Search results for "forest"

Original vegetation recovery of two degraded areas in the Mediterranean island of Marettimo.

2009

Reviving extinct Mediterranean forest communities may improve ecosystem potential in a warmer future

2015

The Mediterranean Basin is the region of Europe most vulnerable to negative climate-change impacts, including forest decline, increased wildfire, and biodiversity loss. Because humans have affected Mediterranean ecosystems for millennia, it is unclear whether the region's native ecosystems were more resilient to climate change than current ecosystems, and whether they would provide sustainable management options if restored. We simulated vegetation with the LandClim model, using present-day climate as well as future climate-change scenarios, in three representative areas that encompass a broad range of Mediterranean conditions and vegetation types. Sedimentary pollen records that document n…

Tertiary relict laurophyll vegetation in the Madonie mountains (Sicily)

2014

Laurel woodlands in the Madonie mountains (Sicily) are characterized by the presence of Laurus nobilis, Rhamnus lojaconoi and Vitis vinifera subsp. sylvestris. The results of a phytosociological study are presented, and a new endemic association, Rhamno lojaconoi–Lauretum nobilis, is described. Present Mediterranean laurel communities are the result of an adaptive response by Tertiary laurel forest to the peculiar microclimatic conditions that characterize the refugia where they persist. These refugia have been recently considered as a priority habitat under the Directive 92/43/EEC, and their plant communities are very vulnerable. Protection measures of the studied laurel populations are ne…

The age of vines as a controlling factor of soil erosion processes in Mediterranean vineyards

2018

Abstract Vineyards incur the highest soil and water losses among all Mediterranean agricultural fields. The state-of-the-art shows that soil erosion in vineyards has been primarily surveyed with topographical methods, soil erosion plots and rainfall simulations, but these techniques do not typically assess temporal changes in soil erosion. When vines are planted they are about 30 cm high × 1 cm diameter without leaves, the root system varies from 2 to over 40 cm depth, and sometimes the lack of care used during transplanting can result in a field with highly erodible bare soils. This means that the time since vine plantation plays a key role in soil erosion rates, but very little attention …

Rainfall simulation and Structure-from-Motion photogrammetry for the analysis of soil water erosion in Mediterranean vineyards

2016

[EN] Soil water erosion is a serious problem, especially in agricultural lands.Among these, vineyards deserve attention, because they constitute for the Mediterranean areas a type of land use affected by high soil losses. A significant problem related to the study of soil water erosion in these areas consists in the lack of a standardized procedure of collecting data and reporting results, mainly due to a variability among the measurement methods applied. Given this issue and the seriousness of soil water erosion in Mediterranean vineyards, this works aims to quantify the soil losses caused by simulated rainstorms, and compare them with each other depending on two different methodologies: (…

Understanding the role of soil erosion on co2-c loss using (13)c isotopic signatures in abandoned Mediterranean agricultural land.

2016

Understanding soil water erosion processes is essential to evaluate the redistribution of soil organic carbon (SOC) within a landscape and is fundamental to assess the role of soil erosion in the global carbon (C) budget. The main aim of this study was to estimate the C redistribution and losses using (13)C natural abundance. Carbon losses in soil sediment, dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and CO2 emission were determined. Four bounded parallel plots were installed on a 10% slope. In the upper part of the plots, C3soil was replaced with C4soil. The SOC and δ(13)C were measured after 145.2mm rainfall in the upper (2m far from C4strip), middle (4m far from C4strip) lower (6m far from C4strip) t…

Climate change and human impact in central Spain during Roman times: High-resolution multi-proxy analysis of a tufa lake record (Somolinos, 1280m asl)

2012

The Roman Period is considered a crucial phase in the evolution of Holocene landscapes, due to the coincidence of major climatic, environmental, economic and cultural changes. However, there is still debate as to the regional expression of these changes, and to the mechanisms involved, particularly in the topographically and climatically complex region of the Mediterranean. In order to improve our understanding of the synergies between societal and environmental change during this period in central Spain, we present a comprehensive case study based on the integration of multi-proxy palaeoenvironmental, archaeological and historical data. High-resolution, interdisciplinary research has been …

Production and turnover of organic matter in three southern European Fagus sylvatica L

1999

Above-ground biomass, litterfall and litter accumulation and decomposition at the soil surface were studied within three Mediterranean beech forests from Italy, France and Spain in order to better understand the recycling of elements associated with the turnover organic matter Above-ground tree biomass amounted to 131.9 Mg ha-1 at Etna (Italy), 134.2 Mg ha-1 at Sierra de la Demanda (Spain) and 223.9 Mg ha-1 at Mont Lozère (France). The highest amount of total litterfall was observed at Sierra de la Demanda (4.7 Mg ha-1 year-1), followed by the Mont Lozère (4.4 Mg ha-1 year-1) and Etna (3.9 Mg ha-1 year-1). Total organic matter accumulated on the soil surface in the three beech forests amoun…

Fire danger estimation from MODIS Enhanced Vegetation Index data: application to Galicia region (north-west Spain)

2011

Galicia, in north-west Spain, is a region especially affected by devastating forest fires. The development of a fire danger prediction model adapted to this particular region is required. In this paper, we focus on changes in the condition of vegetation as an indicator of fire danger. The potential of the Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) together with period-of-year to monitor vegetation changes in Galicia is shown. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), onboard the Terra satellite, was chosen for this study. A 6-year dataset of EVI images, from the product MOD13Q1 (16-day composites), together with fire data in a 10 × 10-km grid basis, were used. Logistic regression was…

Wildfire effects on extractable elements in ash from aPinus pinasterforest in Portugal

2013

This study was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Technology, project CGL2006-11107-C02-02/BOS ‘Evaluation of the quality of Mediterranean soils affected by fire in a middle and large term’ and the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER). We are also thankful to Serveis Cientifico-Tecnics from the University of Barcelona. The authors would also like to acknowledge FuegoRed (Fire Effects on Soil Properties Network) for financing the projects CGL2007-28764-E/BTE CGL2008-01632-E/BTE y CGL2009-06861-E/BTE, the Lithuanian Research Council for financing the project LITFIRE, Fire effects on Lithuanian soils and ecosystems (MIP-48/2011), the HYDFIRE project (CGL2010-21670-C02-01) a…