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In this paper, we estimate agricultural productivity change at country level based on the same data employed by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the current reference data source, using a stochastic frontier model instead of the growth accounting method. The use of a stochastic frontier model is motivated by the opportunity to overcome the limitation of USDA estimates which rely on approximated and imputed input cost shares, and of the growth accounting method in general, which ignores technical inefficiency. We found that, in general, USDA estimates are higher in absolute value than ours but in substantial agreement, confirming the different theoretical foundations of the two methods and suggesting the empirical validity of both of them. Furthermore, our results show that the assumption of constant returns to scale made by many authors appears just a simplification and not a real property of the production processes of the various countries. This work has the value to provide, for the first time in the literature, a comparison between agricultural productivity changes estimated with different methodologies, and an additional data source that can be employed in a large variety of longitudinal economic analyses at country level.

Ecosystem services.

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The school of thought surrounding the urban ecosystem has increasingly become in vogue among researchers worldwide. Since half of the world’s population lives in cities, urban ecosystem services have become essential to human health and wellbeing. Rapid urban growth has forced sustainable urban developers to rethink important steps by updating and, to some degree, recreating the human–ecosystem service linkage.Assessing as well as estimating the losses of ecosystem services can denote the essential effects of urbanization and increasingly indicate where cities fall short. This second book on urban ecosystem services contains 11 thoroughly refereed contributions published within the Special Issue “Urban Ecosystem Services II: Toward a Sustainable Future”. The book addresses topics such as cultural ecosystem services, green infrastructure, urban trees, urban green spaces, and more. The contributions highlight current knowledge, gaps, and future research with the focus on building a sustainable future.

Research & information: general --- Biology, life sciences --- Ecological science, the Biosphere --- urban biodiversity --- urban watersheds --- Bogota Colombia --- corruption --- Unwillingness to Invest --- natural capital --- blue-green infrastructure --- urban environmental challenges --- Global South --- tropical cities --- urban forestry --- cultural ecosystem services --- public survey --- tree maintenance --- urbanization --- birds --- ecosystem services --- survival --- adaptations --- traits --- land-based financing --- land monetisation --- policy --- infrastructure --- Sustainable Development Goals --- compensation measures --- urban resilience --- urban development --- impact assessment --- cityscape visual perception --- green infrastructure --- linear parks --- sustainable landscape planning --- tram lanes --- Warsaw --- ecosystem service value --- farmland loss --- construction land expansion --- remote sensing --- landscape architecture --- design --- evaluation --- urban ecosystem services --- urban tree planting --- i-Tree Canopy --- Office for National Statistics --- health damage costs --- United Kingdom --- n/a

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The school of thought surrounding the urban ecosystem has increasingly become in vogue among researchers worldwide. Since half of the world’s population lives in cities, urban ecosystem services have become essential to human health and wellbeing. Rapid urban growth has forced sustainable urban developers to rethink important steps by updating and, to some degree, recreating the human–ecosystem service linkage.Assessing as well as estimating the losses of ecosystem services can denote the essential effects of urbanization and increasingly indicate where cities fall short. This second book on urban ecosystem services contains 11 thoroughly refereed contributions published within the Special Issue “Urban Ecosystem Services II: Toward a Sustainable Future”. The book addresses topics such as cultural ecosystem services, green infrastructure, urban trees, urban green spaces, and more. The contributions highlight current knowledge, gaps, and future research with the focus on building a sustainable future.

urban biodiversity --- urban watersheds --- Bogota Colombia --- corruption --- Unwillingness to Invest --- natural capital --- blue-green infrastructure --- urban environmental challenges --- Global South --- tropical cities --- urban forestry --- cultural ecosystem services --- public survey --- tree maintenance --- urbanization --- birds --- ecosystem services --- survival --- adaptations --- traits --- land-based financing --- land monetisation --- policy --- infrastructure --- Sustainable Development Goals --- compensation measures --- urban resilience --- urban development --- impact assessment --- cityscape visual perception --- green infrastructure --- linear parks --- sustainable landscape planning --- tram lanes --- Warsaw --- ecosystem service value --- farmland loss --- construction land expansion --- remote sensing --- landscape architecture --- design --- evaluation --- urban ecosystem services --- urban tree planting --- i-Tree Canopy --- Office for National Statistics --- health damage costs --- United Kingdom --- n/a

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Parmi les services écosystémiques rendus par les toitures vertes, la régulation des flux hydriques fait partie des plus importants. C’est via son habilité à retenir l’eau (rétention) ou à freiner son débit (détention) que la toiture verte fourni ce service.
Ce travail vise, d’une part, à identifier la manière dont la structure de l’écosystème de toiture verte (caractérisée par son substrat et sa végétation) influence sa capacité de rétention. Une expérimentation au cours de laquelle des échantillons de toitures vertes ont été assemblés dans des bacs de 1 m² a permis d’observer une contribution plus importante à cette capacité de rétention de la part d’un substrat fait de matériau recyclé par rapport à un substrat trouvé dans le commerce (substrat Zinco). Cette expérimentation a également mis en évidence le rôle important du couvert végétal ainsi que, dans une moindre mesure, de la hauteur de la végétation, à condition que celle-ci soit couplée à un couvert également important, dans la capacité de rétention du système. 
D’autre part, ce travail vise à identifier la manière dont cette même structure de l’écosystème de toiture verte impacte la capacité de détention de la toiture. Une averse d’intensité modérée précédée par des conditions météorologiques humides a été suivie afin d’analyser l’évolution du débit d’écoulement lié à cette averse à travers les bacs. Sous ces conditions, le substrat Zinco est le plus intéressant. La végétation apporte également une plus-value à cette capacité de détention de manière générale, cette plus-value étant plus intéressante dans le substrat Zinco. Sous ces mêmes conditions, le couvert végétal a une influence sur le délais entre le pic d’écoulement et le pic de précipitations dans le substrat Zinco. 
Les résultats de ce travail apportent des connaissances supplémentaires concernant l’interaction entre la structure de l’écosystème de toitures vertes et le service de régulation des flux hydriques fourni par ce dernier et donne des pistes concernant la végétation et le substrat à privilégier en vue d’optimiser ce service écosystémique. Among the ecosystem services provided by green roofs, the regulation of water flows is one of the most important. It is through its ability to retain water (retention) or to slow down its flow (detention) that the green roof provides this service.
This work aims, on the one hand, to identify how the structure of the green roof ecosystem (characterized by its substrate and vegetation) influences its retention capacity. An experiment in which green roof samples were assembled in 1 m² containers allowed us to observe a greater overall contribution to this retention capacity from a substrate made of recycled material compared to a commercially available substrate (Zinco). This experimentation also highlighted the important role of the vegetation cover and, to a lesser extent, the height of the vegetation, provided that it is coupled with an important cover, in the retention capacity of the system. 
On the other hand, this work aims to identify how this same green roof ecosystem structure impacts the roof's detention capacity. A moderate intensity rainfall event preceded by wet weather conditions was monitored in order to track the flow rate associated with this rainfall event through the containers. Under these conditions, the Zinco substrate is the most interesting. The vegetation also adds value to this holding capacity in general, with the Zinco substrate providing the most value. Under the same conditions, the vegetation cover has an influence on the delay between peak flow and peak rainfall in the Zinco substrate. 
The results of this work provide additional knowledge about the interaction between the structure of the green roof ecosystem and the water flow regulation service provided by the latter and give clues about the vegetation and the substrate to be preferred in order to optimize this ecosystem service.

toiture verte --- service écosystémique --- flux hydrique --- rétention d'eau --- détention d'eau --- green roof --- ecosystem services --- water flux --- water retention --- water detention --- Sciences du vivant > Sciences de l'environnement & écologie

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Both climate change and air pollution have large negative impacts on physiological processes and functions at the individual tree level and on whole forest ecosystems. The objective of climate change and air quality monitoring is to make decisions, based on scientific knowledge, regarding how to best manage and improve the current state of the environment. Our ability to take urgent measures to combat climate change and its impact on forest ecosystems and conserve forest biodiversity depends upon our knowledge of the latest scientific results on the status of forest ecosystems. Unfortunately, there are a lot of gaps in our knowledge of the detection and monitoring of their effects on forest ecosystems. This book presents relevant results from scientific research in the fields of climate change, air pollution, forest conservation, protection and monitoring that can contribute to a better science–policy interaction and to the elaboration of specific strategies, in accordance with the areas of forest sciences from IUFRO RG 8.04.00 - Impacts of air pollution and climate change on forest ecosystems.

Research & information: general --- silver fir --- radial growth --- wood characteristics --- drought response --- climate change --- current annual increment --- percentage volume increment --- basal area --- tree diameter --- tree form-height --- air pollution --- increment cores --- Norway spruce --- radial growth series --- gas exchange --- ecosystem restoration --- mountain forests --- photosynthesis --- diagnostic assessment --- forest ecosystem --- reference information --- restoration plan --- biodiversity --- forests --- valuing ecosystem services --- policy making --- SWAT --- hydrological model --- sensitivity analysis --- calibration --- validation --- small forested watershed --- temperate forests --- climate change effects --- Southern Carpathian forest management --- forest growth --- forest biomass --- virgin forests --- ecosystem services --- natural capital --- socio-economic system --- ecological indicators --- terrestrial laser scanning --- aerial laser scanning --- LANDIS-II --- PnET --- Southern Carpathians --- production --- species composition --- species abundance --- Romanian temperate forests --- n/a