Search results for " Landscape."

2015

Songs in passerine birds are important for territory defense and mating. Speciation rates in oscine passerines are so high, due to cultural evolution, that this bird lineage makes up half of the extant bird species. Leaf warblers are a speciose Old-World passerine family of limited morphological differentiation, so that songs are even more important for species delimitation. We took 16 sonographic traits from song recordings of 80 leaf warbler taxa and correlated them with 15 potentially explanatory variables, pairwise, and in linear models. Based on a well-resolved molecular phylogeny of the same taxa, all pairwise correlations were corrected for relatedness with phylogenetically independe…

Stopover strategies in birds: a review of methods for estimating stopover length

1999

This study categorizes and reviews methods used to estimate stopover length in migratory birds. Stopover length is an important variable in analysing migration strategies. The analysis of the stopover pattern of migratory birds typically attempts to investigate variability in the number of stopovers and in the length of time spent at stopover sites in relation to species, age, sex and body condition. Although the number of capture-recapture studies analysing stopover length has increased substantially, most are analysed using the simple last-first capture method which gives biased estimates. The use of mathematical models to calculate stopover length is uncommon. Most researchers assume hom…

Landscape Dynamics and Cultural Contacts in the Territory of Himera in the Archaic Period

2022

In central-northern Sicily, the watershed area between the northern and southern Imera and Platani rivers has already been recognized for years as a pivotal area in relations between the different areas of the island, both in reference to the political and economic projections of the colonial poleis , especially between Himera, Akragas, both in reference to economic relations and cultural contacts with indigenous communities. This area is very crucial context of encounter and confrontation between communities, in which complex systems of territorial articulation can be grasped. The position of the settlements along the basins of the two Himera highlights a close connection in terms of inter…

Regulating Internet Trade in CITES Species

2013

International trade in species that are or may be endangered by collection from the wild is regulated under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of wild fauna and flora (CITES) for 176 member States (Parties). Internet commerce is a relatively new route for such trade. In 2007, the CITES Secretariat asked Parties to collect information on internet wildlife trade and report problems and implemented regulations. The reports indicated it was difficult to even approximate the influence of e-commerce on CITES-listed species (CITES Secretariat 2009). We report a case study in which we quantified international transactions over an internet auction site of CITES-listed cacti …

Crónica de una pandemia: confinamiento en Castelló de la Plana, España

2021

Este artículo presenta los resultados de una investigación comenzada a raíz de la declaración del estado de alarma en España (Real Decreto [RD] No. 463/2020, de 14 de marzo) después que la Organización Mundial de la Salud (OMS) declarase la enfermedad por coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) como pandemia el día 11 de marzo de 2020. Este decreto limitaba la libre circulación de las personas, así como el derecho de reunión, tanto en lugares públicos como privados, además de imponer la obligatoriedad de mantener una distancia de seguridad entre los individuos y la limitación del aforo en aquellos establecimientos que permanecían abiertos, entre otras medidas. Todo ello supuso un cambioen las rutinas d…

Social impacts of biodiversity offsetting: A review

2022

Biodiversity offsetting is the widely studied last step of the mitigation hierarchy. Despite numerous studies and the methodological development completed for biodiversity calculations, the human aspect remains unsolved. Biodiversity conservation is typically governed at national or state levels, but the harm caused to biodiversity as well as people occurs locally. In biodiversity offsetting, biodiversity values can be relocated far from the original area, but relocating the values people hold regarding their nearby nature may not be possible. Acknowledging the local people's hopes and values may further complicate biodiversity offsetting, therefore it emphasises even more the need to avoid…

Quantifying the Indicator Power of an Indicator Species

2009

Biodiversity indicator species are needed for classifying biotopes and sites for conservation, and a number of methods have been developed for determining indicator species for this purpose. Nevertheless, in addition to site classification, there is sometimes a need to define an indicator species that indicates the occurrence of another species. For example, when a species of interest (target species) is difficult to detect or identify, a reliable indicator species can function as a tool that saves time and money. We derived a method that provides a quantitative measure of the indicator power (IP) of an indicator species for the target species or any species assemblage. We calculated the me…

The Managing and Restoring of Degraded Land in Post-Mining Areas

2022

Mining is an important branch of the economy, providing raw materials necessary for the economic and civilization development of the country [...]

Ecological restoration in contaminated soils of Kokdzhon phosphate mining area (Zhambyl region, Kazakhstan)

2016

Abstract This study provides results of an ecological restoration activity performed in the Kokdzhon phosphate mining of the Zhambyl region (a semi-desert mining area of Kazakhstan). The test area was made by a quarry-hole, about 1.25 hectares wide, that was preliminarily filled with the earthy material of a dump and, subsequently, levelled. The total volume of human transported material (HTM) used was 700 tonnes. Soil samples were taken from 0 to 30 cm depth at 23 sampling sites and several soil quality parameters were determined. In the test area 750 tree species were planted in suitable dug holes: (150 seedlings of Russian Olive; 150 seedlings of Black Saxaul); 150 seedlings of Androsov …

Fungi and Bacteria in Indoor Cultural Heritage Environments: Microbial-related Risks for Artworks and Human Health

2016

Cultural heritage constitutive materials can provide excellent substrates for microbial colonization, highly influenced by thermo-hygrometric parameters. In cultural heritage-related environments, a detrimental microbial load may be present both on manufacts surface and in the aerosol. In this study, bacterial and fungal colonisation has been investigated in three Sicilian confined environments (archive, cave and hypogea), each with peculiar structures and different thermo-hygrometric parameters. Particular attention has been paid to microorganisms able to induce artifacts biodeterioration and to release biological particles in the aerosol (spores, cellular debrides, toxins and allergens) p…