Search results for " Monitoring"
showing 10 items of 3129 documents
Are the effects of an invasive crayfish on lake littoral macroinvertebrate communities consistent over time?
2016
Management of invasive species requires assessment of their effects on recipient ecosystems. However, impact assessment of invasive species commonly lacks a long-term perspective which can potentially lead to false conclusions. We examined the effects of the invasive signal crayfish (Pacifastacus leniusculus Dana) on the stony littoral macroinvertebrate communities of a large boreal lake and assessed the extent to which the patterns observed in previous short-term studies were stable over time. We used temporal macroinvertebrate data collected in five consecutive years from a site with a well-established crayfish population, a site with no crayfish and a site where crayfish had been recentl…
Short-term response of the slow growing seagrass Posidonia oceanica to simulated anchor impact
2007
Experimental evaluations about the impact of anchors of small vessels have previously shown that each anchoring can on average damage up to six shoots of Posidonia oceanica, removing small amount of biomass and, at the same time, interrupting continuity among shoots. The aim of the paper was to investigate the response of P. oceanica to different damage intensity at two levels of substrata compactness. Three treatments were considered: control (no damage); low damage (simulated anchor damage by three strokes of a hoe); and high damage (six strokes). Disturbance was higher where the substratum was highly penetrable and after one year significant variation was observed among treatments for bo…
Occurrence of ‘blue’ and ‘frost’ rings reveal frost sensitivity of eastern Baltic provenances of Scots pine
2020
Abstract Assisted gene flow is advised as one of the most effective means to sustain the productivity of forests under warming climate via application of the provenances (genotypes) capable to utilize longer vegetation season. Nevertheless in the temperate and boreal zones, the extension of vegetation period also subjects trees to effects of frosts, which can have severe economic impact under warming climate. In this study, wood anatomical anomalies related to late frosts in spring (‘frost’ rings) and early frosts in late summer (‘blue’ rings) for the eastern Baltic provenances of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) with a contrasting field performance were analysed retrospectively. Three tria…
Can green infrastructure help to conserve biodiversity?
2017
The gradually decreasing connectivity of habitats threatens biodiversity and ecological processes valuable to humans. Green infrastructure is promoted by the European Commission as a key instrument for the conservation of ecosystems in the EU biodiversity strategy to 2020. Green infrastructure has been defined as a network of natural and semi-natural areas, designed and managed to deliver a wide range of ecosystem services. We surveyed Finnish experts' perceptions on the development of green infrastructure within the existing policy framework. Our results show that improving the implementation of existing conservation policy instruments needs to be an integral part of developing green infr…
Post-fire beetle succession in a biodiversity hotspot: Białowieża Primeval Forest
2020
Abstract Fires can heavily impact forest ecosystems but fire consequences for animal communities at burned and control sites are rarely investigated in natural forests. Here we present a 10-year study of post-fire beetle succession in natural ecosystem of Bialowieza Primeval Forest, Poland, being a hotspot for beetle fauna. We sampled beetles at burned and unburned (control) sites and compared local alpha and regional gamma diversity between treatments and over time. In total, 27,958 individuals belonging to 630 beetle species were recorded. Average species richness (alpha diversity) and density per sample was higher in burned forest than in control sites, and this difference was especially…
Glycymeris pilosa (Bivalvia) - A high-potential geochemical archive of the environmental variability in the Adriatic Sea.
2019
Due to its outstanding longevity (decades), the shallow-water bivalve Glycmeris pilosa represents a prime target for sclerochronological research in the Mediterranean Sea. In the present study, we analyzed the microgrowth patterns and the stable carbon (δ13Cshell) and oxygen (δ18Oshell) isotopes of the outer shell layer of live-collected G. pilosa specimens from four different sites along the Croatian coast, middle Adriatic Sea. Combined analysis of shell growth patterns and temporally aligned δ18Oshell data indicated that the main growing season lasts from April to December, with fastest growth rates occurring during July and August when seawater temperatures exceeded 22 °C. Slow growth in…
Tackling invasive alien species in Europe II: threats and opportunities until 2020
2017
2nd Freshwater Invasives - Networking for Strategy II (FINS-II) Conference -- JUL 11-14, 2016 -- Zagreb, CROATIA Skora, Michal Edward/0000-0002-9121-1318; Groom, Quentin/0000-0002-0596-5376; Lukas, Juliane/0000-0003-3336-847X; Skora, Michal/0000-0002-9121-1318; Piria, Marina/0000-0001-6324-9282; Smith, Emily/0000-0003-2767-9933; Simonovic, Predrag/0000-0002-4819-4962; Pastorino, Paolo/0000-0002-0585-1168; Koutsikos, Nicholas/0000-0003-0680-4504; Vilizzi, Lorenzo/0000-0001-8103-885X; Dobrzycka-Krahel, Aldona/0000-0002-4252-895X; Tarkan, Ali Serhan/0000-0001-8628-0514 WOS: 000412582000002 Invasive alien species (IAS) are a significant and growing problem worldwide. In Europe, some aspects of …
Thirty years unmanaged green roofs: Ecological research and design implications
2016
Abstract The variations in species composition and assemblage of unmanaged simple-intensive green roofs in Hannover, Germany, were investigated over a thirty year period, in order to assess the persistence of the initial seed mixture and to evaluate floristic changes. The roofs were greened in 1985 with soil-based turf rolls sown with a mixture of five grasses (Festuca rubra, Festuca ovina, Agrostis capillaris, Lolium perenne and Poa pratensis). Three sets of 120 phytosociological releves, sampled in 1987, 1999 and 2014, have been compared to assess: (1) nestedness vs spatial turnover, (2) functional diversity and (3) the importance of vegetation dynamics on green roof performance and desig…
Naturalistic hotspots along the Itinerarium Rosaliae (CW Sicily, Italy)
2018
The conservation, fruition and management of landscape and natural resources is one of the most important topic of the moment. Here we presented a study on naturalistic hotspots that can be found along the Itinerarium Rosaliae, a naturalistic and religious route in Sicily that crosses three natural reserves and one natural regional park connecting Mount Pellegrino with the Hermitage of Santo Stefano di Quisquina. On the whole 7 semi-natural woods, 13 monumental trees, 8 geosites, and 4 areas of high naturalistic interest were identified. This initiative can be of example for other territories where human and natural heritage can be connected for an organic network of fruition.
Temporal and spatial patterns of trawl fishing activities in the Adriatic Sea (Central Mediterranean Sea, GSA17)
2020
Abstract Trawl fishing activities have occurred for centuries on large spatial scale in the entire Mediterranean Sea, and today they are considered as one of the main and widespread causes of anthropogenic disturbance and habitat alteration in the marine environment. In order to delineate when, where and how marine ecosystems have been perturbed and to implement ecosystem-based management strategies, the identification and investigation of the spatial and temporal distribution of fishing effort and the fleet dynamics play a key role. In this context, Geospatial Technologies such as the Automatic Identification System (AIS) could represent a useful tool. The aim of the present work is to rec…