The concept of ecosystem services is widely understood as the services and benefits thatecosystems provide to humans, and they have been categorised into provisioning, regulating, supporting, and cultural services. This article aims to provide an updated overview of the benefits that the honey bee Apis mellifera provides to humans as well as ecosystems. We revised the role of honey bees as pollinators in natural ecosystems to preserve and restore the local biodiversity of wild plants; in agro-ecosystems, this species is widely used to enhance crop yield and quality, meeting the increasing food demand. Beekeeping activity provides humans not only with high-quality food but also with substances used as raw materials and in pharmaceuticals, and in polluted areas, bees convey valuable information on the environmental presence of pollutants and their impact on human and ecosystem health. Finally, the role of the honey bee in symbolic tradition, mysticism, and the cultural values of the bee habitats are also presented. Overall, we suggest that the symbolic value of the honey bee is the most important role played by this insect species, as it may help revitalise and strengthen the intimate and reciprocal relationship between humans and the natural world, avoiding the inaccuracy of considering the ecosystems as mere providers of services to humans.

Provision of forest ecosystem services is influenced by site and stand characteristics as well as forest management practices. In order to evaluate the influence of forest management on ecosystem services provision, two artificial black pine forests located in Central Italy were studied where two different thinning approaches (traditional and selective) were applied under the SelPiBio LIFE project. Four main ecosystem services were selected and assessed: timber and bioenergy production, carbon sequestration, forest stand stability-protection, and biodiversity conservation. Even if not supported by statistical evidence, results highlighted an interesting trend just 2 years after treatment. The selective thinning was able to enhance the majority of ecosystem services compared to the traditional one. A higher growth rate of selected crop trees was measured (i.e., carbon sequestration). The slenderness ratio was sensibly reduced (i.e., mechanical stability) with a positive implication on soil retention and the prevention of landslides. Moreover, valuable and interesting commercial assortments have been proven to be retrieved from the stands with the selective approach. Larger and also better formed trees were harvested, given the impact of selective thinning on the co-dominant class. The Shannon index increased only with the selective thinning intervention. In conclusion, the provided results and methods are encouraging and might represent the basis for novel and longer monitoring efforts.

Ecosystems provide many services that are essential for human activities and for our well-being. Many regulation services are interconnected and are fundamental in mitigating and hindering the negative effects of several phenomena such as pollution. Pollution, in particular airborne particulate matter (PM), represents an important risk to human health. This perspective aims at providing a current framework that relates ecosystem services, regulating services, pollination, and human health, with particular regards to pollution and its impacts. A quantitative literature analysis on the topic has been adopted. The health repercussions of problems related to ecosystem services, with a focus on the effects of atmospheric particulate matter, have been highlighted in the work throughout a case study. In polluted environments, pollinators are severely exposed to airborne PM, which adheres to the insect body hairs and can be ingested through contaminated food resources, i.e., pollen and honey. This poses a serious risk for the health of pollinators with consequences on the pollination service and, ultimately, for human health.

Aim of study: To verify the short rotation coppices (SRC) aboveground biomass production; to define the best planting intra-row spacing for walnut and poplar growth and wood production, with the last goal to assess the possibility of obtaining competitive yields in comparison to those produced by traditional monocultures. Area of study: Po Valley, municipality of Meleti (Northern Italy). Material and methods: A randomized block design with three replications was applied for the experimental design. The growth-monitoring activities started in 2009 and have continued for 5 years on the SRC, 10 years on poplar clone ˈI-214ˈ, whereas on common walnut they are still going on but only data concerning the twelfth year are reported in this work. The normality of distribution was evaluated for growth and yield data of species in the SRC model; all data were analysed with ANOVA; growth data were included in a linear mixed model analysis to evaluate the effect of age, spacing and their interaction, and the effect of SRC rows on growth and yield of poplar and walnut. Main results: After 5 years of cultivation under SRC system, biomass yields obtained from the poplar clone ˈAF2ˈ were 39.9 Mg ha-1, from the elm 31.9 Mg ha-1 and from the plane 14.8 Mg ha-1. After 10 years high timber production was obtained from poplar clone ˈI-214ˈ (average volume 98.2 m3 ha-1). After 12 years, walnut trees reached a diameter at breast height (DBH) of 17.8±0.2, 18.9±0.2 and 18.7±0.3 cm, respectively, for planting distances of 6, 7 and 8 m, and showed diameter increments of 1.5-2.0 cm yr-1. With these growth rates, walnut can reach a merchantable dimension within 25-30-years. Research highlights: Polycyclic wood plantations are a recent arboriculture model able to produce, on the same site, different assortments using various crop trees characterized by different growth rates and turnovers. This new type of mixed plantation is more environmentally sustainable compared to monoculture and allows diversification of production, obtaining continuous wood yields over the years (5, 10, 20, 30 years).

Soil is fundamental to life on Earth through the provision of many ecosystem services. The current model of economic development exerts significant pressure on this resource, leading to degradation processes that are accelerated by the effects of climate change. This situation hinders the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, and some parts of the world have started a process to reverse this trend, among them the European Union, which has chosen the living labs approach as a strategic solution. The growing interest in this subject within the EU has led to the establishment of a new framework to design and test sustainable policies to improve soil health and management at the continental scale. This review presents State-of-the-Art information on the use of the living labs approach to improve soil health. It also introduces the SOILL Support Structure for Soil Health Living Labs (SHLLs) and Lighthouses and the significant role of the SOILL-Startup project to help establish a network of 100 such structures across the EU. Following the PRISMA methodology, the review describes the main features of SHLLs (definition, types of stakeholders, field and scale of application), as well as their current geographical distribution. The work provides information that can be used by the scientific community, policy makers, and soil stakeholders who prioritise soil health, regardless of the context in which they operate.