Search results for "Land Use"
showing 10 items of 333 documents
Agricultural land abandonment in Mediterranean environment provides ecosystem services via soil carbon sequestration
2016
Abandonment of agricultural land leads to several consequences for ecosystem functions. Agricultural abandonment may be a significant and low cost strategy for carbon sequestration and mitigation of anthropogenic CO2 emissions due to the vegetation recovery and increase in soil organic matter. The aim of this study was to: (i) estimate the influence of different Soil Regions (areas characterized by a typical climate and parent material association) and Bioclimates (zones with homogeneous climatic regions and thermotype indices) on soil organic carbon (SOC) dynamics after agricultural land abandonment; and (ii) to analyse the efficiency of the agri-environment policy (agri-environment measur…
Quantitative comparison of initial soil erosion processes and runoff generation in Spanish and German vineyards.
2016
The aim of this study was to enable a quantitative comparison of initial soil erosion processes in European vineyards using the same methodology and equipment. The study was conducted in four viticultural areas with different characteristics (Valencia and Málaga in Spain, Ruwer-Mosel valley and Saar-Mosel valley in Germany). Old and young vineyards, with conventional and ecological planting and management systems were compared. The same portable rainfall simulator with identical rainfall intensity (40 mm h− 1) and sampling intervals (30 min of test duration, collecting the samples at 5-min-intervals) was used over a circular test plot with 0.28 m2. The results of 83 simulations have been an…
Valutazioni interscalari nel processo perequativo del PRG di Siracusa
2016
La questione abitativa è tornata ad essere cruciale per assicurare una maggiore equità sociale, aumentando la coesione sociale e riducendo le diseguaglianze all’interno dei sistemi metropolitani o territoriali che, nell’attuale congiuntura di grave crisi economica, devono comunque rispondere alle sfide globali di sviluppo, innovazione e sostenibilità. Questo studio si propone di costruire un sistema di conoscenze sulle condizioni di accesso alla casa a scala territoriale attraverso cui individuare le criticità locali dei problemi abitativi che potrebbero essere risolti attraverso i tradizionali strumenti di pianificazione o attraverso nuove pratiche di Social Housing che coinvolgono soggett…
Reversing land degradation through grasses: a systematic meta-analysis in the Indian tropics
2017
Abstract. Although intensive agriculture is necessary to sustain the world's growing population, accelerated soil erosion contributes to a decrease in the environmental health of ecosystems at local, regional and global scales. Reversing the process of land degradation using vegetative measures is of utmost importance in such ecosystems. The present study critically analyzes the effect of grasses in reversing the process of land degradation using a systematic review. The collected information was segregated under three different land use and land management situations. Meta-analysis was applied to test the hypothesis that the use of grasses reduces runoff and soil erosion. The effect of gra…
Environmental features and land use of Etna (Sicily — Italy)
2007
Etna is the greatest volcano in Europe and one of the most active in the world. It is a complex strata-volcano formed of lava flows alternating with pyroclastic materials emitted over various eruptive areas which have, over centuries, built up the actual volcano. The climate in the Etna area is basically Mediterranean but rainfall and temperatures are affected by height, exposure of slopes, by winds and by clouds coming from the coast. Temperature distribution is uniform but rainfall is irregular. Moist winds from the sea bring rain to the eastern slopes. Surveys on the pedoclimate show an udometric regime ranging, according to altitude, from xeric to udic and a thermometric regime ranging …
Fair Planning and Affordability Housing in Urban Policy. The Case of Syracuse (Italy)
2016
Equalization can be implemented in the planning process by means of several tools. The Syracuse’s Master Plan has used “urban negotiation” to obtain land for facilities and public infrastructure in different urban areas basing on the rule of the transfer of a portion of land in return for the building permission for the remaining part of each property to be developed. The Master Plan also aimed at providing social housing because the economic crisis has amplified the gap between housing market prices and household income. This study proposes an equalization and compensation model to support the urban negotiation for providing the indexes of a fair and convenient development of several inter…
Biohydrology research after Landau 2013 conference
2014
Biohydrology gives a new view on hydrological research. The impact of biota on hydrological processes was a disregarded topic in the early years of hydrology research. It has been present since the 1960s, but as a „Cinderella“ research topic. It emerged as a new aspect of the hydrological processes after the 1980s. In the 21st century, it has become a well established research topic, bringing new knowledge to aid understanding on how biota influence the hydrological cycle and the rates of hydrological processes. The importance of biohydrology research is growing, and the number of conferences, publications and research projects is being doubled every decade. The 4th Biohydrology conference,…
Land degradation a matter of attitude? A case study from southern Transylvania (Romania)
2016
A better public perception and knowledge on land degradation increases the individual and collective responsibility in land use and land management. Based on interviews, this paper presents results of evaluation of public perception and attitude towards degrading phenomena in the central part of Romania, an area prone to geomorphologic processes, with different land uses and a high proportion of degraded land. The research reveals natural causes, improper land use, categories of land owned, socio-economic causes and involvement of institutions as key aspects of public perception. Our research could be useful in the identification and design of measures in regional planning to attract popula…
Forest types for biodiversity assessment at regional level: the case study of Sicily (Italy)
2007
Within Europe the question of plant coenosis is attracting growing interest. The quality and quantity of collected information on forest resources at a global level largely depends on the capacity to collect and analyse data at national and sub-national scale in a way compatible with those at global or continental levels. In Italy the acceptance of all the international agreements and protocols on the protection of the environment and management of natural resources, requires a standardization of collected information and statistics, with the aim to produce homogeneous and integrative data at global level. This need is reflected in the following points: (1) the adoption of a classification …
Simplified methods for spatial sampling: application to first-phase data of Italian National Forest Inventory (INFC) in Sicily
2006
Abstract: Methodological approaches able to integrate data from sample plots with cartographic processes are widely applied. Based on mathematic-statistical techniques, the spatial analysis allows the exploration and spatialization of geographic data. Starting from the punctual information on land use types obtained from the dataset of the first phase of the ongoing new Italian NFI (INFC), a spatialization of land cover classes was carried out using the Inverse Distance Weighting (IDW) method. In order to validate the obtained results, an overlay with other vectorial land use data was carried out. In particular, the overlay compared data at different scales, evaluating differences in terms …