Utilizing supply-demand bundles in Nature-based Recreation offers insights into specific strategies for sustainable tourism management.

Balancing supply and demand in Nature-based Recreation (NbR) has the potential to yield co-benefits across multiple Ecosystem Services (ES), helping to make tourism activities more sustainable. However, a comprehensive understanding of supply-demand mismatches in NbR is challenging due to the complex interaction among various social, economic and ecological factors. This paper investigates mismatches in NbR supply and demand to provide insights for informing spatial and regional planning to achieve sustainable tourism. To this end, the paper uses a wide range of indicators such as biophysical attributes, accessibility and social indicators to map and assess NbR supply and demand, followed by the application of spatial statistics to analyse supply-demand mismatches. Cluster analysis was performed based on the supply-demand relationship to identify a typology of NbR ES across the study area in the north of Iran. The paper proposes an innovative application of recreation ES bundles with potential implications for sustainable tourism in a region marked as a hot spot for tourism. The analysis generated a typology of five bundles of NbR ES with differing recreational opportunities. Bundles 1 and 2, characterized by a supply surplus and substantial ecological value, are suitable for NbR activities such as camping, hiking, climbing, and birdwatching. In contrast, bundle 4 and 5 associated with urban centres, experience a supply deficit, making them less suitable for NbR. Bundle 3, characterized by a mixture of natural and productive lands, plays an important role in maintaining a balanced supply-demand state. This region holds potential for diverse forms of tourism, including rural and agricultural recreation such as farm tours and farm life experiences. Based on findings, the paper provides valuable insights for spatial and regional planning by proposing targeted strategies to sustainably manage tourism activities.

Monitoring invasive pines using remote sensing: a case study from Sri Lanka.

Production plantation forestry has many economic benefits but can also have negative environmental impacts such as the spreading of invasive pines to native forest habitats. Monitoring forest for the presence of invasive pines helps with the management of this issue. However, detection of vegetation change over a large time period is difficult due to changes in image quality and sensor types, and by the spectral similarity of evergreen species and frequent cloud cover in the study area. The costs of high-resolution images are also prohibitive for routine monitoring in resource-constrained countries. This research investigated the use of remote sensing to identify the spread of Pinus caribaea over a 21-year period (2000 to 2021) in Belihuloya, Sri Lanka, using Landsat images. It applied a range of techniques to produce cloud free images, extract vegetation features, and improve vegetation classification accuracy, followed by the use of Geographical Information System to spatially analyze the spread of invasive pines. The results showed most invading pines were found within 100 m of the pine plantations' borders where broadleaved forests and grasslands are vulnerable to invasion. However, the extent of invasive pine had an overall decline of 4 ha over the 21 years. The study confirmed that remote sensing combined with spatial analysis are effective tools for monitoring invasive pines in countries with limited resources. This study also provides information to conservationists and forest managers to conduct strategic planning for sustainable forest management and conservation in Sri Lanka.

Long-term exposure to low 17α-ethinylestradiol (EE2) concentrations disrupts both the reproductive and the immune system of juvenile rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss.

Estrogenic endocrine disrupting compounds (EEDCs), such as ethinylestradiol (EE2), are well studied for their impact on the reproductive system of fish. EEDCs may also impact the immune system and, as a consequence, the disease susceptibility of fish. It is currently not yet known whether the low concentrations of EEDCs that are able to disrupt the reproductive system of trout are effective in disrupting the immune system and the fish host resistance towards pathogens, too, or whether such immunodisruptive effects would occur only at higher EEDC concentrations. Therefore, in the present study we compare the effect thresholds of low 17α-ethinylestradiol concentrations (1.5 and 5.5 EE2 ng/L) on the reproductive system, the immune system, the energy expenditures and the resistance of juvenile rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) against the parasite Tetracapsuloides bryosalmonae - the etiological agent of proliferative kidney disease (PKD) of salmonids. The parasite infection was conducted without injection and under low pathogen exposure concentrations. The disease development was followed over 130 days post infection - in the presence or absence of EE2 exposure. The results show that the long-term EE2 exposure affected, at both concentrations, reproductive parameters like the mRNA levels of hepatic vitellogenin and estrogen receptors. At the same concentrations, EE2 exposure modulated the immune parameters: mRNA levels of several immune genes were altered and the parasite intensity as well as the disease severity (histopathology) were significantly reduced in EE2-exposed fish compared to infected control fish. The combination of EE2 exposure and parasite infection was energetically costly, as indicated by the decreased values of the swim tunnel respirometry. Although further substantiation is needed, our findings suggest that EE2 exerts endocrine disruptive and immunomodulating activities at comparable effect thresholds, since reproductive and immune parameters were affected by the same, low EE2 concentrations.

Groundwater Management in Coastal Areas through Landscape Scale Planning: A Systematic Literature Review.

Groundwater is one of the main resources for social-ecological systems. As part of the total water cycle and deeply connected with land use, groundwater management faces many challenges, especially in coastal areas. Landscape Scale Planning is an emerging approach for land use planning providing a framework for management based on evidence, given that landscapes have physical and information flows. Landscape Scale Planning embraces the following three dimensions: (i) the spatial dimension centres on the recognition of distinct landscape units; (ii) the temporal dimension entails past, current and future uses of a landscape; and (iii) the modification dimension involves the anthropogenic alterations that affected and will affect the landscape and its features along the spatial and temporal dimensions. Through a systematic literature review of 28 selected publications, this paper explores how groundwater management can be improved through a Landscape Scale Planning approach. The results show that Landscape Scale Planning can be applied as an integrative framework for groundwater management. Landscape units based on, but not limited to, geology, topography, cultural and socio-economic aspects can aid groundwater management to consider the differing spatial and temporal characteristics of the aquifer. Landscape Scale Planning can also favour the inclusion of land use change dynamics in groundwater management processes. To this end, the paper proposes guidelines for applying Landscape Scale Planning to inform groundwater management and consider land use changes.

Understanding urban water performance at the city-region scale using an urban water metabolism evaluation framework.

Water sensitive interventions are being promoted to reduce the adverse impacts of urban development on natural water cycles. However it is currently difficult to know the best strategy for their implementation because current and desired urban water performance is not well quantified. This is particularly at the city-region scale, which is important for strategic urban planning. This work aimed to fill this gap by quantifying the water performance of urban systems within city-regions using 'urban water metabolism' evaluation, to inform decisions about water sensitive interventions. To do this we adapted an existing evaluation framework with new methods. In particular, we used land use data for defining system boundaries, and for estimating natural hydrological flows. The criteria for gauging the water performance were water efficiency (in terms of water extracted externally) and hydrological performance (how much natural hydrological flows have changed relative to a nominated pre-urbanised state). We compared these performance criteria for urban systems within three Australian city-regions (South East Queensland, Melbourne and Perth metropolitan areas), under current conditions, and after implementation of example water sensitive interventions (demand management, rainwater/stormwater harvesting, wastewater recycling and increasing perviousness). The respective water efficiencies were found to be 79, 90 and 133 kL/capita/yr. In relation to hydrological performance, stormwater runoff relative to pre-urbanised flows was of most note, estimated to be 2-, 6- and 3- fold, respectively. The estimated performance benefits from water sensitive interventions suggested different priorities for each region, and that combined implementation of a range of interventions may be necessary to make substantive gains in performance. We concluded that the framework is suited to initial screening of the type and scale of water sensitive interventions needed to achieve desired water performance objectives.

Managing health impacts of heat in South East Queensland, Australia.

Heatwaves kill more people than any other natural hazard in Australia. Current literature on managing health risks of heatwaves highlights the importance of implementing urban planning measures, and engaging with vulnerable groups on a local level to better understand perceptions of risk and tailor health protection measures. This paper reviews arrangements to reduce heatwave health risks in South East Queensland in response to these themes. A literature search and document analysis, stakeholder interviews, and multi-stakeholder cross-sectoral workshops revealed that although heatwave management is not always considered by local government and disaster management stakeholders, many urban planning measures to minimize urban heat have been pursued. However, greater information from vulnerable groups is still needed to better inform heatwave management measures.

Formation and nuclear export of tRNA, rRNA and mRNA is regulated by the ubiquitin ligase Rsp5p.

The yeast ubiquitin-protein ligase Rsp5p regulates processes as diverse as polII transcription and endocytosis. Here, we identify Rsp5p in a screen for tRNA export (tex) mutants. The tex23-1/rsp5-3 mutant, which is complemented by RSP5, not only shows a strong nuclear accumulation of tRNAs at the restrictive temperature, but also is severely impaired in the nuclear export of mRNAs and 60S pre-ribosomal subunits. In contrast, nuclear localization sequence (NLS)-mediated nuclear protein import is unaffected in this mutant. Strikingly, the nuclear RNA export defects seen in the rsp5-3 strain are accompanied by a dramatic inhibition of both rRNA and tRNA processing, a combination of phenotypes that has not been reported for any previously characterized mutation in yeast. These data implicate ubiquitination as a mechanism coordinating the major nuclear RNA biogenesis pathways.