Search results for "Resource"
showing 10 items of 4058 documents
Some European green roof norms and guidelines through the lens of biodiversity : do ecoregions and plant traits also matter?
2018
Abstract Green infrastructure and in particular green roofs are crucial to meet the challenge of sustainable urbanisation fostered by the current European Research and Innovation agenda. Several documents were issued in the last decades in Europe for regulating the design, construction and up-keep of roof greening. In particular, the actual German guidelines have been widely adopted as a reference basis for green roof design and regulation worldwide, because of its exhaustiveness and proven building- and landscaping tradition. With the aim to assess the effectiveness of green roof guidelines and norms in supporting plant and soil biodiversity in different ecoregions, and particularly of the…
Recommendations for ecotoxicity testing with stygobiotic species in the framework of groundwater environmental risk assessment.
2019
As a consequence of the growing global dependence on groundwater resources, environmental risk assessments (ERA) for groundwater are increasingly required and, with that, ecotoxicological studies with groundwater fauna (stygofauna). However, the literature on the ecotoxicological studies with stygobiotic species (i.e. species that complete their life cycle exclusively in groundwater) has not expanded significantly since the first paper published in this field. The limitations regarding the use of stygobiotic species for ecotoxicological testing are clear and consistent across the globe; stygobiotic species are often 1) naturally present in low numbers, 2) difficult to collect, and 3) diffic…
End-of-life and waste management of disposable beverage cups.
2021
Different human activities have caused and currently cause catastrophic environmental phenomena, and unfortunately, a significant negative contribution to these catastrophic phenomena can be attributed to uncontrolled plastic production, use and release everywhere. On the other hand, the plastics offer numerous comforts and advantages, and for this reason, the modern life is unthinkable without plastic. Currently, numerous scientific papers and large audience advertisings, related to the production and use of polymers made by natural sources, i.e. bio-based polymers, as a valid alternative to the petroleum-based counterparts, have been published. Therefore, for production of daily disposabl…
Evaluation of payment for ecosystem services in Mediterraneanforest: An empirical survey
2016
Abstract The relationship between humans and the forest has always been an important element, sometimes characterizing in the history of man himself. During the last years, the socio-economic context is profoundly changed, diversifying economic services provided by the forest. In the past, in fact, the primary function of the forest was the firewood production, while nowadays it grants several socio-economic benefits such as climate change mitigation, soil protection, protection and conservation of biodiversity, landscaping and recreational value. So, in recent decades a new type of socio-economic interest was developed in order to create a market of goods and services for the forests, call…
Assessing the conservation values and tourism threats in Barrientos Island, Antarctic Peninsula
2019
Antarctica has been witnessing continued growth of tourism, both in the overall visitation and in the diversity of itineraries and visitor activities. Expanding tourism presents unique business and educational opportunities, but it is also putting immense pressure on Antarctica's natural, and for the most parts, pristine environment. Understanding the effectiveness of different tourism management strategies and instruments, like the Visitor Site Guidelines adopted by the Antarctic Treaty, is fundamental to the sustainable management of Antarctic tourism. The purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of Visitor Site Guidelines and other tourism management actions in reducing impa…
Influence of volatile solids and pH for the production of volatile fatty acids: batch fermentation tests using sewage sludge
2021
The aim of this work was to study the effect of volatile suspended solid (VSS) and pH on volatile fatty acids (VFA) production from waste activated sludge (WAS) fermentation by means of batch tests. The final goal was to gain insights to enhance VFA stream quality, with the novelty of using WAS with high sludge retention time. Results revealed that the optimum conditions to maximize VFAs and minimize nutrients and non-VFA sCOD are a VSS concentration of 5.9 g/L and initial pH adjustment to pH 10. The WAS bacterial community structures were analysed according to Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) of 16S rDNA amplicons. The results revealed changes of bacterial phyla abundance in comparison wit…
Integrated urban water modelling with uncertainty analysis
2006
In the last twenty years, the scientific world has paid particular care towards the problems that involve the environment. Accordingly, several researches were developed to describe phenomena that take place during both wet and dry periods and to increase the knowledge in this field. In particular, attention was addressed towards the problems linked with receiving water body pollution because of the impact of rain water in the urban environment. In order to obtain a good description of the problem, it is important to analyse both quantity and quality aspects connected with all the transformation phases that characterise the urban water cycle. Today, according to this point, integrated model…
The Climate Change Crisis?
2016
Abstract A necessary (though probably not sufficient) condition for creativity in the sciences and the arts to flourish is a liberal/democratic socio-political environment. In Europe this was manifested in the Enlightenment as Galileo, Copernicus and others laid the foundations for the evidence-based natural philosophy which signaled the birth of “The Enlightenment”. The importance of intellectual and personal freedom for humanitarian advance is clearly manifested in the exponential success of the sciences in conquering many humanitarian problems from starvation and disease to the more obvious technologies that make modern life relatively pleasant for many - especially in the developed worl…
Fire in Protected Areas - the Effect of Protection and Importance of Fire Management
2012
Fires are important but socially and economically unwanted disturbances of the ecosystems. They cannot be considered as a problem, they are global phenomena. Protected areas are created to protect biodiversity, and strict protection is often applied, forgetting that fire had shaped that that we aim to protect. This harsh protection is producing important changes in the protected habitats and is increasing their vulnerability to destructive wildfires. Thus, it is of major interest to incorporate fire management in the protected areas plan, including the (re)use of prescribed fire and traditional burning in order to reintroduce fire regimens, fundamental to the landscape sustainability. This …
Energy reserves mobilization in the yellow eel as herbicide exposure effect.
2015
Abstract Thiobencarb and propanil are two of the most extensive used herbicides worldwide in rice cultivation. Especially scanty is the available information regarding the effect of herbicides on fish energy resources. In the present study, the effect of sublethal exposure to these herbicides on the energy reserves of juvenile eel Anguilla anguilla was compared. Eels were exposed to 72 h to the herbicide thiobencarb (0.22 mg L −1 ) or Propanil (0.63 mg L −1 ), and allowed to recover in clean water (144 h). Caloric content was determined in liver and skeletal muscle. Fish exposed to thiobencarb rapidly mobilized energy. Reserves from liver were depleted (21%) compared to control values (2.50…