Search results for "AIG"

Alma Mater: 2012/ Ziema

2012

This time it’s different? Effects of the Eurovision Debate on young citizens’ and its consequence for EU democracy – evidence from a quasi-experiment…

2017

For the very first time in EU history, the 2014 EP elections provided citizens with the opportunity to influence the nomination of the Commission President by casting a vote for the main Europarties’ ‘lead candidates’. By subjecting the position of the Commission President to an open political contest, many experts have formulated the expectation that heightened political competition would strengthen the weak electoral connection between EU citizens and EU legislators, which some consider a root cause for the EU’s lack of public support. In particular, this contest was on display in the so-called ‘Eurovision Debate’, a televised debate between the main contenders for the Commission Presiden…

Results from the Fourth WMO Filter Radiometer Comparison for aerosol optical depth measurements

2018

Abstract. This study presents the results of the Fourth Filter Radiometer Comparison that was held in Davos, Switzerland, between 28 September and 16 October 2015. Thirty filter radiometers and spectroradiometers from 12 countries participated including reference instruments from global aerosol networks. The absolute differences of all instruments compared to the reference have been based on the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) criterion defined as follows: 95% of the measured data has to be within 0.005 ± 0.001∕m (where m is the air mass). At least 24 out of 29 instruments achieved this goal at both 500 and 865 nm, while 12 out of 17 and 13 out of 21 achieved this at 368 and 412 nm,…

Simulation model comparing the hydroperiod of temporary ponds with different shapes

2010

A model of the water dynamics for shallow, small and temporary Mediterranean ponds has been developed taking into account the annual patterns of rainfall and potential evaporation, pond parameters (pond area, depth and shape) and watershed parameters (watershed area and saturated water content of the soil). This model predicts the amount of water retained in the pond in real time and therefore, when a pond is going to dry out. It is then possible to calculate how much water will remain in the pond after raining or the number of days per year that the pond is going to be dry. Analyses have been performed for different shapes of ponds and sensitivity of the state variables, at different value…

Mediterranean Coastal Lagoons Review: Sites to Visit before Disappearance

2022

Coastal lagoons are an established priority habitat in the European environment because of the biological communities that inhabit them. Their origin is related to the transport of sediments from a nearby river or the movement of sands by the marine currents that produce the closure of a gulf. Therefore, they are recent geological formations, which also disappear quickly if environmental conditions change. The 37 coastal lagoons with a surface area greater than 10 km2 located in the Mediterranean basin have been identified. Fishing has been the traditional use of these lagoons, in addition to their use as a navigation harbor when they are open to the sea. Pollution, quality problems and the…

Monitoring Subaquatic Vegetation Using Sentinel-2 Imagery in Gallocanta Lake (Aragón, Spain)

2022

Remote sensing allows the study of aquatic vegetation cover in shallow lakes from the different spectral responses of the water as the vegetation grows from the bottom toward the surface. In the case of Gallocanta Lake, its seasonality and shallow depth (less than 2 m) allow us to appreciate the variations in the aquatic vegetation with the apparent color. Six common vegetation indices were tested, and the one with the best response was the so-called NDI45, which uses the normalized ratio between the far red (705 nm) and red (665 nm) bands. Our aims are to show the variations in the surface area covered by vegetation at the bottom of the lagoon, its growth and disappearance when drying occu…

Effects of isolation, area and predators on invasion: A field experiment with artificial islands

2007

Abstract The three most important ecological factors affecting the success of island invasions are the area of the island, isolation of the island and occurrence of predators on the island. Traditionally, invasion success has been studied on natural islands, which partly explains the rarity of controlled and replicated experiments. Here we report results from a field experiment investigating the influence of the above three factors in artificial islands. As an experimental system, we used predatory mites and a nematode community occurring naturally in boreal coniferous forests. We found that all three factors had an effect on invasion success, but surprisingly, that there were no interactio…

Effects of hard frost and freeze-thaw cycles on decomposer communities and N mineralisation in boreal forest soil

2003

Abstract Decomposition and mineralisation rates generally increase with increasing moisture and temperature. The expected global climate change may enhance precipitation and raise the temperatures at boreal latitudes, but absence of snow together with occasional low temperatures may cause disturbances in soil processes and faunal communities. To test the effects of disturbances such as hard frosts and freeze-thaw cycles on decomposer populations and N mineralisation, we performed two experiments. In the field experiment, carried out in a pine forest, we induced low soil temperatures by preventing snow covering the ground. In the laboratory test we established three “winter” temperature regi…

Size matters in studies of dead wood and wood-inhabiting fungi

2011

Abstract Because biased biodiversity surveys may result in ineffective use of conservation or research resources it is important that measures for biodiversity are accurate. In forest ecosystems wood-inhabiting fungi are an ecologically important species group. We addressed the question whether or not the traditional methodology to survey only coarse woody debris provides accurate estimates of the assemblages of wood-inhabiting fungi or the dead wood itself. In this study, we included all dead wood pieces irrespective of the diameter. Our results showed that the chosen minimum size of studied dead wood pieces has crucial importance for species recordings of wood-inhabiting fungi and for rec…

Merging science and arts to communicate nature conservation

2015

Abstract As a response to overall negative attitudes on nature conservation, Latvian scientists and artists launched a new initiative to communicate biodiversity. Unlike previous efforts, this initiative also included arts (poetry, music, dance and photo/video) as part of the information campaign. This project, named Nature Concert Hall, has been very successful between 2006 and 2012 in terms of receiving national and international recognition; this paper aimed to evaluate its efficiency in increasing the public’s knowledge and awareness of nature conservation issues and pro-environmental behaviour. We used an electronic web-form survey to investigate the views of the Nature Concert Hall’s …