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Land use scenario modelling with multi-criteria evaluation is an important tool for identifying integrated solutions to challenges such as biodiversity loss, climate change, and food production. Ideally, such models should identify efficient solutions from a large set of potential futures. Here, we generate 10,000 random future land use pathways for the UK, with each pathway deploying a randomly-drawn quantity of eight land-based climate change mitigation measures. We show that there are multiple paths to a net zero UK land sector, with wide-ranging impacts on food production and habitat availability for breeding birds. Whilst trade-offs are inherent, we identify pathways which are more efficient than a previous exercise which considered a more limited set of futures. We also explore the consequences of achieving efficiency at different spatial or governance scales, showing that whilst UK-scale decision-making is slightly more efficient, it results in less equitable outcomes than decision-making at devolved nation scales.

Despite growing recognition that mineral sites restored for nature conservation can enhance local biodiversity, the wider societal benefits provided by this type of restoration relative to alternative options are not well understood. This study addresses this research gap by quantifying differences in ecosystem services provision under two common mineral site after-uses: nature conservation and agriculture. Using a combination of site-specific primary field data, benefits transfer and modelling, we show that for our sites restoration for nature conservation provides a more diverse array of ecosystem services than would be delivered under an agricultural restoration scenario. We also explore the effects of addressing different conservation targets, which we find alter the provision of ecosystem services on a service-specific basis. Highly species-focused intervention areas are associated with increased carbon storage and livestock grazing provision, whereas non-intervention areas are important for carbon sequestration, fishing, recreation and flood risk mitigation. The results of this study highlight the wider societal importance of restored mineral sites and may help conservation managers and planners to develop future restoration strategies that provide benefits for both biodiversity and human well-being.

There is an increasing emphasis on the restoration of ecosystem services as well as of biodiversity, especially where restoration projects are planned at a landscape scale. This increase in the diversity of restoration aims has a number of conceptual and practical implications for the way that restoration projects are monitored and evaluated. Landscape-scale projects require monitoring of not only ecosystem services and biodiversity but also of ecosystem processes since these can underpin both. Using the experiences gained at a landscape-scale wetland restoration project in the UK, we discuss a number of issues that need to be considered, including the choice of metrics for monitoring ecosystem services and the difficulties of assessing the interactions between ecosystem processes, biodiversity, and ecosystem services. Particular challenges that we identify, using two pilot data sets, include the decoupling of monetary metrics used for monitoring ecosystem services from biophysical change on the ground and the wide range of factors external to a project that influence the monitoring results. We highlight the fact that the wide range of metrics necessary to evaluate the ecosystem service, ecosystem process, and biodiversity outcomes of landscape-scale projects presents a number of practical challenges, including the need for high levels of varied expertise, high costs, incommensurate monitoring outputs, and the need for careful management of monitoring results, especially where they may be used in making decisions about the relative importance of project aims.

Agriculture on drained lowland peat, though very productive, contributes significantly to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. One potential solution is to implement paludiculture: an agricultural system of cropping with raised water tables. Despite the potential for reducing GHG emissions, little is known about the impact of paludiculture on biodiversity. We carried out breeding bird surveys using point counts to investigate bird habitat associations in cattail (Typha spp.) paludiculture at 10 trial sites in the Netherlands. We also performed point counts at nine nearby natural wetland sites and nine agricultural grassland sites for comparison. We modelled the results using generalised linear mixed model and analysis of similarities to understand differences in bird abundance and community composition between these land uses. Paludiculture hosted a range of generalist and wetland specialist bird species, including several that are considered of European or global conservation concern. Predicted bird abundance in paludiculture was comparable to natural wetland (30.8 birds per ha; standard error: ±7.85; and 31.5 ± 10.5, respectively) and significantly higher than on grasslands (10.5 ± 3.23, p < 0.01). Community composition in paludiculture was between that of wetlands and grasslands. While some wetland specialists were recorded in paludiculture, they were at lower abundance than in wetlands, and not all wetland specialists were present in paludiculture. The only species present in both paludiculture and grassland were those which forage in both habitats and are considered generalists. Practical implication. Our study shows that paludiculture can support overall bird abundance on par with wetlands, and function as a habitat bridging agricultural and wetland species assemblages by providing resources for both generalist and wetland‐associated species. These results suggest that paludiculture can be a multifunctional land use, enhancing biodiversity in addition to other known benefits. Re‐wetting drained peat for Typha paludiculture provides a productive, low‐emission land use that can support diverse bird communities. Across 28 sites in the Netherlands, breeding bird abundance in paludiculture was comparable to that in natural wetlands and more than three times higher than in improved grasslands. Community composition was intermediate between wetland and farmland assemblages, indicating that paludiculture can act as a bridging habitat, supporting both wetland‐associated and generalist species. These findings highlight the potential for paludiculture to deliver biodiversity benefits alongside climate mitigation on re‐wetted peatlands.

Restoration of degraded land is recognized by the international community as an important way of enhancing both biodiversity and ecosystem services, but more information is needed about its costs and benefits. In Cambridgeshire, U.K., a long‐term initiative to convert drained, intensively farmed arable land to a wetland habitat mosaic is driven by a desire both to prevent biodiversity loss from the nationally important Wicken Fen National Nature Reserve (Wicken Fen NNR) and to increase the provision of ecosystem services. We evaluated the changes in ecosystem service delivery resulting from this land conversion, using a new Toolkit for Ecosystem Service Site‐based Assessment (TESSA) to estimate biophysical and monetary values of ecosystem services provided by the restored wetland mosaic compared with the former arable land. Overall results suggest that restoration is associated with a net gain to society as a whole of$199 ha−1y−1, for a one‐off investment in restoration of $ 2320 ha−1. Restoration has led to an estimated loss of arable production of$2040 ha−1y−1, but estimated gains of $ 671 ha−1y−1 in nature‐based recreation,$120 ha−1y−1 from grazing, $ 48 ha−1y−1 from flood protection, and a reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions worth an estimated$72 ha−1y−1. Management costs have also declined by an estimated $ 1325 ha−1y−1. Despite uncertainties associated with all measured values and the conservative assumptions used, we conclude that there was a substantial gain to society as a whole from this land‐use conversion. The beneficiaries also changed from local arable farmers under arable production to graziers, countryside users from towns and villages, and the global community, under restoration. We emphasize that the values reported here are not necessarily transferable to other sites. A detailed site‐scale assessment of benefits and costs of the conversion of arable land to wetland has been carried out in terms of ecosystem service values in the two states. It shows that restoration is associated with a net gain to society of $199 ha−1y−1 and that the balance of benficiaries shifts from the private to the public sector.

Understanding the trade‐offs between yield, ecosystem services, and other societal benefits is a fundamental prerequisite for the sustainable intensification of agriculture. Here, we develop and test an holistic approach to assessing farm performance across production, social, financial, and environmental dimensions. A longlist of potential indicators was reduced to a smaller subset of Headline Indicators, covering financial performance, levels of food production (standardized in terms of energy content), social characteristics of the farmer (including age, level of education, and degree of business cooperation), hours worked on the farm and provision of public access, and environmental quality (including impacts on climate regulation and water quality). A new index for biodiversity was created and validated, based on land use and management. Data were collected from 59 English and Welsh farms, using a questionnaire structured to be similar to the UK Farm Business Survey. Data were analyzed per farm and per unit area. The main overall variation in Headline Indicators was due to positive relationships between production, profitability and predicted levels of nitrate and GHG emissions, while social variables and biodiversity were generally unrelated to production. Cereal production was associated with relatively low levels of GHG emissions per unit of food production. There were strong differences in indicator profiles between farm types. Such metrics have value in helping understand how best to drive sustainable intensification, especially as it should involve reducing the pollution footprint of food production. Here we develop an holistic approach to assessing farm using indicators covering financial performance, food production, social characteristics, and environmental quality (including GHG emissions and a new index of biodiversity). This was applied to 59 farms. There were strong differences in indicator profiles between farm types, and positive relationships between production, profitability and predicted levels of pollution, while social variables and biodiversity were generally unrelated to production.

Capsule Chick diet varies seasonally and between wet and dry habitats, and there is little evidence for a link between habitat type and productivity. Aim To examine the influence of habitat composition and diversity on Tree Sparrow productivity and nestling diet in a wide variety of locations across the UK. Methods Productivity, chick diet and habitat data were collected from Tree Sparrow nestbox colonies by volunteer bird-ringers in 2002. Nestling diet was assessed by identification of invertebrate remains in faecal sacs. Results Clutch size was significantly higher for Tree Sparrows breeding in farmland than for those in wetland colonies. This did not translate into increased productivity. There was no other evidence of any effect of habitat or nestling diet composition on annual productivity. Diet composition varied seasonally, with habitat type and between individual sites. Conclusions Tree sparrows are capable of successful breeding in a range of habitats, where they utilize a wide range of invertebrate prey types. Lack of evidence for a relationship between habitat composition and productivity within this study may be the result of Tree Sparrows on farmland being restricted to areas providing adequate invertebrate food resources. To reduce the probability of Tree Sparrow populations on farmland being limited by chick food invertebrates, conservation measures aimed at population recovery should include the provision of habitats to support a range of high value invertebrate taxa throughout the protracted breeding season. Mechanisms to provide such habitats are already available within existing UK agri-environment schemes.

Conservation tillage (CT) (seed-bed preparation without soil inversion (Holland 2004, Anon. 2001)) has become widely adopted in North and South America, and more recently within Europe, mostly because of agronomic benefits as well as reductions in soil erosion and diffuse pollution to water (Holland 2004). The proportions of crop cover, weed cover, previous crop residue cover and bare ground in 1 m^sup 2^ surrounding each nest were estimated, and maximum crop height measured.

There is an increasing emphasis on the restoration of ecosystem services as well as of biodiversity, especially where restoration projects are planned at a landscape scale. This increase in the diversity of restoration aims has a number of conceptual and practical implications for the way that restoration projects are monitored and evaluated. Landscape-scale projects require monitoring of not only ecosystem services and biodiversity but also of ecosystem processes since these can underpin both. Using the experiences gained at a landscape-scale wetland restoration project in the UK, we discuss a number of issues that need to be considered, including the choice of metrics for monitoring ecosystem services and the difficulties of assessing the interactions between ecosystem processes, biodiversity, and ecosystem services. Particular challenges that we identify, using two pilot data sets, include the decoupling of monetary metrics used for monitoring ecosystem services from biophysical change on the ground and the wide range of factors external to a project that influence the monitoring results. We highlight the fact that the wide range of metrics necessary to evaluate the ecosystem service, ecosystem process, and biodiversity outcomes of landscape-scale projects presents a number of practical challenges, including the need for high levels of varied expertise, high costs, incommensurate monitoring outputs, and the need for careful management of monitoring results, especially where they may be used in making decisions about the relative importance of project aims.

Despite growing recognition that mineral sites restored for nature conservation can enhance local biodiversity, the wider societal benefits provided by this type of restoration relative to alternative options are not well understood. This study addresses this research gap by quantifying differences in ecosystem services provision under two common mineral site after-uses: nature conservation and agriculture. Using a combination of site-specific primary field data, benefits transfer and modelling, we show that for our sites restoration for nature conservation provides a more diverse array of ecosystem services than would be delivered under an agricultural restoration scenario. We also explore the effects of addressing different conservation targets, which we find alter the provision of ecosystem services on a service-specific basis. Highly species-focused intervention areas are associated with increased carbon storage and livestock grazing provision, whereas non-intervention areas are important for carbon sequestration, fishing, recreation and flood risk mitigation. The results of this study highlight the wider societal importance of restored mineral sites and may help conservation managers and planners to develop future restoration strategies that provide benefits for both biodiversity and human well-being.