Wendy Fjellstad

Research Scientist

(+47) 974 81 279
wendy.fjellstad@nibio.no

Place
Ås O43

Visiting address
Oluf Thesens vei 43, 1433 Ås

Biography

I work with landscape monitoring, including research on the development and use of indicators of landscape spatial structure, biological diversity, cultural heritage and public accessibility and landscape preferences. My main research interests are linked to analysis of how human use of natural resources affects landscapes and influences different qualities in the landscape, including ecosystem services. I work with GIS and spatial analyses, recording in the field (habitats, plants, bumblebees, butterflies, cultural heritage and landscape characteristics), and combine different types of data to monitor developments in landscapes and their qualities.

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Abstract

The visual impacts of landscape change are important for how people perceive landscapes and whether they consider changes to be positive or negative. Landscape photographs and photographs of landscape elements may capture information about the visual qualities of landscapes and can also be used to illustrate, and even to quantify, how these visual qualities change over time. We developed a methodology for a monitoring scheme, based on taking photographs from exactly the same locations at different points in time. We tested two methods: one where fieldworkers chose freely the location and direction of photographs, and one where photo locations and four out of five directions were predefined. We found that the method using predefined locations provided a representative sample of the visual qualities present in the landscape and was relatively person-independent but missed rare landscape components. The method using free selection of photo locations and directions captured rarities, but the content of the photos varied from photographer to photographer. Considering the strengths and weaknesses of the two approaches, we recommend a method that combines aspects of both when establishing a monitoring scheme based on repeat photography, with predefined locations to ensure that the entire area is covered, and additional freely chosen photo locations to capture special subject matter that would otherwise be missed.

To document

Abstract

Current agricultural practices in Europe are increasingly aggravating societal and environmental safety concerns. This creates social and regulatory pressures on farmers, which can lead to declining material and social status of farmers, farmer discontent, and anti-regulation protests. These tensions are rooted in conflicting value systems for agricultural development, which can range from productivist pathways (i.e. valuing production above all else) to increasing multifunctionality pathways (i.e. valuing agriculture for its contribution to multiple economic, environmental and societal needs). It is largely unknown to what degree individual farms and agricultural landscapes are transitioning towards increasing productivism or multifunctionality in practice. Here, we mapped landscape changes and interviewed farmers (n = 274) to examine the diversity of agricultural development pathways in 17 study sites across Europe over the last 20 years (2000–2020). We also assessed the associations between the development pathways and farmers’ perceptions of socio-economic outcomes, namely job satisfaction, societal valuation, and economic performance. Farm-level development was largely aligned with productivist pathways, while landscape-level changes aligned more closely with an increasing multifunctionality pathway. Farmers on pathways of increasing multifunctionality did not perceive improved outcomes on livelihood indicators as compared to productivist farmers. Furthermore, farms on increasing multifunctionality pathways were concentrated in sites with very high management intensities that face strong pressure from environmental regulations, as well as low-intensity, mountainous sites, where opportunities for intensification are limited. These results suggest that current pathways that increase multifunctionality arise mostly by necessity. Successful agricultural transformation will therefore require policy to create enabling environments that provide socioeconomic benefits for farmers to increase multifunctionality, and a civil society and market conditions that value sustainable agriculture.

To document

Abstract

Vegetasjon langs bekker og vannveier er viktig for biologisk mangfold, jordvern, erosjonskontroll, reduksjon av risiko for flom og tørke, og for elvens hydromorfologi. Copernicus Land Monitoring Service tilbyr geografiske produkter til støtte for forvaltning av land og vann. I denne rapporten analyserer vi potensialet til Riparian Zones temakart (RZ) for bruk til kartlegging og overvåking av vegetasjon langs bekker og vannveier i Norge og Polen. Vi inkluderer også analyser av temakartet Small Woody Features (SWF) innenfor områder kartlagt i RZ. Vi sammenlignet RZ med nasjonale data og flybilder for å verifisere kvaliteten til datasettet, både for status og endringer i arealdekke og arealbruk langs bekker og vannveier. Vi konkluderer med at den tematiske nøyaktigheten var ganske god for vann, jordbruksareal og skog, men at andre klasser ikke korresponderte like godt med de nasjonale dataene. Mange av avvikene kan skyldes forskjeller i klassifiseringssystemene, kildedatene og kartleggingsinstruksene for de forskjellige datasettene. I tillegg fant vi at den romlige oppløsningen av RZ er utilstrekkelig for detaljert overvåking, særlig i jordbrukslandskap. Likevel gir RZ en standardisert og harmonisert metodikk for hele Europa, og er et steg i riktig retning for å kunne overvåke arealdekke og arealbruk i disse dynamiske og viktige områdene.