Henrik von Wehrden | Leuphana University (original) (raw)

Papers by Henrik von Wehrden

Ambio, Jan 12, 2015

Wood-pastures are associated with high cultural and biodiversity values in Europe. However, due t... more Wood-pastures are associated with high cultural and biodiversity values in Europe. However, due to their relatively low productivity, large areas of wood-pastures have been lost over the last century. In some areas, incentive schemes have been developed to revive wood-pastures. We investigated the effects of one such scheme in western Estonia. We compared the structure of grazed wood-pastures (old and restored) to those of abandoned wood-pastures and ungrazed forest stands to explore the effects of management, and conducted interviews with 24 farmers to investigate their motivations to carry out the management. We found a positive influence of active management on the semi-open structure of wood-pastures. Financial support was vital for management, but personal values related to tradition also played an important role. The interviewees differed widely in their range of motivations, suggesting that other strategies in addition to financial incentives would further improve the managem...

Pollution exposure on marine protected areas: A global assessment

Marine protected areas (MPAs) face many challenges in their aim to effectively conserve marine ec... more Marine protected areas (MPAs) face many challenges in their aim to effectively conserve marine ecosystems. In this study we analyze the extent of pollution exposure on the global fleet of MPAs. This includes indicators for current and future pollution and the implications for regionally clustered groups of MPAs with similar biophysical characteristics. To cluster MPAs into characteristic signature groups, their bathymetry, baseline biodiversity, distance from shore, mean sea surface temperature and mean sea surface salinity were used. We assess the extent at which each signature group is facing exposure from multiple pollution types. MPA groups experience similar pollution exposure on a regional level.We highlight how the challenges that MPAs face can be addressed through governance at the appropriate scale and design considerations for integrated terrestrial and marine management approaches within regional level networks. Furthermore,we present diagnostic social-ecological indicators for addressing the challenges facing unsuccessful MPAs with practical applications.

Journal of Vegetation Science, 2012

Question: Is Google Scholar superior in literature search compared to the Web of Science? Locatio... more Question: Is Google Scholar superior in literature search compared to the Web of Science? Location: The Internet.

Nuclear accidents lead to widespread radioactive contamination of ecosystems and related ecosyste... more Nuclear accidents lead to widespread radioactive contamination of ecosystems and related ecosystem services, with potentially serious consequences for human well-being. Based on an initial exploratory analysis of peer-reviewed articles related to Chernobyl and Fukushima, we identified papers which measured increased Cs-137 levels in provisioning ecosystem services. We used a standardized reviewprotocol to assess (1) whether peer-reviewed science provides sufficient data density and spatial coverage to provide a coherent and comprehensive map of the global impacts of nuclear accidents on provisioning of ecosystem services; (2) whether such impacts are reported in a standardized and reproducible way; and (3) how different safety thresholds affect the availability of food and fodder for human consumption. Based on an initial analysis of approximately 3000 articles, we identified 121 publications that measured Caesium-137 levels in food, fodder and wood. We found that the comprehensive mapping of the impacts of nuclear accidents on provisioning ecosystem services requires a considerable increase in peer-reviewed assessments, including assessment of existing grey literature. Assessments should follow a coherent protocol, providing consistent information on sampling location and the identification of provisioning ecosystem services. There should be a critical dialogue on maximum allowable radiation levels in provisioning ecosystem services and the impacts of such safe appropriation thresholds on human well-being.

Landscape and Urban Planning, 2013

Achieving the goal of sustainability requires understanding and management of unprecedented and i... more Achieving the goal of sustainability requires understanding and management of unprecedented and inter- connected challenges. A transdisciplinary approach is a key component of sustainability science. However, there are considerable barriers to implementing transdisciplinary projects. We undertake a mixed quantita- tive and qualitative analysis of peer-reviewed sustainability science studies where the transdisciplinary ap- proach has been applied. We assess the growth and scientific impact of transdisciplinary sustainability research, the methods used and how three key characteristics of transdisciplinarity research—process phases, knowledge types and the intensity of involvement of practitioners—are implemented. While transdisciplin- ary research is growing there is no common glossary, no focused communication platform and no commonly shared research framework. Transdisciplinary research utilizes a broad, but not clearly defined, set of methods for knowledge production. While the intensity of practitioner involvement varied within the case studies analyzed, very few realized empowerment. Based on our review of transdisciplinary case study pa- pers we conclude that transdisciplinary research must be clearly framed, including the use of a common ter- minology and the development of a broad suite of appropriate methods. Despite the challenges highlighted here, science needs to move beyond classical disciplinary approaches and should consider interdisciplinary work that engages with practitioners to achieve sustainable transitions.

Ecosystem Services, 2015

Global urbanization creates opportunities and challenges for human well-being and transition towa... more Global urbanization creates opportunities and challenges for human well-being and transition towards sustainability. Urban areas are human-environment systems that depend fundamentally on ecosystems, and thus require an understanding of the management of urban ecosystem services to ensure sustainable urban planning. The purpose of this study is to provide a systematic review of urban ecosystems services research, which addresses the combined domain of ecosystem services and urban development. We examined emerging trends and gaps in how urban ecosystem services are conceptualized in peer-reviewed case study literature, including the geographical distribution of research, the development and use of the urban ecosystem services concept, and the involvement of stakeholders. We highlight six challenges aimed at strengthening the concept's potential to facilitate meaningful inter-and transdisciplinary work for ecosystem services research and planning. Achieving a cohesive conceptual approach in the research field will address (i) the need for more extensive spatial and contextual coverage, (ii) continual clarification of definitions, (iii) recognition of limited data transferability, (iv) more comprehensive stakeholder involvement, (v) more integrated research efforts, and (vi) translation of scientific findings into actionable knowledge, feeding information back into planning and management. We conclude with recommendations for conducting further research while incorporating these challenges.

Ecological Economics, 2013

Achieving the goal of sustainability requires understanding and management of unprecedented and i... more Achieving the goal of sustainability requires understanding and management of unprecedented and interconnected challenges. A transdisciplinary approach is a key component of sustainability science. However, there are considerable barriers to implementing transdisciplinary projects. We undertake a mixed quantitative and qualitative analysis of peer-reviewed sustainability science studies where the transdisciplinary approach has been applied. We assess the growth and scientific impact of transdisciplinary sustainability research, the methods used and how three key characteristics of transdisciplinarity research-process phases, knowledge types and the intensity of involvement of practitioners-are implemented. While transdisciplinary research is growing there is no common glossary, no focused communication platform and no commonly shared research framework. Transdisciplinary research utilizes a broad, but not clearly defined, set of methods for knowledge production. While the intensity of practitioner involvement varied within the case studies analyzed, very few realized empowerment. Based on our review of transdisciplinary case study papers we conclude that transdisciplinary research must be clearly framed, including the use of a common terminology and the development of a broad suite of appropriate methods. Despite the challenges highlighted here, science needs to move beyond classical disciplinary approaches and should consider interdisciplinary work that engages with practitioners to achieve sustainable transitions.

Global urbanization creates opportunities and challenges for human well-being and transition towa... more Global urbanization creates opportunities and challenges for human well-being and transition towards sustainability. Urban areas are human-environment systems that depend fundamentally on ecosystems, and thus require an understanding of the management of urban ecosystem services to ensure sustainable urban planning. The purpose of this study is to provide a systematic review of urban ecosystems services research, which addresses the combined domain of ecosystem services and urban development. We examined emerging trends and gaps in how urban ecosystem services are conceptualized in peer-reviewed case study literature, including the geographical distribution of research, the development and use of the urban ecosystem services concept, and the involvement of stakeholders. We highlight six challenges aimed at strengthening the concept's potential to facilitate meaningful inter- and transdisciplinary work for ecosystem services research and planning. Achieving a cohesive conceptual approach in the research field will address (i) the need for more extensive spatial and contextual coverage, (ii) continual clarification of definitions, (iii) recognition of limited data transferability, (iv) more comprehensive stakeholder involvement, (v) more integrated research efforts, and (vi) translation of scientific findings into actionable knowledge, feeding information back into planning and management. We conclude with recommendations for conducting further research while incorporating these challenges.

Sustainable land management requires scientists to provide reliable data on diversity distributio... more Sustainable land management requires scientists to provide reliable data on diversity distribution patterns. Resource restrictions limit the affordable sampling effort, both with respect to number of survey sites and amount of effort per site. We compared different levels of survey effort in a case study in Central Romania, varying the number of repeats per site and number of survey sites. Target taxa were plants, birds and butterflies. For plants, we surveyed three 10 m 2 plots and ten plots of 1 m 2 at each site. For birds, we used point counts and for butterflies Pollard walks, in both cases with four repeats. We fitted hierarchical community models to estimate true species richness per site. Estimates of true species richness per site strongly correlated with observed species richness. However, hierarchical community models yielded unrealistically high estimates of true species richness per site, hence we used observed richness for further analyses. For each species group, we compared diversity indices from subsets of the dataset with the full dataset. Findings obtained with a reduced survey effort reflected well those obtained with full effort. Moreover, we conducted a power analysis to assess how the number of survey sites affected the minimum detectable effect of landscape heterogeneity on species richness, and found there was an exponential decrease in the minimum detectable effect with increasing number of sites. In combination, our findings suggest that assessing broad Communicated by Astrid van Teeffelen. diversity patterns in abundant and readily detectable organisms may be possible with relatively low survey effort per site. Our study demonstrates the utility of conducting pilot studies prior to designing large-scale studies on diversity distribution patterns.

The consequences of nuclear accidents touch many aspects of society, and thus lead to challenges ... more The consequences of nuclear accidents touch many aspects of society, and thus lead to challenges for multiple actors across spatial and temporal scales. Here, we highlight unused potential of communication, collaboration and knowledge co-production for response after nuclear accidents. This potential can be harnessed by a transdisciplinary research approach including all relevant actors on a regional scale such as nuclear industry, government officials, civil society and scientific researchers. Transdisciplinary research approaches on regional scale could enhance implementation of proper mid-and long-term remediation measures and build capacity to cope up with the impacts after nuclear accidents.

Maintaining the quality of peer-review in the face of an ever-increasing quantity of article subm... more Maintaining the quality of peer-review in the face of an ever-increasing quantity of article submissions [1] represents a major challenge for authors, reviewers, and editors. It is increasingly difficult for time-constrained editors and reviewers to maintain the consistent quality of published papers without increasing turnover periods in the review process. At the same time, the limited publication capacity of journals necessitates increased rejection rates, which in turn leads to reviewers and editors being increasingly criticized, despite their best efforts and intentions, for being subjective, nontransparent, or even biased in their evaluation of manuscripts .

Landscape and Urban Planning, 2013

The proportion of urban population is increasing globally. Climate change, biodiversity loss, and... more The proportion of urban population is increasing globally. Climate change, biodiversity loss, and envi- ronmental pollution are leading to the urgent need to increase sustainable development of and through cities and their components. Encouraging and enabling sustainable lifestyles of urban inhabitants can be fostered by developing sustainable urban neighborhoods as the nuclei of cities. Numerous approaches exist that define principles for guiding sustainable development processes of urban neighborhoods. How- ever, it remains unclear if these approaches really consider the core objectives that should be achieved and key actions that are involved to move toward sustainability. This study represents the first quanti- tative review that evaluates the principles for sustainable urban neighborhood development based on the available literature. We thus (i) identify promising approaches that present principles close to core criteria for sustainability and (ii) provide starting points for developing a more robust set of principles by bringing together the examined literature. Furthermore (iii), sustainability aspects that are insufficiently covered are highlighted. Based on the findings (iv) a road map is outlined to encourage further research on the elaboration of a sufficient set of principles for sustainable urban neighborhood development.

& Context Terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) provides a valuable tool for the retrieval of detailed... more & Context Terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) provides a valuable tool for the retrieval of detailed individual-tree structural parameters, but has never previously been applied to young stands under field conditions. & Aims The aim was to explore the performance of TLS in a young tree plantation located in a heterogeneous environment in subtropical China. & Methods We investigated 438 young trees for congruence between direct field and TLS measurements of total tree height, stem diameter at ground height, and length and height of the longest branch using correlation tests. We applied generalized linear models to examine whether congruence was affected by the observed structural parameter or extrinsic factors (e.g., potential occlusion, point cloud quality). & Results TLS made it possible to detect trees higher than 40 cm. The TLS-retrieved data were highly congruent with the data obtained from direct measurements. The poor descriptions of stems and branches of some individuals of small-sized and leaf-on tree species were due to occlusion by ground vegetation and leaf-on branches. Observed structural parameter and extrinsic factors did not explain the variance between the two approaches. & Conclusion TLS proved to be a promising tool for highresolution, non-destructive analyses of tree dendrometrics in young regenerating plantations.

The ''land sharing versus land sparing'' concept provides a framework for comparing potential lan... more The ''land sharing versus land sparing'' concept provides a framework for comparing potential land use patterns in terms of trade-offs between biodiversity conservation and agricultural yields at a landscape scale. Here, we raise two additional aspects to be considered in the sparing/sharing debate, supported by a review of available literature. First, beta and gamma (instead of alpha) diversity measures capture landscape scale variance in biodiversity in response to land use changes and should be considered for the long-term management of agricultural landscapes. Moreover, beta and gamma diversity may better account for comparisons of biodiversity between spared and shared land use options. Second, land use history has a pronounced influence on the complexity and variance in agricultural habitat niches at a landscape scale, which in turn may determine the relevance of sparing or sharing land use options. Appropriate and comparable biodiversity metrics and the recognition of landscape history are two vital preconditions in aligning biological conservation goals with maximized yields within the sparing/sharing framework.

Ecosystem services research has become a major academic field, drawing in various academic discip... more Ecosystem services research has become a major academic field, drawing in various academic disciplines, perspectives, and research approaches. The multifaceted concept of "ecosystem services" includes a normative component, which has strong implicit links to the notion of sustainability. Yet, how ecosystem services research relates to sustainability has received little attention. We reviewed the current state of research on ecosystem services, and examined whether the concept's original motivation has allowed it to act as an effective boundary object for the integration of the diverse knowledge related to sustainability. A full-text, multivariate statistical analysis of 1388 peer-reviewed publications on ecosystem services from 1997 to 2011 revealed a rapidly growing but fragmented body of research, which has emphasized the development of descriptive understandings of human-nature interactions. Future challenges for the ecosystem services concept include greater integration of currently fragmented knowledge domains and stronger engagement with the concept's normative foundations.

Ambio, Jan 12, 2015

Pollution exposure on marine protected areas: A global assessment

Journal of Vegetation Science, 2012

Landscape and Urban Planning, 2013

Ecosystem Services, 2015

Ecological Economics, 2013

Achieving the goal of sustainability requires understanding and management of unprecedented and i... more Achieving the goal of sustainability requires understanding and management of unprecedented and interconnected challenges. A transdisciplinary approach is a key component of sustainability science. However, there are considerable barriers to implementing transdisciplinary projects. We undertake a mixed quantitative and qualitative analysis of peer-reviewed sustainability science studies where the transdisciplinary approach has been applied. We assess the growth and scientific impact of transdisciplinary sustainability research, the methods used and how three key characteristics of transdisciplinarity research-process phases, knowledge types and the intensity of involvement of practitioners-are implemented. While transdisciplinary research is growing there is no common glossary, no focused communication platform and no commonly shared research framework. Transdisciplinary research utilizes a broad, but not clearly defined, set of methods for knowledge production. While the intensity of practitioner involvement varied within the case studies analyzed, very few realized empowerment. Based on our review of transdisciplinary case study papers we conclude that transdisciplinary research must be clearly framed, including the use of a common terminology and the development of a broad suite of appropriate methods. Despite the challenges highlighted here, science needs to move beyond classical disciplinary approaches and should consider interdisciplinary work that engages with practitioners to achieve sustainable transitions.

Global urbanization creates opportunities and challenges for human well-being and transition towa... more Global urbanization creates opportunities and challenges for human well-being and transition towards sustainability. Urban areas are human-environment systems that depend fundamentally on ecosystems, and thus require an understanding of the management of urban ecosystem services to ensure sustainable urban planning. The purpose of this study is to provide a systematic review of urban ecosystems services research, which addresses the combined domain of ecosystem services and urban development. We examined emerging trends and gaps in how urban ecosystem services are conceptualized in peer-reviewed case study literature, including the geographical distribution of research, the development and use of the urban ecosystem services concept, and the involvement of stakeholders. We highlight six challenges aimed at strengthening the concept's potential to facilitate meaningful inter- and transdisciplinary work for ecosystem services research and planning. Achieving a cohesive conceptual approach in the research field will address (i) the need for more extensive spatial and contextual coverage, (ii) continual clarification of definitions, (iii) recognition of limited data transferability, (iv) more comprehensive stakeholder involvement, (v) more integrated research efforts, and (vi) translation of scientific findings into actionable knowledge, feeding information back into planning and management. We conclude with recommendations for conducting further research while incorporating these challenges.

Landscape and Urban Planning, 2013