Journal Guide

Ecosystem Services, associated with the Ecosystem Services Partnership (ESP), is an international, interdisciplinary journal that deals with the science, policy and practice of Ecosystem Services in the following disciplines: ecology and economics, institutions, planning and decision making, economic sectors such as agriculture, forestry and outdoor recreation, and all types of ecosystems.The aims of the journal are:(1) To improve our understanding of the dynamics, benefits and social and economic values of ecosystem services, (2) To provide insight in the consequences of policies and management for ecosystem services with special attention to sustainability issues, (3) To create a scientific interface to policymakers in the field of ecosystem services assessment and practice, and(4) To integrate the fragmented knowledge about ecosystem services, synergies and trade-offs, currently found in a wide field of specialist disciplines and journals.Manuscripts should always address ecosystem services and deal with at least one of the following themes:(a) The link between ecosystem services and social and economic benefits and associated values, including monetary values; i.e. what is the role of ecosystem services in providing and sustaining benefits for humans and how are these benefits and values perceived by public and policy makers? (b) The link between the levels of ecosystem services and economic, environmental and land use policies and practices; i.e. how is (the sustainability of) ecosystem services in natural, agricultural and urban systems affected by these policies and what are the trade-offs in service provision, and subsequent benefits and economic values, between different policy schemes?(c) The link between government and business strategies and the sustainability of ecosystem services, i.e. the use of ecosystem services in PES arrangements, biodiversity-offset programs and multiple service land use planning.Articles may address these topics from different (paradigmatic) perspectives, including basic research, integrated assessment approaches and (ex ante and ex post) policy evaluations. They may be inter-disciplinary or draw from specialized fields within economic, ecological, social and political sciences. Systems addressed may range from natural and semi-natural ecosystems to cultivated systems and urban areas and from local to global scales.Article types:• Original Research Articles (including policy assessments) • Short communications• Review Articles (including policy reviews) • Views and Commentaries• Letters to the Editor• Special issue PapersAudience: academia, governments, non-governmental organisations, business community.

The study and management of ecosystems represents the most dynamic field of contemporary ecology. Ecosystem research bridges fundamental ecology, environmental ecology and environmental problem-solving. The scope of ecosystem science extends from bounded systems such as watersheds to spatially complex landscapes, to the Earth itself, and crosses temporal scales from seconds to millennia. Ecosystem science has strong links to other disciplines including landscape ecology, global ecology, biogeochemistry, aquatic ecology, soil science, hydrology, ecological economics and conservation biology. Studies of ecosystems employ diverse approaches, including theory and modeling, long-term investigations, comparative research and large experiments. The journal Ecosystems features a distinguished team of editors-in-chief and an outstanding international editorial board, and is recognized worldwide as a home for significant research, editorials, mini-reviews and special features.

Ecotoxicology is an international journal devoted to presenting fundamental research on the effects of toxic chemicals on populations, communities and terrestrial, freshwater and marine ecosystems. It elucidates mechanisms and processes whereby chemicals exert their effects on ecosystems, and examines the impact caused at the population or community level. The journal is not restricted with respect to taxon or biome, presenting papers that indicate possible new approaches to regulation and control of toxic chemicals and that formulate ways of conserving threatened species. The journal includes not only original research papers but technical notes and review articles, both invited and submitted. A strong, broadly based editorial board ensures as wide an international coverage as possible.

Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety focuses on integrated mechanistic research related to short- and long-term pathways and interactions of substances and chemical mixtures in environmental systems and subsystems on their bioavailability, and assimilation in organisms, as well as biological responses of these organisms, and damage mechanisms (endocrine disruption, genotoxicity); and on their subsequent fate in the environment, food chain, including humans. Novel technologies, techniques, and methods such as biomarkers, biosensors and bioanalytical systems, bioremediation methods, QSARs and QSPRs, advanced high performance computational methods, models, and their applications in obtaining and processing interdisciplinary ecotoxicological information are also addressed in the journal. We welcome the applied outcome of complex ecotoxicological research such as developing the science-based Environmental Quality Criteria (EQC), standard toxicity tests, techniques, and methods for ecotoxicological evaluation of the environment, as well as developing ecotoxicologically proven methods and technologies for prevention, interception, and remediation of human-induced damage to ecosystems. Emphasis is placed on ecological animal models rather than laboratory based rodent studies; The above scope of the journal is aimed at providing science-based tools for sustainably managing the environment through risk assessment, risk characterization, risk prediction, and risk management. The journal publishes regular research articles, and review articles.