Search results for "Ecosystem"
showing 10 items of 1752 documents
Connecting soil biodiversity to functions and ecosystem services: presentation of case studies and of the EU FP7 project EcoFINDERS
2012
Soils provide essential ecosystem services such as primary production, regulation of biogeochemical cycles and their consequences on climate, water filtration, resistance to pests and diseases, and regulation of above-ground biodiversity. These services result from functions supported by soil organisms. Their abundance, diversity and activities vary according to environmental factors and Human activities. Despite progress made over the last decade in assessing soil biodiversity, the huge reservoir of biodiversity represented by soils remains superficially explored as do the relations between soil biodiversity and functioning. This lack of knowledge is related to the small size of most organ…
Agricultural advances
2013
CT3 ; Département E.A. ; SOFIA; Agricultural advances
Harnessing the biodiversity value of Central and Eastern European farmland
2015
A large proportion of European biodiversity today depends on habitat provided by low‐intensity farming practices, yet this resource is declining as European agriculture intensifies. Within the European Union, particularly the central and eastern new member states have retained relatively large areas of species‐rich farmland, but despite increased investment in nature conservation here in recent years, farmland biodiversity trends appear to be worsening. Although the high biodiversity value of Central and Eastern European farmland has long been reported, the amount of research in the international literature focused on farmland biodiversity in this region remains comparatively ti…
Spatial distribution of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria and archaea across a 44-hectare farm related to ecosystem functioning
2011
Characterization of spatial patterns of functional microbial communities could facilitate the understanding of the relationships between the ecology of microbial communities, the biogeochemical processes they perform and the corresponding ecosystem functions. Because of the important role the ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) and archaea (AOA) have in nitrogen cycling and nitrate leaching, we explored the spatial distribution of their activity, abundance and community composition across a 44-ha large farm divided into an organic and an integrated farming system. The spatial patterns were mapped by geostatistical modeling and correlations to soil properties and ecosystem functioning in terms …
L’apprentissage en environnement virtuel : rôle du guidage et du feedback sur la compréhension des écosystèmes forestiers
2021
As part of the E-Fran project, we studied cognitive processes related to learning in order to optimize a virtual reality forest simulator. This thesis work resulted in four experiments involving a test of multimedia learning principles (Mayer, 2009, 2014,2021) in virtual reality, as well as the cognitive mechanisms underlying acquisitions in the forest ecosystem domain. Our first study focused on learning about the decomposition of organic matter with over 100 5th grade students. We created a 3D environment respecting the principle of semantic coherence in order to compare two groups of students who studied either the lesson according to a fixed semantically coherent presentation or the les…
An integrated modelling and remote sensing approach for hydrological study in arid and semi-arid regions: the SUDMED Program
2008
International audience; Recent efforts have been concentrated in the development of models to understand and predict the impact of environmental changes on hydrological cycle and water resources in arid and semi-arid regions. In this context, remote sensing data have been widely used to initialize, to force, or to control the simulations of these models. However, for several reasons, including the difficulty in establishing relationships between observational and model variables, the potential offered by satellite data has not been fully used. As a matter of fact, a few hydrological studies that use remote sensing data emanating from different sources (sensors, platforms) have been performe…
Actor engagement as a base for value co-creation in service ecosystem : case study of future electricity demand-side response service for households
2019
This thesis focuses on exploring the value co-creation in the future electricity demand-side response (DSR) service for households. DSR service is implemented as a cloud service, where high-power home appliances are switched off, if there are consumption overload in the power grid and the flexibility is needed. The service is necessary, especially when the use of electric cars increases. As electricity consumption is expected to increase, it creates challenges for electricity network capacity. Increased production in the near future, as well as moving towards more carbon-neutral production mode, will increase the challenges for the adequacy of electricity. With this service, it is possible …
Using natural analogues to investigate the effects of climate change and ocean acidification on Northern ecosystems
2018
AbstractNorthern oceans are in a state of rapid transition. Still, our knowledge of the likely effects of climate change and ocean acidification on key species in the food web, functionally important habitats and the structure of Arctic and sub-Arctic ecosystems is limited and based mainly on short-term laboratory studies on single species. This review discusses how tropical and temperate natural analogues of carbonate chemistry drivers, such as CO2 vents, have been used to further our knowledge of the sensitivity of biological systems to predicted climate change, and thus assess the capacity of different species to show long-term acclimation and adaptation to elevated levels of pCO2. Natur…
Multifunctional areas as a tool to enhance biodiversity and promote conservation in alfalfa fields.
2021
The present study analyses the effects of multifunctional areas (MA) for three years (2013–2015) on an intensive multi-crop farm in Portugal. The implementation of MA resulted in a wide range of enhancements in the insect community, such as significant effects as a reservoir, allowing an increase of 102.47% in the number of species and 97.64% of individuals. MA play an important role in conservation strategies and help increase the population of rare and threatened arthropod species.
Managing biotic interactions for ecological intensification of agroecosystems.
2014
9 pages; International audience; Agriculture faces the challenge of increasing food production while simultaneously reducing the use of inputs and delivering other ecosystem services. Ecological intensification of agriculture is a paradigm shift, which has recently been proposed to meet such challenges through the manipulation of biotic interactions. While this approach opens up new possibilities, there are many constraints related to the complexity of agroecosystems that make it difficult to implement. Future advances, which are essential to guide agricultural policy, require an eco-evolutionary framework to ensure that ecological intensification is beneficial in the long term.