Browsing by Subject "ecosystem services"

The objective of this study is to assess the willingness to pay of the Finnish public for improvements in the ecological status of the Gulf of Finland using the choice experiment method (CE). The change in the status of the environment is described with four attributes that contribute to the provision of ecosystem services in the Baltic Sea: (1) the populations of key species (including species of mammals, birds, fish, invertebrates and plants), (2) the visibility of the key species, (3) the intensity and duration of algal blooms, and (4) possibilities for recreational fishing. The study considers moderate and substantial improvement scenarios resulting from a range of management measures proposed under the marine strategy framework directive (MSFD), and estimates the accruing benefits with multinomial logit and random parameters logit models. The results of the study show that significant benefits could occur for the Finns if improvements in the environmental status of the Gulf of Finland are achieved. Reduction in algal blooms was found to be most important to the respondents followed closely by improvements in the populations of key species. The third most important attribute was the recreational fishing possibilities, while significantly smaller willingness to pay values was estimated on the visibility of key species. This thesis is conducted within the European Union funded ODEMM project. The overall aim of the project is to develop management options and operational procedures to help in achieving the objectives of the MSFD and implementing ecosystem based marine management.

Plantation forestry has increased dramatically in Uruguay during the past 25 years. Thus, planted forests have an increasing importance in providing other ecosystem services in addition to wood provision in landscape scale. Forest sector company UPM owns more than 250 000 hectares of Eucalyptus plantations in Uruguay. UPM seeks to enhance their systems to measure and monitor ecosystem services, to better understand sustainable provision of ecosystem services in their plantation landscapes, and to mitigate negative and maximize positive impacts. Benefits of monitoring and incorporating ecosystem services at management level include strengthened decision-making and communication, license to operate in long-term and better corporate image. Four ecosystem services were selected for analysis based on their relevance in UPM’s corporate strategy: wood provision, climate regulation, water provision and biodiversity maintenance. Provision of the ecosystem services were estimated quantitatively and compared to a pasture land baseline. Provision of ecosystem services was also linked to product level, tonne of pulp, when applicable. Data for the analysis was partly provided by UPM and partly by literature meta-analysis. Climate benefit of converting pasture to Eucalyptus is 8–31 MgC/ha or 29–115 MgCO2/ha depending on species and rotation number. Planting 40% of a micro water-shed with Eucalyptus reduces water streamflow approximately by 20–27%, while reducing streamflow of peak rainfall months by up to 40%, potentially alleviating floods. Pastures in UPM’s landscapes are well connected, but provided little core habitats. Native riparian forests are fragmented and maintain biodiversity poorly. Suggestions for future monitoring and measuring are presented. This thesis works as a waypoint for future studies of holistic ecosystem services provision in UPM assets.

Wetlands are one of the most diverse ecosystems in the world. They provide numerous different ecosystem services and their importance has been acknowledged internationally. However, the number and extent of wetlands has continued decreasing globally and the increasing population poses threats on more and more wetlands. The Life+ Urban Oases project (fin. Keidas-hanke), that has made this Masters Thesis possible, has pursued to bring wetlands into urban areas, where the ecosystem services, such as flood control, which they provide can be utilized to compensate for challenges brought about by changes in land use. Urban wetlands provide local population recreational and relaxing green oases. Urban wetlands also provide natural system stormwater management mitigating water quality and habitats. It is predicted that climate change will increase severity of weather extremes. Especially the probability of heavy rainstorms is expected to increase in Finland which will emphasize better stormwater management. The value of ecosystem services provided by stormwater wetlands has not been previously measured in Finland. Furthermore, beliefs of people on constructed or created wetlands in general has been studied very little. This study had two objectives: 1) To evaluate the value of the ecosystem services of constructed urban and agricultural wetlands within the Municipality of Vihti. This was carried out within the Lake Enäjärvi watershed. 2) To study what are the attitudes, perceptions and beliefs of the Vihti residents towards constructed wetlands. The study was conducted with the help of a questionnaire which was sent to 1000 Vihti residents. The valuation was conducted with the choice experiment method. There were four different attributes in total: 1. recreational possibilities, 2. number of plant and animal species, 3. the state of the Lake Enäjärvi and 4. informing. The used payment vehicle was annual stormwater fee for a household. Questionnaires of this study where sent in three different phases during the summer 2016. The survey received 277 responses during the five-week time it was open. The response rate of the survey was 27,7%. Responses were gathered by mail and on a web-based survey. Valuation results of this study were analyzed with the Multinomial Logit-model. All together two different models were made. The first one had only the valuated attributes in it whereas the second model also included different background information. For the valuation we could draw a conclusion that the respondents where willing to pay fairly big amounts for certain attributes. They were the most willing to pay for the improvement in the state of Lake Enäjärvi. The second most valuated attribute was the recreational possibilities followed by informing and the increase in the amount of plant and animal species. Of the valuated attributes, all of them, exept informing, were statistically significant at all times in the level of 1–5%. Background information had an impact on the willingness to pay to some extent. For example a person who had previously visited a constructed wetland was more eager than an average respondent to pay for developing constructed wetlands. The WTP also increased if the respondeds household had higher income and he/she was planning to live more than five years in Vihti. WTP decreased if the respondent was male and he/she lived in a detached house. Results from the questions measuring respondents’ attitudes, perceptions and beliefs reveals that most of the respondents’ attitudes towards constructed wetlands are positive and they believe that constructed wetlands create benefits to the surrounding areas. The most beneficial aspect which urban wetlands were felt to provide was the benefit of views of an augmented landscape. 72% of the respondents indicated willingness to participate in water environment conservation activities during the next five years. Finally, most of the respondents felt that the results of the Urban Oases project and it presence in Vihti were positive.

Dung beetles affect ecosystem functioning in agricultural landscapes. Among these beetles several functional groups decompose cattle dung and contribute to recycling its nutrients back to the soil. To-day many Finnish dung beetle species are threatened because of habitat change and fragmentation. Therefore, the impacts of changes in dung beetle community structure on ecosystem functioning needs to be addressed. However, many earlier studies of dung beetle functions have focussed only on small-scale manipulations with possible implications for interpretation of the results on larger scale. The aim of this study was to assess whether large-scale enclosures can be used to manipulate dung beetle communities in Finland. With this new method I wanted to examine how different dung beetle communities affected dung decomposition and nutrient cycling. I also wanted to examine wheth-er grazing pressure affected dung decomposition. I used two types of mesh enclosures to create different communities of Aphodius and Geotrupes species. In small mesh enclosures I added dung beetles manually, while in the large mesh enclosures the smaller Aphodius species could get through the mesh, and Geotrupes were then added manually to some of these enclosures. During the experiment I repeatedly measured the amount of dung beetles inside and outside of the mesh to assess the performance of the enclosures. Within enclosures I created plots that reflected different grazing pressure. In every plot I placed a dung pat which I then weighed six times during the summer. At the end of the experiment I studied the effect of dung beetles on nutri-ent cycling by weighing the biomass of grass. Overall, I found that the large enclosures are usable and work well in Finland. My results from the enclosures with the bigger mesh size showed that Geotrupes are more efficient decomposers of dung than are Aphodius. However, there were no significant differences between Aphodius and Geotrupes in enclosures made of smaller mesh. Thus, different enclosures may have affected the functioning of the dung beetles because I put the beetles to some enclosures and to some they could get through the mesh. Dung decomposition rates changed remarkably between the different grazing pressures. The end weight of pats was lighter in short grass compared to pats in long grass. It is possible that this reflects microhabitat selection by beetles choosing the warmer pats in the short grass. Dung beetle community structure did not affect rates of nutrient recycling, as measured by grass growth. In conclusion, the results of my study suggest that large-scale enclosures can be effectively used to study dung beetle functions in grassland habitats. This study also confirms earlier observations re-garding the significance of different functional groups of dung beetles, and shows that the grazing envi-ronment may have an important impact on the ecosystem functions provided by dung beetles.

Agricultural and forest land use is critically affecting and effected by sustainability challenges both globally and in Finland. One way to aid the situation is through increasing the amount and comprehensiveness of rural land valuations. This can be done for instance by expanding the assessments of underrepresented ecosystem services with the help of participatory valuation methods. Albeit utilising existing methods for this purpose would already provide significant help, participatory valuations could be developed even further by applying virtual reality (VR) value elicitation. Although the utilisation of VR as a versatile study tool has been suggested by several authors, the studies and applications are thus far scarce, though slowly increasing. Hence, this thesis sets out to provide new insights into the implementation of VR and its unique benefits over other methods in the specific case of rural land valuations. The method employed in this paper is integrative literature review, as it gives opportunities to combine literature about other valuation methods and VR’s proven effects and reflect these on rural land valuation studies’ findings and stated future needs of this sector. Central findings demonstrate VR’s potential as a value elicitation tool in rural land valuations by virtue of its ability to offer immersive experiences and render almost any kind of environment accessible. Immersion can help in learning and subsequent value formation, consequently changing intent to behave as well as alter actual behaviour. Therefore, the use of VR can affect both stated and observable values and can affect value study results significantly. On the other hand, accessibility allows participation for all kinds of people regardless of limitations relating to knowledge level, or mental or physical capabilities. Hence, VR can grant access to significantly more people to nature areas otherwise rural, unfamiliar, hard to explore, hard or impossible to get to, or that exist in the past and in the future. In sum, by providing opportunities for increased amount and ease of participation, as well as holistic well-informed valuations, VR offers possibilities to support and drive the sustainability transition and transformation of Finnish rural land use sector. Although findings are promising, more research and practical application of VR are needed. Based on the potential of virtual reality in combination of the needs in rural land use sector, this thesis introduces some example scenarios where VR value elicitation could be used and be useful. The premises of all scenarios are rooted in existing studies, as this can help in gaining information on the applicability, as well as comparability of VR to other established value eliciting methods. This aims to enhance the robustness of VR as a study tool, as robustness can be seen as one of the weak points of VR value elicitation currently.