Search results for " Global change"
showing 9 items of 19 documents
Climate change and Mediterranean seagrass meadows: a synopsis for environmental managers
2014
12 páginas, 3 figuras
Home advantage? Decomposition across the freshwater-estuarine transition zone varies with litter origin and local salinity
2015
Expected increases in the frequency and intensity of storm surges and river flooding may greatly affect the relative salinity of estuarine environments over the coming decades. In this experiment we used detritus from three contrasting environments (marine Fucus vesiculosus; estuarine Spartina anglica; terrestrial Quercus robur) to test the prediction that the decomposition of the different types of litter would be highest in the environment with which they are associated. Patterns of decomposition broadly fitted our prediction: Quercus detritus decomposed more rapidly in freshwater compared with saline conditions while Fucus showed the opposite trend; Spartina showed an intermediate respon…
Altered epiphyte community and sea urchin diet in Posidonia oceanica meadows in the vicinity of volcanic CO2 vents
2017
Ocean acidification (OA) predicted for 2100 is expected to shift seagrass epiphyte communities towards the dominance of more tolerant non-calcifying taxa. However, little is known about the indirect effects of such changes on food provision to key seagrass consumers. We found that epiphyte communities of the seagrass Posidonia oceanica in two naturally acidified sites (i.e. north and south sides of a volcanic CO2 vent) and in a control site away from the vent at the Ischia Island (NW Mediterranean Sea) significantly differed in composition and abundance. Such differences involved a higher abundance of non-calcareous crustose brown algae and a decline of calcifying polychaetes in both acidif…
La Seconda Vita dell'Ambiente Costruito
2021
Il contributo inquadra i saggi, gli studi, le ricerche e progetti pubblicati sul numero 9 di AGATHÓN su ‘La Seconda Vita dell’Ambiente Costruito’, tema di interesse per il mondo accademico, delle professioni e dell’industria. Cambiamenti climatici, eccessivo consumo di suolo e di risorse non rinnovabili, produzione sempre crescente di rifiuti, emergenza pandemica e crisi socio-economica globale sono entrati di fatto nel nostro quotidiano: seppur drammatiche, per certi versi, tali questioni possono essere colte come un’opportunità per ripensare il modo e il mondo in cui viviamo. In questo contesto di ‘rivoluzione’(Floridi, 2020) e di ‘policrisi’ (Losasso, 2020), e con riferimento specifico a…
Mapping and assessing ecosystem services in the EU:Lessons learned from the ESMERALDA approach of integration
2018
The European Union (EU) Horizon 2020 Coordination and Support Action ESMERALDA aimed at developing guidance and a flexible methodology for Mapping and Assessment of Ecosystems and their Services (MAES) to support the EU member states in the implementation of the EU Biodiversity Strategy's Target 2 Action 5. ESMERALDA's key tasks included network creation, stakeholder engagement, enhancing ecosystem services mapping and assessment methods across various spatial scales and value domains, work in case studies and support of EU member states in MAES implementation. Thus ESMERALDA aimed at integrating various project outcomes around four major strands: i) Networking, ii) Policy, iii) Research an…
Sun-induced chlorophyll fluorescence II: Review of passive measurement setups, protocols, and their application at the leaf to canopy level
2019
Imaging and non-imaging spectroscopy employed in the field and from aircraft is frequently used to assess biochemical, structural, and functional plant traits, as well as their dynamics in an environmental matrix. With the increasing availability of high-resolution spectroradiometers, it has become feasible to measure fine spectral features, such as those needed to estimate sun-induced chlorophyll fluorescence (F), which is a signal related to the photosynthetic process of plants. The measurement of F requires highly accurate and precise radiance measurements in combination with very sophisticated measurement protocols. Additionally, because F has a highly dynamic nature (compared with othe…
Tree invasions in Italian forests
2022
Many forest tree species have been moved outside their native range to provide goods and services elsewhere, but some of them have become invasive, causing negative impacts on biodiversity and human activities. The assessment and knowledge on the degree and scale to which forest ecosystems are invaded by non-native trees is of paramount importance for tailored policies and strategies aiming at forest conservation. By analyzing main databases and literature and applying a four-level scale of invasion (not currently invaded and with low invasibility; potentially invasible; moderately invaded; massively invaded), we assessed the current and potential occurrence of twenty-five invasive non-nati…