Explore the vast range of titles available.

The article is an overview of the first manifestations of landscape aesthetic assessment, subsequent research and its development in Lithuania. It analyzes the first methodologies in Lithuania for assessment of landscape aesthetic resources, insights by different authors into the compositional structure of landscape architecture, development of aesthetic-psychological assessment and others aspects, which may be important to research of aesthetic potential of a landscape. Most important researches are reviewed in the chronological order by naming their essential distinctive features, in order to evaluate the development of landscape aesthetic assessment up to the present day. Article in: English Article published: 2014-05-22

Context Supply of freshwater to the world’s cities is increasingly affected by human pressures and climate change. Understanding the effects of human pressures and climate change on global urban water scarcity and quality risks in an integrated way is important. Objectives The objective of this study is to assess the scarcity and quality risks to water security for 304 large cities (population > 1 million) across the world for 2015 and 2050. Methods We assessed the water scarcity according to water demand and availability, and evaluated the quality of water supply in terms of the population density, cropland fertilization, and landscape patterns in source watersheds. In addition, the impacts of human pressures and climate change on urban water risks were quantified using contribution analysis. Results We found that about 90% of these cities faced water risks in 2015. The number of cities facing quality risk was about three times the number of cities facing scarcity risk, and nearly a quarter faced dual risks. From 2015 to 2050, 88.8–99.7% of cities were projected to face rising water risks with about one-third facing dual risks by 2050. Increase in water demand was the main cause of rising scarcity risk; growth in population and crop fertilization in source watersheds were the main reasons for rising quality risk. Conclusions There is an urgent need to promote landscape conservation of urban water source areas, implement sustainable urban water planning and governance, improve water supply infrastructure, and refine ecological compensation regimes to achieve global urban water security.

PurposeThe recently introduced concept of ‘landscape services’—ecosystem services influenced by landscape patterns—may be particularly useful in landscape planning by potentially increasing stakeholder participation and financial funding. However, integrating this concept remains challenging. In order to bypass this barrier, we must gain a greater understanding of how landscape composition and configuration influence the services provided.MethodsWe conducted meta-analyses that considered published studies evaluating the effects of several landscape metrics on the following services: pollination, pest control, water quality, disease control, and aesthetic value. We report the cumulative mean effect size (E++), where the signal of the values is related to positive or negative influences.ResultsLandscape complexity differentially influenced the provision of services. Particularly, the percentage of natural areas had an effect on natural enemies (E++ = 0.35), pollination (E++ = 0.41), and disease control (E++ = 0.20), while the percentage of no-crop areas had an effect on water quality (E++ = 0.42) and pest response (E++ = 0.33). Furthermore, heterogeneity had an effect on aesthetic value (E++ = 0.5) and water quality (E++ = − 0.40). Moreover, landscape aggregation was important to explaining pollination (E++ = 0.29) and water quality (E++ = 0.35).ConclusionsThe meta-analyses reinforce the importance of considering landscape structure in assessing ecosystem services for management purposes and decision-making. The magnitude of landscape effect varies according to the service being studied. Therefore, land managers must account for landscape composition and configuration in order to ensure the maintenance of services and adapt their approach to suit the focal service.

Context The study of landscape over different years through the analysis of different sources (cadasters, aerophotos, orthophotos, satellite images) is commonly used in landscape planning and in researches focusing on landscape and land use changes and transformations. Most of these studies, despite the scale and the period analyzed, tend to apply different methodologies, making it difficult to compare results and trends among different landscapes. The aim of the paper is to present the details of the Historical and Environmental Evaluation (VASA) methodology, highlighting the possible applications for landscape changes assessment, by presenting a specific study case as well as its use across different situations. VASA has been developed within the Department of Agricultural, Food, Environmental and Forestry Science and Technology (DAGRI) of the University of Florence to create a standard methodology for the monitoring of landscape transformations, and it was initially applied for the Regional Government of Tuscany (Italy). In 2012, VASA has been chosen by the Italian Ministry of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Forests for the assessment of the rural landscapes to be included in the official list of the National Register of Rural Landscapes of Historical Interest often representing the first step for rural landscapes to be proposed for the recognition by international programmes such as the UNESCO WHL (cultural landscapes) and the FAO GIAHS (Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems). Results This methodology is based on the photointerpretation of the same area in different years through the Geographic Information Systems (GIS) software, for creating detailed maps and databases of land uses. In addition, various metrics are calculated for evaluating the structure of the landscape mosaic and its transformations. Conclusions Compared to other multitemporal analyses, the VASA methodology is capable of providing reliable, measurable, and comparable data regarding land use characteristics, land use changes, landscape mosaic structure, main vulnerabilities, landscape trends, linear features presence and changes. This approach can be applied to different geographical contexts and for different aims, allowing to compare the results more accurately in different environmental and cultural situations, or for establishing landscape monitoring systems.

ContextConservation planning is increasingly using “coarse filters” based on the idea of conserving “nature’s stage”. One such approach is based on ecosystems and the concept of ecological integrity, although myriad ways exist to measure ecological integrity.ObjectivesTo describe our ecosystem-based index of ecological integrity (IEI) and its derivative index of ecological impact (ecoImpact), and illustrate their applications for conservation assessment and planning in the northeastern United States.MethodsWe characterized the biophysical setting of the landscape at the 30 m cell resolution using a parsimonious suite of settings variables. Based on these settings variables and mapped ecosystems, we computed a suite of anthropogenic stressor metrics reflecting intactness (i.e., freedom from anthropogenic stressors) and resiliency metrics (i.e., connectivity to similar neighboring ecological settings), quantile-rescaled them by ecosystem and geographic extent, and combined them in a weighted linear model to create IEI. We used the change in IEI over time under a land use scenario to compute ecoImpact.ResultsWe illustrated the calculation of IEI and ecoImpact to compare the ecological integrity consequences of a 70-year projection of urban growth to an alternative scenario involving securing a network of conservation core areas (reserves) from future development.ConclusionsIEI and ecoImpact offer an effective way to assess ecological integrity across the landscape and examine the potential ecological consequences of alternative land use and land cover scenarios to inform conservation decision making.

Context The establishment of an ecosystem health assessment framework from a human–environment view is vital to landscape sustainability. Although several studies have improved the assessment framework by integrating ecosystem services (ESs) supply or demand, consideration of the sustainable supply of ESs is lacking. Objectives The objective of this paper is to improve the current methodological framework by integrating ecological integrity and the sustainable supply of ESs to establish an ecosystem health assessment framework. Methods An improved assessment framework, including four indicators, vigor, organization, resilience, and ecosystem services supply rate, was established from the perspective of human–environment systems . Then, the performance of the improved assessment framework was demonstrated in a case study in China from 2000 to 2020. Results From 2000 to 2020, the overall spatial pattern of ecosystem health values in China was high in the southern and southeastern coastal regions, and low health values were mostly located in the western region, parts of Inner Mongolia, and metropolitan areas, with a descending trend from southeast to northwest. The imbalance between the potential and actual supply of ESs greatly contributed to the deterioration of regional ecosystem health. During the study period, the regional ecosystem in China was found to be in a more unhealthy state than in traditional Vigor-Organization-Resilience-Ecosystem services (VORES) evaluation. Conclusions The improved assessment framework that incorporates the ecological integrity and sustainable supply of ESs provides a new perspective for understanding the complex inherent characteristics of ecosystems and the regional human-nature connectedness in coupled human–environment systems. Our results could serve as a scientific reference for practical landscape governance in a changing world to achieve landscape sustainability.

ContextIt is essential for policy-making and planning that we understand landscapes not only in terms of landscape ecological patterns, but also in terms of their contribution to people's quality of life.ObjectivesIn this study our objective is to test relationships between landscape ecology and social science indicators, by investigating how landscape patterns are linked to people’s perception of landscape quality.MethodsTo assess public views on landscapes we conducted a survey among 858 respondents in Switzerland. We combined this survey data on perceived landscape quality and place attachment with landscape metrics (e.g. diversity, naturalness of land cover, urban sprawl, fragmentation) in a statistical model to test hypotheses about the relationships between the different variables of interest.ResultsOur results illustrate the contribution of both landscape composition metrics and social science indicators to understanding variation in people’s perception and assessment of landscape. For example, we found the landscape ecology metrics on urban sprawl and fragmentation to be a negative predictor of overall satisfaction with landscape, and that perceived landscape quality positively predicted place attachment and satisfaction with the municipality landscape.ConclusionsThis study highlights the importance and feasibility of combining landscape ecology metrics and public survey data on how people perceive, value and relate to landscape in an integrated manner. Our approach has the potential for implementation across a variety of settings and can contribute to holistic and integrated landscape assessments that combine ecological and socio-cultural aspects.

Context Implementing heterogeneous rural landscapes with high agricultural diversity and a substantial proportion of natural habitats has been proposed to ensure food production while reducing negative impacts on ecosystem services. However, evidence of an increased supply of ecosystem services (ES) in more heterogeneous landscapes remains limited, with no consensus. Objectives To evaluate the effect of the spatial cropland system’s diversity and landscape configuration on indicators of the supply of ES in agricultural landscapes of the Rio de la Plata Grasslands region. Methods We analyzed the relationship between indicators of ES supply and the heterogeneity of 1121 microwatersheds. We assessed the Ecosystem Services Supply Index (ESSI), the Hydrological Yield (HY), and the Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (APAR) in agricultural areas. We calculated the average grassland patch area, the structural and functional cropland diversity, the cropland percentage, and the grasslands’ juxtaposition to assess landscape heterogeneity. Results Microwatersheds with higher cropland functional diversity showed higher values for indicators of ES supply. They were positively related to the ESSI and APAR, and negatively with HY, indicating positive effects on Carbon gains and water regulation processes. In contrast, grasslands’ juxtaposition had opposite effects to those of cropland functional diversity, so the spatial segregation of grasslands favored the ES supply. Conclusions Functional cropland diversification and the segregation of natural grasslands improved proxies of ES and counteracted the negative effects of cropland amount. These findings contribute to the design of multifunctional landscapes and suggest that cropland functional diversity and grassland configuration should be considered in food production systems aimed at preserving ES supply.

ContextLandscape quality assessment provides a contextual basis for integrating cultural ecosystem services within landscape management and policy. However, measuring landscape visual quality remains a challenge; especially in the Balkans with its complex environmental and socio-cultural history.ObjectivesIn response, we present a first assessment of landscape visual quality across Shar Planina, North Macedonia and test the transferability of a visual quality assessment method (VQI) originally developed to evaluate Northwest European landscapes.MethodsThis study includes remote (GIS) and field assessment. The latter produced quality measures which were summarized, scaled and weighted into an index (0–1.0) and served as a ground-truth dataset for subsequent GIS assessment. To assess how spatial scale affects the VQI and what scale is most appropriate to capture perceived landscape quality, the remote assessment was applied at scales ranging from 1 to 5 km2 and results were then correlated to field assessment results.ResultsValues for the field VQI range from 0.2 to 0.82 whilst the values from the remote assessment applied at 1 km2 range from 0.1 to 0.74 and increase to 0.77, 0.84 and 0.86 at 2 km2, 3 km2 and 5 km2 respectively. Strongest correlation between the GIS and the field assessment was observed at 2 km2, which captured detail whilst remaining appropriate to the perceived landscape.ConclusionsOur research allows consideration of this cultural ecosystem service within the wider conservation efforts on Shar Planina and provides methodological guidelines for assessments of visual quality of mountainous landscapes elsewhere in the region.