No abstract

In the last few decades the Circular Economy has increasingly been advertised as an economic model that can replace the current "linear" economy whilst addressing the issues of environmental deterioration, social equity and long-term economic growth with the explicit suggestion that it can serve as a tool for Sustainable Development. However, despite the individual prominence of the Circular Economy and Sustainable Development in the academic and wider literature, the exact relationship between the two concepts has neither been thoroughly defined nor explored. The consequent result is various inconsistencies occurring across the literature regarding how the Circular Economy can serve as a tool for Sustainable Development and an incomplete understanding of how its long-term effects differ from those of the "linear" economy. A literature review was conducted to interpret the current conceptual relationship between the Circular Economy and Sustainable Development. The review highlights numerous challenges concerning conceptual definition, economic growth and implementation that inhibit the use of the Circular Economy as a tool for Sustainable Development in its current form. The review concludes by providing suggestions for how research concerning the Circular Economy should proceed if it is to provide a potential approach for achieving Sustainable Development. JEL-codes: O13, O44, Q01, Q53, Q56

A B S T R A C TThere is a multitude of ecosystem service classifications available within the literature, each with its own advantages and drawbacks. Elements of them have been used to tailor a generic ecosystem service classification for the marine environment and then for a case study site within the North Sea: the Dogger Bank. Indicators for each of the ecosystem services, deemed relevant to the case study site, were identified. Each indicator was then assessed against a set of agreed criteria to ensure its relevance and applicability to environmental management. This paper identifies the need to distinguish between indicators of ecosystem services that are entirely ecological in nature (and largely reveal the potential of an ecosystem to provide ecosystem services), indicators for the ecological processes contributing to the delivery of these services, and indicators of benefits that reveal the realized human use or enjoyment of an ecosystem service. It highlights some of the difficulties faced in selecting meaningful indicators, such as problems of specificity, spatial disconnect and the considerable uncertainty about marine species, habitats and the processes, functions and services they contribute to.

No abstract

Summary1. Many organisms undertake migrations between foraging and breeding habitats and while it is assumed that reproductive timing affects fitness, little is known about the degree of individual consistency, and about the causes and consequences of individual variation in migratory timing in organisms other than birds. 2. Here, we report on a 6-year mark-recapture study, including 2048 individuals, of breeding migration in anadromous pike (Esox lucius), an iteroparous top-predatory fish that displays homing behaviour. By repeated sampling across years at a breeding site, we first quantify individual variation both within and between breeding events and then investigate phenotypic correlates and fitness consequences of arrival timing to the breeding site.3. Our data demonstrate that males arrive before females, that large males arrive later than small males, that the timing of breeding migration varies among years and that individuals are consistent in their timing across years relative to other individuals in the population. 4. Furthermore, data on return rates indicate that arrival time is under stabilizing viability selection, and that individuals who are more flexible in their timing of arrival during the first reproductive years survive longer compared with less flexible individuals. Finally, longitudinal data demonstrate that individuals consistently fine-tune their arrival timing across years, showing that the timing of arrival to breeding sites is influenced by experience. 5. These findings represent rare evidence of how between-and within-individual variations in migratory timing across breeding events are correlated with phenotypic and fitness traits in an ecologically important keystone species. Our results emphasize the importance of considering variation in migratory timing both between and within individuals in studies investigating the fitness consequences of migratory behaviour and have implications for future management.