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Effects of landscape heterogeneity and farming practice on species composition are less well known than those on species richness, in spite of the fact that community composition can be at least as important for ecosystem services, such as pollination. Here, we assessed the effect of organic farming and landscape heterogeneity on pollinator communities, focusing on multivariate patterns in species
Soil biodiversity through its delivery of ecosystem functions and attendant supporting ecosystem services-benefits soil organisms generate for farmers-underpins agricultural production. Yet lack of practical methods to value the long-term effects of current farming practices results, inevitably, in short-sighted management decisions. We present a method for valuing changes in supporting soil ecosy
Growing evidence for declines in wild bees calls for the development and implementation of effective mitigation measures. Enhancing floral resources is a widely accepted measure for promoting bees in agricultural landscapes, but effectiveness varies considerably between landscapes and regions. We hypothesize that this variation is mainly driven by a combination of the direct effects of measures on
Organic farming is promoted as a sustainable alternative to conventional farming, with positive effects on the diversity of plants and selected animal taxa. Here, we used a literature survey to collect presence/absence data on the composition of farmland bird, ground beetle, spider as well as butterfly and moth communities from 28 independent studies to identify genera and (sub-)families that had
This dissertation utilizes a new dataset on the belongings of early modern households, gathered from southern Sweden, to map the development of wealth and material living standards over the course of the early modern period. Together, the four papers making up the main part of the dissertation depicts a significantly more economically dynamic early modern period – especially eighteenth century – tThis dissertation utilizes a new dataset on the belongings of early modern households, gathered from southern Sweden, to map the development of wealth and material living standards over the course of the early modern period. Together, the four papers making up the main part of the dissertation depicts a significantly more economically dynamic early modern period – especially eighteenth century – t
In this study we acquire an insight into the songwriting processes of eight female artists and music teachers. We investigate their creative processes, their thoughts on creativity and songwriting and the methods they use when composing. The informants share some of the challenges they face during the process and how to overcome them. Furthermore, we learn about factors enhancing the songwriting a
Research relating to ecosystem services has increased, partly because of drastic declines in biodiversity in agricultural landscapes. However, the mechanistic linkages between land use, biodiversity and service provision are poorly understood and synthesized. This is particularly true for many ecosystem services provided by mobile organisms such as natural enemies to crop pests. These species are
Recent research has shown that agricultural management affects microbial biomass and community composition. We investigated the functional implications of such effects in terms of barley biomass production and nutrient acquisition, and whether changes in barley nutrient status affected aphid fecundity. Soils were collected from conventional, ley and organic arable fields and used as inocula in a g
Bumblebee communities and their foraging resources were surveyed in south Swedish agricultural landscapes of contrasting complexity, defined by the size of arable fields and the amount of permanent grazed pastures. After the flowering of oilseed rape (OSR), simplified landscapes contained substantially less herbaceous flower resources and a lower proportion of perennials, compared to complex ones.
Although much attention has focused on the diversity of plant mating systems, only a few studies have considered the joint effects of mating system and sexual conflict in plant evolution. In mixed-mating Collinsia heterophylla, a sexual conflict over timing of stigma receptivity is proposed: pollen with a capacity to induce early onset of stigma receptivity secures paternity for early-arriving pol
Insect pollination, despite its potential to contribute substantially to crop production, is not an integrated part of agronomic planning. A major reason for this are knowledge gaps in the contribution of pollinators to yield, which partly result from difficulties in determining area-based estimates of yield effects from insect pollination under field conditions. We have experimentally manipulated
The species richness of flower-visiting insects has declined in past decades, raising concerns that the ecosystem service they provide by pollinating crops and wild plants is threatened. The relative commonness of different species with shared ecological traits can play a pervasive role in determining ecosystem functioning, but information on changes in abundances of pollinators over time is lacki
Agricultural intensification is recognised as a major driver of biodiversity loss in human-modified landscapes. Several agro-environmental measures at different spatial scales have been suggested to mitigate the negative impact of intensification on biodiversity and ecosystem services. The effect of these measures on the functional structure of service-providing communities remains, however, large
Resilience of ecological communities to perturbation is important in the face of increased global change from anthropogenic stressors. Monitoring is required to detect the impact of, and recovery from, perturbations, and before-after-control-impact (BACI) analysis provides a powerful framework in this regard. However, species in a community are not observed with perfect detection, and occupancy an
The fall of Yugoslavia in the 1990s led to a series of political upheavals, culminating in the 1992 referendum in Bosnia and Herzegovina. This referendum triggered the Bosnian War, which was finally ended by the Dayton Peace Agreement signed on December 14, 1995. The Dayton Peace Agreement aimed to stabilize the country by establishing a power-sharing arrangement among its three ethnic groups - Bo
In the recent years, cryptocurrencies have gained popularity and have experienced high price volatility. This essay pretends to examine how the multivariate GARCH models predict the volatility of these digital currencies and what implications exist if we consider the correlations among them to forecast their volatility. Using a bivariate Diagonal VECH and bivariate Diagonal BEKK this thesis checks
When Sweden adopted its carbon tax in 1990, it was as one of the first of its kind worldwide. While the adoption of the tax has been attributed to its inclusion in the Swedish tax reform, undoubtedly playing a crucial role, the reform does not in itself explain how the Swedish carbon tax came about or why it became part of the reform package in the first place. In this article, we present a case s
To assess ecological consequences of bushmeat hunting in African lowland rainforests, we compared paired sites, with high and low hunting pressure, in three areas of southeastern Nigeria. In hunted sites, populations of important seed dispersers-both small and large primates (including the Cross River gorilla, Gorilla gorilla diehli)-were drastically reduced. Large rodents were more abundant in hu
