Publications

Shellfish production areas are classified for suitability for human consumption using counts of Escherichia coli in shellfish samples. Two alternative laboratory methods are approved in the European Union and UK for measuring E. coli in shellfish samples; the most probable number (MPN) and pour plate methods. These methods have inherently different statistical uncertainty and may give different counts for the same sample. Using two approaches: simulated data and spiking experiments, we investigate the theoretical properties of the two methods to determine their reliability for shellfish waters classification.

Cities are complex systems which encapsulate highly inter-connected and overlapping domains of built infrastructure, natural green and blue space components and interfacing all of this are people. Despite people being at the heart of everything that happens in cities, the role of people, and an understanding of who benefits (or not) from NBS tends to be addressed in a fragmented way in city policy and planning processes. There is a need for integrated approaches, which explicitly recognise the natural components and processes which underpin NBS and how they deliver ecosystem services. Such integrated approaches must also take account of how people interact with and benefit from NBS. This report aims to introduce and develop a conceptualisation of NBS, which at its core represents the complex interactions between natural components and people which are essential to providing ecosystem services, and in turn the interactions which are essential for managing the urban social-ecological system. In detail, we i) present a framework which places NBS in an urban context, acknowledging the contribution of natural capital and other forms of capital to NBS, and the interactions with people which deliver the ecosystem services and resulting wellbeing benefits in cities, ii) develop an internally consistent feature-based typology for NBS together with an evidence-based assessment of the functions that NBS provide, and iii) illustrate how an understanding of these interactions can be used to assess the multiple benefits that derive from different types of NBS. We conclude with recommendations on how to apply the framework in an urban planning context. A part of below article has subsequently been published in a peer-reviewed journal: Jones, L., Anderson, S., Læssøe, J., Banzhaf, E., Jensen, A., Bird, D.N., Miller, J., Hutchins, M.G., Yang, J., Garrett, J., Taylor, T., Wheeler, B.W., Lovell, R., Fletcher, D., Qu, Y., Vieno, M., Zandersen, M., Jensen, A., Bird, D.N., Miller, J., Hutchins, M.G., Yang, J., Garrett, J., Taylor, T., Wheeler, B.W., Lovell, R., Fletcher, D., Qu, Y., Vieno, M., Zandersen, M., 2022. A typology for urban Green Infrastructure to guide multifunctional planning of nature-based solutions. Nature-Based Solutions 100041. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nbsj.2022.100041

Abstract Bivalve shellfish aquaculture provides many benefits to society, beyond their traditional market value. This study collates the evidence available on the provisioning, regulating and cultural ecosystem services provided by the bivalve species commonly used in aquaculture. For the first time, it synthesises this evidence to provide a global assessment of the potential market and non‐market economic value of bivalve aquaculture. Bivalves are filter feeders, filtering water and particulates, creating substrates which provide habitat to act as nursery grounds for other species. Goods from provisioning services include meat, worth an estimated $23.9 billion as well as, pearls, shell and poultry grit, with oyster shell being the most important, with a global potential worth of $5.2 billion. The most important regulating services are nutrient remediation. Cultivated bivalves remove 49,000 tonnes of nitrogen and 6,000 tonnes of phosphorus, worth a potential $1.20 billion. Currently, there is little evidence on the cultural services per year of bivalve aquaculture, but we argue that these cultural values are broad ranging, although difficult to quantify. Our assessment indicates that the global, non‐food bivalve aquaculture services are worth $6.47 billion ($2.95 billion–9.99 billion) per annum. However, this is likely to be an underestimate of the true value of bivalve aquaculture as there are significant gaps in evidence of the value for a number of key services. The analysis presented here can be used to indicate the likely scale of payments for ecosystem services provided by bivalve aquaculture, prior to more detailed assessments.

. 1. Saltmarsh conservation management often involves livestock grazing to maximise plant diversity and provide suitable breeding habitat for over‐wintering coastal birds. The effect of grazing on invertebrates is rarely quantified, but results from limited studies of terrestrial and coastal grasslands demonstrate greater abundance and species richness in un‐grazed grassland. 2. The impact of short sward (<8 cm) cattle grazing on the ground dwelling invertebrate community was assessed on an English inter‐tidal upper salt marsh using pitfall traps. Abundance, species richness, functional group structure, abundance of coastal specialists, environmental factors that influence invertebrate habitat choice and food web composition were compared for grazed and un‐grazed marsh. 3. In total, 90 000 invertebrates were sampled. Predatory, zoophagus and detritivorous Coleoptera were significantly more abundant on the un‐grazed marsh. In contrast, predatory Hemiptera and Araneae were significantly more abundant on the grazed marsh. Sheet weaver spiders were significantly more abundant on the grazed marsh, foliage running hunters and space web builders more abundant on the un‐grazed marsh. Most inter‐tidal coastal specialist species exhibited clear habitat preference for the grazed marsh. Total species richness was not significantly different between grazing treatments. 4. Linear direct gradient analysis showed that two environmental variables influenced by grazing intensity, soil temperature and vegetation height, significantly explained the composition of invertebrate functional groups. Larger bodied invertebrates dominated the un‐grazed food web. 5. We conclude that both short sward cattle grazed and un‐grazed saltmarsh habitat should be maintained to maximise invertebrate abundance and diversity and provide suitable habitat for coastal specialists.

Reliable quantification of ecosystem service (ES) provision in agricultural landscapes depends on accurate mapping of the spatial configuration of land-use and land cover (LULC). In this paper we explore the benefits of enhanced spatial and thematic resolution in LULC mapping in terms of predicting ecosystem services and associated natural capital-based land-use policies. Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellite images were processed using Google Earth Engine (GEE) to generate a LULC map at 10 m resolution, which was compared to existing datasets at 20 m, 25 m, and 100 m resolution in the River Welland catchment (Eastern England). Spatial resolution had a significant effect on the abundance and spatial configuration of land cover types. For example, detected woodland cover in the finest resolution dataset was 2x that in the coarsest data. Finer spatial resolution also allowed small, fragmented patches of woodland and grassland to be identified. ES provision (crop yield, carbon storage and pollinator abundance) was estimated from each map using the Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs (InVEST) model. The finest resolution map resulted in 21% lower predicted wheat production (due to lower estimates of cultivated land cover), 7% higher predicted carbon stocks and 43% higher predicted wild bee abundance compared to the coarsest resolution map. The estimated monetary value of ES provision increased by 23.2% between the 10 and 100 m dataset. We recommend that a LULC resolution of at least 10 m should be employed in agricultural landscapes to accurately capture ES provision. This can be achieved using GEE and could be used as a basis for the development of future natural capital policy.