Szvetlana Acs
University of Stirling
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Publication
Featured researches published by Szvetlana Acs.
Ecology Letters | 2012
Paul R. Armsworth; Szvetlana Acs; Martin Dallimer; Kevin J. Gaston; Nick Hanley; Paul Wilson
Incentive payments to private landowners provide a common strategy to conserve biodiversity and enhance the supply of goods and services from ecosystems. To deliver cost-effective improvements in biodiversity, payment schemes must trade-off inefficiencies that result from over-simplified policies with the administrative burden of implementing more complex incentive designs. We examine the effectiveness of different payment schemes using field parameterized, ecological economic models of extensive grazing farms. We focus on profit maximising farm management plans and use bird species as a policy-relevant indicator of biodiversity. Common policy simplifications result in a 49-100% loss in biodiversity benefits depending on the conservation target chosen. Failure to differentiate prices for conservation improvements in space is particularly problematic. Additional implementation costs that accompany more complicated policies are worth bearing even when these constitute a substantial proportion (70% or more) of the payments that would otherwise have been given to farmers.
Biology Letters | 2010
Martin Dallimer; Kevin J. Gaston; Andrew M. J. Skinner; Nick Hanley; Szvetlana Acs; Paul R. Armsworth
Despite two decades of agri-environment schemes (AESs) aimed at mitigating farmland biodiversity losses, the evidence that such programmes actually benefit biodiversity remains limited. Using field-level surveys, we assess the effectiveness of AESs in enhancing bird abundances in an upland area of England, where schemes have been operating for over 20 years. In such a region, the effects of AESs should be readily apparent, and we predict that bird abundances will co-vary with both field- and landscape-scale measures of implementation. Using an information theoretic approach, we found that, for abundances of species of conservation concern and upland specialists, measures of AES implementation and habitat type at both scales appear in the most parsimonious models. Field-level bird abundances are higher where more of the surrounding landscape is included in an AES. While habitat remains a more influential predictor, we suggest that landscape-scale implementation results in enhanced bird abundances. Hence, measures of the success of AESs should consider landscape-wide benefits as well as localized impacts.
Land Use Policy | 2010
Szvetlana Acs; Nick Hanley; Martin Dallimer; Kevin J. Gaston; Philip Robertson; Paul Wilson; Paul R. Armsworth
Journal of Applied Ecology | 2009
Martin Dallimer; Dugald Tinch; Szvetlana Acs; Nick Hanley; Humphrey Southall; Kevin J. Gaston; Paul R. Armsworth
Land Use Policy | 2012
Nick Hanley; Szvetlana Acs; Martin Dallimer; Kevin J. Gaston; Anil Graves; Joe Morris; Paul R. Armsworth
Journal of Applied Ecology | 2009
Martin Dallimer; Szvetlana Acs; Nick Hanley; Paul Wilson; Kevin J. Gaston; Paul R. Armsworth
Ecological Economics | 2011
Lynne M. Osgathorpe; Kirsty J. Park; Dave Goulson; Szvetlana Acs; Nick Hanley
Ecological Economics | 2013
Gareth D. Lennox; Kevin J. Gaston; Szvetlana Acs; Martin Dallimer; Nick Hanley; Paul R. Armsworth
Archive | 2009
Dugald Tinch; Nick Hanley; Martin Dallimer; P Posen; Szvetlana Acs; Kevin J. Gaston; Paul R. Armsworth
Archive | 2010
Szvetlana Acs; Paul R. Armsworth; Martin Dallimer; Kevin J. Gaston; Anil Graves; Nick Hanley; Joe Morris