Search results for "ecosystem service"
showing 10 items of 209 documents
Urban green spaces and urban planning instruments for the protection of ecosystem services: proposals for re - thinking urban legislation in Sicily
2016
According to the Ecological Society of America (2014), more than half of the world population (3.9 billion inhabitants on a total of 7.2 billion) resides in urban areas where 75% of energy consumption and 80% of the greenhouse gases emissions are concentrated (UN-HABITAT, 2012). This data, inevitably, show cities as a patchwork of environmental issues (as well as social and economic issues) and of threats to the integrity of the ecosystem services. The damages suffered by these services, due to transformations of basic territorial resources in the name of an illusory global prosperity, continue to have negative consequences not only in environmental terms, but also in economic terms, as hig…
Future wood demands and ecosystem services trade-offs: A policy analysis in Norway
2023
To mitigate climate change, several European countries have launched policies to promote the development of a renewable resource-based bioeconomy. These bioeconomy strategies plan to use renewable biological resources, which will increase timber and biomass demands and will potentially conflict with multiple other ecosystem services provided by forests. In addition, these forest ecosystem services (FES) are also influenced by other, different, policy strategies, causing a potential mismatch in proposed management solutions for achieving the different policy goals. We evaluated how Norwegian forests can meet the projected wood and biomass demands from the international market for achieving m…
Toward Comprehensive Plant Microbiome Research
2020
Microbes have driven eco-evolutionary adaptations organizing biodiversity from the origin of life. They are ubiquitous and abundant, facilitating the biochemical processes that make Earth habitable and shape ecosystem structures, functions, and services. Recent studies reveal that commensalistic and beneficial microbes associated with wild and domesticated plants may aid in establishing sustainable agriculture for a changing climate. However, developing microbe-based biotechnologies and ecosystem services requires a thorough understanding of the diversity and complexity of microbial interactions with each other and with higher organisms. We discuss the hot and blind spots in contemporary re…
Landscape management and economic evaluation of the ecosystem services of the vineyards
2021
<abstract> <p>The contribution aims to highlight the relationship between the business economy applied to viticulture and the ecosystem. The concepts of ecosystem services and viticultural biodiversity are seen in order to provide a new perspective for the development of a more sustainable business management. The work contributes to enriching the economic literature by introducing the relationship between ecosystem and business. The new perspective helps to place the company within the wider ecological-social system, favoring a more consistent interpretation of the relationship of exchange (impact and dependence) of resources with nature. The work proposes a methodology for cal…
Continuous cover forestry is a cost-efficient tool to increase multifunctionality of boreal production forests in Fennoscandia
2017
Earlier research has suggested that the diversification of silvicultural strategies is a cost-efficient tool to ensure multifunctionality in production forests. This study compared the effects of continuous cover forestry and conventional rotation forestry on ecosystem services and biodiversity in boreal forests in Finland. We simulated over 25,000 commercial forest stands for 100 years under continuous cover and rotation forest management. Forests without management were used as a reference. We compared the effects of silvicultural practices over space and time on ecosystem services, biodiversity indicators and multifunctionality. Our results revealed that continuous cover forestry was bet…
Projecting biodiversity and wood production in future forest landscapes: 15 key modeling considerations
2017
A variety of modeling approaches can be used to project the future development of forest systems, and help to assess the implications of different management alternatives for biodiversity and ecosystem services. This diversity of approaches does however present both an opportunity and an obstacle for those trying to decide which modeling technique to apply, and interpreting the management implications of model output. Furthermore, the breadth of issues relevant to addressing key questions related to forest ecology, conservation biology, silviculture, economics, requires insights stemming from a number of distinct scientific disciplines. As forest planners, conservation ecologists, ecologica…
Advanced earth observation approach for multiscale forest ecosystem services modeling and mapping (MIMOSE)
2014
In the last decade ecosystem services (ES) have been proposed as a method for quantifying the multifunctional role of forest ecosystems. Their spatial distribution on large areas is frequently limited by the lack of information, because field data collection with traditional methods requires much effort in terms of time and cost. In this contribution we propose a methodology (namely, MultIscale Mapping Of ecoSystem servicEs - MIMOSE) based on the integration of remotely sensed images and field observation to produce a wall-to-wall geodatabase of forest parcels accompanied with several information useful as a basis for future trade-off analysis of different ES. Here, we present the applicat…
Innovative and Applied Research in Biology: Proceedings, Vol. 3/2021
2021
The collection contains SCIENTIFIC articles on the topics of the LU 79 conference reports. The main focus is on innovative and applied research in biology and interdisciplinary fields.
Improving soil and water conservation and ecosystem services by sustainable soil management practices: From a global to an Italian soil partnership
2020
The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) identify the need to restore degraded soils in order to improve productivity and the provision of ecosystem services. The aim is to support food production, store and supply clean water, conserve biodiversity, sequester carbon, and improve soil resilience in a context of climate change. Within this framework, in order to achieve the SDGs and to correct land management in the long-term, soil management is considered mandatory. The reduction of land degradation should be based on various sustainable soil management practices that improve and maintain soil organic matter levels, increase water infiltration, and improve soil water management. This tec…
Adaptive forest governance to face land use change impacts in Italy: a review
2015
Il cambiamento dell’uso del suolo è uno dei driver principali della riduzione della resilienza ecosistemica, così come della perdita di biodiversità e approvvigionamento di servizi. Rappresenta una sfida peculiare, specialmente negli ambienti mediterranei, dove i fenomeni di abbandono e ricolonizzazione naturale stanno minacciando in modo sempre più crescente la capacità delle foreste di fornire benefici alle comunità locali. In queste condizioni, il sistema di governance forestale è chiamato a bilanciare gli impatti del cambiamento dell’uso del suolo con l’assicurazione della salute e della stabilità degli ecosistemi forestali, al fine di garantire la sostenibilità a lungo termine degli am…