Search results for "Landscape"
showing 10 items of 1561 documents
Landscape-scale Spatial Distribution of the Lanner Falcon (Falco biarmicus feldeggii) Breeding Population in Italy
2008
Falco biarmicus feldeggii is one of the most threatened taxa in Europe. Its global population is estimated at a few hundred pairs unequally scattered in a vast and fragmented area stretching from Sicily to the Caspian Sea. Most recent counts showed that Italy hosts a large part (>25%) of the whole population. Consequently, Italian authorities promoted a national action plan. In this framework, we carried out the first national survey for the Lanner Falcon in Italy (2003-2004). Our study area covered the whole breeding range, i.e., Sicily and the Italian peninsula (n = 2909 cells 10 × 10 km). When possible, we considered also additional information from previous regional investigations (1993…
Ecological Efficiency of Voluntary Conservation of Boreal-Forest Biodiversity
2008
Current networks of protected areas are biased in many countries toward landscapes of low productivity. Voluntary conservation incentives have been suggested as a socially acceptable way to supplement existing networks with more productive, privately owned areas of high priority for nature conservation. The limited resources committed to nature conservation demand cost-efficiency. Efficiency, however, depends not only on costs incurred to society from alternative ways of maintaining biodiversity but also on ecological values that can be captured. We examined the ecological efficiency of the new market-based voluntary program to preserve forest habitats on private land in southwestern Finlan…
Italian marine reserve effectiveness: does enforcement matter?
2008
Marine protected areas (MPAs) have become popular tools worldwide for ecosystem conservation and fishery management. Fish assemblages can benefit from protection provided by MPAs, especially those that include fully no-take reserves. Fish response to protection can thus be used to evaluate the effectiveness of marine reserves. Most target fish are high-level predators and their overfishing may affect entire communities through trophic cascades. In the Mediterranean rocky sublittoral, marine reserves may allow fish predators of sea urchins to recover and thus whole communities to be restored from coralline barrens to macroalgae. Such direct and indirect reserve effects, however, are likely t…
Ecological restoration in contaminated soils of Kokdzhon phosphate mining area (Zhambyl region, Kazakhstan)
2016
Abstract This study provides results of an ecological restoration activity performed in the Kokdzhon phosphate mining of the Zhambyl region (a semi-desert mining area of Kazakhstan). The test area was made by a quarry-hole, about 1.25 hectares wide, that was preliminarily filled with the earthy material of a dump and, subsequently, levelled. The total volume of human transported material (HTM) used was 700 tonnes. Soil samples were taken from 0 to 30 cm depth at 23 sampling sites and several soil quality parameters were determined. In the test area 750 tree species were planted in suitable dug holes: (150 seedlings of Russian Olive; 150 seedlings of Black Saxaul); 150 seedlings of Androsov …
Estimating the non-market benefits of an urban park: Does proximity matter?
2007
Abstract There is increasing and widespread public support for public park provision in urban areas given that they provide an array of different recreational activities enhancing the citizen's quality of life. A contingent valuation survey of 900 randomly chosen inhabitants was undertaken in Valencia (Spain) to estimate the non-market benefits derived from the provision of a new urban park where there is currently an old train station. In conducting our study we distinguished between the districts of the city more and less affected by the project according to the proximity to the future park. Our main finding is that the mean willingness to pay (WTP) is considerably higher for people who l…
On the Applicability of the Space Syntax Methodology for the Determination of Street Lighting Classes
2020
Street lighting plays a crucial role in a city’s night landscape and in urban traffic management, influencing users’ comfort and safety. To contain costs of public street lighting systems and to avoid energy waste, illuminance levels on road surfaces must be adequate to fit actual traffic volumes, as prescribed by regulations. This is true not only for motorized roads but also for sidewalks, paths, and pedestrian areas. Regulations in force establish a relationship between road traffic volumes and minimum illuminance levels through the lighting classes selection procedure. Lighting classes selection is based on various para meters among which traffic volume is the most difficult to evaluate…
Aging in a free-energy landscape model for glassy relaxation. II. Fluctuation-dissipation relations.
2006
Several fluctuation-dissipation relations are investigated for a simple free-energy landscape model designed to describe the primary relaxation in supercooled liquids. The calculations of the response and of the correlation functions are performed for a quench from a high temperature to a low temperature. In the model, all dynamical quantities reach equilibrium after long times, but for times shorter than the re-equilibration time they do not exhibit time-translational invariance and the fluctuation-dissipation theorem is violated. Two measures for these violations are considered. One such measure is given by the slope in a plot of the integrated response versus the correlation function and…
Il patrimonio "cavo". Architetture ipogee e spazio idraulico nella piana di Palermo
2018
The valorisation policies and protection of “visible” architectural heritage are often promoted by the public opinion, that immediately perceives in the artefacts or landscape degradation the risk of an irreparable loss. Conversely, the safeguard of the underground built heritage is ever more difficult to achieve. It is the case of the "hollow architecture" functional to ensuring water provisioning in the Plain one of Palermo, the so-called “horizontal wells”. The most interesting aspect is the complex dense network of canals for the abstraction of groundwater resources. These artefacts date back to the sixteenth century – though an older dating is not to be excluded – and they outline the …
Energy landscape properties studied using symbolic sequences
2006
We investigate a classical lattice system with $N$ particles. The potential energy $V$ of the scalar displacements is chosen as a $\phi ^4$ on-site potential plus interactions. Its stationary points are solutions of a coupled set of nonlinear equations. Starting with Aubry's anti-continuum limit it is easy to establish a one-to-one correspondence between the stationary points of $V$ and symbolic sequences $\bm{\sigma} = (\sigma_1,...,\sigma_N)$ with $\sigma_n=+,0,-$. We prove that this correspondence remains valid for interactions with a coupling constant $\epsilon$ below a critical value $\epsilon_c$ and that it allows the use of a ''thermodynamic'' formalism to calculate statistical prope…
Conservation priorities for harlequin frogs (Atelopus spp.) of Peru
2005
Populations of harlequin frogs Atelopus are declining throughout their geographical range. In Peru six of the 11 nominally described species are Critically Endangered, and there are at least 17 undescribed additional forms (all representing apparently distinct species), the conservation status of which is unknown. Most Atelopus taxa in Peru have relatively small geographical ranges, some known only from single populations, and have only a limited chance of survival. Conservation will require: (1) improvement of the faunistic and taxonomic knowledge of the genus, (2) field surveys, including in remote areas, (3) assessment of all species and populations for chytridiomycosis and research on t…