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Environmental effects on population growth are often quantified by coupling environmental covariates with population time series, using statistical models that make particular assumptions about the shape of density dependence. We hypothesized that faulty assumptions about the shape of density dependence can bias estimated effect sizes of temporally autocorrelated covariates. We investigated the pr

Intensive land use reduces the diversity and abundance of many soil biota, with consequences for the processes that they govern and the ecosystem services that these processes underpin. Relationships between soil biota and ecosystem processes have mostly been found in laboratory experiments and rarely are found in the field. Here, we quantified, across four countries of contrasting climatic and so

Soil biodiversity plays a key role in regulating the processes that underpin the delivery of ecosystem goods and services in terrestrial ecosystems. Agricultural intensification is known to change the diversity of individual groups of soil biota, but less is known about how intensification affects biodiversity of the soil food web as a whole, and whether or not these effects may be generalized acr

It is well known that plant-soil interactions play an important role in determining the impact of global change phenomena on biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. Little is known, however, about the individual and relative importance for carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) cycling of non-random changes in plant and soil communities that result from global change phenomena, such as fertilization and agri

A simple mass balance model has been developed to assess the planetary boundary for P supply in relation to use by human society. Phosphorus sources used by humans are from fossil reserves. The model takes into account resource use rate and reserves, consumption, phosphate to food production, environmental degradation, waste and recycling. Various policy scenarios are tested from current end of pi

This paper examines the recent growth in projects designed to enable individuals to 'do their bit' in the struggle to limit climate change. It discusses them in relation to a long-standing critique of trends towards individualisation amongst environmentalists. It suggests that this critique misses the complex way that subjects are produced by these practices and proposes to analyse subjectificatio

The establishment of the range of soil biodiversity found within European soils is needed to guide EU policy development regarding the protection of soil. Such a base-line should be collated from a wide-ranging sampling campaign to ensure that soil biodiversity from the majority of soil types, land-use or management systems, and European climatic (bio-geographical zones) were included. This paper

Acidification and N-deposition are continuous processes that alter the composition of plant communities. We investigated vegetation transitions in sandy grasslands and tested two hypotheses: (1) a shift from vegetation dominated by Koeleria glauca to one dominated by Corynephorus canescens is due to acidification and (2) a shift from vegetation dominated by K. glauca to one dominated by Arrhenathe

Developed countries have relied heavily on aid budgets to fulfill their pledges to boost funding for addressing climate change in developing countries. However, little is known about how interaction between aid and other ministries has shaped contributorsâ diverse approaches to climate finance. This paper investigates intra-governmental dynamics in decision-making on climate finance in seven contr

Promoting renewable energy sources (RES) has been addressed a key strategy for mitigating climate change, the governing in which has turned out a challenging and protracted task for the EU. There is often an implicit assumption that concern for climate change drives energy policy, but a closer look at the development of European RES policy indicates how EU governors have had to confront a range of

Climate change adaptation, which has previously been seen as a national and local matter, is today systematically addressed by international institutions such as the UNFCCC, the FAO and the WTO. Research has focused on the overarching institutional architecture of global adaptation, particularly how it relates to development, political economy, efficiency and equity. In contrast to the transnation

The idea of personal carbon allowances (PCAs) was presented by the UK Environment Secretary, David Miliband, in 2006. Although no nation state is seriously developing proposals for them, they have been discussed within academia, NGOs and policy-making circles. PCAs can be seen as a logical extension of emissions trading schemes, which has so far only applied at the firm level, to individuals. The

The statistical properties near phase singularities in a complex wave field are here studied by means of the conditional distributions of the real and imaginary Gaussian components, given a common zero crossing point. The exact distribution is expressed as a Slepian model, where a regression term provides the main structure, with parameters given by the gradients of the Gaussian components at the

Forecasting how species and ecosystems will respond to climate change has been a major aim of ecology in recent years. Much of this research has focused on phenology - the timing of life-history events. Phenology has well-demonstrated links to climate, from genetic to landscape scales; yet our ability to explain and predict variation in phenology across species, habitats and time remains poor. Her

The island Surtsey was formed in a volcanic eruption south of Iceland in 1963–1967 and has since then been protected and monitored by scientists. The first two moss species were found on Surtsey as early as 1967 and several new bryophyte species were discovered every year until 1973 when regular sampling ended. Systematic bryophyte inventories in a grid of 100 m × 100 m quadrats were made in 1971

The unique flora and fauna of calcareous sandy grasslands is threatened by acidification, eutrofication and changed land use. Restoration experiments in such grasslands in southern Sweden, including deep and shallow soil perturbation, allowed us to examine the effects of pH and disturbance on the bryophyte flora. We also studied natural pH and disturbance gradients in order to compare the natural

Environmental policy-making increasingly involves ministries beyond environment ministries. In particular, finance ministries are important, since they control the public budget and address environmental issues from a perspective different from environmental actors. The role of finance ministries is especially salient in the European Union's (EU) Emissions Trading System (ETS), which has been subj

Fossil fuel subsidy reform has in recent years been addressed by international economic organizations including the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The two organizations have differed significantly in how they define fossil fuel subsidies. The IMF’s definition constitutes a radical break with previous definitions by including

How and why do institutional architectures, and the roles of private institutions therein, differ across separate areas of climate governance? Here, institutional complexity is explained in terms of the problem-structural characteristics of an issue area and the associated demand for, and supply of, private authority. These characteristics can help explain the degree of centrality of intergovernme

The taxonomic position and evolution of the five Scandinavian montane species previously referred to the informal group Depilata of Hieracium are discussed. There is very little modern information about these species and as they have not been listed under any of the currently accepted sections of the genus they are at risk of being completely forgotten. They have always been considered as intermed