Search results for "Ecosystem"
showing 10 items of 1752 documents
A new definition of soil to promote soil awareness, sustainability, security and governance
2022
Abstract In these last decades, the awareness that soil is a very important resource for humans has noticeably increased. Many actions and initiatives to promote soil governance, aiming at sustainable soil management and soil security have been undertaken by several national and international institutions and in many countries. Analysis of the changes of soil perception over the centuries allows highlighting a perfect harmony between the evolution of soil awareness and the level of knowledge and technology achieved by humans during their history and evolution. Notwithstanding these many achievements, soils continue to be scarcely considered in politics and society. We suggest some thoughts …
Aquaculture in Sicily: the state of the art
2009
Aquaculture in Sicily, represented almost exclusively by seabass and sea bream production, together with capture fishery, plays a significant role in the regional economy. On a national basis, the regional production covers about 20% of Italian euryha- line fish production. Fingerling supply is guaranteed by the two hatcheries present on the Island. Twelve floating cage farms and two inshore farms annually produce about 4,000 t of fish. A small extensive production arises from the storage basins of the salt work of Trapani. This niche production could represent an opportunity to realize a new distinctive organic aquaculture, preferred by the consumers respect to intensive produced fish, tha…
Metal–organic framework technologies for water remediation: towards a sustainable ecosystem
2018
Having access to clean water is a mandatory requirement for the proper development of living beings. So, addressing the removal of contaminants from aquatic systems should be a priority research topic in order to restore ecosystem balance and secure a more sustainable future. The fascinating structures and striking physical properties of metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) have revealed them as excellent platforms for the removal of harmful species from water. In this review, we have focused our attention on critically highlighting the latest developments achieved in the adsorptive removal of inorganic – metal cations, inorganic acids, oxyanions/cations, nuclear wastes and other inorganic anion…
Smart Sustainable Cities of the New Millennium: Towards Design for Nature
2021
AbstractUrban environments consist of a mosaic of natural fragments, planned and unintentional habitats hosting both introduced and spontaneous species. The latter group exploits abandoned and degraded urban niches which, in the case of plants, form what is called thethird landscape. In the Anthropocene, cities, open spaces and buildings must be planned and designed considering not only human needs but also those of other living organisms. The scientific approach of habitat sharing is defined asreconciliation ecology, whilst the action of implementing the ecosystem services and functioning of such anthropogenic habitats is calledUrban Rehabilitation. However, urban development still represe…
Soil Erosion as an Environmental Concern ... for Everyone?
2020
Nowadays, the scientific community is aware of the negative environmental impacts of soil erosion on ecosystem services. Soil erosion is one of the most important causes of land degradation because of its immediate influence of the most fertile topsoil parts. It is well-known that questions related to who, what, why, where and when soil erosion causes negative impacts must be considered by stakeholders and policymakers. However, why do the Sustainable Development Goals tell anything about soil erosion? In this keynote, we will try to show the importance to develop tools which can be used to assess soil erosion to obtain convincing results for stakeholders and policymakers. According to this…
Sustainable vineyard floor management: An equilibrium between water consumption and soil conservation
2018
Abstract Sustainable vineyards soil management can help to mitigate the negative effect of intensive agriculture on soil ecosystem for the achievement of the sustainable development goals. Cover crops use as cover management in vineyard could be considered as nature based solution for soil restoration and proper water management. Cover crops (CC) provide many ecosystem services through carbon sequestration and climate change regulation, water purification and soil protection. However, a holistic approach is needed to understand the maximum potential ecosystem service that can be provided in different soil and climatic condition also considering vineyard needs. The current knowledge of CC ma…
Critical range of soil organic carbon in southern Europe lands under desertification risk.
2021
Soil quality is fundamental for ecosystem long term functionality, productivity and resilience to current climatic changes. Despite its importance, soil is lost and degraded at dramatic rates worldwide. In Europe, the Mediterranean areas are a hotspot for soil erosion and land degradation due to a combination of climatic conditions, soils, geomorphology and anthropic pressure. Soil organic carbon (SOC) is considered a key indicator of soil quality as it relates to other fundamental soil functions supporting crucial ecosystem services. In the present study, the functional relationships among SOC and other important soil properties were investigated in the topsoil of 38 sites under different …
Soil Quality Characterization of Mediterranean Areas under Desertification Risk for the Implementation of Management Schemes Aimed at Land Degradatio…
2020
Soil is a key component of ecosystems as it provides fundamental ecosystem functions and services, first of all supporting primary productivity, by physical, chemical and biological interaction with plants. However, soil loss and degradation are at present two of the most critical environmental issues. This phenomenon is particularly critical in Mediterranean areas, where inappropriate land management, in combination with the increasingly harshening of climatic conditions due to Climate Change, is leading to significant land degradation and desertification and is expected to worsen in the future, leading to economic and social crisis. In such areas, it is of fundamental importance to apply …
Barriers and Bridges for Landscape Stewardship and Knowledge Production to Sustain Functional Green Infrastructures
2018
Sustainable landscapes and regions require both stewardship and management to sustain the composition, structure and function of ecosystems as a base for delivering human benefits. This complex is captured by the topic of ecosystem services. To deliver these, the concept green (or blue) infrastructure emerged as a tool for spatial planning of networks of natural and semi-natural areas. Such planning requires evidence-based knowledge about both ecological and social systems. For ecosystems, states and trends need be monitored, and improved knowledge must be developed about ecological tipping points for assessment of sustainability, as well as measures for conservation, management and restora…
Towards Functional Green Infrastructure in the Baltic Sea Region: Knowledge Production and Learning Across Borders
2018
Natural capital is the foundation for delivering multiple ecosystem services important for biodiversity and human wellbeing. Functional green infrastructure (GI) is one of the land management approaches to secure the sustainable use of natural capital. This chapter presents the outcomes of a integrative research for knowledge production and learning towards functional GI in the Baltic Sea Region. The overview of attempts to develop functional GI in Sweden, Latvia, Belarus and the Russian Federation, the countries with different contexts, illustrates similar sets of challenges in the maintenance of GI functions for both biodiversity and human wellbeing. The main challenges are (1) sustaining…