Search results for "REGION"
showing 10 items of 4910 documents
Behavioural responses of breeding arctic sandpipers to ground-surface temperature and primary productivity
2021
Most birds incubate their eggs, which requires time and energy at the expense of other activities. Birds generally have two incubation strategies: biparental where both mates cooperate in incubating eggs, and uniparental where a single parent incubates. In harsh and unpredictable environments, incubation is challenging due to high energetic demands and variable resource availability. We studied the relationships between the incubation behaviour of sandpipers (genus Calidris) and two environmental variables: temperature and a proxy of primary productivity (i.e. NDVI). We investigated how these relationships vary between incubation strategies and across species among strategies. We also stud…
Polychlorinated organic compounds in the Arctic cod liver: trends and profiles
2000
Polychlorinated organic compounds (POCs) have been measured in Arctic cod liver from Vestertana Fjord for a period of 1987-1998. Significant decrease was observed for DDD (p = 0.043), alpha-HCH (p = 0.001), and gamma-HCH (lindane; p = 0.001). Contents of DDE, 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzofuran, PCBs, chlordanes, chloronaphthalenes, hexachlorobenzene and polychlorodiphenyl ethers had no significant trend. Contents of three hexa- and two heptachlorodibenzofurans and octachlorodibenzofuran increased slightly from 1987 to 1994, but then at very high rate from 1994 to 1998. Trends of HCHs, profiles of PCBs and levels of chlordanes are in accordance with atmospheric long range transport. The hexa-, …
Evidence of regional differences in chlorine perception by consumers: sensitivity differences or habituation?
2014
Chlorinous flavors are a leading cause of customers9 dissatisfaction with drinking water. Potential differences in chlorine perception were investigated by conducting sensory testing experiments in France and Spain to assess consumers9 sensory sensitivity (chlorine flavor detection threshold and supra-threshold intensity) as well as their liking of and acceptability for chlorinated solutions. In both countries, two groups of panelists were constituted based on their water drinking habits (tap vs. bottled water). Chlorine flavor detection threshold was found to vary depending on countries (0.17 mg/L Cl 2 in France and 0.56 mg/L Cl 2 in Spain). Taking into account that mean flavor detection t…
Contribution of raindrop impact to the change of soil physical properties and water erosion under semi-arid rainfalls
2017
Soil erosion by water is a three-phase process that consists of detachment of soil particles from the soil mass, transportation of detached particles either by raindrop impact or surface water flow, and sedimentation. Detachment by raindrops is a key component of the soil erosion process. However, little information is available on the role of raindrop impact on soil losses in the semi-arid regions where vegetation cover is often poor and does not protect the soil from rainfall. The objective of this study is to determine the contribution of raindrop impact to changes in soil physical properties and soil losses in a semiarid weakly-aggregated agricultural soil. Soil losses were measured und…
ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY IN THE MEDITERRANEAN DESTINATIONS: A LATENT CLASS SEGMENTATION ANALYSIS
2016
This article addresses a cross-destination research to study a key issue for the growth and competitiveness of the tourism sector, which is the perceived environmental sustainability of a destination. Particularly, a segmentation analysis is developed to examine potential unobserved heterogeneity across tourists regarding their perception of environmental sustainability of the destination. 918 tourists of five Mediterranean Sea Basin cities are studied using a latent class segmentation technique. Results show the existence of three differentiated latent clusters of tourists with low, medium and high perception of environmental sustainability respectively, confirming the validity of this var…
Testing the effects of temporal data resolution on predictions of the effects of climate change on bivalves
2014
a b s t r a c t The spatial-temporal scales on which environmental observations are made can significantly affect our perceptions of ecological patterns in nature. Understanding potential mismatches between environmen- tal data used as inputs to predictive models, and the forecasts of ecological responses that these models generate are particularly difficult when predicting responses to climate change since the assumption of model stationarity in time cannot be tested. In the last four decades, increases in computational capacity (by a factor of a million), and the evolution of new modeling tools, have permitted a corresponding increase in model complexity, in the length of the simulations,…
A legacy of contrasting spatial genetic structure on either side of the Atlantic-Mediterranean transition zone in a marine protist
2012
The mechanisms that underpin the varied spatial genetic structures exhibited by free-living marine microorganisms remain controversial, with most studies emphasizing a high dispersal capability that should redistribute genetic diversity in contrast to most macroorganisms whose populations often retain a genetic signature of demographic response to historic climate fluctuations. We quantified the European phylogeographic structure of the marine flagellate Oxyrrhis marina and found a marked difference in spatial genetic structure, population demography, and genetic diversity between the northwest Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea that reflects the persistent separation of these regions as well …
Neoanthropocene Raising and Protection of Natural and Cultural Heritage: A Case Study in Southern Italy
2020
Analyzing the human history on the planet, a conflictual relation was raised when humankind had started destroying the natural ecosystem and biota, and consequently, a capacity to induce environmental change has increased throughout human history in the so-called Anthropocene age. A 'noosphere'-centered civilization could produce a non-disruptive new kind of anthropocentrism. This is becoming a new context to define Neoanthropocene based on a renewed homeostatic relationship between Earth and mankind. The potential application of this theoretical approach has been tested in drafting steps of Plan of Lucania Apennines, Valdagri, and Lagonegrese National Park, in southern Italy. Drafting the …
Education, practice and professionalism: a comparative history of the development of urban and regional planning in Italy and Australia
2014
This paper outlines the historical relationship between planning legislation, planning practice and planning education in Italy and Australia by identifying the positive and negative roles of institutional influences and the emergence of professional planning communities. The key findings revolve around the gap between plan preparation and plan implementation, and the role of institutions and professional communities in resisting political interference and maintaining a technocratic imperative within planning systems. While the exertion of professional power can be seen to achieve positive planning and development outcomes, it is often at the expense of the democratic traditions that have c…
The Environmental Issue in Sicily
2014
In Italy, despite the number of protected natural areas and the abundance of scientific research upon the landscape, the level of control of human pressure on the environmental system is still seriously inadequate. Among the main factors is the disconnection between urban/regional and sectorial planning, in the frame of the detachment of the nature conservation policies from the landscape and territorial policies, which is the focus of the present research. The regional situation is rendered even more serious by the lack of an up-to-date planning law (the Sicilian planning law was passed in 1978), the poor diffusion of territorial and vast area planning (the Regional Master Plan has never b…