Diress Tsegaye Alemu
Research Scientist
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CVBiography
I hold a PhD degree in Management of Natural Resource Management (2010) at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU), Norway. I have over 20 years of international research and teaching experience in ecology and management of natural resources. previously, I worked a researcher at the University of Oslo and NMBU from July 2010- February 2023. My research focuses on patterns and processes in agricultural and natural landscapes, climate change, land use/cover analysis,, biodiversity conservation, and wildlife management. Highly skilled with long-term experiences in organizing, and analyzing ecological data and presenting results to a high standard. Published more than 50 papers and technical reports, of which 42 are peer-reviewed scientific journal articles. I have strong modelling/statistical data analysis background with very good skills in R'/Rstudio programming, ArcGIS, and QGIS softwares. I also possess project leadership with interdisciplinary multicultural teams.
Abstract
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Abstract
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Abstract
The study focuses on ecosystem services, historical aspects, and natural diversity. Specifically, it assesses possible proxies for investigating a set of cultural ecosystem services from the Norwegian agricultural landscape. Agricultural areas on the Norwegian land cover map surrounded by a 100 m wide buffer zone were analyzed for recorded historical buildings, cultural heritage sites, red-listed vascular plant species (defined as being at varying degrees at risk of extinction), and red-listed nature types (defined as endangered or vulnerable). The results indicate significant contributions from agricultural landscapes with respect to historical buildings, cultural heritage sites, and red-listed plant species. Regarding red-listed nature types, the contributions were diverse. The ecosystem proxies investigated showed increasing distribution trends with increasing proportions of agricultural landscapes in the spatial units, with a sharp increase with smaller area sizes. However, for cultural heritage sites the trend was different when the proportion of the agricultural landscape was below 25%; it showed a very slow increase. In conclusion, the study highlights the agricultural landscape’s diverse contributions to the investigated ecosystem services in Norway, prompting the need for further research on additional ecosystem services to ensure the continued delivery of environmental and social well-being.