Search results for " Biodiversity"

Assessing plant diversity and composition in grasslands across spatial scales: the standardised EDGG sampling methodology

2016

This paper presents the details of the EDGG sampling methodology and its underlying rationales. The methodology has been applied during EDGG Research Expeditions and EDGG Field Workshops since 2009, and has been subsequently adopted by various other researchers. The core of the sampling are the EDGG Biodiversity Plots, which are 100‐m2 squares comprising, in two opposite corners, nested‐plot series of 0.0001, 0.001, 0.01, 0.1, 1 and 10 m2 square plots, in which all terricolous vascular plants, bryophytes and lichens are recorded using the shoot presence method. In the 10‐m2 plots, species cover is also estimated as a percentage and various environmental and structural parameters are recorde…

Tillage effects on yield and nitrogen fixation of legumes in Mediterranean conditions

2012

Published in Agron. J. 104:1459–1466 (2012) Posted online [DATE] doi:10.2134/agronj2012.0070 Copyright © 2012 by the American Society of Agronomy, 5585 Guilford Road, Madison, WI 53711. All rights reserved. No part of this periodical may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. I agricultural practices that involve the use of agrochemicals such as fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides have greatly increased the global food supply but often with detrimental effects on the environment, such as contamination of ground…

The check-list of fungi in Sicily (southern Italy): current survey status

2011

A number of checklists are currently available in several continents, European and extra European countries (Holland, Switzerland, France, United Kingdom, North America, Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Venezuela, Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Romania, Russia, Africa, Iran, Oman, Turkey, Asia). The checklists are modern tools for evaluation of fungal biodiversity and precious documents to obtain ecological data and information for management and exploitation of protected areas, agro- and forest ecosystems. A checklist of Sicilian fungi was edited by Venturella (1991), followed, in 2009, by a new report (Gargano et al., 2009). At that time the number of macrofungi from…

Patterns of earthworm, enchytraeid and nematode diversity and community structure in urban soils of different ages

2016

Annelids (Lumbricidae and Enchytraeidae) and nematodes are common soil organisms and play important roles in organic matter decomposition, nutrient cycling and creation of soil structure and porosity. However, these three groups have rarely been studied together and only few studies exist for urban soils. We studied the diversity and community composition of annelids and nematodes in soils spanning more than two centuries of urban soil development in Neuchâtel (Switzerland) and assessed the relationships 1) among these three groups and 2) between each group and environmental (physical, chemical and functional) characteristics of soils and soil age. While the groups of environmental variable…

Supplementary material 1 from: Geneletti D, Adem Esmail B, Cortinovis C, Arany I, Balzan M, van Beukering P, Bicking S, Borges PA, Borisova B, Broekx…

2020

An overview of the assessment of ecosystem condition in the selected case studies.

Species–area relationships in continuous vegetation: Evidence from Palaearctic grasslands

2019

Aim Species-area relationships (SARs) are fundamental scaling laws in ecology although their shape is still disputed. At larger areas, power laws best represent SARs. Yet, it remains unclear whether SARs follow other shapes at finer spatial grains in continuous vegetation. We asked which function describes SARs best at small grains and explored how sampling methodology or the environment influence SAR shape. Location Palaearctic grasslands and other non-forested habitats. Taxa Vascular plants, bryophytes and lichens. Methods We used the GrassPlot database, containing standardized vegetation-plot data from vascular plants, bryophytes and lichens spanning a wide range of grassland types throu…

Impact of environmental factors on grapevine physiology and responsiveness to elicitor-induced resistance against Plasmopara viticola

2012

Created substrates do not fully mimic natural substrates in restoration: the occurrence of polypores on spruce logs

2014

Many protected areas have been under intensive forest management prior to protection and thus lack natural ecosystem structures and dynamics. Dead wood is a key structure in forests harboring hundreds of threatened species. We investigated the ecological success of dead wood creation as a boreal forest restoration measure. We analysed whether the polypore communities of chain-saw felled and girdled (subsequently fallen) Norway spruce ( (L.) H. Karst.) logs differ from naturally formed spruce logs of similar decay stage and size. The study was conducted in Leivonmäki National Park in central Finland 8 years after the restoration measures. The average number of polypore species was highest o…

Datapackage for national high-resolution conservation prioritisation of boreal forests

2023

This data package concerns the following work: Ninni Mikkonen, Niko Leikola, Joona Lehtomäki, Panu Halme, Atte Moilanen, National high-resolution conservation prioritisation of boreal forests, Forest Ecology and Management, Volume 541, 2023, 121079 ISSN 0378-1127 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2023.121079 The overall objective of the work was to develop spatial prioritizations that can assist the forest conservation programme METSO (The Finnish Government 2008; 2014) to make well-informed decisions about acquisition of forests for protection. The results are also aimed to be useful for other actors interested in forest conservation or biodiversity friendly forest management. We focused th…

Alien Insect Impact on Cultural Heritage and Landscape: an Underestimated Problem

2017

The impact of alien invasive insects on cultural heritage and landscapes is very often neglected; even though, more than 50% of species that threaten cultural heritage in Europe are of exotic origin. In addition they are more aggressive. Several examples and a description, are given of the most dangerous alien insects present in heritage sites that constitute a risk for the conservation of cultural property: museum collections, libraries, archives and historic buildings. Globalisation has increased this phenomenon but traces of the accidental introduction of insect pests have occurred since Roman times. The paper discusses the need to implement an estimation of the costs that arise from the…