near the crop. Crop management practices significantly affected the diversity of anthophile species caught within onion fields, although less than 20% of this diversity was observed actually visiting onion flowers. The honeybee (managed and wild) was by far the most important pollinator because of its high visitation frequency and regular substantial onion pollen loads carried on their bodies. Honeybee visitation significantly increased onion hybrid seed yield, while anthophile diversity and non‐Apis visitation had no effect on seed yield. Neither managed hive density, nor percentage natural habitat were important in determining honeybee visitation or seed yield. Total annual rainfall was the only significant factor determining honeybee visitation. Secondary factors caused by rainfall variability, such as wild flower abundance or soil moisture, may have significantly affected honeybee visitation. In addition, the positive correlation between honeybee visitation and the diversity of hand‐sampled insects from onion flowers; indicate that either or both onion varietal attractiveness and/or pollinator population size may have had significant effects on overall insect visitation. Honeybees showed marked discrimination between hybrid onion parental lines and preferred to forage on one or the other during single foraging trips. Hybrid onion parents differed significantly in nectar characteristics and onion flower scent which would encourage selective foraging through floral constancy. Interspecies interactions were insignificant in causing increased honeybee pollination because of the scarcity of non‐Apis visitors. Most farming practices are subjected to favourable environmental conditions for successful production. However, and especially in the South African context, the dependence of onion hybrid seed crops on insect pollination for successful yields, increase its reliance on natural ecosystem dynamics that may deliver abundant wild honeybee pollinators, or attract them away from the crops. Nevertheless, this dependence can be mitigated effectively by the use of managed honeybee colonies to supplement wild honeybee workers on the flowers. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Insek bestuiwing dra in verskillende grade by tot die produksie van landbou gewasse wat variteit en voedingswaarde in die mens se dieet verseker. Al is die heuningby (Apis mellifera L.) steeds die waardevolste ekonomiese bestuiwer van verboude enkelgewasse, kan wilde bestuiwers wesenlik bydra tot gewasbestuiwing deur middel van ekosisteem dienste afkomstig van natuurlike habitatte. Bestuiwing ekosisteem dienste is daarom waardevol en kan dus die bewaring van natuurlike ekosisteme, wat diverse gemeenskappe huisves, regverdig. F1 basterui saadproduksie is totaal afhanklik van hoë insek‐bestuiwer aktiwiteit om kruisbestuiwing, saadvorming en winsgewende saadopbrengste te verseker. Data is ingesamel op 18 basterui saad aanplantings in die half‐droë Klein Karoo en suid‐Karoo streke van die Weskaap, Suid‐Afrika. Hierdie twee hoof produksie streke is geleë binne die Sukkulente Karoo bioom wat erken word as ʼn globale biodiversiteits “hotspot” met hoë plant diversiteit. Dit is ook die habitat van die inheemse Kaapse heuningby (Apis mellifera capensis Esch.). Aanplantings is gekies om verskillende grade van beskikbare natuurlike habitat en bestuurde heuningby korf digthede te verteenwoordig. Diverse versamelings blom‐besoekers is versamel met water‐wippe in al die aanplantings, ongeag die persentasie natuurlike habitat beskikbaar by elke aanplanting. Gewas bestuurspraktyke het die diversiteit van blombesoekers betekenisvol beïnvloed. Tog is minder as 20% van hierdie diversiteit as aktiewe besoekers op die uiekoppe waargeneem. Heuningbye (bestuur of wild) was oorwegend die belangrikste bestuiwers as gevolg van hoë besoek frekwensies en wesenlike ladings uiestuifmeel op hulle liggame. Heuningby besoeke het saadopbrengs betekenisvol verhoog, maar blom‐besoeker diversiteit en nie‐Apis besoeke het geen effek op saadopbrengs gehad nie. Bestuurde korf digtheid en persentasie natuurlike habitat was nie belangrik in die bepaling van heuningby besoeke of basterui saadopbrengste nie. Totale jaarlikse reënval was die enigste betekenisvolle faktor wat heuningby besoeke bepaal het. Sekondêre faktore wat versoorsaak word deur reënval veranderlikheid, soos veldblom volopheid of grondvog, kon betekenisvolle effekte op die aantal heuningby besoeke gehad het. Bykomend, dui die positiewe korrelasie tussen heuningby besoeke en die diversiteit van hand‐versamelde insekte vanaf die uiekoppe op die moontlike betekenisvolle effek van elk of beide basterui variteit aantreklikheid en/of bestuiwer populasie grote op algehele insek besoeke. Heuningbye het noemenswaardige diskriminasie getoon tussen die basterui ouerlyne en het verkies om op een of die ander te wei tydens enkele weidingstogte. Basterui ouerlyne het betekenisvol verskil in nektar eienskappe en blomgeur wat die selektiewe weiding van heuningbye, toegepas deur blomkonstantheid, sal aanmoedig. Tussen‐spesie interaksies was onbetekenisvol in die verhoging van heuningby bestuiwing omdat nie‐Apis besoekers baie skaars was. Meeste boerdery praktyke is onderhewig aan gunstige omgewings toestande vir suksesvolle produksie. Maar, en veral in die Suid‐Afrikaanse konteks, omdat basterui saad aanplantings afhanklik is van insek bestuiwing vir suksesvolle opbrengste, word daar meer staat gemaak op natuurlike ekosisteem dinamika wat volop wilde heuningby bestuiwers kan voorsien, of selfs bestuiwers van die aanplanting kan weg lok. Nietemin, hierdie afhanklikheid kan effektief verlaag word deur die gebruik van bestuurde heuningby kolonies om die aantal wilde heuningby werkers op die blomme aan te vul.

As urbanisation increases choices in how to use green areas within cities growin importance, determining how several urban sustainability issues will play out. In urban environment the role for forest, both inside and at the city borders, is most important for the well-being of city inhabitants from several species, as well as provider of numerous ecosystem services necessary for anthropogenic development. Despite this,urban green areas are often given a lower priority in city developing processes compared to new structures, meaning them being transformed into built environments. This makes a higher awareness of what urban forests provides, and can provide, evident. Thus, this bachelor thesis presents the idea of urban agroforestry. The focus is towards agroforestry systems as they can be adapted and applied in a Swedish context. Firstly, literature review is used for investigating the concepts of urban forest, ecosystem services and agroforestry, defining and connecting them. Some of the critique towards the ecosystem services concept is lifted, as well as some specific ecosystem services directly connected to urban forest. Also, recent Swedish development in the agroforestry field is mapped and briefly described. Further, knowledge from this is adapted to the settings in Östersund, developing suggestions for construction of actual urban agroforestry systems. This part describes the local possibilities for urban agroforestry, as well as suitable urban forest areas, species and things to take into consideration in terms of risk assessment. Finally, the thesis also presents some suggestions for how to account for the change in ecosystem services in a more mathematical way. This is followed by discussion of both general findings and the local agroforestry potential, as well as some suggestions for focus points in further studies. This study shows that despite the cold climate in Sweden, urban agroforestry provides an interesting potential for preservation of ecosystem services as well as reconstruction of historical landscapes. It further suggests that urban agroforestry systems within Östersund should be focused on cultural services rather than high yields, by this aiming to connect to numerous local interests seen as defining for the region.

Strategic environmental assessment (SEA) has the potential to improve strategic planning. However, meeting this expectation is a major challenge since SEA practice still constraints itself to assess the impacts of strategic planning initiatives. To advance the role of SEA beyond impact assessment, it has been argued that SEA needs to adapt to strategic planning contexts. Yet, there is a lack of consensus on how SEA should adapt to strategic planning contexts as these are complex, vary considerably and carry high levels of uncertainty. Against this background, the aim of this thesis is to contribute to the development of SEA by creating knowledge on ways in which it can be contextualized to different strategic planning situations. Three case studies addressing different values and strategic planning contexts were designed from which experiences on SEA conceptualization were drawn. The results show that developing strategic focused SEA frameworks that enhance dialogue, collaboration and knowledge generation on multiple values can address issues such as: the lack of data and objectives in developing planning contexts; gaps in knowledge and uncertainty associated to environmental monitoring in transboundary contexts; and the recognition of the importance of ecosystem services and their needed green qualities in urbanizing contexts. Based on the gained case study experiences, it is argued that SEA contextualization can mean addressing strategic planning intentions, identifying and engaging actors, deriving and prioritizing key values, collaborating to generate knowledge on key issues, and using this knowledge to shape strategic planning. Due to the complexity of the issues involved, contextualizing SEA is considered to be challenging to achieve and requires time and resources. However, based on the SEA case studies, it can be argued that the value added to strategic planning outweighs these requirements. Continuing to study the practice of context adaptable, strategic focused and participatory based SEA processes may contribute to advance SEA’s role beyond impact assessment and enable reaching its expected potentials. / <p>QC 20150525</p>

Ecosystem services are the aspects of the environment utilized to produce human well-being and are key elements of landscape sustainability. Increasingly, measures of ecosystem services are being incorporated into conservation decision making. However, a framework for evaluating systematic conservation planning ranked selection scenarios with indicators of ecosystem services has not been developed. Using the Central Texas counties of Blanco, Burnet, Hays, Llano, San Saba, and Travis as a study, a suite of spatially explicit modeling tools, Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs (InVEST), are used to quantify carbon storage, soil conservation, and water provision. A fourth service metric, ecosystem richness, is derived using Texas Parks and Wildlife ecological systems classification data. The values of these four services are then used to evaluate four conservation scenarios, developed in conjunction with a local conservation non-profit, Hill Country Conservancy (HCC), and derived using Marxan decision-support software. The evaluation process consists of both geographic information system (GIS) and statistical analysis. GIS based overlay analysis is used to identify areas of multiple ecosystem service overlap. Spearman correlation tables are used to test the spatial relationship among ecosystem services, as well as the relationship among each of the four conservation scenarios. Wilcox-Mann-Whitney U tests (WMW) are used to assess the statistical significance of each scenario’s ecosystem service values as compared to the values of a random control scenario. The results of this work reinforce the findings that there is often significant variability in the spatial congruence of multiple ecosystem services and their provision across a landscape. This work also supports the conclusion that the targeting of ecological phenomena for conservation concurrently targets areas supporting multiple ecosystem services. More distinctively, the results verify the capacity of ecosystem service indicators to effectively inform an iterative systematic conservation planning process. At the local landscape-scale, this work provides HCC with defensible support of their conservation decisions based not only on organizational priorities, but also on ecosystem service values. More broadly, this work provides a framework for evaluating conservation scenarios with spatially explicit values of ecosystem services which can be replicated across a wide range of project scales and objectives. / text

Andelen människor som flyttar till städer ökar, vilket gör att det blir allt mer konkurrens om markytan. För att skapa fler bostäder tas mark i anspråk som tidigare haft andra syften eller bestått av naturliga grönytor. När växtlighet prioriteras bort minskar ekosystemtjänster som har förmåga att rena stadsluften. Denna studie baseras på Stockholm, där den regionala översiktsplaneringen åsyftar att staden ska förtätas för att skapa mer centrala bostäder. Att stadsluften är förorenad är ett generellt problem som utsätter invånare för hälsorisker.  Detta är en fallstudie som granskar hur luftföroreningar uppmärksammas när nya bostadsprojekt är planerade att etableras. Fem fall har valts ut nära en hårt trafikerad Europaväg, för att undersöka hur luftkvaliteter beaktats i planprocesserna. Dokument har granskats och berörda aktörer har intervjuats. Riskerna med luftföroreningar omnämns ytterst lite i vissa fall, medan de anses som betydande miljöpåverkan i andra. Detta har lett till att miljökonsekvensbeskrivningar (MKB) krävts vid vissa bostadsprojekt men inte i andra, trots att liknande eller högre nivåer av luftföroreningar eller fordonsmängd uppmätts eller beräknats vid projekten som uppmärksammat aspekten minst. Resultaten i fallstudien belyser den varierande förekomsten av omnämnandet om luftföroreningar och därmed risker för människors hälsa i de olika bostadsprojekten. / The numbers of people that are living in cities are expanding. That means an arising competition of the ground surface. To create enough homes areas that earlier was filled with natural green spaces are sometimes becoming mobilized. Green space’s that seems to clean the air becomes rarer. This study is based on the city of Stockholm, that is planned to expand more towards the central parts of the city. The city air is as in many other cities polluted and citizens are exposed to health risks.  This is a case study that examines how air pollution is being noticed in new residential projects. Five projects located close to a heavy traffic road have been chosen. Documents have been surveyed and relevant stakeholders have been interviewed in reason to find out how air quality is being observed. The different concerns regarding air quality has lead to decisions that environmental impact assessment (EIA) has being required in some cases, but not in others. Thus the levels of air quality or traffic density have approximately been the same or sometimes even higher in the cases that mentioned air quality least. This case study highlights the varied mention about air pollution and thereby the risks for human health in the studied projects.

De nyttor som människan får direkt och indirekt från ekosystemen kallas ekosystemtjänster. Mänsklighetens påverkan på ekosystemen idag leder till degradering av tjänsterna och då mänskligheten ytterst är beroende av vad de tillför, är bevarandet av dessa tjänster viktig. Livscykelanalys, LCA, är ett väletablerat verktyg som används för att fastställa miljöpåverkan från olika produktprocesser men få ekosystemtjänster beaktas i LCA. Det finns därför ett behov av att vidare undersöka och utveckla möjligheterna att med livscykelbaserade metoder analysera påverkan på ekosystemtjänster. Huvudsyftet med denna studie har varit att undersöka om det är möjligt att integrera ekosystemtjänstbegreppet i LCA-metodik. Detta har kartlagts med hjälp av en fallstudie på pelletsproduktion, som bl.a. identifierat berörda ekosystemtjänster och möjligheten att kvantifiera dem, vilka ekosystemtjänster som går att studera med LCA idag samt möjliga sätt att analysera påverkan på ekosystemtjänster med LCA. Ett delmål har varit att grundligt beskriva både ekosystemtjänster och LCA samt aspekter som kan koppla ihop dessa områden. En omfattande litteraturstudie och en LCA modellering rörande pelletsproduktion utgjorde grund för arbetet. I dagsläget är det inte möjligt att integrera ekosystemtjänstbegreppet i LCA-metodiken med undantag för de fåtal ekosystemtjänster som i LCA-metodiken redan beaktas i viss utsträckning. Det stora hindret är att det inte finns någon fullständig och enhetlig metodik för kartläggning, klassificering och kvantifiering av ekosystemtjänsterna, vilket anses nödvändigt för att kunna analysera påverkan på dem. Ett stort antal ekosystemtjänster såsom klimatreglering, näringsflöden, biodiversitet och rekreation kan kopplas till pelletsproduktion men påverkan på dem är inte möjlig att fullt ut analysera med LCA. Detta illustreras av LCA-modelleringen av pelletsproduktion där endast påverkan på tjänsterna förnybara energikällor och vattenanvändning ingår. Då kunskapen rörande olika ekosystemtjänster skiljer sig mycket åt varierar förutsättningarna för att inkludera dem i LCA-metodiken. Befintliga tillvägagångssätt för att försöka analysera påverkan på ekosystemtjänster med hjälp av LCA föreslår nya miljöpåverkanskategorier och samlandet av tjänsterna i gemensamma enheter såsom exergi och solekvivalenter. Metoderna är dock begränsade och täcker inte in ekosystemtjänsterna på ett fullgott sätt. Mer forskning behövs för att bättre utveckla tillvägagångsätten för analys av påverkan på ekosystemtjänster genom LCA. / The profits humankind obtains directly and indirectly from ecosystems are called ecosystem services. The impact human activities have on ecosystems lead to degradation of the ecosystem services and since humankind fully depends on what the ecosystems provide, the preservation of these services is crucial. Lifecycle assessment, LCA, is a well-established tool used to assess environmental impacts from different product processes but few ecosystem services are considered. Thus, there is a need to study and develop the possibilities to analyze ecosystem services through LCA based methods. The project aimed to determine whether it is possible to integrate the ecosystem-service concept into LCA-methodology. A case study on pellet production was carried out to identify relevant ecosystem services and the possibilities to quantify them, which ecosystem services that could be analyzed in LCA today and also available approaches to study impacts on ecosystem services with LCA. An intermediate goal was to present a comprehensive description of both ecosystem services and LCA and to map common aspects that connect the two fields. The analysis was based on a comprehensive literature study, and a specific LCA-modeling of pellet production. At present, it is not possible to integrate the ecosystem-service concept into LCA-methodology, except for the few ecosystem services that to some extent already are covered in the methodology. The main obstacle is the lack of coherent approaches to map, classify, and foremost quantify ecosystem services, which is considered crucial for analyzing the impact on them. A large number of ecosystem services such as climate regulation, nutrient cycling, biodiversity and recreation can be influenced by pellet production but it is not possible to fully analyze these impacts with LCA. This is illustrated by the LCA-modeling on pellet production where only impacts on the services renewable resources and water use could be included. The possibilities to analyze ecosystem services within LCA vary due to the variation in knowledge about certain services. The present approaches for analyzing more services with LCA propose new environmental impact categories an aggregation of services into common units such as exergy and solar equivalents. The methods are limited due to the fact that they are not able to cover the diversity of the services. More research is needed to develop the approaches for analyzing impacts on ecosystem services through LCA.

It has become increasingly clear that dealing with present day environmental crises requires a holistic view that takes into account the interactions of social and ecological factors across multiple spatial and temporal scales. An example of where this new paradigm is being operationalized is the study of social-ecological systems. A substantial aspect of this growing research area aims to contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of the links between social-ecological systems, the ecosystem services they generate, and human well-being. This thesis summarizes the first part of a PhD project with the overall objective of unravelling some of these linkages using a mapping approach in South Africa, a country with high levels of social and ecological diversity. In the first paper, I present an approach to mapping social-ecological systems based on different bundles of ecosystem services. Mapping social-ecological systems has so far mainly been achieved by the overlay of separate social and ecological data. Here, I identify characteristic bundles of ecosystem services and use these bundle types as a proxy for different social-ecological systems in South Africa. The emergent pattern shows three distinct and spatially coherent systems that represent an overall low, medium and high level of ecosystem service use amongst households, and differs markedly from maps based on the overlay of social and ecological datasets. This approach not only identifies areas within South Africa where people are especially vulnerable to environmental changes that negatively affect ecosystem services, but also highlights areas in which distinctly different system dynamics operate in close proximity. It is especially in those areas where systems characterized by high and low dependence on ecosystem services lie side by side that nuanced and differentiated decision-making is required to sustainably manage ecosystem services in support of human well-being across all sectors of society. In the second paper I expand on the approach pioneered in Paper I by mapping human well-being bundles in South Africa. Mapping human well-being as bundles allows us to interrogate the trade-offs between different constituents of well-being at the sub-national scale, something that is not possible when measuring human well-being based on indicators or indices that reduce well-being to a single number. This approach also enables us to perform a spatial comparison between the levels of ecosystem service use (identified in Paper I) and human well-being, which signifies an important step forward in the development of quantitative tools for the analysis of the relationship between ecosystem services and human well-being at scales between the local and the national. / Governance of ecosystem services under scenarios of change in southern and eastern Africa

För att belysa värdeförlusten som utarmandet av ekosystem leder till och poängtera vårt beroende av naturen har begreppet ekosystemtjänster tagits i bruk. Ekosystemtjänster är samlingsnamnet på allt det vi får från naturen, så som syre, fibrer, rent vatten och naturupplevelser. I de nya kurspla-nerna i biologi (Skolverket, 2011a) tas ekosystemtjänster upp som centralt innehåll. Denna studie har till syfte att belysa hur lärare i årskurs 4-6 tolkar begreppet ekosystemtjänster i relation till sin undervisning, samt att undersöka vilka kunskapsemfaser lärarna ger uttryck för. Med kunskapsemfaser menas uppfattningar om varför vi undervisar om något. Data samlades in via semistrukturerade intervjuer med fyra lärare som undervisar i biologi i årskurs 4-6 på olika skolor. Resultatet av analysen visar att lärarna är mycket engagerade i under-visningen för hållbar utveckling. De lyfter fram förståelsen av naturens kretslopp och hänsynstagande till miljön som mycket viktigt. Lärarna tenderar att tolka begreppet ekosystemtjänster som ett nytt samlingsbegrepp för något de redan undervisar om, snarare än som ett nytt perspektiv. Under intervjuernas framskridande visar lärarna dock tecken på att fördjupa sitt resonemang kring ekosystemtjänster, vilket kan tyda på att en djupare och mer komplex förståelse kan komma att infinna sig när begreppet är väl implementerat. Kommentarmaterialet till kursplanen bidrar sannolikt till en snäv syn på ekosystemtjänster. Lärarna ger i huvudsak uttryck för de två kunskapsemfaserna som Östman (1992) benämner vardagsemfasen och naturvetenskap, normer och beslut, där syftet med kunskap är att eleverna bättre ska kunna agera i och förstå sin vardag.