Search results for "Resource management"

Use of Inverse Spatial Conservation Prioritization to Avoid Biological Diversity Loss Outside Protected Areas

2013

Globally expanding human land use sets constantly increasing pressure for maintenance of biological diversity and functioning ecosystems. To fight the decline of biological diversity, conservation science has broken ground with methods such as the operational model of systematic conservation planning (SCP), which focuses on design and on-the-ground implementation of conservation areas. The most commonly used method in SCP is reserve selection that focuses on the spatial design of reserve networks and their expansion. We expanded these methods by introducing another form of spatial allocation of conservation effort relevant for land-use zoning at the landscape scale that avoids negative ecol…

2016

A working checklist of accepted taxa worldwide is vital in achieving the goal of developing an online flora of all known plants by 2020 as part of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation. We here present the first-ever worldwide checklist for liverworts (Marchantiophyta) and hornworts (Anthocerotophyta) that includes 7486 species in 398 genera representing 92 families from the two phyla. The checklist has far reaching implications and applications, including providing a valuable tool for taxonomists and systematists, analyzing phytogeographic and diversity patterns, aiding in the assessment of floristic and taxonomic knowledge, and identifying geographical gaps in our understanding of th…

An annotated checklist and bibliography of the diaptomidae (copepoda, calanoida) of Italy, Corsica, and the maltese islands

2021

Calanoids of the family Diaptomidae are the most widespread copepods in the lentic inland waters of the Palearctic region. In Italy, studies on the family date back to the end of 19th century. Since then, several papers contributed to increasing the knowledge on their presence, distribution, and ecological preferences. Nevertheless, new records for the area and the discovery of putative new species stress that the current knowledge on these inland water crustaceans is still far from being exhaustive. This paper presents an updated and annotated checklist and bibliography of the Diaptomidae of the Italian peninsula and surrounding islands, including Corsica and the Maltese islands, compiled …

Proposed Environmental Risk Management Elements in a Carpathian Valley Basin, within the Roşia Montană European Historical Mining Area

2021

Non-ferrous metals mining activities have long accompanied people, and began in the study area of South East Europe over 2000 years ago. The environment quality is significantly affected by both historic mining activities and contemporary impacts. All these problems, inducing synergic negative effects on local organism communities, have created a chronic state of pollution. The Corna Valley has one of the oldest historical human impacts in Romania due to the influence of mining. Fish and benthic macroinvertebrates have exhibited significant responses to long term mining effects on lotic systems. The analysis of macroinvertebrate communities, correlated with the lack of fish and some biotope…

Urban landscape evolution as a consequence of an invasive pest: The case of a small sicilian town

2017

The Red Palm Weevil (RPW), after its accidental introduction in Italy in 2005, determined a progressive disruption of Canary palms mostly in the central and southern regions. As it is difficult to undertake the management of this pest, the possibility of substituting the killed/symptomatic palms with other ornamental trees has been recently discussed. In this context, understanding the citizens' needs about green areas can improve the management of public parks and urban greening. Involving citizens on the natural resource management using public participation processes is crucial. The case study of a small town of Sicily (Italy) was treated and the spread of this pest was monitored. Moreov…

Eco-geomorphological connectivity and coupling interactions at hillslope scale in drylands: Concepts and critical examples

2020

The diagnosis of land degradation requires a deep understanding of ecosystem functioning and evolution. In dryland systems, in particular, research efforts must address the redistribution of scarce resources for vegetation, in a context of high spatial heterogeneity and non-linear response. This fact explains the prevalence of eco-hydrological perspectives interested in runoff processes and, the more recent, focused on connectivity as an indicator of system resource optimisation. From a geomorphological perspective and reviewing the concepts of eco-hydro-geomorphological interactions operating in ecosystems, this paper explores the effects of erosion on vegetation configuration through two …

Can green infrastructure help to conserve biodiversity?

2017

The gradually decreasing connectivity of habitats threatens biodiversity and ecological processes valuable to humans. Green infrastructure is promoted by the European Commission as a key instrument for the conservation of ecosystems in the EU biodiversity strategy to 2020. Green infrastructure has been defined as a network of natural and semi-natural areas, designed and managed to deliver a wide range of ecosystem services. We surveyed Finnish experts' perceptions on the development of green infrastructure within the existing policy framework. Our results show that improving the implementation of existing conservation policy instruments needs to be an integral part of developing green infr…

Active Wild Food Practices among Culturally Diverse Groups in the 21st Century across Latgale, Latvia

2021

Simple Summary A study in the bordering region of Latvia took place in order to investigate wild plant food uses. In total 72 interviewees reported food uses. The most represented uses of recorded plants were recreational tea; for jam; as snacks and soup; and drink. Interviewees also reported loss of foraging practice due to the habitat change as for example in case of caraway and chamomile. The results indicated that part of the reason for the main use of wild plants were linked to diet diversification. Abstract Local ecological knowledge (LEK), including but not limited to the use of wild food plants, plays a large role in sustainable natural resource management schemes, primarily due to …

Dealing with physical barriers in bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) distribution

2019

Abstract Worldwide, cetacean species have started to be protected, but they are still very vulnerable to accidental damage from an expanding range of human activities at sea. To properly manage these potential threats we need a detailed understanding of the seasonal distributions of these highly mobile populations. To achieve this goal, a growing effort has been underway to develop species distribution models (SDMs) that correctly describe and predict preferred species areas. However, accuracy is not always easy to achieve when physical barriers, such as islands, are present. Indeed, SDMs assume, if only implicitly, that the spatial effect is stationary, and that correlation is only depende…

Evaluación del índice de pobreza hídrica (WPI) en la cuenca de Borujerd-Dorood (Irán) para reforzar los planes de gestión del territorio

2021

El Índice de Pobreza Hídrica (WPI) se considera, en general, una herramienta simple y clara para evaluar los efectos de factores combinados sobre la escasez de agua y la tensión de los recursos hídricos. En esta investigación, intentamos centrarnos en las problemáticas hídricas en las cabeceras de montaña de la cuenca de Karoon en Irán para analizar el estado de los recursos hídricos. Para este propósito, los datos requeridos se obtuvieron en primer lugar mediante la preparación de un informe de la Autoridad del Agua, la parte Agrícola y la Organización de Agua y Saneamiento del Condado de Borujerd. Luego, se estimó el valor del WPI a escala de subcuenca del río Karoon considerando como rec…