Search results for " desertification"
showing 10 items of 17 documents
Patterns of soil microbial biomass and diversity across Mediterranean agroecosystems in areas under desertification risk
2022
Irrigation, salinization and desertification. Evolution of Cropping Systems as Affected by Climate Change
2009
Impact of Rocky Desertification Control on Soil Bacterial Community in Karst Graben Basin, Southwestern China
2021
Microorganisms play critical roles in belowground ecosystems, and karst rocky desertification (KRD) control affects edaphic properties and vegetation coverage. However, the relationship between KRD control and soil bacterial communities remains unclear. 16S rRNA gene next-generation sequencing was used to investigate soil bacterial community structure, composition, diversity, and co-occurrence network from five ecological types in KRD control area. Moreover, soil physical-chemical properties and soil stoichiometry characteristics of carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus were analyzed. Soil N and P co-limitation decreased in the contribution of the promotion of KRD control on edaphic properties. T…
Bacterial diversity in soils vulnerable to desertification
2019
Introduction Mediterranean soils are experiencing increasingly negative effects of climate change due to drought and extreme weather phenomena that negatively affect agriculture, already suffering social and economic constraints. The soil microbiota is recognized as key player in both diversity and productivity of terrestrial ecosystems and it is mandatory to include its role in sustainable agronomic management. The LIFE Project DESERT-ADAPT - Preparing desertification areas for increased climate change - (http://www.desert-adapt.it/) focuses on agricultural adaptation measures aimed at reverting ongoing desertification trends (while improving the socioeconomic conditions of farmers). In or…
Sensitivity to desertification risk of Sicilian forests
2017
Sicilian forests can be considered at high decay risk because of more and more frequent wildfires and, even more, because of climate change effects, like floods, draught, heat waves, snow and wind storms. They are worrying processes, contributing at making ecosystems weaker and intensifying the potential desertification risk in Sicily, one of the most threatened of Italian regions by this form of soil degradation. The most effective approach to mitigate the effects of the climate change has been developed through the following action: cartographic identification, on a regional and landscape scale, of the forest areas subject to desertification risk.
Project LIFE11 ENV/IT/0002215 ResilForMed - Resilience of Mediterranean Forests to Climate Change
2017
Forest and pre-forest ecosystems of Sicily are characterized by a high structural simplification and fragility, reduced species diversity, high density, pest and diseases that are expected to worsen according to the ongoing anthropogenic climate change. In this work we present the achievements of the project LIFE ResilForMed (Resilience of Mediterranean Forests to climate change), as Sicilian response on adaptation and mitigation to climate change. ResilForMed project is co-funded by the LIFE Initiative (2007-2014) and started June 1st 2012 with an expected conclusion on June 30th 2017. The project consortium involves: (i) the Department of Rural and Land Development of the Sicilian Region,…
Irrigation, salinization and desertification
2009
Irrigation, salinization and desertification in Sicily
2009
Sustainable management systems to prevent and adaptat to desertification: Case Studies from the LIFE Desert Adapt project
2021
Around 40% of the ice-free terrestrial surface is under desertification risk, and the Mediterranean is one of the most sensible regions. Concomitantly, most areas occupied by agriculture suffer from lack of organic matter in the soil, as well as very low tree cover, making them more vulnerable to climate change. The LIFE (Desert Adapt) project aims to develop a desert adaptation model to enhance resistence and resilience of farms, both public and private, to desertification by appliyng an integrative sustainable land management in Italy, Spain and Portugal. In Italy three sites in Sicily are involved, two private areas in Caltanissetta and Catagirone and the municiaplity of Lampedusa.The mo…
Bird abundance and richness in ten Mediterranean agroforestry systems
2019
Since the last century agriculture is strongly promoting the simplification of the landscape. The LIFE Desert Adapt project is been developed across 1000 hectares in Italy, Spain, Portu-gal and has the objective of implementing integrative agroforestry-based land use planning and management, and one of the indicators to evaluate the project effectiveness is birds richness and abundance. Here we present the results of the first assessment and explore the relationships with the main vegetation cover types. We established 68 sampling points where we recorded bird abundance and richness. In total we registered 57 bird species, sampling points surrounded by woodlands presented 50 species, while …