Sustainable urban planning recognises the importance of green space networks to conserve biodiversity. A recent study in China has assessed whether a development plan for Jinan City improves the city's urban green networks.

Recent research has established how forest, wetland and agricultural ecosystems could affect economic growth in Sweden. The findings suggest that regions conventionally considered to be of low economic benefit, are in fact rich in valuable ecosystem resources.

Planting vegetation to protect coasts from natural disasters, such as tsunamis and cyclones, may damage native ecosystems, according to a new study. As there is also questionable evidence on the effectiveness of these 'bioshields', the study suggested a re-think on coastal vegetation policy and research.

A report commissioned by the French Government has calculated reference values for French ecosystems. These range from ???600 per hectare/per year for pastureland to ???2000 per hectare/per year for some types of forest. The methods used to calculate these values were carefully analysed.

A new study has reinforced the view that biodiversity improvements and greater provision of ecosystem services are complementary. An analysis of projects that restored ecosystems indicated that restoration produced a 44 per cent increase in biodiversity and a 25 per cent increase in the provision of ecosystem services.

New research has identified the areas in the Western hemisphere where climate change may have the greatest impacts on amphibians. Alongside traditional methods to predict shifts in geographical ranges, it mapped species with particularly restricted ranges and identified areas most likely to receive less precipitation in the future.

Researchers have developed a new cost-effective tool to assess the impact of policy on biodiversity at a European scale. The study used it to assess the policy of expanding woody biofuel plantations in the EU, which indicated that 28 per cent of wild species would be negatively affected and 10 per cent would experience beneficial effects.

Researchers have developed a new model to estimate the impact of harvesting wild species and land use change on biodiversity. Unlike previous models, it considers the indirect effect of harvesting or pest control on landscape structure through reducing the variety of species.

New research indicates that successful integration of conservation into local land-use planning needs a combination of regulatory measures and community values. This could be encouraged by better education on conservation, and greater collaboration between neighbouring geographical areas.

Tradable permits have been proposed as a flexible instrument to integrate biodiversity conservation and economic development. New research indicates that permits are not a universal solution, but do have potential in certain economic and ecological situations.

Assessing the environmental condition of sediments and bottom waters of coastal and marine ecosystems over wide geographic areas can be a problem when indicators used to evaluate specific ecological conditions cannot be easily compared. A recent study suggests that a common scale of assessment can be established by experts from different regions using "best professional judgement".

We are still losing biodiversity at an unprecedented rate, according to a new report prepared by the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). The report confirms that the world failed to meet the 2010 target to reduce the rate of biodiversity loss and calls for policy makers to take urgent, coordinated action to address the challenge of combating biodiversity loss and in so doing, address the linked challenges posed by climate change.

Quotas on the hunting or fishing of wildlife may be worsening the problem they seek to address. A new study has predicted cycles in wildlife population sizes over time and indicates that quota systems, introduced in response to declining numbers of wildlife, do not respond quickly or accurately enough to changes in population size and may put wildlife at greater risk.

The importance of predicting future threats to the areas connecting biodiversity hotspots when planning conversation projects is highlighted in a new study. Using Costa Rican forest as a case study, researchers compared forward-looking planning methods to those that focus exclusively on current threats and found the forward-looking approaches to be more effective and reliable.

New research has found a consensus amongst experts on which environmentally friendly agricultural practices are most effective at protecting four endangered birds in Spain. Experts agreed that maintaining fallow land, preventing the use of agrochemicals and stopping agricultural practices that disrupted nesting were the most valuable measures.

The success of policy to maintain urban green areas depends on an adequate level of public participation, according to new research. The study compared two twinned European cities with different styles of green space management and found that public involvement may help maintain urban biodiversity.

Practical barriers may be hampering the application of an ecosystem services approach to forests. A new analysis has outlined three strategies to overcome these barriers: fostering private markets, managing public land and raising awareness of ecosystem services.

Organic farming has often been found to have benefits for biodiversity, but the benefits can depend on the individual species and landscape in question. Research on vine farming in Italy suggests that the impact of organic methods on the number or diversity of pollinating insects may depend on local context. For example, the lack of connectivity between organic vine farms may limit benefits in some circumstances.

Pesticides that kill mosquitoes could have indirect effects on other species, according to researchers. The study indicated that a well-known mosquito insecticide led to reduced numbers of eggs and chick survival for house martin birds.

A global team of marine biologists have recently completed a Census of Marine Life, which contributes to our basic understanding of marine ecosystems. Among its findings - marine biodiversity in the Baltic and Mediterranean are among the most threatened globally.

The fragmentation of habitats is a growing concern for nature conservation. Butterflies and moths are particularly sensitive and new research has shed light on what makes some species more vulnerable than others. Those that are less mobile with more specialist diets and less reproductive potential appear to be more affected by habitat fragmentation.

Indications suggest global biodiversity mostly continues to decline, confirming that the goal of halting the rate of loss of biodiversity by 2010 has not been met, according to a recent study. Pressures on biodiversity are increasing despite increasing policy and management responses. However, with greater resources and political will, the researchers argue that the loss of biodiversity could be halted or even reversed.

Activists and policy makers are often considered to be separate influences on environmental issues. A new review suggests that the key to long-term conservation policy could lie in the creation of 'Conservation Systems'. These are a collective of activists, organisations and policy makers which could make biodiversity conservation efforts more resilient to major external changes, such as economic crises, change in government or conflict.

National lists of threatened species contribute to the monitoring of biodiversity, but new research has discovered a lack of these lists in certain countries, such as Pacific Island states, and for certain groups of wildlife, such as invertebrates. Targeted financial support, better knowledge sharing and standard systems of data collection could help bridge these gaps.

Human pressures on freshwater resources have seriously reduced the security of water for people and river biodiversity across the world, according to a recent study. Almost 80 per cent of the world's population is at high risk from threats to water security and 65 per cent of river habitats are under threat.

Although the value of biodiversity and ecosystem services has been recognised, it is still not fully integrated into policy-making. A new report has developed an action plan that recommends that governments create a 'Natural Capital' minister in the Finance Ministry, develop a set of Natural Capital Accounts and form an inter-departmental committee to oversee programmes in this area.

One-fifth of the world's mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles and fish are threatened with extinction, according to a recent report. The study notes that there have been many conservation success stories, but far greater long-term resources are needed to improve the outlook for the world's threatened vertebrate species.

Social and economic aspects should be considered alongside environmental issues when valuing benefits provided by ecosystems and biodiversity. A recently published study outlines the use of multi-criteria assessment methods for valuation that simultaneously take into account a wide variety of economic, social and environmental decision criteria.

Past economic activity is more likely to explain the current pattern of biological invasions across Europe than recent human activities, according to a new study. It can take several decades before a newly introduced species becomes established and spreads, which may mean that recent invasions caused by current economic activities could create an 'invasion debt' for future generations.

New research from the Mediterranean suggests that marine ecosystems are disturbed by the organic food and faeces waste from fish farms, even when the pollutants themselves can no longer be detected. The study recommends calculating an individual pollution 'carrying capacity' for each type of marine habitat, and provides the first published estimate for a ma??rl habitat.

A recent study has examined the effects of different farming practices on bird numbers and species found on farmland during the winter in six European countries. Overall, the greatest number of birds and species were on organic farms, especially when the farms were in landscapes where 80-99 per cent of the land was used for agriculture.

Tradable permits can be used to conserve biodiversity by allowing habitat destruction only when a permit has been acquired through the restoration of another habitat. New research has indicated that the costs of conservation, amount of habitat turnover and time lags in restoration all influence the efficiency of the permit market.

Conservation efforts should focus on species that have recently declined in number, are harmless or are perceived as high value, according to a European public survey. Participants also felt that disappearing habitats should be targeted for protection. The results suggest that, by choosing different criteria that more closely match the public's values and criteria, conservationists could improve public support for their work.

The public can help assess the human impact on wild birds through amateur 'citizen science' networks, according to new research. Scientists evaluated the suitability of data collected by amateur bird-watchers for long-term monitoring of European bird populations. Their findings suggest that citizen data may significantly improve the accuracy of existing official survey methods, as well as help increase public awareness of wild bird conservation.

A new model, named OUTOPIE could help design more effective agri-environmental schemes. The model links the farm, field and landscape levels to allow a more accurate assessment of the costs of enrolling specific fields in conservation schemes. Using the model, the researchers were able to assess the cost-effectiveness of different policies for the conservation of the Little Bustard bird (Tetrax tetrax) in France.

Pollination of intensively farmed, flowering crops could affect the pollination of wild plants in neighbouring fields, according to a study by German researchers. In their one-year study, they found fewer bees visited wild plants that are close to oilseed rape fields, although the longer-term picture is less clear. The researchers warn that increasing cultivation of biofuel crops could possibly reduce wild flower populations.

Despite being high on the political agenda, biodiversity is still declining. A new analysis has focused on forest biodiversity in Finland, Russia and Peru and concluded that a global ecosystem approach can make a link between human and ecological systems but bottom-up initiatives are needed to effectively put the concept into action.

Urban planning policy has had a powerful influence on the amount of green space in cities, according to a recent UK study. It found that a change in planning policy in 2000 led to a decline in urban green space in nine cities between 2001 and 2006, although the amount of green space in all but one of the cities studied has increased overall since 1991.

Scientists have evaluated two decades of research into declining biodiversity and concluded unequivocally that loss of species richness leads to a reduction in how well ecosystems function. The researchers evaluated the evidence for key biodiversity theories and predicted that scientific progress in the next five to ten years will provide the information we need to efficiently conserve certain ecological processes.

Researchers have recommended new, improved ways of increasing the ecological value of European grasslands. Plant diversity ??? or species richness ??? can be increased by a factor of three through sowing grass and wildflower seed mixtures, together with a carefully controlled plan for animal grazing.

A proactive approach to biodiversity loss ??? where conservation of a species starts before it becomes endangered ??? could save millions of euros compared to the cost of recovering a population already in serious decline, according to new research.

Scientists have proposed new recommendations to increase the species diversity and sustainability of Mediterranean forests, since programmes to enhance reforestation by planting vast areas of pine trees have not been as successful as planned.

A review of a decade of environmental citizen science ??? where the general public are involved in science as researchers ??? concludes that its benefits to science and society far outweigh concerns over data quality. Challenges can be overcome through volunteer training and should not be used to devalue citizen science programmes, say the researchers.

Over 160,000 seabirds are accidentally killed by global longline fisheries each year, according to a recent study. Better monitoring and standards are needed to reduce bycatch of seabirds in fisheries, including increased on-board monitoring of bycatches and mandatory best-practice measures, say the researchers.

A new European study has assessed whether seed banks are successfully conserving European plant species threatened by extinction. The findings indicate that threatened species are only partly conserved by seed banks, and that these facilities need to focus their future efforts on filling gaps in their collections.

Planting trees and maintaining a well-balanced mix of vegetation in urban 'green spaces' can enhance the species diversity of birds and compensate for the negative effect of building, according to new research. Scientists recommend that increasing tree cover rather than limiting new development is the most effective long-term strategy to improve bird diversity in cities.

Setting aside agricultural land remains an important method of promoting biodiversity in Central Europe, according to new Hungarian research. Results have indicated that, compared to winter cereal fields, set-aside land has greater plant and insect diversity. This supports the continuing use of set-aside policy in Central and Eastern Europe.

A new model has been developed that could help metropolitan areas adapt to climate change by increasing ecosystem services provided by green spaces and farmland through calculating the percentage of evapotranspiring surface for different types of land use and the degree of fragmentation between ecosystems. To demonstrate how it works, researchers have applied this 'land use suitability strategy' model to an Italian municipality.

Conservation researchers have warned against acting on the findings of a previous study that argued for the eradication of several invasive birds, including the Canada goose and sacred ibis, in Europe. They suggest the results are based on anecdotal rather than scientific evidence, and that detailed feasibility studies are needed before such management decisions are made.