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Policies and research increasingly focus on the protection of ecosystem services (ESs) through priority-area conservation. Priority areas for ESs should be identified based on ES capacity and ES demand and account for the connections between areas of ES capacity and demand (flow) resulting in areas of unique demand-supply connections (flow zones). We tested ways to account for ES demand and flow zones to identify priority areas in the European Union. We mapped the capacity and demand of a global (carbon sequestration), a regional (flood regulation), and 3 local ESs (air quality, pollination, and urban leisure). We used Zonation software to identify priority areas for ESs based on 6 tests: with and without accounting for ES demand and 4 tests that accounted for the effect of ES flow zone. There was only 37.1% overlap between the 25% of priority areas that encompassed the most ESs with and without accounting for ES demand. The level of ESs maintained in the priority areas increased from 23.2% to 57.9% after accounting for ES demand, especially for ESs with a small flow zone. Accounting for flow zone had a small effect on the location of priority areas and level of ESs maintained but resulted in fewer flow zones without ES maintained relative to ignoring flow zones. Accounting for demand and flow zones enhanced representation and distribution of ESs with local to regional flow zones without large trade-offs relative to the global ES. We found that ignoring ES demand led to the identification of priority areas in remote regions where benefits from ES capacity to society were small. Incorporating ESs in conservation planning should therefore always account for ES demand to identify an effective priority network for ESs. Las políticas y las investigaciones cada vez más se enfocan en la protección de los servicios ambientales (SAs) por medio de la conservación de áreas prioritarias. Las áreas prioritarias para los SAs deberían ser identificadas con base en la capacidad de SAs y la demanda de SAs, y deberían representar las conexiones entre las áreas de capacidad de SAs y la demanda (flujo), resultando así en áreas de conexiones únicas de demanda y suministro (zonas de flujo). Probamos maneras para representar la demanda de SAs y las zonas de flujo para identificar las áreas prioritarias en la Unión Europea. Mapeamos la capacidad y la demanda de un SA global (secuestro de carbono), regional (regulación de inundación), y tres locales (calidad del aire, polinización, y tiempo libre urbano). Usamos el software Zonation para identificar las áreas prioritarias para los SAs con base en seis experimentos: con y sin representación de la demanda de los SAs, y cuatro experimentos que representaron el efecto de la zona de flujo de los SAs. Sólo hubo un traslape de 37.1 % entre el 25 % de las áreas prioritarias que englobaron la mayoría de los SAs con y sin representación de la demanda de SAs. El nivel de los SAs que se mantuvo en las áreas prioritarias incrementó de un 23.2 % a 57.9 % después de considerar la demanda de los SAs, especialmente para aquellos SAs con una zona de flujo reducida. Representar la zona de flujo tuvo un pequeño efecto sobre la ubicación de las áreas prioritarias y el nivel de SAs que se mantuvo, pero resultó en menos zonas de flujo sin SAs mantenidos en relación a ignorar las zonas de flujo. Representar la demanda y las zonas de flujo mejoró la representación y distribución de los SAs con zonas de flujo de regionales a locales sin compensaciones grandes en relación al SA global. Hallamos que ignorar la demanda de SAs llevó a la identificación de las áreas prioritarias en las regiones remotas en donde los beneficios de la capacidad de los SAs para la sociedad fueron pequeños. Incorporar los SAs a la planeación de la conservación por lo tanto debería siempre representar a la demanda de los SAs para identificar una red efectiva de prioridades para los SAs. reducida. Representar la zona de flujo tuvo un pequeño efecto sobre la ubicación de las áreas prioritarias y el nivel de SAs que se mantuvo, pero resultó en menos zonas de flujo sin SAs mantenidos en relación a ignorar las zonas de flujo. Representar la demanda y las zonas de flujo mejoró la representación y distribución de los SAs con zonas de flujo de regionales a locales sin compensaciones grandes en relación al SA global. Hallamos que ignorar la demanda de SAs llevó a la identificación de las áreas prioritarias en las regiones remotas en donde los beneficios de la capacidad de los SAs para la sociedad fueron pequeños. Incorporar los SAs a la planeación de la conservación por lo tanto debería siempre representar a la demanda de los SAs para identificar una red efectiva de prioridades para los SAs.

The prosperity and well-being of human societies relies on healthy ecosystems and the services they provide. However, the biodiversity crisis is undermining ecosystems services and functions. Vultures are among the most imperiled taxonomic groups on Earth, yet they have a fundamental ecosystem function. These obligate scavengers rapidly consume large amounts of carrion and human waste, a service that may aid in both disease prevention and control of mammalian scavengers, including feral dogs, which in turn threaten humans. We combined information about the distribution of all 15 vulture species found in Europe, Asia, and Africa with their threats and used detailed expert knowledge on threat intensity to prioritize critical areas for conserving vultures in Africa and Eurasia. Threats we identified included poisoning, mortality due to collision with wind energy infrastructures, and other anthropogenic activities related to human land use and influence. Areas important for vulture conservation were concentrated in southern and eastern Africa, South Asia, and the Iberian Peninsula, and over 80% of these areas were unprotected. Some vulture species required larger areas for protection than others. Finally, countries that had the largest share of all identified important priority areas for vulture conservation were those with the largest expenditures related to rabies burden (e.g., India, China, and Myanmar). Vulture populations have declined markedly in most of these countries. Restoring healthy vulture populations through targeted actions in the priority areas we identified may help restore the ecosystem services vultures provide, including sanitation and potentially prevention of diseases, such as rabies, a heavy burden afflicting fragile societies. Our findings may guide stakeholders to prioritize actions where they are needed most in order to achieve international goals for biodiversity conservation and sustainable development. La prosperidad y el bienestar de la sociedad humana dependen de ecosistemas sanos y de los servicios ambientales que éstosproporcionan. Sin embargo, la crisisde biodiversidadestá afectandoa los servicios ambientales y sus funciones. Los buitres se encuentran entre los grupos taxonómicos con mayor amenaza sobre el planeta, a pesar de tener una función fundamental en los ecosistemas. Estos carroñeros obligados consumen rápidamente grandes cantidades de carroña y desechos humanos, un servicio que puede ayudar en la prevención de enfermedades y en el control de mamíferos carroñeros, incluyendo a los perros ferales, los cuales pueden ser un peligro para los humanos. Combinamos la información sobre la distribución de las 15 especies de buitres en Europa, Asia y África con las amenazas que presentan y usamos el conocimiento detallado de expertos sobre la intensidad de las amenazas para priorizar las áreas críticas para la conservación de buitres en África y en Eurasia. Las amenazas que identificamos incluyeron el envenenamiento, la mortalidad por colisiones con infraestructura eólica y otras actividades antropogénicas relacionadas con el uso de suelo y la influencia humana. Las áreas importantes para la conservación de buitres estuvieron concentradas en el sur y el este de África, el sur de Asia y la Península Ibérica, y más del 80% de estas áreas no contaban con protección. Algunas especies de buitres requirieron áreas más grandes para su protección que otras especies. Finalmente, los países que tuvieron la mayor porción de todas las áreas prioritarias importantes e identificadas para la conservación de buitres también fueron aquellos con los mayores gastos relacionados con la carga de la rabia (por ejemplo, India, China y Myanmar). Las poblaciones de buitres han declinado marcadamente en la mayoría de estos países. La restauración de poblaciones sanas de buitres por medio de acciones enfocadas en las áreas prioritarias que identificamos puede ayudar a restaurar los servicios ambientales que proporcionan los buitres, incluyendo el saneamiento y la prevención potencial de enfermedades, como la rabia, una carga pesada que aflige a las sociedades frágiles. Nuestros resultados pueden guiar a los interesados hacia la priorización de acciones en donde más se necesitan para poder alcanzar los objetivos internacionales para la conservación de la biodiversidad y el desarrollo sustentable. 人类社会的繁荣昌盛依赖于健康的生态系统及其所提供的服务。然而，生物多祥性危机芷在破坏生态系 统的服务和功能。秃鹰是地球上最濒危的类群之一，而它们却能提供基础的生态系统功能。它们作为专性食腐 动物可以快速消耗大量腐肉及人类废弃物，提供的生态系统服务有助于预防疾病，以及控制哺乳类食腐动物，如 会对人类造成威胁的野狗。我们将欧洲、亚洲和非洲的全部+ 五种秃鹰的分布信息与其面临的威胁相结合，利 用详细的关于威胁强度的专业知识, 确定了非洲及欧亚关键的秃鹰保护优先地区。秃鹰面临的威胁包括中毒、 撞击风能设施导致的死亡，以及与人类土地利用和影响有关的其它人类活动。秃鹰的重点保护区域集中在非洲 南部和东部、南非和利比亚半岛，这些地区超过80%的土地没有得到保护。另外，秃鹰中某些物种相比之下需 要更大区域进行保护。我们还发现,秃鹰的重要优先保护区域占比最大的国家同时也是那呰在狂犬病上的支出 最高的国家(如印度、中国、缅甸)，而其中大多数国家的秃鹰种群数量已经明显下降。通过在我们确定的优先 保护区域采取有针对性的行动来恢复健康的秃鹰种群，可能有助于恢复秃鹰提供的生态系统服务，包括环境卫 生和预防潜在疾病，比如狂犬病这种沉重的社会负担。我们的研究成果可以指导利益相关者在需求最迫切的地 方优先采取行动，以实现生物多祥性保护和可持续发展的国际目标。

The stability of permafrost is of fundamental importance to socio-economic well-being and ecological services, involving broad impacts to hydrological cycling, global budgets of greenhouse gases and infrastructure safety. This study presents a biophysical permafrost zonation map that uses a rule-based geographic information system (GIS) model integrating global climate and ecological datasets to classify and map permafrost regions (totaling 19.76 × 10 6 km 2 , excluding glaciers and lakes) in the Northern Hemisphere into five types: climate-driven (CD) (19% of area), CD/ecosystem-modified (41%), CD/ecosystem protected (3%), ecosystem-driven (29%), and ecosystem-protected (8%). Overall, 81% of the permafrost regions in the Northern Hemisphere are modified, driven, or protected by ecosystems, indicating the dominant role of ecosystems in permafrost stability in the Northern Hemisphere. Permafrost driven solely by climate occupies 19% of permafrost regions, mainly in High Arctic and high mountains areas, such as the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau. This highlights the importance of reducing ecosystem disturbances (natural and human activity) to help slow permafrost degradation and lower the related risks from a warming climate.

This study analyzes tide transformation in the Guadalquivir estuary (SW Spain). When fresh water discharges are less than 40 m3/s, the estuary is tidally‐dominated (flood‐dominated) and well mixed. Under such conditions, the estuary can be divided into three stretches, each characterized by a different tide propagation process. In the first stretch of 25 km, the dominant process is diffusion. In the next stretch, approximately over 35 km length, convergence and friction processes are in balance. At the head of the estuary, in the last stretch, the tidal motion is partially standing because of tidal reflection on the Alcalá del Río dam, located 110 km upstream from the estuary mouth. The reflection coefficient R varies with the frequency; for diurnal constituents its magnitude ∣RD∣ is 0.25; this value increases in the case of semi‐diurnal (∣RS∣ ≈ 0.40), and quarter‐diurnal constituents (∣RQ∣ ≈ 0.65), and reaches its minimum at the sixth‐diurnal components (∣RX∣ ≈ 0.10). The tidal reflection can generate residual currents that have consequences in the bed morphology. Furthermore, when the fresh water discharges are greater than 400 m3/s, the estuary is fluvially‐dominated and the water level can be calculated as the linear superposition of tide and river contributions. However, superposition arguments do not hold for currents at any point in the estuary. Key Points The prominent tidal reflection at the head controls estuarine morphohydrodynamics The estuary is divided into 3 stretches based on the dominant tidal processes Three years of hydrodynamic data from 29 moorings were analyzed

Landslides are the most destructive geological hazard in the hilly regions. For systematic landslide mitigation and management, landslide evaluation and hazard zonation is required. Over the past few decades several techniques have been developed that can be used for landslide evaluation and zonation. These techniques can broadly be classified into qualitative and quantitative approaches. Qualitative approaches include geomorphological analysis and heuristic techniques whereas quantitative approaches include statistical, artificial intelligence and deterministic techniques. In quantitative techniques prediction for landslide susceptibility is based on the actual realistic data and interpretations. Further, the quantitative techniques also overcome the subjectivity of qualitative approaches. Each of these techniques may consider different causative factors and utilizes various means for factor evaluation and analysis. When compared, each of these techniques has its own advantage and disadvantage over other techniques. The selection of appropriate technique for landslide hazard evaluation and zonation is very crucial. The factors that need to be considered to adopt an appropriate approach are; investigation purpose, the extent of the area to be covered, the type of mapping units, the scale of map to be produced, type of data to be used, type of landslides, availability of resources, capability and skill set of an evaluator and the accessibility to the study area. The main aim of this article is to present a comprehensive review on various techniques and approaches available for landslide susceptibility and hazard zonation mapping. Further, attempt is also made to assess the effectiveness of these techniques in landslide hazard zonation studies.

ContextSpatial conservation prioritization (SCP) has most often been applied to the design of reserve network expansion. In addition to occurrences of species and habitats inside protected area candidate sites, one may also be interested about network-level connectivity considerations.ObjectivesWe applied SCP to the identification of ecological networks to inform the development of a new regional plan for the region of Uusimaa (South-Finland, including the Finnish capital district).MethodsInput data were 59 high-quality layers of biotope and species distribution data. We identified ecological networks based on a combination of a Zonation balanced priority ranking map and a weighted range size rarity map, to account for both relative and absolute conservation values in the process. We also identified ecological corridors between protected areas and other ecologically high-priority areas using the corridor retention method of Zonation. Furthermore, we identified candidate sites for habitat restoration.ResultsWe found seven large ecological networks (132–1201 km2) which stand out from their surrounding landscape in terms of ecological value and have clear connectivity bottlenecks between them. Highest restoration needs were found between large high-priority sites that are connected via remnant habitat fragments in comparatively highly modified areas.ConclusionsLand conversion should be avoided in areas of highest ecological priorities and network-level connectivity. Restoration should be considered for connectivity bottlenecks. Methods described here can be applied in any location where relevant spatial data are available. The present results are actively used by the regional council and municipalities in the region of Uusimaa.

Liver zonation characterizes the separation of metabolic pathways along the lobules and is required for optimal function. Wnt/β-catenin signaling controls metabolic zonation by activating genes in the perivenous hepatocytes, while suppressing genes in the periportal counterparts. We now demonstrate that glucagon opposes the actions of Wnt/β-catenin signaling on gene expression and metabolic zonation pattern. The effects were more pronounced in the periportal hepatocytes where 28% of all genes were activated by glucagon and inhibited by Wnt/β-catenin. The glucagon and Wnt/β-catenin receptors and their signaling pathways are uniformly distributed in periportal and perivenous hepatocytes and the expression is not regulated by the opposing signal. Collectively, our results show that glucagon controls gene expression and metabolic zonation in the liver through a counterplay with the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway.

Quantitative X-ray element maps of cassiterite crystals from four localities show that Ti, Fe, Nb, Ta, and W define oscillatory zonation patterns and that the cathodoluminescent response is due to a complex interplay between Ti activated emission paired with quenching effects from Fe, Nb, Ta, and W. Sector zonation is commonly highlighted by domains of high Fe, incorporated via a substitution mechanism independent of Nb and Ta. A second form of sector zonation is highlighted by distributions of W separate to the Fe-dominant sector zone. Both sector zones show quenched cathodoluminescence and are indistinguishable under routine SEM CL imaging. For cassiterite already high in Fe (and Nb or Ta), such as in pegmatitic or granitic samples, the internal structure of the grain may remain obscured when imaged by cathodoluminescence techniques, regardless of the presence of sector zonation. Careful petrogenetic assessments using a combination of panchromatic and hyperspectral CL, aided by quantitative elemental X-ray mapping, is a prerequisite step to elucidate cassiterite petrogenetic history and properly characterize these grains for in situ microanalysis. The absence of a clear petrogenetic framework may lead to unknowingly poor spot selection during in situ analyses for geochronology and trace element geochemistry, and/or erroneous interpretations of U-Pb and O isotopic data.

1. Many characteristics of the salt marsh environment covary with elevation. It has therefore proved difficult to determine which environmental characteristics limit the distributions of particular species in the field. Oxygen supply to the rhizosphere may be particularly important, as it is determined by the duration and frequency of flooding. 2. The re‐activation of a salt marsh by managed coastal realignment provided an opportunity to investigate the large‐scale manipulation of environmental effects on halophyte distribution in a situation where the usual relationships between environmental characteristics, elevation and succession had been partially uncoupled. 3. Most locations sampled lay between mean neap and mean spring tidal levels. As expected, anoxic conditions occurred at lower elevation, redox potential increased generally with elevation and sediments were oxic on the upper parts. However, sediment oxygenation at any given elevation was variable, particularly at intermediate levels in the tidal range. This imperfect correlation between elevation and sediment redox allowed quantification of their independent effects on species distributions using the statistical technique of Hierarchical Partitioning. 4. Effects of elevation and sediment redox potential were distinguishable from each other. Salicornia europaea occurred predominantly at lower elevation but was not influenced by redox potential. Puccinellia maritima favoured low redox potentials independently of elevation. In contrast, Suaeda maritima tolerated a wide range of elevations but was absent from areas with low redox potential. Atriplex portulacoides was apparently more averse to low redox potential than to low elevation. Elytrigia atherica was restricted to both high redox potential and high elevation. Smaller independent effects of sediment depth, salinity, water content, nitrate concentration, shear strength and loss on ignition were apparent for some species. 5. Synthesis. Although much of the elevational zonation of species on salt marshes is mediated by differential tolerance of the consequences of co‐linearly varying variables, particularly sediment anoxia and elevation, these variables have independent effects that are quantifiable in the field. Hierarchical Partitioning provides a valuable tool for distinguishing the mechanisms underlying species zonations on environmental gradients, especially where large‐scale environmental manipulations have partially decoupled the usual co‐linear variation.