After a 16-m high dam was constructed and a 297-ha pond was arranged in the River Šušvė nearby Angiriai in 1980, the previous natural flow regime of the river has changed: 15500000 m3 of water accumulated above the dam is not discharged via a natural bed, but through two 1.5x1.5 m bottom orifices, and flood discharges (up to Q1% = 296 m3 sE-1) are directed into the lower reach through a 16-m high shaft spillway of floods. Such arrangement of the Angiriai dam ensured it to become an essential obstacle for migrating fish. In 2000, after the arrangement and operation of Angiriai hydro-electric power station, the water regime downstream the dam has been changed and new hydrological pulses as well as ecosystem biodiversity are to be adapted. Thus, the operation of Angiriai HPS on the River Šušvė generating hydroelectric power can have adverse effect on the river habitats and hydro ecological connectivity. To evaluate the effect, the eco-hydraulic water regime measurements in 2005 in a lower stretch with and without turbines operating were made. The study results showed that artificial water levels fluctuation (≈ 4 m hrE-1) induced by Angiriai hydro-electric power station as well as the discharge flowing through the bottom orifices due to high velocities (13–14 m sE-1) and temperature differences could create stressful situations for young fish in the lower bank. According to the data of soil texture of the Šušvė River, the bed armoring process is going on below the Angiriai HPS is quasistable and no impact of HPS operation is found.

The aim of this paper is to evaluate ecosystem services in riparian forests of Latvia using benefit transfer method. The core of benefit-transfer method is to transfer economic costs from one economic situation to another by using pilot indicators, thus saving time and monetary resources of the research. This method also is applicable for transfer of value of ecosystem services to research territories where such values have not been set. As to the evaluation of ecosystem services in riparian forests, data derived from these indicators are compared with the situation in riparian forest stands. Successful application of this method depends on the quality of existing research and their transferability. For example, the data on research of non-timber values can be used to set these values in riparian forests. Value of ecosystem services for 1 ha riparian forest stand in Latvia judging by 1) N and P removal (N - 8.14 euro haE-1 yE-1; P - 2.16 euro haE-1 yE-1); 2) Valuing carbon capture (478.6 euro haE-1 y-E1); 3) Valuing noise buffering (2.02 euro haE-1 yE-1); 4) Valuing air purification (NOx - 1332.5 euro haE-1 yE-1, NH3 - 216 euro haE-1 yE-1, particulate matter - 792 euro haE-1 yE-1); 5) Valuing pollination (timber - 15.25 euro haE-1 yE-1, non-timber - 4 euro haE-1 yE-1) total at 2850.67 euro haE-1 yE-1, which is significantly more than just the traditionally viewed timber value.

The majority of natural Lithuanian rivers were regulated during intensive land reclamation period. Straightening of rivers caused unfavourable conditions for biodiversity. Four tributaries of the Merkys River in the South Lithuania were selected to explore changes in biodiversity patterns and determine the relationships between flow energy distribution in beds and ecological status of selected rivers. The research has shown that variation of cross sections area was usually 1.2 to 2.3 times higher in natural beds as compared to regulated ones. The range of rivers flow energy, estimated by Froude number, values were characterized as higher in natural (0.0 to 0.35) streams than in regulated (0.0 to 0.20) ones. This is the reason why the biggest number of macroinvertebrate taxa during the research period was recorded in natural riverbeds and the lowest - in the fields of the regulated segments. The assessing the abundance of fish revealed that total fish density in natural river sections was four times higher than in regulated ones. The research has approved the importance of naturalness for biodiversity and rehabilitation of regulated rivers in Lithuania.

The second half of the 20th century brought to light the consequences of human activity, when Humanity was confronted with demiurgical complexes and realized that the planet Earth was not only nature, but a complex system that today could no longer be operated by traditional methods and logic. While until the middle of the 20th century man used natural resources only to meet his needs, the 21st century poses new challenges for mankind to manage the consequences of human activities and to use them rationally and sustainably. The paper presents a study aimed at assessing the potential of ecosystem services development in the Nemunas Delta and anticipating their development directions. As a result of the research, the possible development directions of the Elderships were presented. It was done in two scenarios. The research was carried out in six municipality subdivisions (elderships) of the Nemunas Delta area in the framework of the Lithuanian Science Council project ‘Interaction of ecosystem services and human activities in the context of climate change’. Preparation of this paper was supported by funding from European Social Fund (project No 09.3.3-LMT-K-712-01-0178) under the grant agreement with the Research Council of Lithuania (LMTLT).

Freshwater lakes and rivers are habitats of variety of organisms and their populations giving great importance for freshwater ecosystems and providing water resources, food and recreational possibilities for humans. In spite of their fundamental importance to humans, freshwater lakes have been affected by anthropogenic disturbances, which have led to serious negative effects on the structure, functions and quality of these ecosystems. Lake ecosystems are dependent on inflow of water and supply of matter and energy from their catchment area. In studied lakes significant anthropogenic impact in loads of nutrients in their sediments and water was detected. This highlights the well-known problem of freshwaters in the World and in Europe – eutrophication, which can lead to increased productivity of water ecosystems – increased algae blooms, spreading of macrophytes and decreasing of oxygen content in water. Studied lake ecosystems show presence of human impact, not only by physiochemical parameters, but also by changes in biomass production, cyanobacterial algal blooms and overgrowing with macrophytes was observed. In order to improve water quality, appropriate management measures should be applied. We have analysed advantages and disadvantages of such measures as sediment removal, constructing of wetlands, cutting reeds and forming ecotones.

Fragmentation of private property (142 thousand private forest owners) cause the challenge for governing forests, because forests are part of wider forest ecosystems, but at the same time narrowly assigned by private borders. Land restitution put the new pressures on path dependent management and new possibilities and responsibilities (that were emergent features of private forest governance). This article is part of doctoral thesis about the common governance of private forests with particular aim to focus on describing knowledge and experience exchange in private forest owners’ networks in this paper. The research question for this article is to help to find out how the translation of experience and knowledge manifest itself in private forest owners’ networks? The best theoretical model to fit this situation is the concept of translation from actor-network theory and emergent norm theory. Case study approach was selected to follow actors in forest owners’ networks. The cases are forest owners’ cooperatives, forest owners NGO’s, as well as other forms, in particular, forest extension services and cases where an emergent process can be seen. The empirical material shows that translation of experience and knowledge manifest itself in few important ways, namely, at first, in a negotiation of needs and agreement on private forest owners’ needs; secondly, in stewardship role of multi-functional actors; thirdly, in emerging and evolving legislative norms. A multi-functional actor is a term offered in order to reveal a wide range of mediation forms in multicultural multi nature of forests as governed property and forests as integral part of ecosystems.

Forests and woodlands provide a wide variety of ecosystem services that are usually classified within three categories: provisioning services, regulating (supporting) services and cultural services. While provisioning and regulating services are widely analysed, there is a lack of information about the cultural ecosystem services, particularly some sub-categories of these. In this study, we have focused on inspiration for creativity as a sub-category of cultural ecosystem services provided by forests and analysed the depiction of forest ecosystems in landscape paintings of Latvian artists. It may be concluded that forest ecosystems serve as an important source of inspiration for creativity and art, as may be seen in the landscape paintings of Latvian artists of the 20th century. Characteristic landscape features of birth and living places of the artists are reflected in their works. The performed analysis is the first of its kind in Latvia, and it may be further expanded, either by incorporating other aspects of creativity or adding economic dimension, for example, by surveying the art market.

Although the problem of ecosystem diversity loss is of a global nature, the measures to solve it must be implemented at the national level. As a member of the European Union, Lithuania needs to have a clear position regarding the application of proposed socio-economic measures. The problems of lake ecosystem utilisation analysed in the article are based on the scientific knowledge which complies with the specifics of regional natural environment. The aim of the article is to systematize scientific knowledge about modern lake ecosystem services by explaining the fundamental adaptation patterns of ecosystems and their components. The article provides a complex assessment of the services provided by lake ecosystems, reveals management problems related to optimization of the use of lake ecosystems, presents recommendations on the improvement of legislation related to lake ecosystem services, regulations for protected areas, management plans, etc.

Green infrastructure (GI) is a strategically planned network of high quality natural and semi-natural areas and provides a range of ecosystem services and protects biodiversity in urban settings. It is very important to increase understanding of the role of GI from a scientific and a socio-economic perspective. The main goal was to understand and assess the ways that tourists use from experiencing urban green infrastructure in the cities they visit. An interview questionnaire survey took place among tourists of the following countries and cities: Latvia (Riga and Jelgava) and Portugal (Lisbon and Faro). The questionnaire includes perception, psychological aspects and preferences, behaviour and activities and general questions as well as biographical information about tourists. The study represents that no significant differences have been found between respondent groups in Latvia and Portugal. The results of the survey show that in future there is a need to improve the linkage between GI and social-cultural activities in cities. Therefore, studies for tourists’ perceptions, preferences and uses of GI will provide the alternative management approaches for urban planning and tourism development in future.

The presented study aimed to explore the relationships between different indices of ambient ozone (O3) and tree defoliation, radial increment, and specific diversity and abundance of soil micro-arthropods, stream macro-invertebrates, small mammals (mainly rodents) in order to test the hypothesis that changes in the considered objects of forest ecosystem could be related to changes in ambient ozone concentration. The observations have been carried out on 3 integrated monitoring stations located in Aukstaitija (LT-01), Dzukija (LT-02) National Parks (NPs) since 1994, and Zemaitija (LT-03) NP since 1995. The obtained data revealed that only peak ozone concentrations (from 125 to 215 mug mE-3) had significant effect on changes in the considered components of forest biota. Radial increment and crown defoliation of Scots pine, a little lower the diversity of soil microarthropods, and the least diversity of small mammals were found to be the most sensitive to ozone exposure.