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Information on the ecological traits of species might improve predictions of climate-driven range shifts. However, the usefulness of traits is usually assumed rather than quantified. Here, we present a framework to identify the most informative traits, based on four key range-shift processes: emigration of individuals or propagules away from the natal location; the distance a species can move; est

Global land-use change has drastic consequences for biodiversity leading to losses of ecological functioning, ecosystem services and human well-being. While species dependent on undisturbed natural habitat are most affected by conversion to agriculture, even populations of disturbance-tolerant species can be endangered in landscapes dominated by high-input mono-cultural cropping systems. This has

In a north European context, identifying invasive species is far from trivial because the vegetation has been influenced by human activities for thousands of years. New species have immigrated continuously since the end of the last glaciation, both spontaneously and through direct or indirect help by man. Still, newly immigrated species may be problematic in a nature conservation context and may h

Pollination improves the yield of most crop species and contributes to one-third of global crop production, but comprehensive benefits including crop quality are still unknown. Hence, pollination is underestimated by international policies, which is particularly alarming in times of agricultural intensification and diminishing pollination services. In this study, exclusion experiments with strawbe

Climate warming will increase the drought exposure of many forests world-wide. It is not well understood how trees adapt their hydraulic architecture to a long-term decrease in water availability. We examined 23 traits characterizing the hydraulic architecture and growth rate of branches and the dependent foliage of mature European beech (Fagus sylvatica) trees along a precipitation gradient (855-

Avian ecosystem services such as the suppression of pests are considered to be of high ecological and economic importance in a range of ecosystems, especially in tropical agroforestry. However, how bird predation success is related to the diversity and composition of the bird community, as well as local and landscape factors, is poorly understood. We quantified arthropod predation in relation to t

Phenological shifts belong to the most commonly observed biological responses to recent climate change. It is, however, often unclear how these shifts are linked to demography and competitive interactions. We develop an eco-evolutionary model to study adaptation of timing of reproduction in organisms with social dominance hierarchies. We focus on residential birds with winter flocks, where success

The uptake of diversified farming systems is constrained by a scarcity of evidence regarding financial costs, benefits, and risks. Here, we evaluate the productivity and projected farm income of an agroforestry system, where apples are integrated with arable crops, by combining primary data with ecosystem service and cost-benefit models. Our ecosystem service assessments included: 1) weed and pest

Knowledge remains limited on how the structure of microbial community in paddy soils changes in relation to different types of fertilizers with same amount of nutrients. Thus, here, soil samples were collected at 0–10, 10–20, 20–30, and 30–40 cm depths from a paddy field subjected to four long-term fertilization treatments (no fertilization, mineral fertilization, mineral fertilization combined wi

Urban green and blue infrastructure (GBI) and associated ecosystem services (ES) are increasingly recognized for their potential to address urban sustainability challenges. This has resulted in an increase in studies quantifying ES in cities. In this review, we analysed 850 peer-reviewed publications to characterize urban ES assessment in terms of geographical location, urban GBI type and methodol

Wild bees are declining in many parts of the world, which poses a risk for crop pollination and ecosystem health. Land use and climate change are two of the main drivers of the decline, and understanding the interactive effects of these two drivers and wild bees is very important to be able to develop proper responses and mitigate future negative effects. In this thesis I have investigated the ef

The available carbon (C) to phosphorus (P) ratio in soil is regulated by extracellular hydrolases for C and P acquisition by microbes and plants. However, the stoichiometric relationship between acquiring C and P in paddy rhizosphere and bulk soils remains unclear. The objective was to explore the underlying mechanisms of C and P acquisition stoichiometry in rhizosphere and bulk soils in response

The effect of nutrient availability on plant growth and the terrestrial carbon sink under climate change and elevated CO2 remains one of the main uncertainties of the terrestrial carbon cycle. This is partially due to the difficulty of assessing nutrient limitation at large scales over long periods of time. Consistent declines in leaf nitrogen (N) content and leaf δ15N have been used to suggest th

There is an increasing interest in landscape-scale perspectives of ecosystem functioning to inform policy and conservation decisions. However, we need a better understanding of the stability of ecosystem functioning (e.g. plant productivity) at the landscape scale to inform policy around topics such as global food security. We investigate the role of the ecological and environmental context on lan

To determine the drivers of phytoplankton biomass, we collected standardized morphometric, physical, and biological data in 230 lakes across the Mediterranean, Continental, and Boreal climatic zones of the European continent. Multilinear regression models tested on this snapshot of mostly eutrophic lakes (median total phosphorus [TP] = 0.06 and total nitrogen [TN] = 0.7 mg L−1), and its subsets (2

Cities are experiencing numerous challenges, adversely affecting human health and wellbeing. Urban green space provides ecosystem services that are important to meet urban challenges. One type of urban green space is private gardens (yards) that make up an essential part of many urban areas. Gardens can support urban biodiversity and provide cultural ecosystem services (CES) to its owner. However,

Scientists have warned decision-makers about the severe consequences of the global environmental crisis since the 1970s. Yet ecological degradation continues and little has been done to address climate change. We investigated early-career conservation researchers' (ECR) perspectives on, and prioritization of, actions furthering sustainability. We conducted a survey (n = 67) and an interactive work