Search results for "VEGETATION"

The contrasted response of ash to wetting

2013

Abstract After a wildfire the soil is covered by ash. Ash properties depend on vegetation type, amount of fuel and fire intensity. The ash layer controls the post-fire soil hydrologic response, but little is known about the effect of ash thickness and ash type on infiltration, which is relevant for post-fire runoff and soil losses and for ecosystems rehabilitation and restoration. This paper analyses the role of i) ash type (black or white), ii) thickness (5, 15 and 30 mm-thick) and iii) temporal variation (0, 15 and 40 days) under three simulated rain events (55 mm for 1 h) on soil surface hydrology. The rainfall was simulated on 0.25 m2 plots, and time to ponding, runoff and runoff discha…

On the relationship between some production parameters and a vegetation index in viticulture

2013

The use and timing of many agronomical practices such as the scheduling of irrigation and harvesting are dependent on accurate vineyard sampling of qualitative and productive parameters. Crop forecasting also depends on the representativeness of vineyard samples during the whole phenological period. This manuscript summarizes the last two years of precision viticulture in Sicily (Italy); agronomic campaigns were carried out in 2012 and 2013 within the "Tenute Rapitalà" and "Donnafugata" farms. Normalized Difference Vegetation Index derived from satellite images (RapidEye) acquired at berry set, pre-veraison and ripening phenological stages (occurred at June, July and August respectively) ha…

Detecting crop water status in mature olive orchards using vegetation spectral measurements.

2014

Full spectral measurements (350–2500 nm) at tree canopy and leaf levels and the corresponding leaf water potentials (LWP) were acquired in an olive grove of Sicily, at different hours of the day, during summer season 2011. The main objective of the work was to assess, on the basis of the experimental data-set, two different approaches to detect crop water status in terms of LWP. Specifically, using existing families of Vegetation Indices (VIs) and applying Partial Least Squares Regression (PLSR) were optimised and tested. The results indicated that a satisfactory estimation of LWP at tree canopy and leaf levels can be obtained using vegetation indices based on the near infrared–shortwave in…

Climate changes' effects on vegetation water stress in Mediterranean areas

2010

Many recent studies have demonstrated that CO(2) increase is driving the climate in Mediterranean areas towards important changes, mainly represented by a temperature increase and a contemporaneous rainfall reduction. Starting from this premise, the primary aim of the present study is to investigate the effects of potential climatic changes on vegetational stress in Mediterranean ecosystems. Particular attention is here focussed only on the plants' water stress in water controlled ecosystems, mainly related to soil water balance. The interactions among climate, soil and vegetation are evaluated numerically by means of an ecohydrological model. In this work, different future climatic scenari…

Influence of vegetation recovery on soil hydrology and erodibility following fire: an 11-year investigation

2005

The present study investigates long-term changes in soil hydrological properties and erodibility during the regrowth of different types and densities of vegetation following a severe wildfire in the Serra Grossa Range, eastern Spain. Twelve plots of similar slope and soil characteristics, naturally recolonized by four different plant species (trees, herbs, shrubs and dwarf shrubs) were examined using rainfall simulations during an 11-year period. The mean erosion rate was 80 g m−2 h−1, 6 months after the fire under wet-winter conditions, declining to 30 g m−2 h−1 in the following summer and reaching <10 g m−2 h−1 after 2 years. Considerable variation under the different vegetation types …

Transient soil-moisture dynamics and climate change in Mediterranean ecosystems

2008

[1] Plants in Mediterranean ecosystems have developed different strategies to cope with transient soil-moisture dynamics induced by the markedly out of phase seasonal behavior of rainfall and temperature. Deep-rooted plants use the soil moisture stored in the wet winter (extensive users), while shallower rooted plants exploit both the wet season storage and the more sporadic growing season rainfall (intensive users). Using stochastic models of soil-moisture dynamics, we present an analytical and numerical description of the probabilistic structure of the soil-moisture storage at the beginning of the growing season in relation to the dynamics of the wet season and then study its evolution du…

The effect of ash and needle cover on surface runoff and erosion in the immediate post-fire period

2008

Abstract Hillslopes are thought to be most susceptible to enhanced surface runoff and erosion immediately following wildfire due to removal of protective vegetation and litter cover, and in many cases a fire-induced reduction in soil wettability. This enhanced susceptibility declines as vegetation and litter layer recover. For logistical reasons, however, few studies have been able to examine the responses of burnt terrain immediately following burning and little is therefore known about the effect of the wettable ash layer that often covers the ground until it is redistributed or removed by wind or water erosion. Here we quantify the effects of ash and needle cast ground cover on surface r…

Channel forms and vegetation adjustment to damming in a Mediterranean gravel‐bed river (Serpis River, Spain)

2018

Reliability and effectiveness of Ellenberg’s indices in checking flora and vegetation changes induced by climatic variations

2001

Two methods are proposed to assess the significance of time-spanned local variations of Ellenberg’s indicator values in floristic and phytosociological data sets respectively. Both methods are based on frequencies and averages of the indicator values within and among data sets. Main goal of proposed methods is to determine the threshold above which the observed variations are to be considered significant. In order to relate the observed floristic variations to recent climatic changes, attention was focused on the Ellenberg’s indices dealing with the main climatic variables: heliophany, temperature and precipitation. Study-cases from Zannone Island (Pontine Archipelago, Mediterranean region)…

Shrubland as a soil and water conservation agent in Mediterranean-type ecosystems

2015

John Thornes found that shrubland was a key factor in the control of soil erosion on Mediterranean hillsides. His research inspired many scientists to investigate the impact of shrubland changes and management in semi-arid ecosystems. An example of Professor Thornes’ scientific influence is the experiment carried out on the El Teularet–Sierra de Enguera experimental station since 2003 which showed erosion rates on a 30-year-old abandoned orchard with dense vegetation cover of Ulex parviflorus and Cistus albidus and a 20-year-old fire-affected maquia with Quercus coccifera, Pistacia lentiscus and Juniperus oxycedrus. The measurements demonstrated that the shrubs help create more stable soil …