Search results for "Ecosystem"
showing 10 items of 1752 documents
SOCIAL INFORMATION USE IS A PROCESS ACROSS TIME, SPACE, AND ECOLOGY, REACHING HETEROSPECIFICS
2007
Decision making can be facilitated by observing other individuals faced with the same or similar problem, and recent research suggests that this social information use is a widespread phenomenon. Implications of this are diverse and profound: for example, social information use may trigger cultural evolution, affect distribution and dispersal of populations, and involve intriguing cognitive traits. We emphasize here that social information use is a process consisting of the scenes of (1) event, (2) observation, (3) decision, and (4) consequence, where the initial event is a scene in such a process of another individual. This helps to construct a sound conceptual framework for measuring and …
Quantifying trade-offs between ecological gains, economic costs, and landowners' preferences in boreal mire protection.
2021
Private land often encompasses biodiversity features of high conservation value, but its protection is not straightforward. Commonly, landowners’ perspectives are rightfully allowed to influence conservation actions. This unlikely comes without consequences on biodiversity or other aspects such as economic considerations, but these consequences are rarely quantitatively considered in decision-making. In the context of boreal mire protection in Finland, we report how acknowledging landowners’ resistance to protection changes the combination of mires selected to conservation compared to ignoring landowners’ opinions. Using spatial prioritization, we quantify trade-offs arising between the amo…
Anthosart Green Tool: Selecting Species for Green Infrastructure Design
2021
The environmental and economic costs of greenery depend on the planning criteria adopted and on the plants used. These costs can become more sustainable and can also be significantly lowered by using native flora and getting inspired by local plant communities. Nature-based solutions entail the use of species that co-occur naturally, thus replicating a model of coexistence consolidated by the evolutionary coherence of the biosphere. Planning, using and (re-)producing – getting inspired by natural ecosystems – may foster the dissemination of ecological awareness, with gardens, avenues, rooftops, walls and balconies seen as spaces available for the urban reconciliation with nature. The Anthos…
Threatened Plant Communities as an Indicator of Fishponds Value: An Example from Silesia (Sw Poland)
2007
This paper presents the first results of studies of fishpond plant communities of Silesia (SW Poland). On fishponds, many rare and threatened plant associations were found, especially within the aquatic, mud and rush communities. Among the most interesting are: Lemno minoris-Salvinietum natantis, Trapetum natantis, Eleocharetum ovatae and Scirpetum radicantis. The majority of the above-mentioned associations occur only in artificial fishpond reservoirs within the region. Thus, to reach an effective level of conservation, co-operation between biologists and owners, and integration of conservation and agricultural activities, have to be achieved. This would be the only way to stop the impover…
Identifying the role of business accelerators in the developing business ecosystem: the life science sector
2020
PurposeBusiness accelerators have recently received increasing attention as important cogs in business ecosystem development. However, their exact role in the ecosystem is not yet well known, especially outside the IT sector. The purpose of this study is, therefore, twofold: to determine the position of life science accelerators in the business ecosystem and the attributes of support for companies and to identify key features of the life science accelerators that contribute to the change in business ecosystems.Design/methodology/approachThe authors offer an exploratory case study of five life science business accelerators and analyze the main factors affecting the companies and the whole bu…
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…
Innovation and Entrepreneurial Ecosystems: Structure, Boundaries, and Dynamics
2019
Recognizing the broader dimensions of entrepreneurial and innovation activities, holistic and inclusive networked approaches pave the way to co-creation activities that are essential for achieving sustainability in food systems. Recent studies have started to deepen what are the critical enablers for creating thriving entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystems. Networks that include firms, institutions, and several other relevant stakeholders in knowledge spillovers enable to produce more social and economic value through co-creation processes. However, due to the unique complexity within ecosystems, there is no standardized framework or strategy to develop entrepreneurial or innovation ecos…
Road verges provide alternative habitats for some, but not all, meadow plants
2021
Questions Agricultural intensification has led to the decline of biodiverse meadows and other semi-natural grasslands. Road verges offer potential alternative habitats for meadow species, but they may not be suitable for all meadow species due to different soil properties, frequent disturbances, pollution or suboptimal management. Are the communities of vascular plants and bryophytes similar or dissimilar to those in mown or grazed meadows? What kind of species are associated with road verges, mown meadows or grazed meadows? How do the habitat types differ in their soil conditions and disturbance intensity? Location The study was conducted on 36 sites in Central Finland. Methods We compared…
Vegetation dynamics within afforested coastal areas: regeneration by native species or invasion by alien species?
2017
During the last century, massive reforestation projects along the dunes of the southern Sicily have been carried out. Such interventions, far from being in line with the current trends of close-to-nature silviculture, are, however, particularly interesting to assess the vegetation dynamics in afforestation areas. Furthermore, these kind of interventions may determine two opposite effects, that is renaturalization by native woody species or invasion by alien species. Acacia spp. are among the most widespread and prominent invaders within Mediterranean-climate areas, where they have already shown the capability to deeply change the characters and the functioning of native ecosystems. For inst…
A combined optical-microwave method to retrieve soil moisture over vegetated areas
2011
A simple approach for correcting for the effect of vegetation in the estimation of the surface soil moisture (wS) from L-band passive microwave observations is presented in this study. The approach is based on semi-empirical relationships between soil moisture and the polarized reflectivity including the effect of the vegetation optical depth which is parameterized as a function of the normalized vegetation difference index (NDVI). The method was tested against in situ measurements collected over a grass site from 2004 to 2007 (SMOSREX experiment). Two polarizations (horizontal/vertical) and five incidence angles (20◦, 30◦, 40◦, 50◦, and 60◦) were considered in the analysis. The best wS est…