Search results for "Alu"
showing 10 items of 15362 documents
Value of information in multiple criteria decision making: an application to forest conservation
2019
Abstract Developing environmental conservation plans involves assessing trade-offs between the benefits and costs of conservation. The benefits of conservation can be established with ecological inventories or estimated based on previously collected information. Conducting ecological inventories can be costly, and the additional information may not justify these costs. To clarify the value of these inventories, we investigate the multiple criteria value of information associated with the acquisition of improved ecological data. This information can be useful when informing the decision maker to acquire better information. We extend the concept of the value of information to a multiple crite…
Does catchment geodiversity foster stream biodiversity?
2019
Abstract Context One approach to maintain the resilience of biotic communities is to protect the variability of abiotic characteristics of Earth’s surface, i.e. geodiversity. In terrestrial environments, the relationship between geodiversity and biodiversity is well recognized. In streams, the abiotic properties of upstream catchments influence stream communities, but the relationships between catchment geodiversity and aquatic biodiversity have not been previously tested. Objectives The aim was to compare the effects of local environmental and catchment variables on stream biodiversity. We specifically explored the usefulness of catchment geodiversity in explaining the species richness on …
Fruit Quality Traits of Six Ancient Apple (Malus domesticaBorkh) Cultivars Grown in the Mediterranean Area
2015
ABSTRACTToday, ancient cultivars have been considered obsolete and replaced, leading to a dramatic loss of genetic diversity. In this trial we examined the quality of the six ancient apple cultivars: Bommino, Gelato, Miliadeci, Rotolari, Turco, and Virchiata. Fruit was submitted to the determination of physicochemical traits and a sensory profile was defined by a trained panel using 20 attributes. We also detected biometric data using a specific descriptor list. Obtained data showed interesting physicochemical and sensory traits among the observed cultivars. ‘Rotolari’, ‘Bommino’, and ‘Gelato’ should be used in breeding programs and revaluated for a placement on specific local markets.
Economics of mixed-species forestry with ecosystem services
2019
The Faustmann–Hartman setup is widely established for specifying the economics of forest values besides timber, but it is criticized as restrictive for capturing diversity values. We show that extending the model to cover diversity attributes, i.e., mixed species and internal heterogeneity within species, is not enough to overcome these restrictions. Additionally, it is necessary to extend forest harvesting regimes to cover thinning, continuous cover forestry, and the management of commercially useless trees. Restrictions in the Faustmann–Hartman setup are first shown analytically with optimized thinning but without tree size structures. The empirical significance of these findings is show…
Influence of Two N-Fixing Legumes on Plant Community Properties and Soil Nutrient Levels in an Alpine Ecosystem
2013
Abstract Low nitrogen (N) supply is a limiting factor for plant growth in most terrestrial ecosystems. N-fixing legumes therefore have the potential to facilitate surrounding vegetation by increasing soil N levels. This effect should be especially pronounced in low-productivity habitats where ambient soil N levels are low, such as in alpine areas. We examined whether plant species composition, community diversity measures, and soil N levels differed with and without the presence of two alpine legumes, Oxytropis lapponica (Wahlenb.) Gay and Astragalus alpinus L., in a Dryas octopetala heath at Finse, Norway. Species composition and richness differed between plots with and without Oxytropis i…
Taxonomy and distribution of some katydids (Orthoptera Tettigoniidae) from tropical Africa
2015
Received 21 March 2015 | Accepted 31 August 2015 | Published 30 September 2015
Perception-Based Study on the Value of Nature to People and Land Sparing for Nature in Brazil and Poland
2020
Understanding perception about nature is paramount to understanding human behavior and decision making on the environment. We performed a survey-based study in Brazil and Poland to better understand the perception of land sparing for nature and the perceived value of nature. The countries were selected by intentional sampling and given their importance for local and global biodiversity conservation, and complex socio-ecological context of conservation versus agroforestry business. We performed an online questionnaire (N = 1030) in Brazil and face-to-face interviews in Poland (N = 322). We found that Brazilian respondents demonstrated more pro-environmental attitudes than Polish survey parti…
Effects of irrigation treatments on the quality of table olives produced with the Greek-style process
2016
The irrigation of olive orchards is commonly applied to produce table olives with optimal size. No data have been published on the microbiological quality of drupes from irrigated olive groves during fermentation. The trials T100 and T50 (receiving a water amount equivalent to 100 % and 50 % of the required amount, respectively) and control T0 (rainfed trial) were monitored during two consecutive years. The results showed a significant increase of equatorial diameter and flesh:pit ratio of irrigated drupes. The decrease of pH and the numbers of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) registered for the irrigated trials during the fermentation were more consistent than those displayed by control T0. Lact…
LTSER platforms as a place-based transdisciplinary research infrastructure: learning landscape approach through evaluation
2019
Context: Place-based transdisciplinary research involves multiple academic disciplines and non-academic actors. Long-Term Socio-Ecological Research (LTSER) platform is one concept with ~ 80 initiatives globally. Objectives: As an exercise in learning through evaluation we audited (1) the siting, construction and maintenance of individual LTSER platforms, and (2) them as a distributed infrastructure for place-based transdisciplinary research with focus on the European continent. Methods: First, we defined a normative model for ideal performance at both platform and network levels. Second, four surveys were sent out to the 67 self-reported LTSER platforms officially listed at the end of 2016.…
Biogeochemical cycling and ecological thresholds in a High Arctic lake (Svalbard)
2019
Lakes are a dominant feature of the Arctic landscape and a focal point of regional and global biogeochemical cycling. We collected a sediment core from a High Arctic Lake in southwestern Svalbard for multiproxy paleolimnological analysis. The aim was to find linkages between the terrestrial and aquatic environments in the context of climate change to understand centennial-long Arctic biogeochemical cycling and environmental dynamics. Two significant thresholds in elemental cycling were found based on sediment physical and biogeochemical proxies that were associated with the end of the cold Little Ice Age and the recent warming. We found major shifts in diatom, chironomid and cladoceran comm…