Search results for "ecosystem"
showing 10 items of 1752 documents
Polypore communities in broadleaved boreal forests
2012
The cover and extent of boreal broadleaved forests have been decreasing due to modern forest management practices and fire suppression. As decomposers of woody material, polypores are ecologically important ecosystem engineers. The ecology and conservation biology of polypores have been studied intensively in boreal coniferous forests. However, only a few studies have focused on the species living on broadleaved trees. To increase knowledge on this species group we conducted polypore surveys in 27 broadleaved forests and 303 forest compartments (539 ha) on the southern boreal zone in Finland and measured dead wood and forest characteristics. We detected altogether 98 polypore species, of wh…
Assessing Climate Change Adaptation and Risk Management Programmes: Stakeholder Participation Process and Policy Implications for Transport, Energy a…
2022
Climate change is a critical sustainability challenge for islands and their main economic sectors. Rising sea levels, extreme temperatures, and drier conditions are the impacts with the most significant potential to amplify the economic damage on islands. However, their isolation and natural conditions bring about some leeway to respond to climate impacts on their terms. This paper aims to provide a local-level analysis and ranking of alternative adaptation pathways in an island context through the stakeholders’ lens. This study reviews the latest advancements in adaptation science and proposes a catalogue of adaptation and risk management options that feed a participatory assessment …
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…
Evaluation of plankton communities in small highly humic bog lakes in Latvia
1998
This paper reports the results of a study performed at the Teici State Reserve in Latvia The results indicated that algal communities in brown water lakes were formed by species that were tolerant to a low pH and high humic substance concentration. The composition of the species of phytoplankton and zooplankton was comparatively simple. A significant correlation was found between the number of species of phytoplankton, zooplankton, and the pH value. Similarly there was a clear relationship between the taxonomic composition of phytoplankton, zooplankton, and the trophic state of the lakes. Dyseutrophic lakes were characterized by comparatively higher biodiversity of planktonic communities th…
Climate and extreme rainfall events in the Mono river basin (West Africa): investigating future changes with Regional Climate Models.
2020
This study characterizes the future changes in extreme rainfall and air temperature in the Mono river basin where the main economic activity is weather dependent and local populations are highly vulnerable to natural hazards, including flood inundations. Daily precipitation and temperature from observational datasets and Regional Climate Models (RCMs) output from REMO, RegCM, HadRM3, and RCA were used to analyze climatic variations in space and time, and fit a GEV model to investigate the extreme rainfalls and their return periods. The results indicate that the realism of the simulated climate in this domain is mainly controlled by the choice of the RCMs. These RCMs projected a 1 to 1.5 °
Turbulence in River and Maritime Hydraulics
2018
Understanding of the role of turbulence in controlling transport processes is of paramount importance for the preservation and protection of aquatic ecosystems, the minimisation of deleterious consequences of anthropogenic activity, and the successful sustainable development of river and maritime areas. In this context, the present Special Issue collects 15 papers which provide a representation of the present understanding of turbulent processes and their effects in river and maritime environments. The presented collection of papers is not exhaustive but it allows for highlighting key priority areas and knowledge gaps in this field of research.
Bacterial and phytoplankton responses to nutrient amendments in a boreal lake differ according to season and to taxonomic resolution
2011
Nutrient limitation and resource competition in bacterial and phytoplankton communities may appear different when considering different levels of taxonomic resolution. Nutrient amendment experiments conducted in a boreal lake on three occasions during one open water season revealed complex responses in overall bacterioplankton and phytoplankton abundance and biovolume. In general, bacteria were dominant in spring, while phytoplankton was clearly the predominant group in autumn. Seasonal differences in the community composition of bacteria and phytoplankton were mainly related to changes in observed taxa, while the differences across nutrient treatments within an experiment were due to chang…
Invasive crayfish increase habitat connectivity: a case study in a large boreal lake
2013
Several studies have shown that distinct compartments of lake ecosystems are coupled via transportation of organic matter, nutrients and energy across habitat boundaries. Here we evaluate the potential of the invasive signal crayfish (Pacifastacus leniusculus (Dana)) to modify energy pathways in large boreal lakes. Using a stable isotope mixing model and calculation of the isotopic niches we estimated the contribution of different food sources to the diets of crayfish captured from different habitats, and from that inferred their potential to transport energy across the littoral-profundal gradient. The crayfish caught from the littoral area utilized mainly littoral food sources, whereas the…
Transformative Policies for the Social and Solidarity Economy: The New Generation of Public Policies Fostering the Social Economy in Order to Achieve…
2020
The United Nations Agenda 2030 has recognized that Social Economy (SE) entities play an important role in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). In order to maximize the impact of the SE, governments have recently deployed new policies regarding these entities. The objective is to understand the context of policy change that has allowed these policies to emerge, their main characteristics and the critical factors in their construction and implementation. Successful policy cases in Europe and Spain have been studied. Qualitative data have been collected through key policy documents, experts, and focus groups. As a main finding, the study shows that this new model of policies exhi…
Biometric characterisation and taxonomic considerations of european rabbit Oryctolagus cuniculus (Linnaeus 1758) in Sicily (Italy)
2014
In Sicilian Mediterranean ecosystems the European rabbit Oryctolagus cuniculus is a keystone species, very important for popular small game species and for ecological reasons. However, its spread across the island seems to have decreased and fragmented in recent times, but until now no accurate population management has been carried out due to the lack of ethological, ecological and taxonomic knowledge. A biometric analysis of European rabbit specimens from Sicily to widen current taxonomic knowledge was performed. In this paper, 7 body variables and 23 cranial variables of 166 and 120 individuals, respectively, were examined. Thereafter, the results were compared with biometric data from o…