35The success of river restoration was estimated using the ecosystem services approach. In eight pairs of restored-unrestored reaches and floodplains across Europe, we quantified provisioning (agricultural products, wood, reed for thatching, infiltrated drinking water), regulating (flooding and drainage, nutrient retention, carbon sequestration) and cultural (recreational hunting and 40 fishing, kayaking, biodiversity conservation, appreciation of scenic landscapes) services for separate habitats within each reach, and summed these to annual economic value normalised per reach area. We used locally available data and literature, did surveys among inhabitants and visitors, and used a range of economic methods (market value, shadow price, replacement cost, avoided damage, willingness-to-pay survey, choice experiment) to provide final monetary service 45 estimates. Total ecosystem service value was significantly increased in the restored reaches (difference 1400 ± 600 € ha -1 y -1 (2500 minus 1100, p=0.03, paired t-test). Removal of one extreme case did not affect this outcome. We analysed the relation between services delivered and with floodplain and catchment characteristics after reducing these 23 variables to four principal components explaining 80% of the variance. Cultural and regulating services correlated positively 50 with human population density, cattle density and agricultural N surplus in the catchment, but not with the fraction of arable land or forest, floodplain slope, mean river discharge, or GDP. Our interpretation is that landscape appreciation and flood risk alleviation are a function of human population density, but not wealth, in areas where dairy farming is the prime form of agriculture. 55 225

Existing frameworks for analysing interactions between social and natural systems (e.g. Social-Ecological Systems framework, Ecosystem Services concept) do not sufficiently consider and operationalize the dynamic interactions between people's values, attitudes and understandings of the human-nature relationship at both individual and collective levels. We highlight the relevance of individual and collective understandings of the human-nature relationship as influencing factors for environmental behaviour, which may be reflected in natural resource management conflicts, and review the diversity of existing social-cultural concepts, frameworks and associated research methods. Particular emphasis is given to the contextsensitivity of social-cultural concepts in decision-making. These aspects are translated into a conceptual model aiming not to replace but to expand and enhance existing frameworks. Integrating this model into existing frameworks provides a tool for the exploration of how social-cultural concepts of nature interact with existing contexts to influence governance of social-ecological systems.

While many theories exist to explain the complexity of environmental behaviour, the role of individuals' relationship with nature has not yet been fully clarified. This paper attempts to operationalise human-nature relationships. It expands upon a scale assessed by an iterative process of mixed methods in the US and Europe. This scale is then used to assess individuals' relationship with nature, and whether such relationships correlate with environmental behaviour. The value scale of Schwartz's Theory of Basic Values is used to validate the results. The results verify that people hold multiple human-nature relationships, confirm strong correlations between human-nature relationships and values, and reveal that individuals' behaviour is connected to the relationship they have with nature.

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River floodplains are hotspots of productivity and biodiversity and recognized to fulfil vital ecosystem functions and services. Restoration measures of the decoupled Danube floodplains east of Vienna aim to re‐establish multi‐functionality, that is, ensure navigation, preserve and restore unique fluvial and riparian habitats and re‐establish natural processes and service provisioning. Side‐channels are proposed for reconnection combined with the removal of embankments and groins. We evaluated how a programme of measures influences the diversity and quantity of specific ecosystem services (ES) and therefore, the overall multi‐functionality of the floodplain compared to the current situation. Therefore, regulating ecosystem services (RES), such as nutrient retention and habitat provisioning, were modelled and predicted using multivariate regression models. Also, the potential of cultural ecosystem services (CES) was assessed based on mapping of recreational activities. The impact of proposed measures on ES quantity, that is, quantitative spatial representation, and quality, that is, biodiversity and nature experience, as well as potential synergies and trade‐offs were analysed. Our results show clear synergies especially for RES (habitat for the rheotopic community and nutrient retention) and the CES of nature experience. Those services have a weak and local trade‐off with the quantitative availability of opportunities for recreation. This pattern could only be detected by considering both, quantitative as well as qualitative aspects of ES. Overall, our results show that the restoration measures have a high potential to increase the multi‐functionality of the floodplain system by supporting the provisioning of RES including habitat for endangered species and selected CES.