Search results for "Forestry"

I cumuli di pietre denominati “Chirchiari” in Sicilia, tra ecologia e storia.

2010

Environmental and Forest Planning in Italy: Conflicts and Opportunities

2016

Abstract The necessity of a more sustainable use of lands and environmental resources in general, throughout specific programming and management tools at different scale levels is nowadays widely shared. Forests and woodlands are a key asset of the environment and the traditional and current landscapes. With regards to the state of art of forest planning and management tools in Italy, in this short paper, after a synthetic analysis of the tools currently adopted at different levels, some critical aspects of the relationships of forest planning instruments with other planning tools involved in environmental management (landscape plan, energy plans, basin plans) are investigated, enlightening…

Notes on the status and the current spread of Viburnum tinus L. (Viburnaceae) in Sicily (Italy)

2021

The authors carried out a multi-disciplinary research in order to clarify the native status of Viburnum tinus in Sicily and update the knowledge about its current regional distribution. With this purpose, a large amount of scientific papers on forestry, botany and palaeo- and archaeobotany was consulted; more useful data issued from papers focused on local historical gardens, from archives and from herbarium specimens. The available data suggest that most of the extant nuclei may issue from the recent colonization of plants introduced just few centuries ago. Although the status of the stands found in some warm and humid sites in the surroundings of the city of Palermo and on the Sicani Moun…

Storia dei rimboschimenti di Monte Pellegrino (Palermo)

2020

È stata compiuta una ricerca storica sulla attività di rimboschimento a Monte Pellegrino. Le vicende legate alla gestione del territorio e alle vicissitudini che hanno portato a rimboschire il Monte sono paradigmatiche del modo di concepire la gestione del territorio in Sicilia. L’incendio che il 16 giugno del 2016 ha interessato Monte Pellegrino ha riacceso i riflettori sul bosco e su quel che rimane dei rimboschimenti. Le pubblicazioni individuate attraverso questa ricerca, se adeguatamente studiate, possono essere una buona base di partenza per evitare di compiere gli errori del passato e fare tesoro di questa lunga esperienza. Historical research was carried out on reforestation activit…

Fitting the Stocking Rate with Pastoral Resources to Manage and Preserve Mediterranean Forestlands: A Case Study

2015

Pasture practices have affected Mediterranean forest ecosystems for millennia, and they are still quite widespread in mountainous areas. Nevertheless, in the last decades, the stability of forest ecosystems has been jeopardized due to the abandonment of traditional agro-pastoral practices, so that the gradual reduction of open areas due to progressive succession processes has caused a high increase of grazing pressure by livestock and wild ungulates feeding on forest areas. This paper aims at showing a methodological approach for evaluating the effect of applying measures in order to improve the grazing value of grasslands and ecotonal patches and lower the grazing impact on native woodland…

The evolution in time of the concept of fast growing tree species: is it possible to use a definition applicable to all environmental conditions?

2020

Although the expression “fast-growing species” (FGS) referred to tree species has been since long time used, a clear definition has not been adopted for decades. Starting from the Italian historical background, we searched for the definitions of FGS formulated over time at a national and international level. The mean annual increment (MAI) of 10 m3 ha-1, identified by the FAO, has been the most commonly considered threshold until recently. Subsequently, experimental activities and research efforts have consistently enhanced the productivity of FGS, and other definitions have been proposed accordingly. Hence, FGS should provide annual wood yields of 15-25 m3 ha-1 with rotations of less than …

The recruitment of scallops (and beyond) by two different artificial collectors (Gulf of Taranto, Mediterranean Sea)

2015

This study provides for the first time an evaluation of the natural availability of scallop seeds along the coastal area of Taranto (Mediterranean Sea, Southern Italy). To select the best artificial collectors to harvest scallop seeds in this area, cylindrical collectors (Cyl) were compared to traditional 'Japanese-style onion bags' (Bag) across three sites. Scallops represented 26.6% of total bivalve recruitment among all collectors (782 ± 331 ind. m-2). The most recruited scallops were Flexopecten glaber and Mimachlamys varia. The white (F. glaber) and black scallops (M. varia) were abundant at all three sites, while the queen scallop, Aequipecten opercularis, was only found at one site. …

Consequences of Stinging Plankton Blooms on Finfish Mariculture in the Mediterranean Sea

2017

11 pages, 8 figures, 2 tables, supplementary material http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fmars.2017.00240/full#supplementary-material

Sizing up the role of predators on Mullus barbatus populations in Mediterranean trawl and no-trawl areas

2019

Abstract Fishing leads to drastic changes in ecosystems with a net loss of predatory biomass. This issue has been evidenced from historical ecological studies and from the evaluation of the effects of effective and large marine protected areas. In two fishery reserves off the northern Sicily coast the red mullet Mullus barbatus underwent an impressive biomass increment and a few piscivores fish species recovered after a trawl ban. The red mullet, more than 20% of all demersal fish in the untrawled areas, represented a huge food resource to its potential predators. By contrasting two trawled and two untrawled gulfs we figured out predator - prey relationships through the use of a combined ap…

Cumulative climatic stressors strangles marine aquaculture: Ancillary effects of COVID 19 on Spanish mariculture

2021

9 pages, 8 figures